Italian gem

One of the best parts of backpacking is the element of surprise; nothing is written completely in stone, the schedule is flexible, so you never know where exactly the train will take you on your next leg of the trip.

Nic told me that I absolutely had to visit Italy; and she wasn't referring to Venice, Florence, and Rome, instead to a small north coastal locality that I'd never heard of before: Cinque Terre.

Needless to say, I didn't insert Cinque Terre into my rough traveling route - until Salzburg.  Here, I chatted with an American backpacker who pleaded with me, showing me all of his pictures on his camera, to go to Cinque Terre.  It was his favourite part of Europe so far, and I was surely going to love it as well.  He had me sold.

After Naples, I took a train to Rome, Genova, La Spezia, and finally, to Rioimaggiore.  Cinque Terre is not a city; it's a "rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera."  It is composed of five tiny villages built on the coastline, on high mountains, and make up the Cinque Terre National Park.  It's completely overrun with tourists (Americans, Aussies, and a noticeable number of Swedes!) but has a delightful charm due to the fact that there are no fast-food chains, coffee shops, etc. It appears to be as natural as it might have been hundreds of years ago, and is just plain old cute.

Most backpackers just spend a few days here, with the goal of completing the famous Cinque Terre hike, from the first village to the last village. It takes 6-8 hours, depending on your physical ability and amount of time you stop at each village along the way (come on, you have an opportunity to have five gelatos in one day!), but it really is a hike!

I stayed at a strange hostel, one that operates private apartments throughout the village of Riomaggiore.  Luckily, my apartment room was near the bottom of the huge mountain hill, so I didn't have to climb for so long every day.  It was a bit cramped, with 6 of us sharing a small space, but the benefit was that I got to meet some nice fellow travellers and explore the villages with them.

Julie, from Germany, and I tackled the hike together. We started off with the shortest and easiest of the four trails, from Riomaggiore to Manarola.  This is called Via Dell'Amore, or "Lover's Walk."  I forgot to mention that if you have a tough time dealing with being alone while traveling, then don't come to Cinque Terre! Almost every tourist here is with his or her spouse.  Anyway, this trail was flat and took only 15 minutes to walk.  Then, Manarola to Corniglia.  The popular, "easy" trail was blocked because of a landslide, so Julie and I had to make a decision: wait 1 hour for the next train to come to bring us to Corniglia and then continue the hike to the next village, or take on the longer, more difficult trail to Corniglia that was open.  And we chose the latter, which was the best decision we made that day!

Climbing higher up the mountain gave spectacular views of the water and of the villages nearby. We walked through magnificent olive gardens, vineyards, and lemon trees.  It was so beautiful, so breathtaking.  After 2 hours, we nearly collapsed when we finally arrived in Corniglia.  But, it was only 11 a.m., not yet time for lunch. So we figured we might as well finish 3/4 of the hike before lunchtime. Onwards to Vernazza.  This was also difficult, but shorter, and we were pumped.  We had a great lunch in Vernazza; I got to taste the famous Pasta Genovese (Genova is famous for its pesto) and we had a well-deserved after-lunch nap on the rocks, hearing the sounds of the waves in front of us.

Our last trail to Monterosso was steep and for me, difficult, probably because I was tired from our earlier trails.  But with steep climbing, you are rewarded with views of the entire region. Eight hours later, we finally reached Monterosso, the largest of the villages, and dove straight into the water for a refreshing swim. Not bad for one day!

During the rest of my stay in Riomaggiore (3 days total), I explored the villages and mostly soaked up the sun. Apart from the hike, the best thing to do here is find a nice spot (anywhere) close to the water, read a good book, and relax.  The sunset isn't too shabby here, too.

I do not regret stopping in Cinque Terre, and highly, highly, highly recommend going here. It's gorgeous, and you'll remember this little gem forever.  

Napoli

Following Dad's departure, I headed further south to Napoli to meet with Angie.

Situated along the west coast of Italy, Napoli has some gorgeous views of the sea and is close to the Amalfi Coast.  When you're walking on the hills and along the water, you feel a wonderful cool breeze that makes you momentarily forget the hot and humid sun that makes you pretty much sticky throughout the day.

Despite the fact that, at 38 degrees, this was the hottest week yet in Naples, Angie showed me a good portion of the city and I had a real Italian experience here!  We stayed inside for a good part of the day, not leaving the house until the early evening, when the heat had cooled down.  In addition to seeing the city's main sites, she took me out for authentic Naples pizza.  It was pretty cool, because it was Angie's boyfriend's sister's husband's friend's restaurant (get it?), as he is a pizza chef.  Since he's a family friend, he showed us how he makes his pizza and tosses it in the gorgeous wood-fired oven.  For me, Angie and her boyfriend said that I had to try the calzone, which had prociutto, cheese, onions, basil and a few other ingredients I can't remember.  All I remember was that this pizza was the best I'd had in Italy.  It was so crispy on the outside, but soft and oozing with melted mozzarella inside.  I also had arancini, delicious mini rice balls that are filled with cheese, then fried till crisp.

One of my highlights of the trip was meeting the grandparents in the family.  They were so sweet and exactly what I'd expect in an Italian family: wanting me to eat until I exploded! Angie's grandmother and grandfather were very sweet, and invited us for lunch that included fresh olives, prosciutto, cheeses, braised lamb shanks, and pasta.  And by the way, when an Italian offers you "coffee," note that this actually means espresso!

Angie, though I was absolutely stuffed from being constantly fed delicious food, also made sure that I tried baba, which is a cake soaked in rhum, and very popular here.  It was pretty good, and can have different fruit or cream flavours.

One thing that I will never forget about Napoli are the crazy drivers here and the garbage.  Narrow streets, cars and mopeds weaving in and out and in every which way - it really is comparable to my experience in Ningbo, China.  It's like suicide trying to cross the street! Luckily, I was in the hands of an awesome driver, though she was pretty crazy herself when driving us around!  Unfortunately, Naples, is very dirty.  Garbage and trash is strewn everywhere, throughout the streets.  It's as if no one cares.  

One day, I took a train to Sorrento, which is located on the famous Amalfi Coast.  It's a resort town, with beaches and nice shops.  However, I didn't actually go to the beach since you have to pay 8 euros to go! And they weren't even that nice, just some umbrellas and chairs squished together on some sparse sand.  The beach.  

I'm not entirely sure if I'd choose to live here; I think I'm a bit too used to living in a low-populated area with a bit more fresh air.  Still, I've very glad that I visited.  Arrivederci, Angela, and see you in three years!

Take me home, country roads

Home is where my heart will always be, even if I have been away for almost a year.  It was such a wonderful feeling descending in Vancouver, seeing the mountains I've missed for so long, and the city I love.

I'm back home now, and enjoying this much-awaited doing-nothing-important break.  In a way, it almost feels as if I never left, since everything is pretty much the same as I left it - apart from the slight rearrangement of furniture in the living room and my parents' new glitzy coffee machine, microwave, and desktop computer.  It's possible I'm going to notice more changes (mostly in myself) in time.

My homecoming turned out well.  Nicola and Kailee, with signs, greeted me at YVR, and also surprised me two boxes of Samurai Sushi. YUM.  My surprise early arrival for my mom also turned out rather well, when the next afternoon she and my dad came to Nic's apartment for lunch; the door opened, and seeing her gaping mouth and shocked look on her face was pretty priceless.  

I'm about seven trips behind on my blog - whoops!  It turned out to be more difficult than I thought to stay on top of things, once my dad headed back to Canada with all of my things, including my laptop.  And of course, laziness also prevailed.  So over the next little while I'll try to write up belated postings on each place, and hopefully I won't leave anything out that I've forgotten.

In the meantime, it's back to the "normal life."  For me, an unemployed grad, that means looking for a job and figuring out where I will live.  Ah, the joys of being out of school (for now)!

When in Rome

Time flies!  It's been one month (- 1 day) since I left for Prague.  That feels so long ago.  Though I've had more than one instance of homesickness ("K.T. go home..."), I've been enjoying exploring Europe.

In fact, time has gone by so quickly that I haven't had time to write about my most recent ravels in Italy.  That's right, Tuscany was not the end of the Italian Experience. Dad and I headed further south to a hotter, more humid, and even busier (if busier than Venice and Florence is even possible) Roma.  One woman at the train station told us to be prepared to be exhausted, and she couldn't have been more correct.  That said, we saw some pretty cool things!

I asked Dad what he would like to visit first, and without hesitation, "The Colosseum!!"  Of course, blood and gore.  One thing about the Colosseum is that it's huge.  Massive.  It's impressive how people, AD 72, were capable of building such an amphitheater.  We learned on a tour inside that not only were gladiator fights performed here, but also animal fights and some water-related events.  Capacity of the Colosseum: 70,000!!

On our third day, we visited the Vatican City.  Technically, it is within the city of Rome, but given its size and the amount of time needed to get through the entire vicinity, we considered this almost like a day trip and did, indeed, spend the day there.

Luckily we booked a tour, which allowed us to bypass the 2-hour wait (standing in a loooong line, no shade) to get into the Vatican Museums. Our tour guide had a major in art history and philosophy, so we learned a lot!  Highlights included the Raphael Loggia (artwork done by Raphael), ceilings paintings that look 3-D (picture above) and the Sistine Chapel.  Michaelangelo was a very important contributor to the artwork in the chapel, notably, the ceiling, which we were not allowed to photograph.  The ceiling artwork contains a lot of hidden symbolism, and political and personal messages from Michaelangelo.  Did you know that he lived to 87 years and was homosexual?

St. Peter's Basilica was also spectacular.  Even for me, the one who often sees churches as looking the same, appreciated the artwork in this church.

Other things that we saw were the Pantheon, the best-preserved structure in the city, and an important site in Angels and Demons (so of course we had to go!), the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and countless piazzas.

In terms of food, a lot of gelato, pasta carbonara, and Roma pizza.  Yum  yum.  But let me tell you something, the best pizza I had was somewhere else, and this is the place I'll talk about in my next posting. Hint: Angela :)

Under the Tuscan sun

Three days in Tuscany was enough to understand why one would live there.  The landscape, good food, good wine - what more could you need?  Oh right, cheesy photoshoots.  More on that later.

Dad and I stayed in Florence, the capital of the province of Tuscany.  Unlike Venice, which seems to have more canals than streets, Florence is structured a bit more "normally."  That is, we could navigate around much more easily and appear slightly less obviously like tourists (unless you include the times Dad would stop in the middle of the sidewalk, scratch his head, and look at the map, concerned).

We spent the first day walking throughout the city.  The architecture is simply beautiful.  Everything from the Duomo (huge cathedral that looks over the city), to the Palazzo Vecchio, and to the Ponte Vecchio (oldest surviving bridge in Florence across the River Arno), is just gorgeous and reminds you of the long history that this country dates back to.  Walking on the uneven cobblestones on the streets, and sitting inside the old cathedrals takes you back in the Renaissance time. 

The next day, we went to the Boboli and Bardini Gardens, located behind the Palazzo Pitti (palace belonging to some rich banker).  I was a bit unimpressed with the fact that we had to pay to enter the gardens, which were nothing out of the ordinary (aside from a lot of strange statues and stairs to climb).   In the afternoon, we climbed some steep hills to reach the Piazzale Michaelangelo, where we treated our tired and sweaty selves to gelato.  Dad then managed to be persuaded by a vendor to buy a poster of the Mona Lisa ("of all posters, Dad, why did you pick her?!) which he said we could put up on the walls of our house - did you hear that, Mom?

One thing that I've noticed upon leaving Sweden, is that I'm able to spot a Swede even before he or she speaks.  It's really weird.  First, I when I noticed blonde hair, I have suspicions.  Then I look at how the person is dressed - looking more or less well-kempt and dressed, hair not messy, and most of all, Converses, then I'm almost 100% sure that this tourist is from Sweden.  And almost 100% of the time, when he or she starts speaking, I hear "ja-ha!"

Anyway, back to Firenze.  The last day was really the highlight of the entire trip: a tour of the region surrounding Florence.  In other words, a tour of Tuscany and a hunt for Chianti!

Siena is a historic (though which part of Italy isn't historic?) city about 1.5 hours south of Florence.  As expected, it's overridden with tourists, and is home to the world's oldest bank (or so they told us on the tour).  Siena is most known for being the site of the famous Palio, a horse race that takes place twice a year, July 2nd and August 16th, in the Piazza del Campo.  We happened to arrive two days after the recent race, so the clay and mud that is smeared over the piazza ground was still present, and a lot of chatter amongst locals could be heard regarding the race.  The Palio heavily centred around religion, and the 17 horses in the race are considered chosen by fate.  The race lasts just over a minute, yet, people spend hours arriving early to stand in the sweltering heat, waiting for it to begin.

What's a tour of Tuscany without good food and wine?  San Gimignano, a medieval town, is located close to Siena.  Near San Gimignano, we visited an organic farm and vineyard.  My initial assumptions, hearing that it's a family-run farm, was that it would be small and cute and personable.  It turns out that this is a huge farm, and really runs like a business.  I still enjoyed it, though; the view from the farm down to San Gimignano was incredible.  The farm even has its own cows for meat production (t-bone steak).  I didn't have a chance to speak with the farm owners/workers directly because the tour was so rushed, but it was still nice to be able to see the vintage grape vines and olive trees. 

95% of the food that we ate at the farm was produced on-site.  We started with bruschetta (drizzled with good extra-virgin olive oil), salad with fresh and ripe red tomatoes, handmade taglietelle with beef ragout, a selection of prosciutto, salami, and cheeses, and finally an almond biscotti.  We also tried four kind of Chianti wine, including a dessert wine that was similar to ice wine (though I prefer ice wine). Stuffed to the brim with food.  Thankfully, the dark shadow in the picture above masks the works of the lack of asian enzymes..

Though I was full, I absolutely had to try the 2009-2010 world champion gelateria in San Gimignano.  The best I'd tasted in Italy so far.

And then the moment we'd all be waiting for: Pisa!  Yes, we spent all our time in front of the tower, perfecting our stances.  But the best part of it all was seeing thousands of others around us doing the exact same poses - kind of looks like a cult, don't you think?

So there you go, my tour of Tuscany.  I have a feeling that from now until the end of this trip, I'm going to be massively behind on my blogging, since I won't always have access to Internet and I'm sending my laptop home with Dad.  We've just spent four days in Rome, and tomorrow Dad's heading back to Vancity, and very much looking forward to eating "normal food."  As for me, more adventures to come!

Venezia

Somehow I managed to haul my two 20 kg suitcases, laptop, and backpack full of food onto a train, a bus, and another train, before successfully making it to the hotel room in Quarto d’Altino, a town close to Venice.  Two hours later, in walked my dad, who just completed a 14-hour flight from Vancouver to Zurich, and then to Venice.  I haven’t seen my dad since August, so we had a lot to talk about.

This was my first hotel in a loooong time, and definitely wasn’t used to having such luxurious surroundings.  We stayed a wonderful, quiet villa called Hotel Villa Otino, in the countryside – and with a huge breakfast buffet, which always scores bonus points!    

Venezia.  Canals galore.  I didn’t realize just how different this city is from others.  The central method of public transportation is by water taxis, and while we were there we found no buses.  Canals intertwine throughout the entire city centre, and when there are no canals, it’s pedestrian streets, narrow, and very crowded!  Unfortunately, the water is really dirty as a result of the boats.  Also, it’s really difficult to find your way around the city.  Everywhere you looked, you could see at least one person holding a map and looking confused or lost.  We spent the first hour getting lost and somehow ending up in the outskirts of the city.

The main piazza, Piazza San Marco, is huge, and is surrounded by St. Mark’s basilica and Doge’s Palace.  From the top of the nearby bell tower, you have really nice views of the entire city.

It was hot and humid in Venice, but what’s a better cure for this than gelato? Gelato and pizzeria restaurants dominate the streets, and you can see just about one of every three people on the streets holding a gelato cone.  And it’s so delicious!  While I was in Venice, I also tried a local specialty: cuttlefish and squid ink spaghetti.  Slightly salty and tasting of fish (obviously), it was very different from my usual pasta with tomato sauce dinners. 

Overall, Venice was a nice and short visit, but it was too crowded for my liking.  I needed more breathing room, and thankfully, Florence and a tour of Tuscany gave me just that.

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

If you have been keeping track of where I was spending my days last week, you will be able to understand why I’ve been constantly humming “Edelweiss” in my head.  Wilkommen to Salzburg, where you are constantly reminded of Fraulein Maria while exploring this beautiful city located within the Alps region of Austria.

Salzburg is a relatively small yet pretty town.  It was easy to walk throughout the city to see the main sites, and because I gave myself four days here, I was able to take my time and go at a slower pace, and take it all in. 

On the first couple of days, I spent a good portion of my time in the Old Town, across the river; it’s fun to wander the streets and also discover “hidden” passages and alleys.  The first thing I noticed about Old Town is a very popular chocolate that’s sold absolutely everything.  Literally, every second store sells this.  It’s the Mozartkugel, a chocolate ball with a marzipan filling. I’ve been lucky enough to have my fair share of Mozartkugel back in Sweden, and even eat Mozartkugel knodel dumpling filled with the chocolate ball), thanks to Martina.  I also discovered that Salzburg has its own Japadog: the Bosna.  It’s two pork sausages, grilled in a variety of spices, placed into a bun, and topped with raw onions.  It is a local street food specialty, but it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. 

I also took my time to see as many of the filming locations as possible from The Sound of Music.  First, I went to Mirabell Gardens, which is where “Do-Re-Mi” was filmed.  You may recognize the fountain that Maria and the kids walked around while singing in their matching curtain clothes.  The gardens are really nice, with a backdrop of the fortress that looms over the city.  The fortress gives good views of the entire city, and is also close to the abbey, where Maria lived at the beginning of the film. Residenz in Old Town, a large square.  Maria walked through here, splashing the water from the giant horse fountain while singing “I have confidence.” 

I took a day trip to Hallstatt, a lake village located in Salzerkammut.  This is a lake district a few hours from Salzburg, and is surrounded by the Austrian Alps.  The water was so clear and clean, and with the fabulous mountains looking over, It felt a bit like the Lofoten Islands in Norway (except there were a lot more Asian tourists!).  The village houses are really cool – wooden and rustic, and decorated with ornamental flowers.  Hallstatt is also the site of possible the world’s first salt mine.  I had a chance to relax with The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo (which is highly addictive, by the way, and my plans to save the reading for my train ride to Venice failed) by the water, visit the village, sample goulash wit knodel, and then a hike up the Alps!  I later found out that China has plans to make an exact replica of Hallstatt – kind of weird.

On my last day in Salzburg, I realized I missed one key The Sound of Music location: Hellbrunn Palace.  The gazebo where Liesl sang and danced “I am Sixteen” is located there (a replica for tourists, though).  I ended up walking to the palace that’s about 7 km away, and am so glad that I did, because I went through a nice walking/biking road, away from tourists, called Hellbrunner Allee.  I also passed by Frohnburg Palace, which was also a backdrop in the movie.  Hellbrunn Palace has a huge garden, fountains, and green grass; I had a nice siesta before heading back.  Once I was back in Old Town, I did some shopping for my train ride the following day, and bought some yummy pretzels.

Salzburg was really nice; it’s not as big as Prague or Munich, but it has a lot of charm and the people are friendly.  I managed to have a two-hour conversation with a very sweet lady on the train, while she only spoke German and I only English – somehow we managed to communicate!  Plus, how can you not love a place where the hills are always alive? 

Hop and Off

My Germany trip was short but memorable.  I decided to stick to the Bavaria region, in the south of Germany.  I stayed in Munich, and from there, went on a few day trips.  

I didn't realize Munich was such a tourist destination! When I arrived, I was pretty shocked at the number of people at the train station (Hauptbahnhof).  I'm pretty sure I heard more English than German, actually.  I felt a bit more relaxed walking around the city, compared to Prague, because though I'm nowhere close to being fluent in German, I think I can read some of the words more easily, thanks to my time in Sweden (the languages are similar). 

The day I arrived, I was pretty exhausted from the train ride, but I did take a short walk to the city centre, to Marienplatz.  "Platz" means a square (I think), and this is a large one with a famous glockenspiel.  It's also a big shopping street.

I was really hungry and was sick of eating crispbread and nutella, so found a currywurst stand.  Disappointing! It's not bad-tasting, but it's just a bratwurst doused in ketchup and sprinkled with curry powder.  However, the huge, sweet and salty pretzels here are amazing! 

The next day, I joined a tour group to Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany, and only one to last for the entire Nazi ruling.  I was both looking forward to and nervous about this tour.  It's difficult to summarize everything that I learned and saw during the tour, but so much of what was talked about and shown to us was incredible disturbing and horrifying. 

Dachau was opened in the old ammunitions factory (for WWI) in 1933, and was originally built for the purpose of "re-educating" political opposition prisoners.  Later on, it became the concentration camp that Dachau became famous for.  The reason why it so feared was because it was also the location for the training grounds of the SS guards, making them just a stone's throw away from the prisoners.  It's one thing to learn about this in books and watch movies about the Holocaust, but to walk in the footsteps of those victims, to stand in the barracks where hundreds were cramped, and to step into the gas chambers that killed so many of these people, it leaves a lasting impression.  

At the end of the day, a few of us from the tour (two Americans and an Aussie) were a bit worn down from the tour, but headed back to the city for some more sightseeing.  In the end, we ate dinner at the famous Hofbräuhaus beerhall.  I managed to down the infamous 1 litre mug that accompanied my pork knuckle and dumplings (though I have to admit it was a Radler).  We ended the night at a beer garden in the English Gardens.  

Yesterday, my last day in Germany, I took a 2-hour train to Füssen, where I met with Sonja and Marisa, who drove down from Stuttgart.  I haven't seen them since they left Sweden in January, so we had lots to catch up on and talk about.  We also took a tour of the popular Neuschwanstein Castle.  It served as a model for Disney castles. Like a fairytale!  Even better, this region of Germany is surrounded by the Alps, and is absolutely beautiful.

After a walk around the nearby lake, we finished our day with fika :)  Delicious kirschstrudel (cherry strudel) with vanilla sauce and ice cream.

After this very short tour in Bavaria, I arrived in Salzburg today.  I'm currently watching The Sound of Music in my hostel, and have already visited the location of the scene for "Do-Re-Mi."  A few days here, and then off to meet my dad in Italia!   

City of a hundred spires

The second half of my adventure in Prague was great.  On Monday, Sarka brought me back to the city centre for some more sights: Wencelas Square, which is more of a long street than a square.  It spans a long distance, is where lots of tourists and expensive shops are located.  The famous St. Wenceslas statue, with the patron on his horse, is found here (also found on the Czech coins).

We went to Letna Park, a favourite among locals for once again great views of the city.  It's nice to find some peace and quiet, away from the bustling city centre.  The rest of the day was spent in the Old New Synagogue (Jewish Quarters).  We learned about the history and culture of Jews, and probably the aspect that hit us the hardest was when we found ourselves in a section dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust.  In this building, the walls were covered with the names, birth and death dates, and place of birth of every Czech victim.  It's one thing to hear that 80,000 people were killed, but to read the names and details of every single person was horrifying.

The next day, I visited Český Krumlov, a lovely town about 3 hrs south of Prague.  It's medieval and has a cool castle that towers over the rest of the town.  There's a river where people row boats and rafts, a bit like Valborg, actually!  It's a nice place to spend the day and walk around, enjoy the surroundings and visit cute shops.  

Yesterday, Ivan took a turn to bring me around.  This time we went to a quiet garden that belongs to the Czech Senate, and along with water fountains, Japanese coy fish, random peacocks running around, there was a creepy dripstone wall, that if you look at it from a distance, resembles grotesque people and animals.   I also saw the Lennon Wall (not Lenin, but Lennon!), a graffiti wall dedicated to John Lennon and freedom (from communism).  Cool to see layers and layers of paint and art on this historical wall.  

The tv tower, otherwise known as the crawling baby tower, is pretty awesome.  There are giant, naked babies on all sides of the tower. Random!  Ivan also showed me a vineyard a little bit outside of the city centre - yet another beautiful view of this city of spires and orange rooftops!

I also tried a different dish, potato dumplings with pieces of pork back inside, with sauerkraut on the side.  It reminded me of Swedish pitepalt, though I'm sure the Swedes would have lingonberry sauce instead of sauerkraut.

My week here was perfect.  Though I found myself no longer in the safety net that Sweden pampered me with for 10 months, and in a world with not very friendly drivers, rugged and dirtier streets, and a language I couldn't even pretend to understand or speak, I couldn't have asked for a better start to my Eurotrip than this.  Everyone here has been so generous to me.  A wonderful time spent with friends, locals, and of course, good food :)