Tonight I'm trying to catch up on a bunch of posts at once. First and foremost-- my excellent spring break in Italy!
We caught a night train from Vienna to
Venice and arrived in the city of canals around 8am, surprisingly well-rested. After dropping the bags at our hostel, we set out to explore. Venice is rather small and one can easily walk everywhere--no need to pay any hefty prices for a touristy gondola ride or get a public transportation ticket for a boat-bus. Venice's main street stays roughly near the Grand Canal and forms a full circle that incorporates all the major sites. We visited the Basilica of San Marco, the Arsenal, the Rialto bridge, and many other churches. Along the way, we passed hundreds of
shops full of beautiful
glass jewelry and
masks. I had heard negative things about Venice and how touristy it has become, but I really enjoyed my brief stay in the city; it probably also helped that I was traveling with two other girls and we had a blast exploring all the unique little shops.
On Sunday we went to Palm Sunday mass in Venice, and watched a procession of palms outside a church for a later service. Then it was time to bid farewell to the
sinking city and catch a train to La Spezia... from the eastern Italian coast to the western. After changing trains, we passed Florence and Pisa and arrived in La Spezia in the evening-- we had made it to the gateway of the
Cinque Terre! Rather exhausted, we caught a regional train to the second town (Manarola) in which
our hostel was located. Unfortunately, the train station was through a tunnel at the bottom of the mountainside. Rolling our luggage behind us, we stumbled up the steep winding streets of Manarola to where our hostel was perched high above. Our ravenous stomaches reminded us that we had never eaten dinner, so after checking in we trekked into the town and found an excellent seafood place for dinner (mmm stuffed muscles). The Cinque Terre, being located right on the coast, provided some of the best seafood that I have had in all of Europe.
We spent all of Monday outside, savoring the fresh air and the incredible views in the Cinque Terre.
The Five Towns are (from north to south) Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. We started by hiking the easy and scenic "
Via dell' Amore" (Lovers' trail) from Manarola to Riomaggiore.
Riomaggiore is the main town of the Cinque Terre; like all the towns, its main source of food is first the sea and secondly the vineyards. (Note that the sea in that picture does not do justice to the beauty of the ocean; see later shots). From this southernmost town we took the train north to
Vernazza. We spent a good portion of time in Vernazza--eating lunch beside the crashing waves, walking around the town, and hiking up the mountain to a sanctuary and cemetery with a
spectacular view.
From there, we caught the train up to Monterosso, but due to the time we didn't walk up to the main town (it is supposedly more built-up with hotels and restaurants). Instead, we stayed
on the beach, one of the few sand beaches in the Cinque Terre. Anastasia, who is from the Midwest and hadn't been on a beach in the past 10 years, especially loved it. Caught the train to
Corniglia and enjoyed this final town of the Five Lands. From Corniglia, we hiked back to Manarola, catching a
great view (like a postcard!) from the path of our starting point perched on the cliff by the sea. We had dinner in another lovely seafood restaurant, right on the edge of town and overlooking the sea, sipping wine and enjoying muscles, crab, and pasta as the sun sunk low in the sky. But we couldn't stay for the full sunset. We hurried back to the hostel and gathered our bags, and from the Manarola platform waiting for the train to La Spezia, we watched the
sun sink below the watery horizon. It was perfect.
I absolutely loved the Cinque Terre. One last favorite picture before moving on:
Florence was next. From Tuesday until Wednesday night, we explored the city of Dante, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo, and countless others. In fact, we saw the tomb of those latter three names (plus a Cenotaph to Dante, as the exile never returned to Florence) in the
Church of Santa Croce. This church also had frescos by Donatello. Also went inside the Florence Duomo, which has this
famous painting of Dante and his Comedy. Needless to say, this fan of Dante was loving every moment of being in a city where everything from the streets to the restaurants were named after the famous poet. (And yet Dante actually spends most of the Comedy bashing his home city of Florence). We explored many of the famous piazas, saw the fake David (not wanting to pay or wait in line for the real one), and walked
Ponte Vecchio. Wednesday morning we woke up at dawn in order to get in line for the
Uffizi gallery. This extensive art museum, which houses the treasures of the Medicci family, is one of the greatest art collections in the world: Botticelli, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Rubens, Rembrant, and more. As an individual who has rarely had the opportunity to see the great masters before this semester, this was a truly incredible experience.
To celebrate our final hours in Firenze, we kept up our tradition of "A Gelato, A Day" by going to a
70 flavor gelateria. I had a lot of gelato in Italy, but this was my favorite place. We enjoyed incredible flavors such as rose, grapefruit, chocolate mousse, papaya, kiwi, blackberry, and a mixed melon flavor which was my favorite of the day... not to mention all the crazy flavors that I'm not even sure what they were! ^_^
Onward to
ROMA! We were in Rome for Easter, which was overwhelming but also a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We were able to secure tickets to all of the papal masses and thus celebrated mass with the pope four days in a row. Crazy! The crowds for these masses were unbelievable... though tickets are required to attend, more tickets are printed than people could possibly fit inside the building, so you need to get there at least two hours ahead of time. On Holy Thursday, we learned what an "Italian line" is. Basically, there is no line, just a lot of people pushing forward in a solid herd. We were very lucky to get inside and get seats for every mass.
Thursday we explored the city, highlighted by the visit to the Pantheon, which is now a Christian basilica and houses the tomb of Raphael. Friday we woke up very early once more in order to go to the Vatican museum. We arrived before it opened, but still stood in line for 1.5 hours until we got in the doors. We took our time once inside, savoring the treasures of sculptures, maps, paintings, and artifacts. We saw the Rooms of Raphael, which include the
School of Athens (not my picture) and on other walls, paintings that include Dante ^_^. The collection was incredible! The crowning highlight came at the end of the museum--the Sistine Chapel.
I can't say how long we spent in that one room. I had always pictured a small-ish, round chapel, with the painting of God and Adam focused in the center, but it was far and beyond my expectations. No pictures of it really do the room justice; indeed pictures are not allowed in the room so these are not mine. There is incredible artwork on every wall, in every nook, to the point that there is too much to see. Michelangelo painted the
ceiling, which traces creation through the Fall of Man/the Flood. The walls are covered by Biblical scenes by the masters, Botticelli among them, with scenes from Moses' life on one side and Jesus' life on the other. Behind the altar is another of Michelangelo's masterpieces:
The Last Judgement.
Saturday we went to the Catacombs south of the city. Portions of Catacombs, or labyrinthine tunnels that served as safe havens and burial places of the early Christians, continue to be discovered in areas around Rome. We were able to descend into these old passageways and walk in the old cemetery or "sleeping place". There were thousands of shelves and the pieces of plaster or marble on the walls that used to cover the front of the shelf. These plaster slabs from the early centuries AD were decorated with Christian scenes and symbols that are clearly distinguishable to any Christian today. It was spiritually moving to see, for the first time, and ancient site that used not only a language that I could (sort-of / pretend to) understand but also a religion that I was intimately familiar with. This was not hieroglyphs or cuneiform, but something that connected closer to me and my own life experience.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Roman ruins, exploring the grounds of the old Forum and Augustus' House. We ended up going to the Colosseum Sunday afternoon instead. It was very impressive just how much of this ancient civilization is still in excellent condition!
Sunday we attended our last papal Easter service--Easter Sunday mass in St. Peter's Square. It was amazing to see so many thousands of people gathered into one place for a mass, including more of the religious (priests, nuns, etc) than I have ever seen. In addition, the enthusiasm of this multicultural crowd was incredible. A group of young Latino girls near me shouted a song-like chant with claps and waving their flag to "Viva le Papa!" Hundreds of flags waved throughout the square, despite the pouring rain (everyone was completely soaked by the end, but we stuck through). It was a collection of patriotism and internationalism and mixed backgrounds, but all gathered for one purpose. In the end of the service, Pope Benedict read a final blessing which included wishes for a "Buona Pasqua" or "Happy Easter" echoed in more than 70 languages. Even though we couldn't communicate with most of the people we were seated beside, it still felt united and connected.
Monday we caught an early train from Rome to
Milan. We explored the famous city of fashion for a few hours, though most places were closed for the national holiday of Easter Monday. Left in the early afternoon to catch our plane back to Vienna and return to classes the next day.
It was a whirlwind trip, but I fell in love with Italy. In one trip, I saw major works by all of the ninja turtles, including the tombs of two of them. I tasted genuine gelato every day, and now there's no going back. I saw scenic views and incredible buildings, and tasted delicious dishes. It was almost too much for just a week and a half, and I look forward to the opportunity to return.
