Florence: you’ll forget about all the lining up.

Florence is crowded, religious, crazy, beautiful and smaller than expected.

Florence from Piazzle Michelangelo

We decided to visit Pisa on our way to Florence. Of course, going here is based around seeing the leaning tower. It’s an icon of Italy and I think I would have felt strange if I hadn’t laid eyes on it. Kind of like not getting a pizza (well, maybe not that crazy). The tower itself is strange to see and quite captivating. The lean is hard to capture in photos, but rest assured I got my dicky tourist photo of me holding it up. It was very crowded and there were more than a few people keen to pay the 18 Euro to climb to the top. I was not one of them. Pisa was a nice enough town, but unfortunately it didn’t hold our attention for too long. The stopover on the train was the perfect way to see it. The real highlight, however, was the delicious panini I ate as we walked back to the train. It was amazing. Speck, eggplant, brie and pesto. Delicious.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We arrived in Florence in a downpour. Lugging our bags around in the pouring rain was not a happy travel moment, but I guess it can’t all be sunshine and rainbows (weather pun intended). Then, in a Melbourne-esque turn, the sun came out only a matter of moments later, which was then replaced by an arctic cold breeze. For a second, it made me a little homesick. The best part about the rain was seeing the hasty alterations by the street-sellers who quickly packed away their designer knock-off sunglasses for sale and pulled out umbrellas of all shapes and sizes for our perusal. Enterprise at its best.

A walk around the city to get your bearings is always the first thing I like to do in a new spot. This was almost impossible in Venice, but has been a good way to get to know Riomaggiore and Florence. On this walk we quickly discovered that the dominant figure in the landscape of the city is the Duomo. It is an imposing structure, but is magnificently detailed. It peers over other buildings and if you’re looking in its general direction it can be seen from all around (even from the window of our hostel room). I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen a more impressive building anywhere. Of course, many, many, many agree with me and the Piazza del Duomo is filled with people; morning, noon and night. Walking through is hard, lining up is a fact of life and you must do your best to avoid being sucked into a walking group vortex. There are a lot of people because there is lots to do in the piazza: a visit to the stunning Baptistery, with its Byzantine-inspired mosaic dome; walking through the cathedral and seeing fascinating Roman ruins that lie underneath it; climbing the bell tower and the dome for breathtaking city views and visiting the Duomo museum that features ‘Pieta’ a sculpture by Michelangelo (and a mate, but who remembers him?). We were lucky enough to climb the dome while 8am mass was on. The 3 priests sang in Italian while we looked up at the amazing roof and down at the cathedral below. I’m not a religious person, but it was a very special moment to be a part of.

The view of the Duomo from its bell tower.

But it is not all about the Duomo. It’s also the other D – David. He is everywhere. You see his famous form on everything from guide books and brochures to him in all his glory on the front of novelty boxer shorts, Michelangelo’s David is the star of Florence. And with good reason, the sculpture itself is nothing short of amazing. David’s sinewy muscles, protruding ribs and knobby knees are so real. It is as if you are staring at a real-life gigantic man. I looked at David for the longest that I have ever looked at a piece of art and he never got boring. The scene around the statue is almost as interesting. The large crowd all stare up in awe, proclaiming their amazement in many languages; talented art students sit and try to sketch his much copied form and cheeky tourists try to take sneaky photos and are chased around by hapless security shouting ‘no photo!’. We also fought a large crowd earlier in the day at the Uffizi Gallery, home of the beautiful ‘Birth of Venus’ by Botticelli. The crowd that gathered around her was not quite as big as around David but the gallery itself was packed. We bought tickets before so we could use the ‘reservation’ line, but we still lined up for 45 minutes. The poor folk in the line to buy tickets apparently had a wait of 2 hours to contend with. A conversation about Florence cannot happen without mentioning all the lining up. The interesting thing is that as soon as you’re in, the line ups are forgotten. We forgot the line for the dome climb when we were at the top staring out for miles over Florence and Tuscany. We forgot the line into the Uffizi when we walked down the long hallway that was lined with sculptures from Roman times to the Renaissance. We forgot the line to get into the Academia when we saw David towering above us. It was frustrating at the time, but it was worth it in the end.

A David copy in Piazza della Signoria (Where the real David used to live).

After 3 days of exploring the city, we jumped on a bus to explore a little more of Tuscany. Our day trip was to Siena, a quaint little medieval town that’s claim to fame is that it runs a not-so-RSPCA-approved horse race in the town piazza every July. Even without being present for the race, Siena is a charming town. Its contrasts are evident from the time you step off the bus, designer shops in historical buildings, tourists and university students battling cars that streak up and down the cobblestone streets and hundreds of people packing out the piazza while the streets around it are silent. I know some people base themselves out of Siena in Tuscany, but there wasn’t much more than a day trip’s worth of stuff to do there for us.

Piazza Del Campo, home to the horse race ‘Il Palio’

Florence is an interesting city. It is able to be many things to many people: it is a tourist mecca; it is a creative centre; it has scams; it has beauty and for the moment, it is home to the best pizza we have had in Italy. (from Foccacia della Notte for those of you playing along at home). Onward to Roma.

Cinque Terre: upstairs, downstairs.

Cinque Terre is magnificent, busy, picturesque, American and features more stairs than you have ever seen.

Manarola, one of the Cinque Terre.

Our Eurail pass took us from coast to coast and we found ourselves in Italy’s north-west. It was easy, efficient and an amazing way to see the rolling hills and countryside of Veneto and Tuscany, all at 250ks per hour. It made me ponder why in Australia we are so behind on the high-speed rail caper. But then again we seem so behind on environmental issues, marriage  equality and about a thousand other things so I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked. *apologies, end political rant*

The end of the line was glorious Riomaggiore, the first of the 5 towns that make up ‘Cinque Terre’. Riomaggiore is a seaside town set into cliffs. Being a fishing village, everyone wants to be close to the water so the locals decided to build up, not out. The effect is high rise terrace houses, steep stairs and people literally living on top of each other. Like Venice, here are a group of people who just make it work. The houses are painted pastel yellows, pinks and oranges and most have green shutters. The effect of this colour scheme is breathtaking and impactful. I guess that is the running theme here. All the space has impact. The mountains, the sheer cliff faces, the buildings in large packs, the ocean that blends into the horizon and the colours all come together to create an amazing postcard finish.

Riomaggiore.

This is probably one of the many reasons that this is one of the more “touristy” locations I have been to. Now, I know a lot of people say that word quite snidely and somehow think that they are “travellers, not tourists”. I do not mean it in these terms, everyone packs their bags for different reasons, but they all do it because at the end of the day they want an experience. It is not for me to judge or think I am better that anyone else. I just mean touristy as in the expense is great and the business is geared towards the tourist dollar. Yes, it is very busy, but the disappointing thing for me is that when I walk down the street in any of the 5 towns I hear more American accents than anything else. Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I am hearing American voices, it’s that I am not hearing Italian ones. When I try to order food in Italian I am replied to in English. I am in Italy to be in Italy, so I guess I’m finding this a little inauthentic; however, I’m sure I’ll be complaining in a few blog’s time when people are being rude to me for not speaking Italian properly! Because of this I’ve really relished all the local moments we’ve come across, watching the town’s children play soccer in the square, shopping in the local ‘punto’ supermarket, an amazing margarita pizza from ‘Mamma Mia’ take-away and watching the owner of our ‘local’ bar (and I promise we do love him for more than his free wifi), Bar Centrale, changing the set up of the bar to create long tables to have a dinner of seafood stew, polenta & bread with 6 of his friends while he’s meant to be working. Again, it’s about the small things.

Local kids playing soccer.

Whilst in Cinque Terre the main focus is on hiking, lookouts, scenery and stairs. We discovered the two walks we came to do were both closed due to landslides. So this called for a change of plans. Another sobering reminder that you can never be sure of anything when you’re travelling! On our first day we explored our base and sat in a bar on the clifftop and ate cheese and drank wine; tough stuff obviously. On our second day caught the train out to Monterosso, hiked up (and back down) a mountain to the ruins of an old church, San Antonio, (track 10) all of the 2ks felt like they were straight up and being the most unfit person alive, I struggled! So many stairs. So, so many, We then caught the train back through the other 3 towns: Vernazza, with it’s beautiful clear water and stony beach; Corniglia, a gorgeous town on top of a cliff that takes 15 minutes to walk to, straight up several hundred stairs; and Manarola, the town with some of the most gorgeous scenery and the most people, on the way back to Riomaggiore. All the villages have a similar look but are distinct enough to capture your attention and stick in the memory as individual towns. On our third day, as if we had forgotten the struggles of the previous day, we climbed more stairs and hiked up another mountain from Riomaggiore to Telegrapho via Madonna di Montenero monastery (track 3), this was a beautiful walk that led us through farm land, terraced gardens, old stone houses, forest and finally to a little cafe with delicious cake on the top of the mountain. If it has cake at the end of it, you know it’s my kind of walk.

Walking to Telegrapho on track 3.

Some places are ‘touristy’ with good reason. The 5 towns of Cinque Terre are deserved of the visitors that flock there. The interesting part is that the 5 villages don’t seem to lose their charm and I’m sure the stunning scenery will mean there will be many, many more visitors to succumb to their many sets of stairs well after we leave.

Venice: where’s the map?

Venice is beguiling, confusing, surreal, intriguing and a little bit smelly.

Piazza San Marco from the terrace of Basilica di San Marco

There were a lot of things I had heard about Venice, but nothing really prepared me for just how interesting it truly is.  The strange blue-green colour of the canals, getting lost with useless maps, beautiful blooming window boxes, makeshift rooftop courtyards, laundry hanging between houses above the water or the street, the piles of rubbish, old grand churches, architecture from centuries ago, mosaics, cobblestone, devotional artwork and yes, even quite an odd smell, captured me after only one jet-lagged afternoon’s walk and intrigued me over the few days we were here. Everything is interesting. Without exception.

The Grand Canal from the Rialto.

The best thing is that despite warnings that it was inevitable, we have not encountered large crowds of people. Piazza San Marco has been the exception, with massive tour groups littering the square, huddled around their guides. Other than that, the streets have been relatively quiet and we were able to walk to the edges of the city and see only a few shuffling old Italian ladies taking the shopping home for dinner, students laughing heartily, workers rushing home and people sitting having an afternoon espresso with their dog sitting proudly on their lap. Walking away from the crowds, nicking down tucked away back alleys and snaking from “campo” to “campo” (squares) through tiny “calles” (streets) helped us avoid the crowds and has let us see the real Venice. We’ve been left staring at our precious map more times than I care to remember, but it is entirely worth it.

Not that we have skipped out on the things that bring people to Venice, the Basilica di San Marco, with amazing domes, mosaics and marble work; The Galleria Dell’Accademia featuring Venetian renaissance devotional art work (ie. lots of paintings of “Madonna con bambino”); The famous bridges like the Rialto and the Ponte dei Sospiri; the island of Murano and of course, lots of amazing churches, with my personal favourite being the facade of the Cheisa San Moise in San Marco and the interior of the Santa Maria Assunta dei Gesuiti. However, I really think my favourite part has been just walking around or catching a vaporetto, (public water bus) getting lost and stumbling across Venetian people going about their lives.

Cheisa San Moise

However, The importance of the tourist dollar is always prevalent, The same man on the corner near our hotel tries to sell me roses every time we walk past, you can hear the gondoliers shouting for your business near every body of water and food is quite pricey in some places. We learned just how expensive on our first night after paying $50 AUD for a cheese pizza to share, bottle of still water and a beer. Call it jet-lag, starvation or just plain stupidity, we will not be doing that again! Hole in the wall places serving large slices of pizza, tiny sweet shops and ‘snack’ cafes are the best bet and amazingly delicious too! I don’t ever want to forget the amazing homemade gelati I had at ‘Il Golosone’. I have never tasted better; but given I am in Italy this is very likely to change!

There has also been an unexpected side to Venice. We visited the Isola Dei Morti and walked around San Michele Cimeterio, got a Peroni at a bar called The Raging Pub, enjoyed a morning at amazing Natural History Museum (which was among one of the best I’d ever been to), ate amazing home made pasta at a sports bar and saw how people function in a city. From the intricate pulley systems they create from 3rd story windows to the street to the rubbish collection, postal delivery and even building work completed on water, I’m intrigued by the Venetian people’s ability to make it work.

The canals.

A wonderful place to begin the journey.