I got to know Italy this year, what a beautiful country! I wanted to go overthere because of the food, I just love pasta, pesto and tomatoes. I wanted to go for the nature, everyone told me how amazing it is. I wanted to go a little bit for the art and architecture. And if I need to point out the 'art' and 'architecture' I wanted to see, well it was the Trevi fountain (Rome) and the Doge Palace (Venice). Those were the only things on my program that needed to be seen. And there was one little other thing why I wanted to go: it's the country of Paolo Conte.
But of course, it's much more than that. The gelato is so sweet, mannequin-outfits hit your eyes and it's full of gadgetshops. So let me take you with me on my discovery trip in Italy, because when I arrived, totally alone, I was an Italy-virgin.
Ok, so my first stop after my departure in Brussels was
Milano. I went up to meet my first and amazing couchsurfer-host Maurizio. And yes, I was not only an Italy-virgin, also a couchsurfer-virgin... And it turned out to be a great couchsurfing-experience. Maurizio showed me a little sicilian restaurant, explained what's worth seeing and was a really good listener and real-life-stories-teller.
So, Milano, what do I remember? I remember it's a
big crowded city and I was getting lost the whole time because of all those little streets and squares! So take the metro to the big places and keep your eye on the map when you start to wander around because it's really hard to find your spot on the map. I was unprepared for this city. I didn't find the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, neither the best gelatoplace Maurizio told me. But I found great little shops nearby metrostop Porta Romana. that's important and I eated the best pizza of the whole trip nearby Pasteur. So I need to do Milano again to get a better impression of it :)
The day after I took the train to
Stresa, a little place at Lago Maggiore. And that was so
peaceful after the big big city Milano with all his shops. Just the lake, some tourists and sunshine. I took the boat to the islands. They are small, but very picturesque. The lake, the view on the mountains, the beautiful palace on Isola Bella,.... I can really recommend it for a daytrip.
So after Milano I decided to go to
Parma. Famous because of the parmezan and the parma ham. Everyone knows this food, but almost everyone is surprised when I say that it's originaly from Parma. The good point of nobody thinking or knowing it, is that it's a lovely, small, quiet city.
It stoled my heart. The buildings are painted in soft, smooth colors. They really lived, you see it. It's not that chic from for example Firenze but not dirty and ugly like the suburb of Rome. It's just a little student city with a lot, really a lot of churches! I had an amazing time in that one day I was overthere. Wandered around, always finding the way,
surprised by the beauty I found behind every corner. After the opera-museum I was sitting in a little park. Looking the children playing football, the old man walking through it and last but not least that kiddy playing with the pigeons. I loved it so much. Oh yes,
every Thursday you can find a flea market at Via Massimo d'Azeglio.
I left Parma to go to
Firenze. The city of Michelangelo, the city of art.
It's eyeblinding. Everything is so white, so clean it burns your eyes when the sun is shining. And she did shine! Every white-teeth/clothes-advertisement is nothing compared with that whiteness! But what was my impression, except of that? It's overcrowed. More than Milano, less than Venice. So
I recommend to go by night. It's also better for your eyes :) Everything is beautifully lighted. It's crowed, but on a nice way. It's filled with students who are going to have fun, so you can see a lot of pretty people in even prettier evening clothes.
I asume that most of the people who goes to Firenze wants to do a lot of musea. I didn't, a bunch of people are waiting and waiting isn't nice. I didn't have enough time neither. But I command (indeed, I command) all of you to go to
the Galileo Museum, there's no one there and when you see the inventions they did you just feel so overwhelmed. And stupid, because the ideas those few people had made our lifestyle how it is now. We ow them a lot and almost nobody thinks about it because it's 'boring' science. The best thing in the museum was an english-speaking dad with his little 5 or 6y old girl trying to explain it and she really loved it. It was amazing.
If you like to walk I advice to walk from the Ponte Vecchio, through Costa san Gorgio (you pass the house of Galileo) to the fortress and then take Via di Belvedere until the big gate. Once overthere you go to Piazzale Michelangelo, but certainly stop by the Giardino delle Rose. It's a big walk, don't forget your water and your camera because you go through little real-life-alleys so I'm sure you are going to see memorable things. And I'm not only talking about the view from Piazzale Michelan. One little note for all the great people I met there in the hostel: thanks for the great 2 nights!
Next stop?
Rome! Time to meet my second couchsurfing-host Yuri and some other couchsurfers, Runa and Diana! One thing before I start about Rome: I don't have a lot to tell. I was tired and had enough of the I-want-to-see-everything-rush. So lovely Runa and I decided to have some chill time :) So what did we do? Vintageshops, vintageshops and vintageshops. Oh and a vintagemarket!
If you love vintage, go to Rome and stay over at Yuri's place. He knows it all! I also went to the old-center, of course. It was just Roman-Christmas and there was a lot to do but we just looked at the parade and went to the one and only Trevi Fountain. Why I wanted to see it? Because it's an important part of one of my favourite movies 'Elsa y Fred'. I didn't see the Vatican so I can't tell you if it's really so beautiful like everyone says.
After all those cities I needed some nature so I stayed at a farm in
Dozza. My second favourite place in Italy. It's extremely small, like 2 and a half streets but it's fenomenal. Every wall is decorated with beautiful paintings (frescos)!
It's an open-air art-gallery. Also the castle is very interesting. I also liked it because you can sit for hours just look at the view because it's so beautiful. The perfect place to order your thoughts and mind.
Now I understand why people fall in love with the landscape of Toscane. It's also nearby
Imola. A little town, where
every Tuesday you can look at a non-dubbed English movie for 6euro's.Always nice ^^
Also here I want to thank the amazing Americans I met and I'm glad I had the honour to host 2 of them after my trip at my place ;)
When you go to Italy it's almost obligated to go to
Venice. It smells dirty, the water is dirty, the gondole is way too expensive (like all the other stuff infact), you can only go out in Pico Mundo and the alleys are soooo small you have no place to move so if you are claustrophobic don't go overthere. But! Of course Venice has also good points.
It's amazing by night, when there's nobody on the streets. So try to claim a nice local boy or girl, whatever you prefer, to show you around by night. It was the best evening I had.
It's also great to discover it early in the morning (7-8a.m.) to see the real venetian people go to work/school/...
I went to the border of the island and was impressed about the hardness of the view. Dark water, mist, .... I can really suggest it. The silence, the emptyness after beeing crushed is a relief. And of course I went to Piazza San Marco and oh my god, I was overwhelmed, impressed by the now-a-days Marco-Museum and the view on the sea.
After leaving the city of Chaos and Small Alleys I went to a my couch in
Schio. I didn't visit the city, there's not a lot to do but I heard from my amazing, also-paolo-conte-loving host Guiliano that
you can get up the mountain and get above the clouds when they are floating low. I didn't had the chance to do that because the clouds were too hight, but had an amazing time in the radio-studio and with the lovely bandmembers of him :)
And before going back to Milano I did a little stop in
Verona, the city of Romeo&Juliet. Because my stop was little and it rained a lot I just got a quick and small impression and it was very positive one. It's small, with a lot of art/culture. Not too crowded (because of the rain?). Just made me think of Parma but more chic. Definitaly going back to discover it. So an update of this city will follow....
