Italy

The land of pizza, pasta and cheap red wine has probably been my favourite country overall yet. I arrived in the north, Genova, by train from Nice. I had a pretty bad chest infection, had underestimated the fact that i was entering a new country with a new language (at least i knew some French and Spanish), and there were no tourists around. I ended up staying for a couple of days where i had hoped to get fully better and take some time to plan the next two weeks. It became apparent very quickly that Italy had so much to offer in travelling terms and that some sort of a plan was required.

Up the top of the to do list was a trip to Cinque Terre (five villages) along the west coast. Best described by the lonely planet as "strung along 18km of serrated cliffs the Cinque Terre is one of Italys treasures. The five higgledy-piggledy villages are cut off by mountains choked with olive groves and dry-stone-walled vineyards, where farmers have eked out a living over the centuries". A train links the region which is unaccessible by car and thousands of tourists flock to the UNESCO world heritage site every year to walk along the picturesque coastal-cliff path. I stayed in Riomaggiore, the northern most village where all there is to do is relax overlooking the sea while reading a novel and eating pizza. I met a few people the afternoon that i arrived and the next morning we caught a train 10minutes north. From here, we started a long slow hike through the villages and around the cliffs which displayed stunning views. What is a 3hour walk took us about 10 hours as we stopped for expressos, croissants, various varieties of gelato and pizza at every village.

My next stop would be the capital, Rome, a city i was eagerly ready to tackle. Of course, no trip to italy would be complete without a picture along side the leaning tower of Pisa. Pretty amazing to think that it is still standing after all these years - and pretty funny to see so many people do the typical pose with their hands out pushing against it.

I arrived in Rome and immediately grappled with its history...how can it be so ancient? I mean, to think how young NZ is and Rome has the Collosseum, Pantheon, and St Peters Bascilica - not to mention all the ruins exploding through the seems in the centre of the city. Its truly amazing to stand there and trying to invisage what it was like a couple of thousand years ago!! Four nights in Rome was about right and gave me ample of time to do my very own made up walking tour on the first day, followed by a couple of proper guided tours full of facts and stories. That night i went to the collosseum with a couple of Canadian girls and an American guy from my room and we reinacted Gladiators with a stick i found in the nearby bush. On the Wednesday thousands flocked into St Peters Square, an area that has seen millions of christians flock for centuries, to glimpse at the Pope as he did his routine pledge to religious beings worldwide. We fled soon after to taqke a glimpse at the truly remarkable Vatican City (smallest country in the world) which houses the famous Michaelangelo the last supper artwork. Truly amazing to think that he was commissioned to do this painting when he was known for sculpting and hadnt painted before!! I was on a tour, not necessarily my favourite way to travel but this is probably one of those times that you make such allowances, and for me it was because of two reasons; im not religious and im not that hugely into art. Regardless, on both fronts it was a totally amazing day and that much better for being in a tour and getting all the information about it. I met a couple of Ozzie guys and a couple of Kiwi girls on the tour and from the same hostel and so the next day we decided to do another tour. We got the ancient Rome tour which packed in the Pantheon, Colosseum, aswell as a walk through the heart of ancient Rome. It was the first day it had rained in the best part of a month of travelling but the gelati still tasted great. The Pantheon, a church, is truly remarkable. Its roof is a dome and and is uncovered in the centre so floods everytime it rains. Its amazing to think that even today they still dont know how this building was built. The collosseum is one of my favourites - a dome which seats about 60,000 who congregated daily for centuries to watch and cheer on fellow Romans fight to the death against animals and prisoners. Entertainment they say! That night we walked to a random suburb and found a restaurant which was great value with cheap carraffes of house red wine...which by the way tastes soo soo nice. And cheap.

My next stop was Florence, a place i knew very little about except for Michaelangelos statue of David. Arriving by train, as i did everywhere in Italy because it is cheap and efficient and easy, i found my hostel - the best hostel every. Recommended to me by many a traveller during the last week (the best way to get up-to-date travel info), it had a pool, steam room, big bar and restaurant - and the rooms were very flash. I again was fortunate with the room mates i had and we hung out for the couple of days that i was in Florence for. I soon realised that Florence is famous for its scarves and leather goods...so i came away with some scarves and a new wallet. The statue of David was very impressive, although funny to think many are attracted to the room where he stands to just find themselves standing at a statue of a naked man trying to decipher what in earth he is doing and is about. Like so many towns and cities, i enjoy simply ambling around the streets as much as visiting museums and monuments. I find that you see the true place if you get lost amongst it and the locals.

Venice was my next stop...the exit to the train station led me to overlook the grande canal, described as "the most beautiful street in the world and lined with the most beautiful houses" Venice has no cars so any travel is by boat or walking - i love it! It did smell, and was hard to navigate around, and very expensive, but it was unique. I stayed three nights in a hostel, which although was average i happened to have an old Frenchman that snored as loud as i can yell and woke up several times in the night to pee into a bottle. Its not a particularly nice sound to wake up to or view to accidentally see...but it did add to the experience of staying in hostels. There are thousands of alley ways and canals in Venice that are so hard to navigate that event locals need maps if theyre to venture out doors. The best way to tackle the city is to just walk and get lost coz thats inevitable anyway. San Marco square was an amazing place to sit and listen to the orchestras that play in nearby cafes. Venice was probably the most overcrowded place full of tourists and that detracts from ones visit. but it is a place of wonder and undescribable really!

Why i enjoyed Italy so much was the fact that i met so many like-minded travellers every inch of the way, it had some of the best food and wine, so enriched in history, art, religion and culture, easy to travel around and meet locals...im definitely heading back there someday soon, and so should you.

Visit a selection of photos at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121909&id=730529421&l=38bd2f07ad and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124827&id=730529421&l=fc3cbdc34d

Peace!