Click on more below to read my report on Italy…
Day 1:
Landed in Pisa, then got a bus (forgot to pay, but weren’t caught – phew) to the train station and headed straight for Torino (aka Turin), where we found our hotel and settled in to sleep (we’d missed most of a nights sleep in the process of getting there). The hotel was really nice, with an en-suite in each of the twin rooms and a balcony too, but it was the most expensive place we stayed mainly because it was the last booked!
Day 2:
Looking around Torino – quite a nice place, but nothing really spectacular to see… lots of walking and one particularly good instance of getting lost – my fault that we walked about 2km at 90 degrees to where we really wanted to go. Saw the Turin Shroud, or at least a copy of it over the top of where it’s kept. And the Last Supper by da Vinci was also in that cathedral, and was rather impressive.
Day 3:
Travelling to Verona… another long journey. Saw the opera “Il Trovatore” which was an “experience”. Found the second half very dull especially since we were sitting on the stone steps of the amphitheatre with no more than a basic cushion to protect my bum from numbness. Best bits were when they did the 2 bits of music I knew (one being the Harry Enfield theme tune!). But in my opinion, the most boring part of the holiday and also the most wasteful of money. But glad I went I guess.
Day 4:
The sights of Verona, which weren’t many, in fact we’d seen most of them the day before by random wanderings. Tried to go to some places that were meant to be free on the first Sunday of the month, but that info was wrong, so we spent the day getting sunburnt by a pool.
Day 5:
Verona -> Venice. Travelled with 2 lads we’d met at the youth hostel in Verona and met up with them later to play drinking games. Cheap red wine, white wine and VERY cheap Sambuka was being consumed IN THE LOBBY OF THE HOSTEL WE WERE AT… oh well, we only had to stay there one more day 🙂 Good job since I don’t the receptionist was all that impressed with our games.
Day 6:
Venice. All the sights… all the sounds. Got lost lots at my, Rob, Max and Liz’s doing hehe… finally made it to St Mark’s Square and went into the Palace for a few hours, but had worn ourselves out by getting lost so didn’t look at it all. Oh and it was raining most of the day too, which put a dampener on it all 😀
Day 7:
Venice->Pisa. A messy journey (2 changes), but the hotel was nicer than it looked on the outside. Found a nice cheap place to eat for our last night with Liz, and it took us 20 mins to notice we were sitting in view of the Leaning Tower! Very surreal.
Day 8:
Pisa. Max & Liz went to get Oli from the airport in the morning and Rob & me met them at a little Cafe later on. The 5 of us did the sights… or should I say sight… of Pisa. Took the obligatory photos of us holding up the tower. Was too expensive to go up (£10!) so we didn’t bother. Looks very cool though. Rob & me took Liz to the airport in the evening and said a tearful goodbye. Went out to the same place as the night before for dinner and lunchtime… they started recognisisng us – cool.
Day 9:
Pisa->Rome. Got train to Rome and arrived a couple of hours early so had to kill some time. Found a very cheap Chinese restaurant around the corner from where we were staying and sat in there for a couple of hours – they didn’t seem to mind… or acknowledge our existence most of the time. Finally got into our place when the (rather attractive) owner turned up and let us in. A nice quad room, but no sink or anything and a bathroom shared with about 6 others. Went back to the Chinese in the evening?
Oh dear… that kind of ended abruptly and now I can’t really remember… you never know – I might finish it one day if anyone shows an interest.
Sounds like you had a great time! I bet you were exhausted when you got back. I still haven’t comleted my travel log and i went on my jaunt in may and june of last year – seems like a complete lifetime ago now – I really must do something with it before i have grandchildren!
I’m going back to Verona in 2 weeks and am looking for a cheap and descent hostel – do you have the details of where you stayed? If you did I would really like to hear from you as so far there only seems to be one place on the net and some reveiews make it sound quite dodgey.
Ciao!
Karen
Heh, I’ve got all our train tickets, street maps and lots of junk that I mean to collate into a scrap book of some sort at some point… although the longer I leave it, the less likely I am to actually do it!
The place we stayed was possibly the best value place we stayed in all the time we were out there… 15 Euros for bed and breakfast… It was in a big old manor house, it was clean and has very pleasant gardens. Locked during the day as with many youth hostels. Showers are communal (but single sex!), which the girl we were with didn’t find too nice. We found it in the Lonely Planet Guide to Italy – which I can thoroughly recommend. Here’s the details from the book:
Villa Francescati (tel: 045 59 03 60, fax: 045 800 91 27, Salita Fontana del Ferro 15)
B&B in dorm beds 12.40 Euros. This beautifully restores HI youth hostel is housed in a 16th-century villa not far from the camp site and should be your first choice of budget lodging. The gardens are gorgeous and have family rooms too. Meals cost 7.75 Euros.
Looks like prices may have changed since the book was published, but it seems to agree on other things. Oh, the only down point is that it’s quite a hike up a hill from the station… but worth it.
Hope you have a fantastice time!
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