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15/07/06 Travel Tips from my time in Italy |
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I just wrote this out in email form for a friend who’s about to visit Italy, so thought ‘why not share my 2c of advice with anyone else who might happen to want it?’ Here goes, with a quick summary of how I approached visiting and experiencing the cities and towns I was able to get to.
Venice: I spent a day visiting Venice, but train schedules from Florence meant that it was really only possible to have 6 hours there. But that was more than enough for my relatively rapid approach to tourism, even though Venice has to be one of the most captivating and surreal places to visit. I could never have imagined just how many canals there are there! From the train station we took a bus boat to the Piazza San Marco, spent about 2 or 3 hours there, then slowly walked back. Venice is more expensive than the rest of Italy – food (which isn’t as nice) and everything else – so that’s another reason to make the most of a shorter time in Venice.
Florence: I can't give good advice on how best to see the city in a short time since I spent a highly memorable 3 weeks there while taking Master of Science in Administration classes at the Villa Aurora college near the hospital on the north of the city. I enjoyed my time immensely, not only for the tourism, but also because of the people at Villa Aurora and the MSA – not to mention watching the World Cup at various restaurants, piazzas, with friends, etc. The tourist highlights of Florence, for me, were Piazzale Michelangelo and just wandering around the streets between the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio. There's things to see such as the Uffizi, Sante Croce, the Academia with the real 'David' - but they all cost money and you get the experience of Florence without going to these if you don't want to pay the euro or time. (In the case of the real 'David' statue at the Galleria dell'Academia you might have to wait an hour in line.) There’s a heap to see and do there, though, including fascinating markets (prices not too bad!).
Rome: There are multiple ways to 'do Rome' but I can only give advice on how to see a lot of Rome quickly. We spent a bit over 24 hours there, staying at a reasonably cheap hostel. First afternoon/evening we walked from Barberini metro station to Trastavere (the region across the river) seeing the Trevi Fountain (a must) and various piazzas etc along the way. Next day we went straight to the Vatican city by metro, starting with St Peters (saw all inside, under & atop - great view!) before joining the 1.5 to 2 hour queue for the Vatican Museum - which was well worth the wait! Follow the arrows to the Sistine Chapel, enjoying the corridors and corridors of riches and artistry along the way, and then once you've come back to the starting point, make sure you see the other things you may not have passed - e.g. Egypt history, etc. Mid-afternoon was spent at the Colosseum (metro right there) and the Palatino / Roman Forum (all the ruins around the Colosseum). Then we took the train back to Florence from the Termini.
Pisa: I spent a Friday afternoon there with a couple of friends. We had a total of about 4 hours in the town, including one hour watching a game of football (of the world cup - on tv at one of the many outdoor restaurants near the church/tower). We left after lunch from Florence, and arrived back in time for opening Sabbath worship! And that was more than enough, since the main thing to see is the Piazza Duomo and, of course, the Leaning Tower. The area is so picturesque – vividly green grass (and for us a perfect blue sky too!) make the amazing buildings there (not just the tower) quite breathtaking. I paid the 15 euro or whatever it was to go up the tower - and it's worth it (since there's not so much else to spend your $ on there).
San Gimignano and Siena: I visited these two Tuscan towns in one day as part of an organised day trip for our International Development Program (MSA) group of students, so we had a dedicated bus starting and finishing in Florence. We only had a couple of hours in the small town of San Gimignano - and you can see most that there is to see of the town in that time - all on foot. However, if you want to stay longer, the town is much more fascinating than, say, Pisa. Siena is somewhat larger, but still possible to traverse entirely by foot - in fact that's what most people do, and that's what we did for about 5 hours. That was enough to walk around and see most of the main part of town, staying atop the ridges. We were warned not to be tempted to take what looks like a short-cut on the map, as it might take you down a whole lot of steeps (or steep cobbled streets) only to have to climb back up the other side! There is more to 'do' in Siena than San Gimignano, but the main thing for me for both towns was just to soak up the experience of medieval Tuscany – the birthplace of the Renaissance – by wandering around on foot.
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