Italy (North)
Rome, Florence, Pisa
Rome, Florence, Pisa
Well, I was expecting so much from Italy and was really excited to be going there again after over indulging so heavily in Bari on Italian cuisines when we stopped there to get a ferry to Croatia 3-4 weeks ago. But, unfortunately, I didn’t find the pats of Italy we did to be that great. Especially, the shit hole that is, Pisa.
It sucks, because originally we had planned to do the South of Italy and work our way up to Bari to get our ferry, but time wasn’t on our side, so we had to miss it all together. I feel so heavily jipped on having my potential weight gain taken away from me. *hugs an empty pizza box*
If you dont see what that image is getting at, thats a photo of 88cent 500ml long knecks of Nastro Azzurro. You get Peroni, which is in a red bottle which is the low end version of the white and blue labeled Nastro Azzurro. Thats right, $1.60AU for a long neck of premium beer!
I liked Florence, it was so nice and peaceful and you would never know that there were 20,000 tourists right around the corner from where you were sitting quietly having a Gelati. And while we are on the subject, we tracked down "the best Gelati in Italy" as said by someone on the InTErNetZ and it was off the chain, i had Fantasia or something, mainly because it looked the weirdest and it blew my frickin mind!
We spent a day just scoping out the town and seeing the sights of the place and another day going the oppisite direction to where the travel sights and lonely planet told us to go, to try and find the REAL Florence.
One thing Italy does have alot of, as with Greece, is graffit. But one thing that is a little different in Italy, is the amount of stenciling on walls. Lots of little stencils and some big ones, of characters, or stencils sending a message. I think you can figure out what message this little guy was sending hahaha
Oh and this was a display in the front door of a butcher shop. I saw it, pointed it out to Suzie, then when we got closer to look at it, we realised how truly fuckin freaky it was. 4 real dead stuffed pigs, dressed up in christmas styled clothes, sitting around a table. What the shit!!
It sucks, because originally we had planned to do the South of Italy and work our way up to Bari to get our ferry, but time wasn’t on our side, so we had to miss it all together. I feel so heavily jipped on having my potential weight gain taken away from me. *hugs an empty pizza box*
If you dont see what that image is getting at, thats a photo of 88cent 500ml long knecks of Nastro Azzurro. You get Peroni, which is in a red bottle which is the low end version of the white and blue labeled Nastro Azzurro. Thats right, $1.60AU for a long neck of premium beer!
Rome
It has a Coliseum
It has a Coliseum
What can I say about Rome? Well, it has a Coliseum. Some ancient Roman ruins. A giant fountain. Bulk Asians and Indians. Ummm. From what I saw, that’s about it.
So many people have said to me how much they loved Rome, but what I saw didn’t make me feel that way. I think we missed out on seeing the true room, away from the sights and the tourists because we didn’t venture to far out from where we were staying, which was actually a block from the Coliseum. The biggest mistake we have been making so far is not using the City Sight Seeing buses that frequent most cities. They seem to be the best way to see all sides of a place like Rome for instance, but, they do kill a day’s budget. So it’s see the city, or have money to see the sights or eat well. The choices!
So many people have said to me how much they loved Rome, but what I saw didn’t make me feel that way. I think we missed out on seeing the true room, away from the sights and the tourists because we didn’t venture to far out from where we were staying, which was actually a block from the Coliseum. The biggest mistake we have been making so far is not using the City Sight Seeing buses that frequent most cities. They seem to be the best way to see all sides of a place like Rome for instance, but, they do kill a day’s budget. So it’s see the city, or have money to see the sights or eat well. The choices!
I liked Florence, it was so nice and peaceful and you would never know that there were 20,000 tourists right around the corner from where you were sitting quietly having a Gelati. And while we are on the subject, we tracked down "the best Gelati in Italy" as said by someone on the InTErNetZ and it was off the chain, i had Fantasia or something, mainly because it looked the weirdest and it blew my frickin mind!
We spent a day just scoping out the town and seeing the sights of the place and another day going the oppisite direction to where the travel sights and lonely planet told us to go, to try and find the REAL Florence.
One thing Italy does have alot of, as with Greece, is graffit. But one thing that is a little different in Italy, is the amount of stenciling on walls. Lots of little stencils and some big ones, of characters, or stencils sending a message. I think you can figure out what message this little guy was sending hahaha
Oh and this was a display in the front door of a butcher shop. I saw it, pointed it out to Suzie, then when we got closer to look at it, we realised how truly fuckin freaky it was. 4 real dead stuffed pigs, dressed up in christmas styled clothes, sitting around a table. What the shit!!
Pisa
See the tower, then GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!
See the tower, then GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!
Generally as a rule we spend 3 nights in a place, mainly so we have enough time to see the sights and explore the place before we move on. Using this rule we booked 3 nights in Pisa, not knowing that we could see all Pisa had to offer in the first 2 hours of being there.
Pisa is dirty, shitty and the epitome of a tourist trap. The breath of fresh air for the city of Pisa are the grounds that the leaning tower is in. It’s lush and green, the buildings are well looked after and glisten in the mid day sun. The area is calming and charming. But as soon as you step outside of the walls surrounding the grounds the tower is in, it’s back to the shitty city of Pisa.
We have a budget that we are sticking to and Pisa was FUCKING expensive. We were going over our budget by 15 euro a night EACH just staying there and we hadn’t had a sit down meal in like 2 weeks. We were really hungry and there were NO places to get some snacky foods and we could not find a supermarket that was open (once again, lazy fuckin Italians) so we decided to go into this restaurant we found. Not only did they serve us some shitty prosciutto as our Antipasto, they then proceeded to serve us a SHAVING of beef, a SHAVING of chicken and an undercooked weird smelling bit of steak, with nothing else on the plate. Now, normally if I had gotten a shitty meal in a restaurant id either say something, or just write it off as a bad meal. But this was taking the fuckin piss and what was worse, we couldn’t even say anything because they couldn’t even speak any English!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ripped off for your first sit down meal in 2 weeks while you’re on a tight budget, what a PRICK! FUCK YOU PISA!
We then asked the hotel what was the cost if we wanted to leave a day early and they said there was a penalty of 92 euros, which was 20 euros more than we had even paid for the room for a night!!!!! Once again, FUCK YOU PISSAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
One piece of advice, DAY TRIP from another Italian city to this shit hole just to see the breath of fresh air that is the leaning tower then GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!
*wipes the sweat off his forehead*
NEXT STOP FRANCE!
Click through to the; Italy (North) Photo Gallery
Pisa is dirty, shitty and the epitome of a tourist trap. The breath of fresh air for the city of Pisa are the grounds that the leaning tower is in. It’s lush and green, the buildings are well looked after and glisten in the mid day sun. The area is calming and charming. But as soon as you step outside of the walls surrounding the grounds the tower is in, it’s back to the shitty city of Pisa.
We have a budget that we are sticking to and Pisa was FUCKING expensive. We were going over our budget by 15 euro a night EACH just staying there and we hadn’t had a sit down meal in like 2 weeks. We were really hungry and there were NO places to get some snacky foods and we could not find a supermarket that was open (once again, lazy fuckin Italians) so we decided to go into this restaurant we found. Not only did they serve us some shitty prosciutto as our Antipasto, they then proceeded to serve us a SHAVING of beef, a SHAVING of chicken and an undercooked weird smelling bit of steak, with nothing else on the plate. Now, normally if I had gotten a shitty meal in a restaurant id either say something, or just write it off as a bad meal. But this was taking the fuckin piss and what was worse, we couldn’t even say anything because they couldn’t even speak any English!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ripped off for your first sit down meal in 2 weeks while you’re on a tight budget, what a PRICK! FUCK YOU PISA!
We then asked the hotel what was the cost if we wanted to leave a day early and they said there was a penalty of 92 euros, which was 20 euros more than we had even paid for the room for a night!!!!! Once again, FUCK YOU PISSAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
One piece of advice, DAY TRIP from another Italian city to this shit hole just to see the breath of fresh air that is the leaning tower then GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!
*wipes the sweat off his forehead*
The Cinque Terre
Walking 5 fishing villages in 1 day
The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Yes, I ripped that straight off Wikipedia. ahaha, we decided to stay in Le Spezia and just by total fluke, it was a great choice to make. We rocked up without accommodation and scored accommodation right near the train station in a 2 star hotel for 24 euro a night each or something, which is what our budget can handle so that was dope. Then we just day tripped to The Cinque Terre, which is 30 mins away by train and as it turned out, Le Spezia was a really really nice town to! So that was a bonus!
So we took the train to Manarola, the first of the 5 fishing villages and started epic walk between the villages. I read somewhere that its 12km's from first to last village, but I reckon that’s bullshit hahaha, it felt like a hell of alot more! Alot of it was uphill and STEEP uphill stair climbs, and then it was back down again. It was grueling for some parts and soooooooooo relaxing in other parts, but it was very rewarding. Oh and it was like 30+ degree's to, my singlet ended up being a sponge by the end of it haha
The Cinque Terre for the win!
Yes, I ripped that straight off Wikipedia. ahaha, we decided to stay in Le Spezia and just by total fluke, it was a great choice to make. We rocked up without accommodation and scored accommodation right near the train station in a 2 star hotel for 24 euro a night each or something, which is what our budget can handle so that was dope. Then we just day tripped to The Cinque Terre, which is 30 mins away by train and as it turned out, Le Spezia was a really really nice town to! So that was a bonus!
So we took the train to Manarola, the first of the 5 fishing villages and started epic walk between the villages. I read somewhere that its 12km's from first to last village, but I reckon that’s bullshit hahaha, it felt like a hell of alot more! Alot of it was uphill and STEEP uphill stair climbs, and then it was back down again. It was grueling for some parts and soooooooooo relaxing in other parts, but it was very rewarding. Oh and it was like 30+ degree's to, my singlet ended up being a sponge by the end of it haha
The Cinque Terre for the win!
NEXT STOP FRANCE!
Click through to the; Italy (North) Photo Gallery