Monday, June 18, 2012
Falling Behind
Hi all. I know I'm running behind (again) with the updates, but I haven't forgotten about them. My internet access has been patchy over the past week, but as soon as I can I'll add more posts to the blog. I am currently in Salzburg, Austria and am about to leave for Munich. Currently I am not counting on having much internet access in Munich, but I think I should have good access after that when I am in Prague. It might be a few more days before I have enough time to update, but you can expect posts on Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg and Halstatt, Munich, and perhaps even Prague in the future.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Croatia: Crimson Tide
Hi everyone, and welcome back to another edition of the blog. This posts covers my time in Croatia, which was spent in the towns of Zagreb and Split. I decided to do all of Croatia as a single post, and hence why it's been a little while since the last update.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I had no misadventures getting to Zagreb (if you haven't read it already, go read my previous post on Slovenia and see how my trip from Venice to Ljubljana went). All I got was a new stamp in my passport. In Zagreb I got acquainted with Croatia's currency, the Kuna, whose name I find strangely funny. I also picked up a few Croatian words from the staff at the hostel I was at, but like Slovenia there are a fair number of English speakers in Croatia so I never really had much of a language barrier. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and it's largest city. You can see all the major sights in a day, and I think most people would be satisfied with just that. The city is divided in to what are known as the upper and lower towns, with most of the older sights in the upper town and most of the (relatively) newer sights in the lower town. Between the two and marking the center of town is Zagreb's main square, Trg bana Jelacica (take a stab at pronouncing that one). Any tour of the town starts of ends there, and for me it did both. I started at the square and then moved on to Zagreb's cathedral, which has it's own defensive wall around most of it. A few hundred years ago, the Ottoman Turks were advancing farther and farther into Europe and were getting close to Zagreb, so walls were set up around the old city and cathedral. Today the city walls are gone, but the cathedral still has three sides of it's original walls intact. From there I paid a visit to Zagreb's outdoor market, which sells mostly produce, and then over to what I call the "chapel in the underpass," which is small chapel set up along a road in a tunnel through a building. The chapel houses a Madonna and Child painting that miraculously survived a fire (or something else) and is a special place of worship for the city's catholic community. While walking about I also saw the Croatian Parliament building and the nearby St Mark's church, which has the Croatian national coat of arms in the tiles of its roof. After this I came to what I personally thought was the most interesting sight in Zagreb, the Museum of Broken Relationships. The museum seems like a bad joke at first, but is actually dedicated to mementos from various people's broken relationships that have been donated to the museum. Each item comes with a story from the person who donated it. Some are serious, some are silly and some are just tragic. After perusing the museum and waiting for a rainstorm to stop, I came back to the main square and then spent an hour or two walking around lower town, but I didn't go into any of the museums or buildings. That ended my day in Zagreb, though the next day before my trip to Split I did a brief bit of walking around the area near the main square.
Getting to Split, which is on the Adriatic coast, takes a little over six hours by train. Croatia's rail system is ok, but nowhere near as good as those found in western European countries. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a small herd of room sellers, who are drawn to tourists like sharks to blood (more on blood later in this post). My first full day in Split started at Diocletian's Palace, which was originally the estate of the roman emperor Diocletian, and after the empire fell it was occupied by residents of a nearby town who were seeking refuge from barbarian raids. The whole place is now a combination of historical sights, shops, hotels and a few residences. Unfortunately it was a national holiday that day and all the historical sights in there were closed, so I decided to come back again the next day. I worked my way through town to the base of the hill overlooking Split's harbor and began my ascent. The hike to the top was long and tiring, and at one point I thought I had reached the top only to realize I still had another long set of stairs to reach the actual summit. The top of the hill is capped by a cement structure which offers good views of the town and surrounding area. On the way back down I counted over 800 steps back to the bottom, but on the plus side you don't need to climb all the way up for the best view of Split. The actual best views of town are from a panorama point about halfway up, and there's a road that leads up to it, so if you have a car you can just drive to it. Back at the bottom I walked the harbor front back to my hostel and then got set for the water. My hostel was located just a one minute walk from one of Split's few sand beaches (most are pebble/rock beaches) so all I had to do was walk down the street to reach the beach. The Adriatic water was both clear, cool, mostly wave free and stayed shallow for longer than I'm used to. I had to walk a bit of ways out into the water to get above waist height. I spent a little time in the water before moving farther out to a set of pillars that people swim out to, to climb on and dive off of. I pulled myself onto one of the pillars and sat for awhile taking in the scenery. After a few minutes I decided to not jump off the pillar because I'm a terrible diver, and I lowered myself back into the water and swam back to shore. There I discovered my right foot was bleeding. My best guess is that I got cut when I dismounted the pillar. The only things on the sides of them that your feet can grip are these mussel/clam things that are attached to it, and they have rough edges so I must have slashed myself on them. Back at my hostel I disinfected and cleaned the wound (digging sand out of your own flesh is just as pleasant as you might think) and bandaged it over. I also checked with the State Department and confirmed that American blood in the water officially makes the place ours, so congratulations everyone, we now own the Atlantic (or at least the Adriatic)!
The next day in Split I didn't walk around too much because of my foot injury. I went over to Diocletian's Palace again, and now that stuff was open I climbed the bell tower, which had a nice sea breeze blowing through at the top (it was a hot day that day). After that I got lunch at a seaside restaurant named Karaka. If I had gotten a sit down meal at a seaside restaurant in western Europe I would have dropped quite a few euros on the meal, but since I was in Croatia and their currency isn't worth much, I paid only about the equivalent of seven US dollars. After eating what was possibly the best burger I've ever had and enjoying a free dessert pancake, (the restaurant has a deal with the hostel I was at) I rested briefly at my hostel before going back to old town again. To escape the heat I went down into the substructure of Diocletian's Palace. Because the areas under the palace were not occupied by the locals they are fairly well preserved. I returned again to the hostel and spent the rest of the daytime there. After dark, I went over to a nearby bar and had a drink (read: Sprite) with an Australian couple I had met at the hostel and then did a short night walk through old town. I would done more that day, but I didn't want to risk reopening the wound on my foot so I had limit my exploration.
The next day I got up and while I was getting ready for the day a few guys were watching a pirated copy of American Pie 4, which had hilariously inaccurate subtitles. Since I had a few hours before my train, I did one last visit to old town and visited the small cathedral in Diocletian's Palace. Outside the palace, along the harbor front, I found that every policeman in the city had all shown up at the same place, and many of them were in riot gear. I wasn't sure what was going on at the time, but was later told that there was going to be a gay pride parade, and the police were there to make sure the parade was not harassed (Croatia is a more conservative society than some other European countries). Returning to my hostel, I got my backpack together and left for the train station. The ride to Zagreb was uneventful, though I had to switch trains midway there. In Zagreb I didn't do much of anything since I had already seen the city. The next day I left for Budapest, thus ending my time in Croatia.
So, that"s all for Croatia. I am typing this update from Budapest, Hungary and will be leaving tomorrow for Vienna, Austria. The Budapest entry should be a good one, so look forward to it.
Sorry to disappoint you, but I had no misadventures getting to Zagreb (if you haven't read it already, go read my previous post on Slovenia and see how my trip from Venice to Ljubljana went). All I got was a new stamp in my passport. In Zagreb I got acquainted with Croatia's currency, the Kuna, whose name I find strangely funny. I also picked up a few Croatian words from the staff at the hostel I was at, but like Slovenia there are a fair number of English speakers in Croatia so I never really had much of a language barrier. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia and it's largest city. You can see all the major sights in a day, and I think most people would be satisfied with just that. The city is divided in to what are known as the upper and lower towns, with most of the older sights in the upper town and most of the (relatively) newer sights in the lower town. Between the two and marking the center of town is Zagreb's main square, Trg bana Jelacica (take a stab at pronouncing that one). Any tour of the town starts of ends there, and for me it did both. I started at the square and then moved on to Zagreb's cathedral, which has it's own defensive wall around most of it. A few hundred years ago, the Ottoman Turks were advancing farther and farther into Europe and were getting close to Zagreb, so walls were set up around the old city and cathedral. Today the city walls are gone, but the cathedral still has three sides of it's original walls intact. From there I paid a visit to Zagreb's outdoor market, which sells mostly produce, and then over to what I call the "chapel in the underpass," which is small chapel set up along a road in a tunnel through a building. The chapel houses a Madonna and Child painting that miraculously survived a fire (or something else) and is a special place of worship for the city's catholic community. While walking about I also saw the Croatian Parliament building and the nearby St Mark's church, which has the Croatian national coat of arms in the tiles of its roof. After this I came to what I personally thought was the most interesting sight in Zagreb, the Museum of Broken Relationships. The museum seems like a bad joke at first, but is actually dedicated to mementos from various people's broken relationships that have been donated to the museum. Each item comes with a story from the person who donated it. Some are serious, some are silly and some are just tragic. After perusing the museum and waiting for a rainstorm to stop, I came back to the main square and then spent an hour or two walking around lower town, but I didn't go into any of the museums or buildings. That ended my day in Zagreb, though the next day before my trip to Split I did a brief bit of walking around the area near the main square.
Getting to Split, which is on the Adriatic coast, takes a little over six hours by train. Croatia's rail system is ok, but nowhere near as good as those found in western European countries. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a small herd of room sellers, who are drawn to tourists like sharks to blood (more on blood later in this post). My first full day in Split started at Diocletian's Palace, which was originally the estate of the roman emperor Diocletian, and after the empire fell it was occupied by residents of a nearby town who were seeking refuge from barbarian raids. The whole place is now a combination of historical sights, shops, hotels and a few residences. Unfortunately it was a national holiday that day and all the historical sights in there were closed, so I decided to come back again the next day. I worked my way through town to the base of the hill overlooking Split's harbor and began my ascent. The hike to the top was long and tiring, and at one point I thought I had reached the top only to realize I still had another long set of stairs to reach the actual summit. The top of the hill is capped by a cement structure which offers good views of the town and surrounding area. On the way back down I counted over 800 steps back to the bottom, but on the plus side you don't need to climb all the way up for the best view of Split. The actual best views of town are from a panorama point about halfway up, and there's a road that leads up to it, so if you have a car you can just drive to it. Back at the bottom I walked the harbor front back to my hostel and then got set for the water. My hostel was located just a one minute walk from one of Split's few sand beaches (most are pebble/rock beaches) so all I had to do was walk down the street to reach the beach. The Adriatic water was both clear, cool, mostly wave free and stayed shallow for longer than I'm used to. I had to walk a bit of ways out into the water to get above waist height. I spent a little time in the water before moving farther out to a set of pillars that people swim out to, to climb on and dive off of. I pulled myself onto one of the pillars and sat for awhile taking in the scenery. After a few minutes I decided to not jump off the pillar because I'm a terrible diver, and I lowered myself back into the water and swam back to shore. There I discovered my right foot was bleeding. My best guess is that I got cut when I dismounted the pillar. The only things on the sides of them that your feet can grip are these mussel/clam things that are attached to it, and they have rough edges so I must have slashed myself on them. Back at my hostel I disinfected and cleaned the wound (digging sand out of your own flesh is just as pleasant as you might think) and bandaged it over. I also checked with the State Department and confirmed that American blood in the water officially makes the place ours, so congratulations everyone, we now own the Atlantic (or at least the Adriatic)!
The next day in Split I didn't walk around too much because of my foot injury. I went over to Diocletian's Palace again, and now that stuff was open I climbed the bell tower, which had a nice sea breeze blowing through at the top (it was a hot day that day). After that I got lunch at a seaside restaurant named Karaka. If I had gotten a sit down meal at a seaside restaurant in western Europe I would have dropped quite a few euros on the meal, but since I was in Croatia and their currency isn't worth much, I paid only about the equivalent of seven US dollars. After eating what was possibly the best burger I've ever had and enjoying a free dessert pancake, (the restaurant has a deal with the hostel I was at) I rested briefly at my hostel before going back to old town again. To escape the heat I went down into the substructure of Diocletian's Palace. Because the areas under the palace were not occupied by the locals they are fairly well preserved. I returned again to the hostel and spent the rest of the daytime there. After dark, I went over to a nearby bar and had a drink (read: Sprite) with an Australian couple I had met at the hostel and then did a short night walk through old town. I would done more that day, but I didn't want to risk reopening the wound on my foot so I had limit my exploration.
The next day I got up and while I was getting ready for the day a few guys were watching a pirated copy of American Pie 4, which had hilariously inaccurate subtitles. Since I had a few hours before my train, I did one last visit to old town and visited the small cathedral in Diocletian's Palace. Outside the palace, along the harbor front, I found that every policeman in the city had all shown up at the same place, and many of them were in riot gear. I wasn't sure what was going on at the time, but was later told that there was going to be a gay pride parade, and the police were there to make sure the parade was not harassed (Croatia is a more conservative society than some other European countries). Returning to my hostel, I got my backpack together and left for the train station. The ride to Zagreb was uneventful, though I had to switch trains midway there. In Zagreb I didn't do much of anything since I had already seen the city. The next day I left for Budapest, thus ending my time in Croatia.
So, that"s all for Croatia. I am typing this update from Budapest, Hungary and will be leaving tomorrow for Vienna, Austria. The Budapest entry should be a good one, so look forward to it.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Slovenia: Wallet Saved, Wallet Bled
Dober dan everyone. That is a Slovenian greeting that means roughly "good day" (it also works in Croatia). Here is an update covering my short time in Slovenia, which consisted of two days in the capital of Ljubljana, (pronounced kind of like "loo-blee-yana")one of which was spent doing a day trip to Lake Bled.
Before we get to Ljubljana, I must recount my misadventure in traveling from Venice to Ljubljana (if you read the Venice post you'll remember my foreboding). There is no direct line between Venice and Ljubljana, so I had to connect regional trains to make the journey. The first train went off without a hitch, and when I arrived in the first intermediate town I caught a bus to the other side of the town to get on train number two (the second train left from a different station than the one I arrived in). The train stations up in the small mountain towns between Venice and Ljubljana are not well labeled, so when a train arrived at exactly the right time for the one I wanted, I got on. Unfortunately, thirty minutes into the ride I realized I was in fact on the wrong train, heading the wrong direction. I got off at the next stop, which was a small town/village up in the mountains, overlooking the Soča River. The schedule of the wall of the run down station showed that there would be no train going back for two hours, so I decided to make the most of it and looked around. The area is actually quite beautiful, so it wasn't such a bad place to be temporarily stranded. While walking around, I met an elderly Italian (they might have been Slovenian, but they spoke Italian) couple. They didn't speak English, and I don't speak much Italian, so I did my best to explain my situation to them and they actually invited me into their home and gave me some juice and cookies. I spent about an hour with them and showed them some photos from my journey so far. When it was time, I said goodbye and returned to the little train station and caught the train back to the previous train station, where I had to wait another two hours for the next train to the correct place; a town called Sezana. When I reached Sezana the last train of the day was about to leave for Ljubljana, so I had to run and got on board just before the doors closed. From this point everything went fine, and I arrived in Ljubljana at about 10:00pm. Welcome to Slovenia.
Slovenia only has just under two million people in the whole country, and I'm guessing about one fourth are in the greater Ljubljana area. It's not a nation you visit for great cities or grand architecture, (try western Europe for that) but it strikes me as a place you would love if you like backpacking the mountains and other outdoor activities. The country has expansive forests, mountain ranges, and even a small stretch of coastline. But if there's one thing I really like about Slovenia, it was that everything there costs less than in Western Europe, and after the money hole that was Venice my wallet was much relieved. Anyways, let's get started with my time in Slovenia. Day one in Ljubljana consisted of just looking around town and seeing the sights of the city, which aren't too many. You can see the whole city in a day, or half a day if you just do the highlights. After making reservations at the train station for my future trip to Split, (which will be covered by the next post) I got lunch at the nearby McDonalds. Maybe because I hadn't had a full meal since breakfast the day before, but this was the best tasting McDonalds I've ever had. After that I went down to the so called Dragon Bridge that crosses the river that runs through Ljubljana. The reason it is called that is because on each corner of the bridge there is a dragon sculpture. Dragons are part of the local folklore and the city coat of arms has a dragon on top of a castle on a hill. On the other side of the river I spent some time looking around Ljubljana's outdoor market, which meets in the morning and sells mostly food, but also flowers, furniture, crafts and other stuff. While there I spotted some people from Coca Cola passing out free cans of Coke Zero, which I'm guessing is new to Slovenia, and I helped myself to a can. Near the market is the city's main square and triple bridge, called such because it is three bridges right along side each other over the river. Although not very big, the square does feel like the center of the city and the area around it is the closest thing you can find to a downtown section of the city. After checking out the area, I hiked up Ljubljana's hill to its castle. Although the castle goes back to Roman times, it's modern form was created in the 1800s after major renovations. The castle has changed appearance several times, and inside the castle there's a small exhibit showing how it used to look in each period. Although the castle is kind of sparse on the inside, the looking tower has good views of the city and there's a decent museum in the castle too. There was actually a wedding finishing up when I got there, so there was a bride, groom and the various wedding guests were posing for photos at various places along the castle. Before coming down I paid a short visit to the park that's next to the castle and has some panoramic views of the surrounding area. When I came down from the hill my day was more or less done, and I got bought some food and worked on the Rome entry of the blog.
Day two in Slovenia was all about a day trip out to Lake Bled. There's no trains to the town of Bled, so I got on a bus and the ride took about 1.2 hours. I traveled there with an Israeli guy named Ami who I had met at the hostel in Ljubljana. He was staying the night in Bled so we both rode the bus into town and then parted ways some time later at the lake. Lake Bled is a very beautiful place; one of those photogenic spots that always appears on tourism materials. I walked the whole way around the lake, and on the way met a guy and girl from Michigan who were on their own journey across Europe. They had arrived at the lake very early in the morning and were looking for a place to stay in town, and Ami (who was still with me at the time) offered to walk with them back into town to try to find a place. We parted ways and I spent some more time at the lake before bleeding my wallet by taking a boat across the lake to the island in the middle of it. The boat ride is actually a bit expensive at twelve euros for a round trip, and there's not too much on the island so it may not be worth it for everyone. If you do take the trip, be sure to get one of the old paddle boats for the full experience, and not get stuck with a motorboat like me. Anyways, on the island is an old church, a few smaller buildings and a staircase leading from where the boat landing is to the courtyard where the church is. A local tradition says that a man is not fit to marry unless he can carry his fiance up all 98 steps to the top. Just like at the castle in Ljubljana, there was a wedding wrapping up on the island while I was there, so everyone was posing for photos (do I see a trend here?). As a tourist, you're only supposed to stay on the island for about half an hour, and when my time was up I returned to the lake shore and spent the rest of the time looking around the town of Bled before my bus back to Ljubljana arrived. While exploring, I went to an ice cream place whose name I can't pronounce. I had seen it earlier while walking from the bus stop to the lake, and there had been a long line of locals (including a priest, which officially makes the place legit) at the door. After buying some myself, I can see why, as the ice cream was very good. After ice cream I went back to the bus stop and waited for the bus that took me back to Ljubljana. That was all for day two.
I am typing this update from Split, in Croatia. I'm thinking I will do all of Croatia (Split and Zagreb) as a single entry in the blog, so I probably won't have the next update published for a few days. I have another day here in Split before returning to Zagreb for a single night. Then, it is off to Budapest.
Before we get to Ljubljana, I must recount my misadventure in traveling from Venice to Ljubljana (if you read the Venice post you'll remember my foreboding). There is no direct line between Venice and Ljubljana, so I had to connect regional trains to make the journey. The first train went off without a hitch, and when I arrived in the first intermediate town I caught a bus to the other side of the town to get on train number two (the second train left from a different station than the one I arrived in). The train stations up in the small mountain towns between Venice and Ljubljana are not well labeled, so when a train arrived at exactly the right time for the one I wanted, I got on. Unfortunately, thirty minutes into the ride I realized I was in fact on the wrong train, heading the wrong direction. I got off at the next stop, which was a small town/village up in the mountains, overlooking the Soča River. The schedule of the wall of the run down station showed that there would be no train going back for two hours, so I decided to make the most of it and looked around. The area is actually quite beautiful, so it wasn't such a bad place to be temporarily stranded. While walking around, I met an elderly Italian (they might have been Slovenian, but they spoke Italian) couple. They didn't speak English, and I don't speak much Italian, so I did my best to explain my situation to them and they actually invited me into their home and gave me some juice and cookies. I spent about an hour with them and showed them some photos from my journey so far. When it was time, I said goodbye and returned to the little train station and caught the train back to the previous train station, where I had to wait another two hours for the next train to the correct place; a town called Sezana. When I reached Sezana the last train of the day was about to leave for Ljubljana, so I had to run and got on board just before the doors closed. From this point everything went fine, and I arrived in Ljubljana at about 10:00pm. Welcome to Slovenia.
Slovenia only has just under two million people in the whole country, and I'm guessing about one fourth are in the greater Ljubljana area. It's not a nation you visit for great cities or grand architecture, (try western Europe for that) but it strikes me as a place you would love if you like backpacking the mountains and other outdoor activities. The country has expansive forests, mountain ranges, and even a small stretch of coastline. But if there's one thing I really like about Slovenia, it was that everything there costs less than in Western Europe, and after the money hole that was Venice my wallet was much relieved. Anyways, let's get started with my time in Slovenia. Day one in Ljubljana consisted of just looking around town and seeing the sights of the city, which aren't too many. You can see the whole city in a day, or half a day if you just do the highlights. After making reservations at the train station for my future trip to Split, (which will be covered by the next post) I got lunch at the nearby McDonalds. Maybe because I hadn't had a full meal since breakfast the day before, but this was the best tasting McDonalds I've ever had. After that I went down to the so called Dragon Bridge that crosses the river that runs through Ljubljana. The reason it is called that is because on each corner of the bridge there is a dragon sculpture. Dragons are part of the local folklore and the city coat of arms has a dragon on top of a castle on a hill. On the other side of the river I spent some time looking around Ljubljana's outdoor market, which meets in the morning and sells mostly food, but also flowers, furniture, crafts and other stuff. While there I spotted some people from Coca Cola passing out free cans of Coke Zero, which I'm guessing is new to Slovenia, and I helped myself to a can. Near the market is the city's main square and triple bridge, called such because it is three bridges right along side each other over the river. Although not very big, the square does feel like the center of the city and the area around it is the closest thing you can find to a downtown section of the city. After checking out the area, I hiked up Ljubljana's hill to its castle. Although the castle goes back to Roman times, it's modern form was created in the 1800s after major renovations. The castle has changed appearance several times, and inside the castle there's a small exhibit showing how it used to look in each period. Although the castle is kind of sparse on the inside, the looking tower has good views of the city and there's a decent museum in the castle too. There was actually a wedding finishing up when I got there, so there was a bride, groom and the various wedding guests were posing for photos at various places along the castle. Before coming down I paid a short visit to the park that's next to the castle and has some panoramic views of the surrounding area. When I came down from the hill my day was more or less done, and I got bought some food and worked on the Rome entry of the blog.
Day two in Slovenia was all about a day trip out to Lake Bled. There's no trains to the town of Bled, so I got on a bus and the ride took about 1.2 hours. I traveled there with an Israeli guy named Ami who I had met at the hostel in Ljubljana. He was staying the night in Bled so we both rode the bus into town and then parted ways some time later at the lake. Lake Bled is a very beautiful place; one of those photogenic spots that always appears on tourism materials. I walked the whole way around the lake, and on the way met a guy and girl from Michigan who were on their own journey across Europe. They had arrived at the lake very early in the morning and were looking for a place to stay in town, and Ami (who was still with me at the time) offered to walk with them back into town to try to find a place. We parted ways and I spent some more time at the lake before bleeding my wallet by taking a boat across the lake to the island in the middle of it. The boat ride is actually a bit expensive at twelve euros for a round trip, and there's not too much on the island so it may not be worth it for everyone. If you do take the trip, be sure to get one of the old paddle boats for the full experience, and not get stuck with a motorboat like me. Anyways, on the island is an old church, a few smaller buildings and a staircase leading from where the boat landing is to the courtyard where the church is. A local tradition says that a man is not fit to marry unless he can carry his fiance up all 98 steps to the top. Just like at the castle in Ljubljana, there was a wedding wrapping up on the island while I was there, so everyone was posing for photos (do I see a trend here?). As a tourist, you're only supposed to stay on the island for about half an hour, and when my time was up I returned to the lake shore and spent the rest of the time looking around the town of Bled before my bus back to Ljubljana arrived. While exploring, I went to an ice cream place whose name I can't pronounce. I had seen it earlier while walking from the bus stop to the lake, and there had been a long line of locals (including a priest, which officially makes the place legit) at the door. After buying some myself, I can see why, as the ice cream was very good. After ice cream I went back to the bus stop and waited for the bus that took me back to Ljubljana. That was all for day two.
I am typing this update from Split, in Croatia. I'm thinking I will do all of Croatia (Split and Zagreb) as a single entry in the blog, so I probably won't have the next update published for a few days. I have another day here in Split before returning to Zagreb for a single night. Then, it is off to Budapest.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Venice: Sinking
Hi all, here is the Venice update I promised. Thanks to free internet access at my hostel here in Zagreb, Croatia, I have completed this entry a little sooner than expected. I spent two days in Venice, and although it is very nice, it is also very expensive. Internet access there costed five euros for thirty minutes, which I why I waited to type the recent Rome and Venice updates. If you go to Venice, be prepared to drop some money into the lagoon that the city is slowly sinking into.
Venice actually got off to somewhat of a bad start on the day I arrived. I was trying to make arrangements for my travel from Venice to Ljubljana, but there's no direct line so I had to line up a few regional trains to get there. However because I had had some trouble with regional trains in France, I investigated an alternative option, which was to take a bus to a town on the Austrian border and then a train from there to Ljubljana. This investigation became something of a wild goose chase as I couldn't seem to get accurate information on the bus service and I ended up spending some time walking around the area by the train and bus stations trying to figure out the bus. In the end I got too frustrated, so I decided I would take my chances with the regional trains (when I post my Slovenia update you'll get to read how this turned out). I remember being fairly unhappy at the end of that day, but Venice would win me over in the end.
The place I stayed in Venice was near the Rialto bridge. There are no cars in Venice (except at the parking garage where people park who have driven across the bridge from the mainland) so you walk everywhere. The city is not very large so that's not really a problem, but the street layout is a complex web of small streets so you really need a map. I started day one by checking out the Rialto bridge and then moved on to San Marco square, one of the most famous squares in Europe. I spent some time just taking in the sights there and getting photos before going into the San Marco Basilica. The basilica ceiling is entirely covered with mosaics that range from old Byzantine styles to Renaissance ones. The terrace of the church also has good views of the square. When I finished with the church I went back outside to the square and looked around some more before catching a waterbus to San Giorgio island. Waterbuses are very expensive, at about seven euros for a one way ride, so I don't recommend using them unless absolutely necessary. The waterbus to the island however only costs four euros for a round trip, so it wasn't so bad. The island, and in particular the bell tower of the church have really good views of the main section of Venice. Once I returned to the main islands of Venice, I went east towards the tail of the "fish" (take a look at a map of the main part of Venice) where there is a large park. This is a good place to get away from the zoo of the touristy parts of Venice and recharge before jumping back into the fray. Leaving the park, I went back west and a little north to the old Arsenal of Venice, which used to be the town's fort and shipyard. Today it is still owned by the Italian military and they were not allowing visitors. Moving on, I got a really late lunch at a place called Birreria Forst, which is on a street called Calle Rosse, I think. It's a sandwich bar just east of San Marco square and one of the few cheap places to grab a meal near San Marco. They have some delicious ham sandwiches, and strangely good tasting Pepsi. After my meal I went back to my hostel for a little while before going out one last time for a night stroll back to San Marco square. On the way I got some good gelato from a place called the Gelato Boutique (great taste and big scoops; an award winning combination). San Marco square really is a different place at night with the buildings lit up and dueling bands playing at several of the outdoor restaurants. Although there are still quite a few tourists at night, it is much less than during the day and the place has a great ambiance to it. I got to hear one band perform the Titanic theme, and it was moving. I think going to San Marco is one of those definitive Venice experiences, and I strongly recommend doing it if you have the time.
Day two in Venice was about filling in some gaps in the city and also revisiting a few places from day one. Once again I started at the Rialto Bridge, because I realized that while I had taken pictures from the bridge, I had none of the bridge itself. I moved on to the Santa Maria dei Frari church after that, which has great Venetian artwork in it, but a no photo policy (booo!!!). Just around the corner from it is the even more impressive Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which is sometimes called Venice's Sistine Chapel. The bottom floor doesn't have too much, but go upstairs for large hall that will snap your neck from looking up so much. They actually provide people mirrors so that people don't hurt themselves doing this. The place costed something like eight euros, but was worth every cent. Again no photos, which to me is just criminal with how photogenic that place is. I then worked my way south through the city to the area with the Accademia Museum, which I considered going into, but I decided against because I was trying to budget my spending. I'm told it is full of Venetian artwork from Venice's glory days, so maybe I'll go in next time. I then crossed the Accademia Bridge across the Grand Canal, and walked all the way to the Rialto Bridge and crossed that to find a pizza place I had read about that was not too far from my hostel. Alas, the place was closed when I got there, so I worked my way back to Campo Manin and ate a kabob instead. I then returned to San Marco square and visited the Correr Museum (Venetian artifacts) because a ticket to the museum also covers the more popular Doge's Palace and allows you to skip the ticket line there. The Doge's Palace starts out a bit sparse in the Doge's apartments, but gets good when you reach the chambers used by the various Venetian councils and the arsenal rooms. Once again, no photos (what's wrong with this city?!). When I finished with the Doge's Palace I walked to the north end of the main islands and walked along the waterside walkway all the way to... a gas station for boats (which finally answered the question of where people get fuel for their boats). I then returned to the hostel, and on the way took my only gondola ride of my trip to Venice. The Grand Canal, which runs through the main part of Venice, only has three main bridges across it, so to fill in gaps there are larger gondolas (called Tronchettos) that carry people across for 50 cents. After eating dinner and resting a little, I decided to do San Marco square at night again, since I liked it so much the last time. Again I got gelato from the Gelato Boutique and went over to the square. Like the night before it was a great scene, and this time I heard a band do the music of the theme songs from both Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Not a bad way to end Venice.
As stated earlier, this update is being typed from Zagreb, Croatia. I hope to have an update on my time in Slovenia in the next few days. After Zagreb I am moving down to the town of Split, which is on the Adriatic coast.
Venice actually got off to somewhat of a bad start on the day I arrived. I was trying to make arrangements for my travel from Venice to Ljubljana, but there's no direct line so I had to line up a few regional trains to get there. However because I had had some trouble with regional trains in France, I investigated an alternative option, which was to take a bus to a town on the Austrian border and then a train from there to Ljubljana. This investigation became something of a wild goose chase as I couldn't seem to get accurate information on the bus service and I ended up spending some time walking around the area by the train and bus stations trying to figure out the bus. In the end I got too frustrated, so I decided I would take my chances with the regional trains (when I post my Slovenia update you'll get to read how this turned out). I remember being fairly unhappy at the end of that day, but Venice would win me over in the end.
The place I stayed in Venice was near the Rialto bridge. There are no cars in Venice (except at the parking garage where people park who have driven across the bridge from the mainland) so you walk everywhere. The city is not very large so that's not really a problem, but the street layout is a complex web of small streets so you really need a map. I started day one by checking out the Rialto bridge and then moved on to San Marco square, one of the most famous squares in Europe. I spent some time just taking in the sights there and getting photos before going into the San Marco Basilica. The basilica ceiling is entirely covered with mosaics that range from old Byzantine styles to Renaissance ones. The terrace of the church also has good views of the square. When I finished with the church I went back outside to the square and looked around some more before catching a waterbus to San Giorgio island. Waterbuses are very expensive, at about seven euros for a one way ride, so I don't recommend using them unless absolutely necessary. The waterbus to the island however only costs four euros for a round trip, so it wasn't so bad. The island, and in particular the bell tower of the church have really good views of the main section of Venice. Once I returned to the main islands of Venice, I went east towards the tail of the "fish" (take a look at a map of the main part of Venice) where there is a large park. This is a good place to get away from the zoo of the touristy parts of Venice and recharge before jumping back into the fray. Leaving the park, I went back west and a little north to the old Arsenal of Venice, which used to be the town's fort and shipyard. Today it is still owned by the Italian military and they were not allowing visitors. Moving on, I got a really late lunch at a place called Birreria Forst, which is on a street called Calle Rosse, I think. It's a sandwich bar just east of San Marco square and one of the few cheap places to grab a meal near San Marco. They have some delicious ham sandwiches, and strangely good tasting Pepsi. After my meal I went back to my hostel for a little while before going out one last time for a night stroll back to San Marco square. On the way I got some good gelato from a place called the Gelato Boutique (great taste and big scoops; an award winning combination). San Marco square really is a different place at night with the buildings lit up and dueling bands playing at several of the outdoor restaurants. Although there are still quite a few tourists at night, it is much less than during the day and the place has a great ambiance to it. I got to hear one band perform the Titanic theme, and it was moving. I think going to San Marco is one of those definitive Venice experiences, and I strongly recommend doing it if you have the time.
Day two in Venice was about filling in some gaps in the city and also revisiting a few places from day one. Once again I started at the Rialto Bridge, because I realized that while I had taken pictures from the bridge, I had none of the bridge itself. I moved on to the Santa Maria dei Frari church after that, which has great Venetian artwork in it, but a no photo policy (booo!!!). Just around the corner from it is the even more impressive Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which is sometimes called Venice's Sistine Chapel. The bottom floor doesn't have too much, but go upstairs for large hall that will snap your neck from looking up so much. They actually provide people mirrors so that people don't hurt themselves doing this. The place costed something like eight euros, but was worth every cent. Again no photos, which to me is just criminal with how photogenic that place is. I then worked my way south through the city to the area with the Accademia Museum, which I considered going into, but I decided against because I was trying to budget my spending. I'm told it is full of Venetian artwork from Venice's glory days, so maybe I'll go in next time. I then crossed the Accademia Bridge across the Grand Canal, and walked all the way to the Rialto Bridge and crossed that to find a pizza place I had read about that was not too far from my hostel. Alas, the place was closed when I got there, so I worked my way back to Campo Manin and ate a kabob instead. I then returned to San Marco square and visited the Correr Museum (Venetian artifacts) because a ticket to the museum also covers the more popular Doge's Palace and allows you to skip the ticket line there. The Doge's Palace starts out a bit sparse in the Doge's apartments, but gets good when you reach the chambers used by the various Venetian councils and the arsenal rooms. Once again, no photos (what's wrong with this city?!). When I finished with the Doge's Palace I walked to the north end of the main islands and walked along the waterside walkway all the way to... a gas station for boats (which finally answered the question of where people get fuel for their boats). I then returned to the hostel, and on the way took my only gondola ride of my trip to Venice. The Grand Canal, which runs through the main part of Venice, only has three main bridges across it, so to fill in gaps there are larger gondolas (called Tronchettos) that carry people across for 50 cents. After eating dinner and resting a little, I decided to do San Marco square at night again, since I liked it so much the last time. Again I got gelato from the Gelato Boutique and went over to the square. Like the night before it was a great scene, and this time I heard a band do the music of the theme songs from both Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Not a bad way to end Venice.
As stated earlier, this update is being typed from Zagreb, Croatia. I hope to have an update on my time in Slovenia in the next few days. After Zagreb I am moving down to the town of Split, which is on the Adriatic coast.
Rome: Living In The Past
Hi all, here is the update I meant to type in Venice, however because internet access in that city was crazy expensive, I decided to wait until I had cheaper internet access. Said internet has been located here in Slovenia, whose low prices are a relief after the high prices of Venice. I wish I could tell you that I'll have a Venice update soon, but I'm not really sure how soon I'll be able to get to it. Please be aware that the keyboards here in Slovenia are the strangest ones yet, so there may be more errors than usual. Anyways, here is Rome:
I spent four days in Rome and walked the length of the city many times over. I can confirm that Rome's notorious traffic is for real and the only rule on the streets seems to be the rule of no harm, no foul. As long as a driver doesn't hit anyone else, (and likewise a pedestrian doesn't get hit) all is well. You have to be assertive (and a bit courageous) as a pedestrian when crossing the street, or you'll be stuck on the curb for awhile. I once saw a guy driving a scooter with one arm while weaving in and out of traffic, talking on his cell phone and doing the stereotypical Italian hand gestures with the other arm. Crazy as this might be, I'm told southern Italy is even worse.
On my first full day in Rome I started out at the Colosseum. To skip the lines I had a Roma Pass, which is not as good as the Paris Museum Pass, but is still worthwhile if you're going to visit a lot of places. I got to walk past the long lines at the Colosseum and go straight in. Even after 2,000 years of neglect and decay, the Colosseum is still an impressive sight. I walked all around the lower and upper areas and looked down into the lower levels, where many thousands of gladiators, martyrs and criminals spent their last few hours before rising to the stadium floor to die. After the Colosseum I went over to the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, which are directly next to the Colosseum. Both are a graveyard of sections of buildings, broken columns and require a little imagination to reconstruct the old scene. When I finally finished with the area I went over to the Borghese Gallery, which is an art museum. The museum is by reservation only, and while it is not very big, it has a good collection of paintings and sculptures by Bernini. Moving on, I went over to Piazza del Popolo, a major square in Rome that used to be the north entry area into the old city. On the square there was a police expo celebrating the 160th anniversary of the Rome Police Department (I think) and they were showing off various police vehicles from over the past 100 years or so. Among them was a police Ferrari, which I thought only existed in video games, but apparently is real. I don't know what it is used for or where you would put an arrested person in it, but maybe it just impresses criminals into surrendering. There was also a little police smart car and even a police segway. To finish the day I went over to the Spanish Steps, which is a large staircase leading up to an old obelisk and church that is popular gathering spot for both locals and tourist.
On day two I paid a visit to the Roma National Museum, which is near Termini train station. The museum has an extensive collection of Roman artifacts, and has an old bronze sculpture of a boxer that I really liked. After the museum I took a bus over to Castel Sant Angelo which used to be a mausoleum for a Roman emperor but got renovated and turned into a fort. The fort later got a bridge connecting it directly to the Vatican so that the pope could quickly escape to it whenever Rome was getting raided by barbarians. The fort has some good views of the city from the top and is a short walk from Vatican City, which is where I was going next. I walked over to St Peter's Basilica and took a quick look around before walking to the north side of Vatican City, which is where the entrance to the Vatican Museum is. I had been told that if you don't have reservations for the museum you should go in the afternoon, and I think that really is the winning strategy. I arrived at about 2:30 and spent only five minutes in line. Apparently the Vatican experiences a morning rush each day, partly because almost all the guides tell people to show up early. Like a giant herd of sheep, everyone comes in the morning and the lines are crazy long. If you have reservations it's not a problem, but if you want to save a few euros you should come after 1:00pm. The Vatican Museum is somewhat like the Louvre in Paris, in that it has tons of artwork, but unlike the Louvre it is sort of small, so everyone is packed into narrow corridors and you sometimes have to muscle your way through the tour groups to get better views of things. There are also several points where you can take a shortcut straight to the Sistine Chapel, but I wanted to get the most out of my entry fee and saw the entire thing. Sadly, there is no photography allowed in the Sistine Chapel, though I did see some people trying to sneak photos past the guards. After the chapel I went straight into St Peter's using a passageway that's supposed to just be for tour groups, but no one was checking. St Peter's is the largest cathedral in the world, and even has markers on the floor to show where other cathedrals would end if you stuck them inside (just to rub it in). Because of the size, it can be a bit tricky to photograph. I didn't see the pope, so I never got to challenge him to a Reformation Rematch (he must have known I was there). After leaving the cathedral I looked around St Peter's square for awhile and then took a bus back towards my hostel. I got most of the way back, but my bus was brought to a halt by a few thousands protesters on bicycles, who I'm guessing were protesting that Rome is not very friendly to cyclists. It looked like they weren't going anywhere for awhile, so I walked the rest of the way back (and of course, it started to rain). Thus ended day two.
Day three started with me checking out a few churches and then I went down to the Circus Maximus, which is near the Colosseum. There's almost nothing there; it's really just an open field shaped like a chariot racecourse. I wasn't expecting much of anything, but I still left a bit disappointed. Walking north, I moved to Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, which has a few museums on it as well as the Victor Emmanuel monument. I went up to the top of the monument, which actually has good, though slightly obstructed views of the city. When I came down from the top of the monument, I was looking for a toilet when I came across what I call the "Chandelier Church" up on the hill (I'll let you guess what its most prominent interior features were). After checking out the church and finding the toilet I was looking for, I walked down the steps of the Victor Emmanuel monument to the bottom. The monument commemorates Italian unification and the nation's first king, and it has the largest statue of a guy on a horse in the world. The king's mustache is just over five feet long. Apparently the monument is not entirely popular with locals and because it is made out of really white marble it gets dirty easily from Rome's pollution and requires frequent and expensive cleaning. Near the bottom of the monument is Trajan's column, which tells the story of Emperor Trajan's military campaign in a slowly rising spiral. I then walked over to the Trevi Fountain, which was overrun with tourists but cool nonetheless. From there I went over to the Pantheon and spent some time there. The Pantheon is the best preserved Roman building in Rome, since it remained in use after Rome fell and never got cannibalized for stone like the Colosseum. It's also free and has a great ambiance about it. When I finished with the Pantheon I took a quick look over at nearby Piazza Noavona to wrap up the day.
On day four I walked more than any other day so far on my trip. I had already seen all the big sights that I wanted to see, so I didn't have much of a plan for the day. I visited quite a few squares like Campo di Fiori and Piazza Navona and also walked along the Tiber River at a few points. Along the Tiber I came to the August mausoleum, which is sort of like Castel Sant Angelo except is never got renovated and is in a state of disrepair. Next to it is the Arc Pacis building, which was the first new building in Rome since the 1930s and holds the old Roman alter of peace. From there I went north to Piazza de Popolo, which was now devoid of the police expo. It was raining until the early afternoon that day, so I ate my lunch under the old city gate there. After eating I walked down Via del Corso, a major street lined with expensive shops that leads to the Victor Emmanuel monument. I got sidetracked at the Marcus Aurelius column, which is like Trajan's Column, but is much more worn out. Nearby it is an old Egyptian obelisk in front of a government building, and after that I went into the church of Sant Ignazio, which I call the Temple of Darkness, because it is so poorly lit. Rome has a church every 100 yards in any given direction, so I ended up seeing quite a few of them that day. South of the church I wound up back at the Tiber River and I checked out the small island on it. The Tiber River does not seem to have as much importance to Rome as the Seine does to Paris or the Thames to London, in terms of sightseeing. It is really more just something you have to cross to get to sights on the western side of the river. I found myself back by the Circus Maximus and decided to check out the church of San Giovanni Laterno in the southeast part of Rome, and along the way there I saw some protesters, but I wasn't sure what the protest was about. The church is definitely worth the walk (or, you can reach it much more easily by metro) and used to serve as the primary cathedral in Rome until St Peter's was built. The inside has large statues of the twelve apostles in the main section and feels like a hall of fame. Close to the church there is also a building which houses a set of stairs that supposedly Jesus climbed in Jerusalem. You're only allowed to climb them on your knees, and I opted to walk up to the top using a parallel set of stairs. When I left the building I took the metro back to my hostel where I ate and rested a little before doing a night walk to cap off my time in Rome. I saw a lot of the sights like the Pantheon and Trevi fountain lit up, which was really nice and a great way to end my time in the city.
As I said, I am typing this update in Slovenia. Later today I leave for Croatia, where hopefully I will have the chance to type updates covering Venice and Slovenia.
I spent four days in Rome and walked the length of the city many times over. I can confirm that Rome's notorious traffic is for real and the only rule on the streets seems to be the rule of no harm, no foul. As long as a driver doesn't hit anyone else, (and likewise a pedestrian doesn't get hit) all is well. You have to be assertive (and a bit courageous) as a pedestrian when crossing the street, or you'll be stuck on the curb for awhile. I once saw a guy driving a scooter with one arm while weaving in and out of traffic, talking on his cell phone and doing the stereotypical Italian hand gestures with the other arm. Crazy as this might be, I'm told southern Italy is even worse.
On my first full day in Rome I started out at the Colosseum. To skip the lines I had a Roma Pass, which is not as good as the Paris Museum Pass, but is still worthwhile if you're going to visit a lot of places. I got to walk past the long lines at the Colosseum and go straight in. Even after 2,000 years of neglect and decay, the Colosseum is still an impressive sight. I walked all around the lower and upper areas and looked down into the lower levels, where many thousands of gladiators, martyrs and criminals spent their last few hours before rising to the stadium floor to die. After the Colosseum I went over to the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill, which are directly next to the Colosseum. Both are a graveyard of sections of buildings, broken columns and require a little imagination to reconstruct the old scene. When I finally finished with the area I went over to the Borghese Gallery, which is an art museum. The museum is by reservation only, and while it is not very big, it has a good collection of paintings and sculptures by Bernini. Moving on, I went over to Piazza del Popolo, a major square in Rome that used to be the north entry area into the old city. On the square there was a police expo celebrating the 160th anniversary of the Rome Police Department (I think) and they were showing off various police vehicles from over the past 100 years or so. Among them was a police Ferrari, which I thought only existed in video games, but apparently is real. I don't know what it is used for or where you would put an arrested person in it, but maybe it just impresses criminals into surrendering. There was also a little police smart car and even a police segway. To finish the day I went over to the Spanish Steps, which is a large staircase leading up to an old obelisk and church that is popular gathering spot for both locals and tourist.
On day two I paid a visit to the Roma National Museum, which is near Termini train station. The museum has an extensive collection of Roman artifacts, and has an old bronze sculpture of a boxer that I really liked. After the museum I took a bus over to Castel Sant Angelo which used to be a mausoleum for a Roman emperor but got renovated and turned into a fort. The fort later got a bridge connecting it directly to the Vatican so that the pope could quickly escape to it whenever Rome was getting raided by barbarians. The fort has some good views of the city from the top and is a short walk from Vatican City, which is where I was going next. I walked over to St Peter's Basilica and took a quick look around before walking to the north side of Vatican City, which is where the entrance to the Vatican Museum is. I had been told that if you don't have reservations for the museum you should go in the afternoon, and I think that really is the winning strategy. I arrived at about 2:30 and spent only five minutes in line. Apparently the Vatican experiences a morning rush each day, partly because almost all the guides tell people to show up early. Like a giant herd of sheep, everyone comes in the morning and the lines are crazy long. If you have reservations it's not a problem, but if you want to save a few euros you should come after 1:00pm. The Vatican Museum is somewhat like the Louvre in Paris, in that it has tons of artwork, but unlike the Louvre it is sort of small, so everyone is packed into narrow corridors and you sometimes have to muscle your way through the tour groups to get better views of things. There are also several points where you can take a shortcut straight to the Sistine Chapel, but I wanted to get the most out of my entry fee and saw the entire thing. Sadly, there is no photography allowed in the Sistine Chapel, though I did see some people trying to sneak photos past the guards. After the chapel I went straight into St Peter's using a passageway that's supposed to just be for tour groups, but no one was checking. St Peter's is the largest cathedral in the world, and even has markers on the floor to show where other cathedrals would end if you stuck them inside (just to rub it in). Because of the size, it can be a bit tricky to photograph. I didn't see the pope, so I never got to challenge him to a Reformation Rematch (he must have known I was there). After leaving the cathedral I looked around St Peter's square for awhile and then took a bus back towards my hostel. I got most of the way back, but my bus was brought to a halt by a few thousands protesters on bicycles, who I'm guessing were protesting that Rome is not very friendly to cyclists. It looked like they weren't going anywhere for awhile, so I walked the rest of the way back (and of course, it started to rain). Thus ended day two.
Day three started with me checking out a few churches and then I went down to the Circus Maximus, which is near the Colosseum. There's almost nothing there; it's really just an open field shaped like a chariot racecourse. I wasn't expecting much of anything, but I still left a bit disappointed. Walking north, I moved to Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome, which has a few museums on it as well as the Victor Emmanuel monument. I went up to the top of the monument, which actually has good, though slightly obstructed views of the city. When I came down from the top of the monument, I was looking for a toilet when I came across what I call the "Chandelier Church" up on the hill (I'll let you guess what its most prominent interior features were). After checking out the church and finding the toilet I was looking for, I walked down the steps of the Victor Emmanuel monument to the bottom. The monument commemorates Italian unification and the nation's first king, and it has the largest statue of a guy on a horse in the world. The king's mustache is just over five feet long. Apparently the monument is not entirely popular with locals and because it is made out of really white marble it gets dirty easily from Rome's pollution and requires frequent and expensive cleaning. Near the bottom of the monument is Trajan's column, which tells the story of Emperor Trajan's military campaign in a slowly rising spiral. I then walked over to the Trevi Fountain, which was overrun with tourists but cool nonetheless. From there I went over to the Pantheon and spent some time there. The Pantheon is the best preserved Roman building in Rome, since it remained in use after Rome fell and never got cannibalized for stone like the Colosseum. It's also free and has a great ambiance about it. When I finished with the Pantheon I took a quick look over at nearby Piazza Noavona to wrap up the day.
On day four I walked more than any other day so far on my trip. I had already seen all the big sights that I wanted to see, so I didn't have much of a plan for the day. I visited quite a few squares like Campo di Fiori and Piazza Navona and also walked along the Tiber River at a few points. Along the Tiber I came to the August mausoleum, which is sort of like Castel Sant Angelo except is never got renovated and is in a state of disrepair. Next to it is the Arc Pacis building, which was the first new building in Rome since the 1930s and holds the old Roman alter of peace. From there I went north to Piazza de Popolo, which was now devoid of the police expo. It was raining until the early afternoon that day, so I ate my lunch under the old city gate there. After eating I walked down Via del Corso, a major street lined with expensive shops that leads to the Victor Emmanuel monument. I got sidetracked at the Marcus Aurelius column, which is like Trajan's Column, but is much more worn out. Nearby it is an old Egyptian obelisk in front of a government building, and after that I went into the church of Sant Ignazio, which I call the Temple of Darkness, because it is so poorly lit. Rome has a church every 100 yards in any given direction, so I ended up seeing quite a few of them that day. South of the church I wound up back at the Tiber River and I checked out the small island on it. The Tiber River does not seem to have as much importance to Rome as the Seine does to Paris or the Thames to London, in terms of sightseeing. It is really more just something you have to cross to get to sights on the western side of the river. I found myself back by the Circus Maximus and decided to check out the church of San Giovanni Laterno in the southeast part of Rome, and along the way there I saw some protesters, but I wasn't sure what the protest was about. The church is definitely worth the walk (or, you can reach it much more easily by metro) and used to serve as the primary cathedral in Rome until St Peter's was built. The inside has large statues of the twelve apostles in the main section and feels like a hall of fame. Close to the church there is also a building which houses a set of stairs that supposedly Jesus climbed in Jerusalem. You're only allowed to climb them on your knees, and I opted to walk up to the top using a parallel set of stairs. When I left the building I took the metro back to my hostel where I ate and rested a little before doing a night walk to cap off my time in Rome. I saw a lot of the sights like the Pantheon and Trevi fountain lit up, which was really nice and a great way to end my time in the city.
As I said, I am typing this update in Slovenia. Later today I leave for Croatia, where hopefully I will have the chance to type updates covering Venice and Slovenia.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Milan & Florence: Rainy Renaissance
Hi all, here is the latest update to the blog, covering my time in Milan and Florence.
Getting from Avignon to Milan proved a little troublesome. Once again, (like my journey from Paris to San Sebastian) the French rail system tried to stop me, but I wasn't about to be foiled a second time and I emerged victorious in the end. My journey to Milan was composed of four trains; three regional French trains and then an Italian train to Milan. The first train got me to Marseilles without any trouble, but the second train from Marseilles to Nice just decided to come to a stop for some reason and sat mid-route on the rails for about 20 minutes. Because of this, I arrived late into Nice and missed the third train to Ventimiglia, a coastal Italian town near the border. But, I was able to get my schedule reworked and got on the next train there. I had two hours in Ventimiglia before the final train to Milan, so I walked down to the beach (actually I wouldn't call it a beach as it's mostly rocks) and sat around down there. My train to Milan brought me into the city at 11:00pm, so I had to find my way to my hostel at night, but I managed to get there ok.
I only had one full day in Milan, so I didn't see too much. Also, it started raining again, with a vengeance. The perpetual rain storm that had followed me from London all the way to Madrid for a month was throwing me a reunion party. In spite of this, I walked around town a bit and saw some of the main sights of Milan. The first big thing I came to was the town's duomo (cathedral). Milan has the second largest cathedral in the world, and it's quite impressive. I went up to the roof, which appears to have been designed from the start for people to go up there. Many other cathedrals and buildings have scaffolding you go on when you go up to the roof, but at the Milan duomo you are walking on the actual rooftop of the cathedral. The view up there is good, but because of the rain I couldn't see too far. After the duomo I paid a visit to a large shopping mall that was next to the duomo. Apparently this is the first large shopping mall that was ever built, and it resembles more a train station than a traditional mall with high vaulted roofs made of glass and steel. I even found the bull mosaic on the floor of the mall. You're supposed to do a little spin on the bull's testicles to give yourself good luck and there were a number of people doing just that. I however, was not content to just do a little pivot turn on the bull, and instead jumped and stomped on the testicles before doing a Michael Jackson spin. By my logic this act will give me an exponentially greater amount of luck than those other people got. Moving on, I walked over to Milan's old castello (fort) though there isn't too much there. The castello is free and open to the public, though most locals seem to just pass through it to reach the park on the other side of it. After looking around the castello a little I went over to that park and walked to the opposite side before returning back. When I got back to the castello I came across what I thought was a group of people doing some sort of traditional song performance, but it turned out to really be a group of Catholics who were singing some Italian hymns. I spoke with them briefly and learned that they do these public songs regularly as their way to speak to people in the community about their church. Once we parted ways I went back to my hostel, and that was more or less the end of Milan.
The next day I arrived in Florence (called Firenze in Italian) and the rainstorm followed me in for the first day I was there. My first day in Florence I didn't see too much as I only had a few hours after arriving from Milan. I spent the remainder of that day walking the south side of the Arno River and saw a few things like the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge (I think that's what it's called; it's the one that's covered in jewelry shops). I also climbed up a hillside to Piazza Michelangelo and got some good views of the city. The next day I saw most of Florence and it thankfully stopped raining. I visited a number of churches, piazzas and other buildings, including the unfinished Basilica di San Lorenzo. The church is actually effectively complete, but it has no facade because the pope pulled the plug on funding before it was finished. I then moved down to Florence's duomo, with its famous red dome. The exterior is a colorful mix of white, green and pink marble, which not everyone likes but I think works well. The inside is actually kind of plain for a cathedral of its size, but the entrance is free so I'm not complaining. I considered climbing the dome, but the line was really long and not moving much, so instead I did a close substitute and climbed the duomo's bell tower, which had no line and is nearly as tall as the dome. With the clouds gone, I got some good views of Florence up there. When I came down I walked south and tried out a local gellato shop called Grom that a lot of people are saying is really good. Kind of like the sandwich in Barcelona, I thought Grom's gellato was very good, but I wasn't floored by it (maybe I set my expectations too high from the hype). I then took a quick look at the outside of the Medici Palace and the Uffizi Gallery (which I would visit the next day) before going north to the Accademia. The Accademia holds Michelangelo's famous David statue, and normally has a long line to get in, but I had made a reservation a few days earlier so I got to skip the line. David really is the main attraction of the Accademia, and the museum isn't very large so most people are finished there in about half an hour. I made sure to see everything in detail, but even that only took me about 45 minutes. The Accademia visit concluded day one in Florence.
Since I had seen most of Florence on day one, on day two I did a short trip over to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the only thing Pisa has going for it, and I didn't notice anything that looked all that interesting during my walk from the train station to the tower. I spent some time checking out the tower, along with the cathedral and baptistery that are in the same area, but despite my best efforts I could only get an hour and a half out of that place before leaving. You can pay to go up the tower, but in my mind that made no sense since the tower is the only thing worth seeing, and when you're in the tower you can't see the tower, just the rest of boring Pisa. Arriving back in Florence, I walked around town for 45 minutes until it was time for my reserved slot at the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi is much bigger than the Accademia and is mostly made up of art that the Medici family gathered during their time as the rulers of Florence. After I finished at the Uffizi, I went back to my hostel and spent some time booking my next few accommodations. To finish the day I did a night stroll through Florence, and I got to see the sights all lit up. While I was out I also tried out another gellato shop on the south side of the Arno, next to one of the bridges, that I actually liked a lot. With that, Florence was finished.
I am typing this update from Rome, which I have just finished. Tomorrow I leave for Venice, where I will try to type up a Rome recap for all of you.
Getting from Avignon to Milan proved a little troublesome. Once again, (like my journey from Paris to San Sebastian) the French rail system tried to stop me, but I wasn't about to be foiled a second time and I emerged victorious in the end. My journey to Milan was composed of four trains; three regional French trains and then an Italian train to Milan. The first train got me to Marseilles without any trouble, but the second train from Marseilles to Nice just decided to come to a stop for some reason and sat mid-route on the rails for about 20 minutes. Because of this, I arrived late into Nice and missed the third train to Ventimiglia, a coastal Italian town near the border. But, I was able to get my schedule reworked and got on the next train there. I had two hours in Ventimiglia before the final train to Milan, so I walked down to the beach (actually I wouldn't call it a beach as it's mostly rocks) and sat around down there. My train to Milan brought me into the city at 11:00pm, so I had to find my way to my hostel at night, but I managed to get there ok.
I only had one full day in Milan, so I didn't see too much. Also, it started raining again, with a vengeance. The perpetual rain storm that had followed me from London all the way to Madrid for a month was throwing me a reunion party. In spite of this, I walked around town a bit and saw some of the main sights of Milan. The first big thing I came to was the town's duomo (cathedral). Milan has the second largest cathedral in the world, and it's quite impressive. I went up to the roof, which appears to have been designed from the start for people to go up there. Many other cathedrals and buildings have scaffolding you go on when you go up to the roof, but at the Milan duomo you are walking on the actual rooftop of the cathedral. The view up there is good, but because of the rain I couldn't see too far. After the duomo I paid a visit to a large shopping mall that was next to the duomo. Apparently this is the first large shopping mall that was ever built, and it resembles more a train station than a traditional mall with high vaulted roofs made of glass and steel. I even found the bull mosaic on the floor of the mall. You're supposed to do a little spin on the bull's testicles to give yourself good luck and there were a number of people doing just that. I however, was not content to just do a little pivot turn on the bull, and instead jumped and stomped on the testicles before doing a Michael Jackson spin. By my logic this act will give me an exponentially greater amount of luck than those other people got. Moving on, I walked over to Milan's old castello (fort) though there isn't too much there. The castello is free and open to the public, though most locals seem to just pass through it to reach the park on the other side of it. After looking around the castello a little I went over to that park and walked to the opposite side before returning back. When I got back to the castello I came across what I thought was a group of people doing some sort of traditional song performance, but it turned out to really be a group of Catholics who were singing some Italian hymns. I spoke with them briefly and learned that they do these public songs regularly as their way to speak to people in the community about their church. Once we parted ways I went back to my hostel, and that was more or less the end of Milan.
The next day I arrived in Florence (called Firenze in Italian) and the rainstorm followed me in for the first day I was there. My first day in Florence I didn't see too much as I only had a few hours after arriving from Milan. I spent the remainder of that day walking the south side of the Arno River and saw a few things like the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge (I think that's what it's called; it's the one that's covered in jewelry shops). I also climbed up a hillside to Piazza Michelangelo and got some good views of the city. The next day I saw most of Florence and it thankfully stopped raining. I visited a number of churches, piazzas and other buildings, including the unfinished Basilica di San Lorenzo. The church is actually effectively complete, but it has no facade because the pope pulled the plug on funding before it was finished. I then moved down to Florence's duomo, with its famous red dome. The exterior is a colorful mix of white, green and pink marble, which not everyone likes but I think works well. The inside is actually kind of plain for a cathedral of its size, but the entrance is free so I'm not complaining. I considered climbing the dome, but the line was really long and not moving much, so instead I did a close substitute and climbed the duomo's bell tower, which had no line and is nearly as tall as the dome. With the clouds gone, I got some good views of Florence up there. When I came down I walked south and tried out a local gellato shop called Grom that a lot of people are saying is really good. Kind of like the sandwich in Barcelona, I thought Grom's gellato was very good, but I wasn't floored by it (maybe I set my expectations too high from the hype). I then took a quick look at the outside of the Medici Palace and the Uffizi Gallery (which I would visit the next day) before going north to the Accademia. The Accademia holds Michelangelo's famous David statue, and normally has a long line to get in, but I had made a reservation a few days earlier so I got to skip the line. David really is the main attraction of the Accademia, and the museum isn't very large so most people are finished there in about half an hour. I made sure to see everything in detail, but even that only took me about 45 minutes. The Accademia visit concluded day one in Florence.
Since I had seen most of Florence on day one, on day two I did a short trip over to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the only thing Pisa has going for it, and I didn't notice anything that looked all that interesting during my walk from the train station to the tower. I spent some time checking out the tower, along with the cathedral and baptistery that are in the same area, but despite my best efforts I could only get an hour and a half out of that place before leaving. You can pay to go up the tower, but in my mind that made no sense since the tower is the only thing worth seeing, and when you're in the tower you can't see the tower, just the rest of boring Pisa. Arriving back in Florence, I walked around town for 45 minutes until it was time for my reserved slot at the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi is much bigger than the Accademia and is mostly made up of art that the Medici family gathered during their time as the rulers of Florence. After I finished at the Uffizi, I went back to my hostel and spent some time booking my next few accommodations. To finish the day I did a night stroll through Florence, and I got to see the sights all lit up. While I was out I also tried out another gellato shop on the south side of the Arno, next to one of the bridges, that I actually liked a lot. With that, Florence was finished.
I am typing this update from Rome, which I have just finished. Tomorrow I leave for Venice, where I will try to type up a Rome recap for all of you.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Avignon & Arles: Midway
Here is part 2 of the long overdue update. It covers my short time in southern France, which served as a bridge between Spain and Italy.
My time in southern France marked something of a midway point on my trip, hence the name of this post. Both geographically and chronologically, it marks a good half-way point of this journey. I had about 2.5 days in southern France, which were spent in the towns of Avignon and Arles, and also with a trip over to Pont du Gard.
The town of Avignon is on the Rhone River, which in older times was known by the locals as the "angry river" because of its strong current, frequent floods and just general moodiness for a river. Avignon is also the windiest place I have ever been. On my first day there I experienced something akin to gale-force winds that just never stopped during the day. Avignon is famous for being the temporary residence of the Vatican when the pope moved there from Rome in the early 1300s. The papacy stayed in Avignon for a number of years, and something like eight or nine popes resided in Avignon until the papacy was brought back to Rome. As you can imagine, the pope moving into town turned Avignon from a backwater village into an important town. City walls, a palace for the pope and other buildings quickly sprung up. The other main thing Avignon is famous for is its broken bridge, which has actually been destroyed a number of times by the angry Rhone River, but the last time (1800s I think?) the residents just didn't rebuild it. The bridge extends just over halfway out into the river, and there it just stops. One last thing I would like to say about Avignon is that it for some reason reminds me of Minas Tirith, (that's right, I just made a LOTR reference) though I admit it's a bit of a stretch. All in all, Avignon is a cool place, though you can see all of it in a day.
I also did a trip to the town Arles while I was in southern France. Arles is a former Roman town with a number of well preserved Roman structures, more so than most other places outside of Italy. I visited the town's antiquities museum, which shows how Arles used to look as a Roman town, and then moved on the explore the town itself. The two big Roman sites people visit in Arles are the old arena and the theatre. The theatre is something of a stone graveyard, with blocks from the old structure scattered all over the place (locals cannibalized the place for stone after Rome collapsed) but the main part of it with the half circle theatre area is still intact and used for performances today. The arena is actually in very good condition, and still hosts events to this day. Interesting fact; during the middle ages the arena's archways were bricked up and a few towers were added to the place to turn the arena into an enclosed village. These days the arena is back to its original look, but some of the towers are still there. While I was in Arles I was hoping to see a bull game, which is a non-violent version of a bull fight, but none were going on that day. In bull games, a group of guys have about 15 minutes to attempt to grab a ribbon that is attached to the bull's horns. Only humans get harmed in bull games, so PETA need not complain. Before leaving Arles I also checked out the Baths of Constantine and the town cathedral. Like Avignon, Arles can be done in a single day.
On my last day in southern France I explored around Avignon a bit more, and it the afternoon I took a bus over to Pont du Gard, which is a well preserved Roman aqueduct that spans a river gorge. The aqueduct used to carry water to the town of Nimes, but these days just spends its time getting photographed by tourists like me. I wish I had more time there, but because I had missed an earlier bus to the site I only had a bit over an hour at Pont du Gard. While there I also befriended a pair of ladies who later took me out to a very nice dinner back in Avignon. You know who you are, so thank you, especially for the great advice you gave me that day.
So, half way done. In a few days I will try to post an update covering both Milan and Florence.
My time in southern France marked something of a midway point on my trip, hence the name of this post. Both geographically and chronologically, it marks a good half-way point of this journey. I had about 2.5 days in southern France, which were spent in the towns of Avignon and Arles, and also with a trip over to Pont du Gard.
The town of Avignon is on the Rhone River, which in older times was known by the locals as the "angry river" because of its strong current, frequent floods and just general moodiness for a river. Avignon is also the windiest place I have ever been. On my first day there I experienced something akin to gale-force winds that just never stopped during the day. Avignon is famous for being the temporary residence of the Vatican when the pope moved there from Rome in the early 1300s. The papacy stayed in Avignon for a number of years, and something like eight or nine popes resided in Avignon until the papacy was brought back to Rome. As you can imagine, the pope moving into town turned Avignon from a backwater village into an important town. City walls, a palace for the pope and other buildings quickly sprung up. The other main thing Avignon is famous for is its broken bridge, which has actually been destroyed a number of times by the angry Rhone River, but the last time (1800s I think?) the residents just didn't rebuild it. The bridge extends just over halfway out into the river, and there it just stops. One last thing I would like to say about Avignon is that it for some reason reminds me of Minas Tirith, (that's right, I just made a LOTR reference) though I admit it's a bit of a stretch. All in all, Avignon is a cool place, though you can see all of it in a day.
I also did a trip to the town Arles while I was in southern France. Arles is a former Roman town with a number of well preserved Roman structures, more so than most other places outside of Italy. I visited the town's antiquities museum, which shows how Arles used to look as a Roman town, and then moved on the explore the town itself. The two big Roman sites people visit in Arles are the old arena and the theatre. The theatre is something of a stone graveyard, with blocks from the old structure scattered all over the place (locals cannibalized the place for stone after Rome collapsed) but the main part of it with the half circle theatre area is still intact and used for performances today. The arena is actually in very good condition, and still hosts events to this day. Interesting fact; during the middle ages the arena's archways were bricked up and a few towers were added to the place to turn the arena into an enclosed village. These days the arena is back to its original look, but some of the towers are still there. While I was in Arles I was hoping to see a bull game, which is a non-violent version of a bull fight, but none were going on that day. In bull games, a group of guys have about 15 minutes to attempt to grab a ribbon that is attached to the bull's horns. Only humans get harmed in bull games, so PETA need not complain. Before leaving Arles I also checked out the Baths of Constantine and the town cathedral. Like Avignon, Arles can be done in a single day.
On my last day in southern France I explored around Avignon a bit more, and it the afternoon I took a bus over to Pont du Gard, which is a well preserved Roman aqueduct that spans a river gorge. The aqueduct used to carry water to the town of Nimes, but these days just spends its time getting photographed by tourists like me. I wish I had more time there, but because I had missed an earlier bus to the site I only had a bit over an hour at Pont du Gard. While there I also befriended a pair of ladies who later took me out to a very nice dinner back in Avignon. You know who you are, so thank you, especially for the great advice you gave me that day.
So, half way done. In a few days I will try to post an update covering both Milan and Florence.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Barcelona: The Sound and The Fury (Updated)
UPDATE: I have done some editing and added some more details to this post, hopefully making it better. If you've already read this one, just pretend you haven't and read it again.
Hello all, here is a long overdue update to the blog. I have been mostly away from the internet lately so I have not been able to keep you all updated on how things have gone. Here is part 1 of a very late update; covering my time in Barcelona. I hope to add more updates in the next day or two. I am typing this one in a hurry, so forgive any errors (as always).
Although I thought the book The Sound and The Fury was actually pretty stupid (sorry Faulkner) I chose it for the title of this post because that was the phrase that came to mind during an event you will read about in just a moment. I spent a total of 4 days in Barcelona and saw most of the major sights. The hostel I stayed in was in the southern part of El Raval, and just two blocks away from Las Ramblas, a famous street I will tell you about in just a moment. I had read that El Raval was actually the seedy part of town, but section I was in felt ok (but I was told the northern half of El Raval is not a good place to be after dark). On my first full day in Barcelona I went over to Placa Cataluyna, which is Barcelona's main square, and something of the center of the Catalan people. As some of you know, the people in Barcelona and the surrounding lands consider themselves Catalan first, and Spanish a distant second. Just about everything you read is printed in both Catalan and Spanish (much like San Sebastian, where everything is in Basque and Spanish). After checking out the square, I walked down Las Ramblas which is a famous street (it's actually several streets linked together) that leads down to the harbor. Las Ramblas is lined with all sorts of shops and outdoor eateries, and is infamous for pickpocketing, though I felt ok while walking it (but to be safe I kept a hand in my pocket on my wallet and camera). The only issues I had were with the various street salespeople, who were stationed every 50 feet along the street and were all using something in their mouths to give themselves extremely high pitched and squeaky voices. At the bottom of Las Ramblas is the Columbus monument, which I was going to go up, but the lift was broken. It is somewhat ironic that Barcelona honors Columbus, as the discovery of the Americas actually led to Barcelona becoming a much less important city in Spain, as the oceanic trade shifted to the Spanish cities on the Atlantic side of Spain. Leaving the monument, I walked the harbor front to one beaches on Barceloneta, which is a triangular wedge of the city jutting out into the ocean. Barcelona's beaches are ok, but were very crowded when I was walked by. From there I went back to Las Ramblas by another route and then went back to the hostel for dinner. After eating I decided to go back out to Las Ramblas to see it at night, but this time I walked in the other direction, from the bottom back to Placa Catalunya. The street has a different feel at night and did feel a little shady, but not dangerous. It actually might be cool to eat outside there at night, if you can afford it. When I got to Placa Catalunya there was a protest going on by the Indignants (unemployed young people). I stayed for a few minutes but didn't venture into the mob. A number of people were giving speeches over a loudspeaker, and I even heard a "viva la revolucion!" shout from one of them. There was a definite anger in the air, and from this sound and fury I decided to take the name of this post. The next day I went back to Placa Catalunya in the morning and found most of the protesters gone, but there were some tents and few booths that had been set up. The setup reminded me of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but on a smaller scale. From there I walked through Barri Gotic (old town) and eventually got to Barcelona's main cathedral. Outside I got to see some people performing a Catalan folk dance while I band played music. The dance has people holding hands in a circle and slowly rotating around in the circle. It actually looks like the easiest folk dance ever. I looked around the inside of the cathedral for awhile, and then took the metro over to the base of Mont Juic (a big hill along Barcelona's southwest) and then got on a gondola to the top. There's an old fort up there, along with the Olympic stadium from the Barcelona Olympics and a few other things. Coming down the hill, I passed by a grand museum of Catalan art, which I had meant to go into, but I had gotten there too late and it was closed for the day. At the bottom I walked passed some sort of triumphal columns near a bull fighting arena, and then took an elevator up to the top of the arena since it only costed a euro. The arena has a dome on top, so I couldn't see in, but it had decent views of the surrounding area. On the next day I went again to Placa Catalunya, (it really is the center of town, and a good starting point for walking to wherever you want to go) where there were now a few more tents than the day before. I then walked north into the Eixample, which is "newer" (1800s) Barcelona that got a grid layout instead of the tangle of small streets that characterize Barri Gotic. Antoni Gaudi, the famous architect, designed a number of the homes in this area, and while there I saw the more famous houses that he designed. I then went over to Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral that Gaudi designed. If you see just one cathedral in Spain, I would say to see this one. Gaudi, breaking from traditional designs, integrated geometrical patterns found in nature for the interior internal columns, ceiling and other sections. It's really hard to describe this place, and I would encourage you to look up pictures of the cathedral online. The inside of the cathedral seems to be mostly done, and the cathedral is supposed to be finished sometime around 2030, but no one is counting on it. On the outside, two of the major facades and multiple towers are finished, but much work is still to be done. After Sagrada Familia, I went over to Parc Guell, which is the park that Gaudi originally designed (I think I'm seeing a theme for this day) to be a gated community for rich people, but no one wanted to move in so it became a park. The hill in the park has a good vista view of the whole city, though because it's a bit far away from the main part of town you'll have to zoom in to check out individual buildings. On my last day in Barcelona I checked out a few miscellaneous things that I had missed in the previous days. I went back to Barcelona cathedral to go up the lift to the roof (it was closed when I was there the first time) and also checked out a park in the east area of town. I also went to a place on Las Ramblas called Cafe Viena to try out a sandwich of theirs' that became famous from a 2008 (not sure of the year) article in the New York Times where somebody raved that this sandwich was the best in the world. The sandwich has Iberian ham, bread that has had tomato rubbed into it, olive oil and some other stuff. It was tasty, but I wasn't blown away by it. That was more or less the end of Barcelona, and also the end of my time in Spain.
Anyways, I am currently in Florence, Italy. I hope to have another update for you soon on my time in southern France.
Hello all, here is a long overdue update to the blog. I have been mostly away from the internet lately so I have not been able to keep you all updated on how things have gone. Here is part 1 of a very late update; covering my time in Barcelona. I hope to add more updates in the next day or two. I am typing this one in a hurry, so forgive any errors (as always).
Although I thought the book The Sound and The Fury was actually pretty stupid (sorry Faulkner) I chose it for the title of this post because that was the phrase that came to mind during an event you will read about in just a moment. I spent a total of 4 days in Barcelona and saw most of the major sights. The hostel I stayed in was in the southern part of El Raval, and just two blocks away from Las Ramblas, a famous street I will tell you about in just a moment. I had read that El Raval was actually the seedy part of town, but section I was in felt ok (but I was told the northern half of El Raval is not a good place to be after dark). On my first full day in Barcelona I went over to Placa Cataluyna, which is Barcelona's main square, and something of the center of the Catalan people. As some of you know, the people in Barcelona and the surrounding lands consider themselves Catalan first, and Spanish a distant second. Just about everything you read is printed in both Catalan and Spanish (much like San Sebastian, where everything is in Basque and Spanish). After checking out the square, I walked down Las Ramblas which is a famous street (it's actually several streets linked together) that leads down to the harbor. Las Ramblas is lined with all sorts of shops and outdoor eateries, and is infamous for pickpocketing, though I felt ok while walking it (but to be safe I kept a hand in my pocket on my wallet and camera). The only issues I had were with the various street salespeople, who were stationed every 50 feet along the street and were all using something in their mouths to give themselves extremely high pitched and squeaky voices. At the bottom of Las Ramblas is the Columbus monument, which I was going to go up, but the lift was broken. It is somewhat ironic that Barcelona honors Columbus, as the discovery of the Americas actually led to Barcelona becoming a much less important city in Spain, as the oceanic trade shifted to the Spanish cities on the Atlantic side of Spain. Leaving the monument, I walked the harbor front to one beaches on Barceloneta, which is a triangular wedge of the city jutting out into the ocean. Barcelona's beaches are ok, but were very crowded when I was walked by. From there I went back to Las Ramblas by another route and then went back to the hostel for dinner. After eating I decided to go back out to Las Ramblas to see it at night, but this time I walked in the other direction, from the bottom back to Placa Catalunya. The street has a different feel at night and did feel a little shady, but not dangerous. It actually might be cool to eat outside there at night, if you can afford it. When I got to Placa Catalunya there was a protest going on by the Indignants (unemployed young people). I stayed for a few minutes but didn't venture into the mob. A number of people were giving speeches over a loudspeaker, and I even heard a "viva la revolucion!" shout from one of them. There was a definite anger in the air, and from this sound and fury I decided to take the name of this post. The next day I went back to Placa Catalunya in the morning and found most of the protesters gone, but there were some tents and few booths that had been set up. The setup reminded me of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but on a smaller scale. From there I walked through Barri Gotic (old town) and eventually got to Barcelona's main cathedral. Outside I got to see some people performing a Catalan folk dance while I band played music. The dance has people holding hands in a circle and slowly rotating around in the circle. It actually looks like the easiest folk dance ever. I looked around the inside of the cathedral for awhile, and then took the metro over to the base of Mont Juic (a big hill along Barcelona's southwest) and then got on a gondola to the top. There's an old fort up there, along with the Olympic stadium from the Barcelona Olympics and a few other things. Coming down the hill, I passed by a grand museum of Catalan art, which I had meant to go into, but I had gotten there too late and it was closed for the day. At the bottom I walked passed some sort of triumphal columns near a bull fighting arena, and then took an elevator up to the top of the arena since it only costed a euro. The arena has a dome on top, so I couldn't see in, but it had decent views of the surrounding area. On the next day I went again to Placa Catalunya, (it really is the center of town, and a good starting point for walking to wherever you want to go) where there were now a few more tents than the day before. I then walked north into the Eixample, which is "newer" (1800s) Barcelona that got a grid layout instead of the tangle of small streets that characterize Barri Gotic. Antoni Gaudi, the famous architect, designed a number of the homes in this area, and while there I saw the more famous houses that he designed. I then went over to Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral that Gaudi designed. If you see just one cathedral in Spain, I would say to see this one. Gaudi, breaking from traditional designs, integrated geometrical patterns found in nature for the interior internal columns, ceiling and other sections. It's really hard to describe this place, and I would encourage you to look up pictures of the cathedral online. The inside of the cathedral seems to be mostly done, and the cathedral is supposed to be finished sometime around 2030, but no one is counting on it. On the outside, two of the major facades and multiple towers are finished, but much work is still to be done. After Sagrada Familia, I went over to Parc Guell, which is the park that Gaudi originally designed (I think I'm seeing a theme for this day) to be a gated community for rich people, but no one wanted to move in so it became a park. The hill in the park has a good vista view of the whole city, though because it's a bit far away from the main part of town you'll have to zoom in to check out individual buildings. On my last day in Barcelona I checked out a few miscellaneous things that I had missed in the previous days. I went back to Barcelona cathedral to go up the lift to the roof (it was closed when I was there the first time) and also checked out a park in the east area of town. I also went to a place on Las Ramblas called Cafe Viena to try out a sandwich of theirs' that became famous from a 2008 (not sure of the year) article in the New York Times where somebody raved that this sandwich was the best in the world. The sandwich has Iberian ham, bread that has had tomato rubbed into it, olive oil and some other stuff. It was tasty, but I wasn't blown away by it. That was more or less the end of Barcelona, and also the end of my time in Spain.
Anyways, I am currently in Florence, Italy. I hope to have another update for you soon on my time in southern France.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Seville, Granada & Valencia: Southern Requiem
Hello all, here is an overdue update to the blog. I meant to create an update just for Seville, but I kept forgetting each time I had access to a computer. So, I'm grouping together the last three towns I've been to into a single post. I am pleased to report that in these three southern towns, Seville, Granada and Valencia, it has finally stopped raining. But anyways, here is the update, with a section for each town.
I arrived in Seville (called Sevilla in Spanish) from Madrid by a fast train. Seville is in the region of Andalusia, which is the southernmost of Spain's provinces. It is also the home of Flamenco dancing, which I'm sorry to report I did not participate in. Now, I don't normally mention the hostel I was staying in, but I feel compelled to speak about my hostel in Seville because it was what I call the Hilton of hostels. By this I mean that it was easily the nicest place I've stayed in so far in my journey, and I suspect it will never be matched. While most hostels have a dormitory type feel, this place was more akin to an upscale hotel. Words don't do this place justice, and unfortunately you're just going to have to wait until I have a chance to upload pictures. Seville itself is a very pretty town with architecture ranging from the ancient to the modern. I paid a visit to the main cathedral in town, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third largest overall. While there I climbed the cathedral's tower using it's distinct internal ramp, which was designed so that instead of a person having to climb a lot of steps to the top, they could ride a horse all the way up. Next to the cathedral is the royal palace, which is a former Moorish palace that got renovated when the Spanish reconquered the city. It's an interesting mix of Moorish and Renaissance architecture. Farther to the south of the cathedral and the palace is the Plaza de España, which I think is the best looking building/site I've seen so far in Europe. I would strongly recommend you to look up images of it online in your spare time so you can see what I mean. Continuing on in Seville, I also paid a visit to the site Spanish Pavilion/Exhibition, but everything was closed since it was Sunday (I really should have asked before leaving). I also saw a number of other sights such as the Torre del Oro and a crazy tree-canopy building before leaving.
After Seville, I came to the town of Granada. This town is famous for being the last Moorish stronghold in Spain to fall to the Reconquest. The city was taken in 1492, the same year Columbus sailed, but here in Spain the capture of Granada is the more famous event that people remember from that year. Granada is not a large town, so even though I only had about a day and a half there, I feel like I covered the vast majority of sights. Of course, the first (and usually only) sight that people think of when they think of Granada is the Alhambra Palace. Much like the palace in Seville, the Alhambra is a former Moorish palace that the Spanish added onto when they took over, but the Alhambra is on a hill and much larger and more extravagant that the palace in Seville. One thing you need to know about the Alhambra is that it is one of the sights in Europe that requires a reservation to visit. If you don't have a reservation, (like me) you have to show up early in the morning to try to grab one of the limited number of general tickets that go on sale just before the palace opens. The palace opens at 8:30am, but you should be in line no later that 8:00am (earlier in the summer) to make sure you get a ticket. After the Alhambra I walked around town checking out a cathedral, a few smaller churches and some other buildings. Although you could spend more time there if you like it, I think most people will be fine with just one full day in Granada.
To get to Valencia from Granada, I had to take a night train since there are no daytime trains between the two towns. I arrived in Valencia at just after 5:00am and I had gotten almost no sleep on the train, so it was a tired first day. Regardless, I decided to make the most of it and covered all of the old town on my first day. Among the sights I saw were the old city gates, the central market and the cathedral that holds the supposed Holy Grail. Contrary to what Indiana Jones taught me, the Holy Grail has actually been sitting in Valencia the whole time after being being brought from Israel to Rome, and then Rome to Spain. The next day, after ten or so hours of sleep, I paid a visit to Valencia's beaches to see how they stack up to the ones back in San Diego. While the beaches are very large, have good sand and the water is a bit warmer than in San Diego, there are no waves in the water, so San Diego wins. For a few hours I walked both the beach and the beach-side boardwalk and took in the sights along the coast. After this I walked over to a part of town with a number of modern buildings that have gone up in the past few years. I don't remember the name of this place, but it had Valencia's equivalent of Sea World along with a science museum, an auditorium and a few other buildings that I'm not sure what they are for. I then returned back to my hostel along a long park that appears to have been built on a former riverbed. Whether or not the river dried up or just got diverted, it makes for a long green belt and a good long walk through town. That concludes Valencia.
I am typing this update from Barcelona, which is my last city in Spain before I move on. The next town I am going to is Avignon in France, which is serving as a link between Spain and Italy. After Avignon I will be going through Milan, Florence, Rome and Venice. I will try to have another update in a few days at the end of my time in Barcelona.
I arrived in Seville (called Sevilla in Spanish) from Madrid by a fast train. Seville is in the region of Andalusia, which is the southernmost of Spain's provinces. It is also the home of Flamenco dancing, which I'm sorry to report I did not participate in. Now, I don't normally mention the hostel I was staying in, but I feel compelled to speak about my hostel in Seville because it was what I call the Hilton of hostels. By this I mean that it was easily the nicest place I've stayed in so far in my journey, and I suspect it will never be matched. While most hostels have a dormitory type feel, this place was more akin to an upscale hotel. Words don't do this place justice, and unfortunately you're just going to have to wait until I have a chance to upload pictures. Seville itself is a very pretty town with architecture ranging from the ancient to the modern. I paid a visit to the main cathedral in town, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third largest overall. While there I climbed the cathedral's tower using it's distinct internal ramp, which was designed so that instead of a person having to climb a lot of steps to the top, they could ride a horse all the way up. Next to the cathedral is the royal palace, which is a former Moorish palace that got renovated when the Spanish reconquered the city. It's an interesting mix of Moorish and Renaissance architecture. Farther to the south of the cathedral and the palace is the Plaza de España, which I think is the best looking building/site I've seen so far in Europe. I would strongly recommend you to look up images of it online in your spare time so you can see what I mean. Continuing on in Seville, I also paid a visit to the site Spanish Pavilion/Exhibition, but everything was closed since it was Sunday (I really should have asked before leaving). I also saw a number of other sights such as the Torre del Oro and a crazy tree-canopy building before leaving.
After Seville, I came to the town of Granada. This town is famous for being the last Moorish stronghold in Spain to fall to the Reconquest. The city was taken in 1492, the same year Columbus sailed, but here in Spain the capture of Granada is the more famous event that people remember from that year. Granada is not a large town, so even though I only had about a day and a half there, I feel like I covered the vast majority of sights. Of course, the first (and usually only) sight that people think of when they think of Granada is the Alhambra Palace. Much like the palace in Seville, the Alhambra is a former Moorish palace that the Spanish added onto when they took over, but the Alhambra is on a hill and much larger and more extravagant that the palace in Seville. One thing you need to know about the Alhambra is that it is one of the sights in Europe that requires a reservation to visit. If you don't have a reservation, (like me) you have to show up early in the morning to try to grab one of the limited number of general tickets that go on sale just before the palace opens. The palace opens at 8:30am, but you should be in line no later that 8:00am (earlier in the summer) to make sure you get a ticket. After the Alhambra I walked around town checking out a cathedral, a few smaller churches and some other buildings. Although you could spend more time there if you like it, I think most people will be fine with just one full day in Granada.
To get to Valencia from Granada, I had to take a night train since there are no daytime trains between the two towns. I arrived in Valencia at just after 5:00am and I had gotten almost no sleep on the train, so it was a tired first day. Regardless, I decided to make the most of it and covered all of the old town on my first day. Among the sights I saw were the old city gates, the central market and the cathedral that holds the supposed Holy Grail. Contrary to what Indiana Jones taught me, the Holy Grail has actually been sitting in Valencia the whole time after being being brought from Israel to Rome, and then Rome to Spain. The next day, after ten or so hours of sleep, I paid a visit to Valencia's beaches to see how they stack up to the ones back in San Diego. While the beaches are very large, have good sand and the water is a bit warmer than in San Diego, there are no waves in the water, so San Diego wins. For a few hours I walked both the beach and the beach-side boardwalk and took in the sights along the coast. After this I walked over to a part of town with a number of modern buildings that have gone up in the past few years. I don't remember the name of this place, but it had Valencia's equivalent of Sea World along with a science museum, an auditorium and a few other buildings that I'm not sure what they are for. I then returned back to my hostel along a long park that appears to have been built on a former riverbed. Whether or not the river dried up or just got diverted, it makes for a long green belt and a good long walk through town. That concludes Valencia.
I am typing this update from Barcelona, which is my last city in Spain before I move on. The next town I am going to is Avignon in France, which is serving as a link between Spain and Italy. After Avignon I will be going through Milan, Florence, Rome and Venice. I will try to have another update in a few days at the end of my time in Barcelona.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Madrid and Toledo: Echoes
Welcome to central Spain; home of the monarchy and Spain´s government for the past few hundred years. Although there are several languages in Spain, this was this region that was the dominant power when Spain unified, so it´s language (Castilian) became what we know today as Spanish. Since I have some time, I will give you the details on my days here in Madrid and Toledo before I leave tomorrow morning. This is a long one.
After a seven hour train ride from Santiago de Compostela, I arrived in Madrid on April 30 at night. The place I am staying in is close to Puerta Del Sol, which is the literal center of town (there´s even a marker in the square from which all distances in the city are measured). The next day I set out intent on doing a lot of sightseeing, but I had forgotten a critical fact: May 1 is Labor Day in Spain, so nearly everything was closed. This threw off my plans, but I decided to make the most of it by walking around town and seeing as much as I could. Madrid has more street performers, souvenir salesmen and beggars than any city I´ve been to so far (but let´s wait until I get to Barcelona or Rome to see if that record holds up). But the city is also possibly the best looking one I´ve been to so far. Grand architecture is all around and even mundane buildings get elegant facades. These buildings are reminders of Spain´s past, back when it had a giant empire and tons of cash to throw around. Another nice thing about Madrid is that almost all the sights are in the city center, so you can walk everywhere. Walking through town I came to Plaza Mayor and then moved on to the Royal Palace and the cathedral right next to it. Though the palace was closed, the cathedral was open so I got to go inside and check that out. The cathedral is quite distinct from others ones I´ve seen in Europe, and that´s mainly because it is much newer than most other cathedrals. The stained glass windows are in a modern style and the exterior is much more angular than older cathedrals. After leaving the cathedral I moved north, checking out a few parks along the way. One of them has an ancient Egyptian temple in it that was transplanted from Egypt. I then proceeded down the Gran Via, which is kind of like Broadway in New York City, though with fewer lights and outdoor screens. The street is arguably not very "Spanish" as most of the stuff there you can find in America, but it´s still an interesting street to walk. After reaching a roundabout, I turned south and walked to the Prado Museum and then on to Atocha train station, where I made my reservations for my train to Toledo, the next day. When I left the station it was the late afternoon and I was getting hungry since I had skipped lunch. On top of that, being Labor Day almost everything was closed, including grocery stores, which are my main source of food out here. But the day was saved by one of the valiant defenders of the American Way; a true American hero named Burger King. I know some of you might be worried that I´m insulating myself from the local culture by eating fast food, but relax, I only do this when I´m out of other options. Here´s an interesting fact for you; in Spain, American fast food is considered both unhealthy and an invasion against the culture, but the Spanish can´t stop eating it and American fast food is booming in Spain. Anyways, after this I wandered around a little more before going back to my hostel. Along the way I discovered that Dunkin Donuts has a few outlets in Madrid, though it´s called Dunkin Coffee over here. Donuts don´t seem to be a big deal over here, so the place has adapted itself by focusing more on the coffee. That concludes day 1.
On day 2 I took a trip to Toledo, which was the former capital of Spain before Madrid. For the first time I got to ride a fast train, and the trip to Toledo only took about 30 minutes. Toledo´s old town is on a large hill, so I got quite a bit of uphill hiking in that day. The town is a good day trip from Madrid as you can leave Madrid in the morning, see everything in a day and be back in Madrid in the evening. The town center is dominated by Toledo´s main cathedral. There are also a number of smaller churches, convents, monasteries and museums dotting the hill. You can see bits of the old Moorish influence in some of the buildings, though you have to look for it. After a few hours in the main part of town I walked down to the southern edge, down to the river that flows along the town´s eastern, southern and western sides. There are no tourists down there, and it seems that´s where most of the locals live. I spent some time down by the river and walked along the riverside path for awhile before going back up to the main part of town. Back at the top of the hill, I went into the main cathedral. Officially, there´s a no photography policy, but it wasn´t being enforced. The cathedral´s interior is a bit dark, but also extremely ornate. I can´t really describe to you just how it looked, you´ll have to wait for pictures to get an idea of how over the top some parts of this cathedral were. When I had finished with the cathedral, I went back over to the west side of town to look around a little more before leaving. There I ran into a lost American who I helped find a museum he was looking for. This man was in his 60s and had a very thick New York accent. He thanked me for my help and told me about some traveling he had done back in the 70s in southeast Asia. He told me how he had hitch-hiked from Singapore to Cambodia and then traveled around from there. Some old photos he had showed him back in those days and were cool to look at. We parted ways and I then grabbed my train back to Madrid. Upon returning I checked out the Reina Sofia Museum, which is dedicated to modern art. I honestly don´t have much respect for much of modern art, but the museum had free entry at the end of the day so I decided to take a look. That concludes day 2.
Day 3 (today) is when I got in the core of my Madrid sightseeing. I started out at the Royal Palace, which is a lot like Versailles, but without all the acres of gardens. Though Versailles is better overall, I think I liked the interior of Madrid´s palace a bit more than the interior of Versailles, but it might be because the Madrid palace is more generous in showing off their fanciest stuff. After the palace I walked across town to the Thyssen Borezman Museum, which is a short distance from the Prado. The museum is made up of works that a rich German baron´s family has been buying over the years and some time ago sold to the city. Much of it is Impressionism. I finished with the museum and then ate lunch before moving on to Retiro Park. The park used to be a royal retreat and hunting ground (they kept and hunted bears in it) but it is now an expansive public park. I actually got lost for a short period in it, and since it was so cloudy I had some trouble reorienting myself. Thankfully Retiro Park is not a bad place to get lost, and after awhile I found where I was on my map and moved on to the Prado Museum. The Prado is Madrid´s main art museum and is kind of like their version of the Louvre in Paris, but not as big. I had saved the Prado for last as it becomes free from 6-8pm, though that meant I had limited time and a lot of other people had the same idea as me. I managed to see almost everything by moving quickly through the rooms, but I stopped for the major works by Goya, El Greco and others. When I left the museum I figured my day was done, however Madrid had one last surprise for me. It seems that Real Madrid, the city´s soccer team, had just won the nation´s soccer league, so there was a large crowd celebrating just north of the Prado. Police had closed the street to traffic and the crowd was growing steadily bigger as more people arrived. I walked over to take a look and saw the members of Real Madrid up on a platform leading the celebration. I stayed for a few minutes, and then I left and returned to the hostel, where I am now typing this blog post.
Tomorrow I leave for Seville, and after that comes Grenada, Valencia and finally Barcelona before I leave Spain. Hopefully it stops raining before I´m gone.
After a seven hour train ride from Santiago de Compostela, I arrived in Madrid on April 30 at night. The place I am staying in is close to Puerta Del Sol, which is the literal center of town (there´s even a marker in the square from which all distances in the city are measured). The next day I set out intent on doing a lot of sightseeing, but I had forgotten a critical fact: May 1 is Labor Day in Spain, so nearly everything was closed. This threw off my plans, but I decided to make the most of it by walking around town and seeing as much as I could. Madrid has more street performers, souvenir salesmen and beggars than any city I´ve been to so far (but let´s wait until I get to Barcelona or Rome to see if that record holds up). But the city is also possibly the best looking one I´ve been to so far. Grand architecture is all around and even mundane buildings get elegant facades. These buildings are reminders of Spain´s past, back when it had a giant empire and tons of cash to throw around. Another nice thing about Madrid is that almost all the sights are in the city center, so you can walk everywhere. Walking through town I came to Plaza Mayor and then moved on to the Royal Palace and the cathedral right next to it. Though the palace was closed, the cathedral was open so I got to go inside and check that out. The cathedral is quite distinct from others ones I´ve seen in Europe, and that´s mainly because it is much newer than most other cathedrals. The stained glass windows are in a modern style and the exterior is much more angular than older cathedrals. After leaving the cathedral I moved north, checking out a few parks along the way. One of them has an ancient Egyptian temple in it that was transplanted from Egypt. I then proceeded down the Gran Via, which is kind of like Broadway in New York City, though with fewer lights and outdoor screens. The street is arguably not very "Spanish" as most of the stuff there you can find in America, but it´s still an interesting street to walk. After reaching a roundabout, I turned south and walked to the Prado Museum and then on to Atocha train station, where I made my reservations for my train to Toledo, the next day. When I left the station it was the late afternoon and I was getting hungry since I had skipped lunch. On top of that, being Labor Day almost everything was closed, including grocery stores, which are my main source of food out here. But the day was saved by one of the valiant defenders of the American Way; a true American hero named Burger King. I know some of you might be worried that I´m insulating myself from the local culture by eating fast food, but relax, I only do this when I´m out of other options. Here´s an interesting fact for you; in Spain, American fast food is considered both unhealthy and an invasion against the culture, but the Spanish can´t stop eating it and American fast food is booming in Spain. Anyways, after this I wandered around a little more before going back to my hostel. Along the way I discovered that Dunkin Donuts has a few outlets in Madrid, though it´s called Dunkin Coffee over here. Donuts don´t seem to be a big deal over here, so the place has adapted itself by focusing more on the coffee. That concludes day 1.
On day 2 I took a trip to Toledo, which was the former capital of Spain before Madrid. For the first time I got to ride a fast train, and the trip to Toledo only took about 30 minutes. Toledo´s old town is on a large hill, so I got quite a bit of uphill hiking in that day. The town is a good day trip from Madrid as you can leave Madrid in the morning, see everything in a day and be back in Madrid in the evening. The town center is dominated by Toledo´s main cathedral. There are also a number of smaller churches, convents, monasteries and museums dotting the hill. You can see bits of the old Moorish influence in some of the buildings, though you have to look for it. After a few hours in the main part of town I walked down to the southern edge, down to the river that flows along the town´s eastern, southern and western sides. There are no tourists down there, and it seems that´s where most of the locals live. I spent some time down by the river and walked along the riverside path for awhile before going back up to the main part of town. Back at the top of the hill, I went into the main cathedral. Officially, there´s a no photography policy, but it wasn´t being enforced. The cathedral´s interior is a bit dark, but also extremely ornate. I can´t really describe to you just how it looked, you´ll have to wait for pictures to get an idea of how over the top some parts of this cathedral were. When I had finished with the cathedral, I went back over to the west side of town to look around a little more before leaving. There I ran into a lost American who I helped find a museum he was looking for. This man was in his 60s and had a very thick New York accent. He thanked me for my help and told me about some traveling he had done back in the 70s in southeast Asia. He told me how he had hitch-hiked from Singapore to Cambodia and then traveled around from there. Some old photos he had showed him back in those days and were cool to look at. We parted ways and I then grabbed my train back to Madrid. Upon returning I checked out the Reina Sofia Museum, which is dedicated to modern art. I honestly don´t have much respect for much of modern art, but the museum had free entry at the end of the day so I decided to take a look. That concludes day 2.
Day 3 (today) is when I got in the core of my Madrid sightseeing. I started out at the Royal Palace, which is a lot like Versailles, but without all the acres of gardens. Though Versailles is better overall, I think I liked the interior of Madrid´s palace a bit more than the interior of Versailles, but it might be because the Madrid palace is more generous in showing off their fanciest stuff. After the palace I walked across town to the Thyssen Borezman Museum, which is a short distance from the Prado. The museum is made up of works that a rich German baron´s family has been buying over the years and some time ago sold to the city. Much of it is Impressionism. I finished with the museum and then ate lunch before moving on to Retiro Park. The park used to be a royal retreat and hunting ground (they kept and hunted bears in it) but it is now an expansive public park. I actually got lost for a short period in it, and since it was so cloudy I had some trouble reorienting myself. Thankfully Retiro Park is not a bad place to get lost, and after awhile I found where I was on my map and moved on to the Prado Museum. The Prado is Madrid´s main art museum and is kind of like their version of the Louvre in Paris, but not as big. I had saved the Prado for last as it becomes free from 6-8pm, though that meant I had limited time and a lot of other people had the same idea as me. I managed to see almost everything by moving quickly through the rooms, but I stopped for the major works by Goya, El Greco and others. When I left the museum I figured my day was done, however Madrid had one last surprise for me. It seems that Real Madrid, the city´s soccer team, had just won the nation´s soccer league, so there was a large crowd celebrating just north of the Prado. Police had closed the street to traffic and the crowd was growing steadily bigger as more people arrived. I walked over to take a look and saw the members of Real Madrid up on a platform leading the celebration. I stayed for a few minutes, and then I left and returned to the hostel, where I am now typing this blog post.
Tomorrow I leave for Seville, and after that comes Grenada, Valencia and finally Barcelona before I leave Spain. Hopefully it stops raining before I´m gone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)