Rome – The Pope and Vatican City

I decided to start Rome with what it is most known for, Vatican City.  To my surprise, I lucked out and was there on a Wednesday, the day the Pope speaks to the public.  For 30 minutes, outside of St. Peter’s, I shared the moment with a thousand+ people.  I am not catholic, and not particularly religious, but I would be lying to say the experience did not touch me, it was truly amazing.  I got to see the Pope-mobile and they have a pope TV too.  I have no idea what he said, but it was a very spiritual experience.

    

I then skipped the long lines by taking a more expensive tour of the Vatican.  The other tour guides yelled at ours as we passed their groups, because we had an extra special entry certificate.  The 2-3 hours of my day NOT spent standing in line in the hot weather was worth the extra $25.  The Vatican City, as you may know, is considered the smallest state in the world.  Approximately 1,000 people live there who are working for the pope or studying at high levels, all of course are catholic.  The Vatican took 127 years to build and sees 25K visitors each DAY!!  I feel like they were all there when I was.  It was amazingly beautiful, but I couldn’t help feeling like cattle as we all crowded through the halls and up the stairs together.  The last few pictures are of the Sistine Chapel – you are not supposed to take pictures inside so I had to sneak (with the other 40 people who were also taking photos). A lot of pictures posted here, but I took SO many, it was hard to choose.

               

I then visited St. Peter’s Basillica, the largest church in the world.  Many of my pictures from the Pope’s speech are of the outside of this church.  I was able to see the inside, stand in front of the door the Pope exits from, and see the now empty view of what the pope was looking at during his morning speech.  I said a prayer in both this church and the Sistine Chapel for a certain someone in my life who could use it right now.  I am not experienced at praying, but I sure hope someone was listening!!

   

I finished this long, hot day, by visiting the nearby Castle Sant Angelo and the surrounding area, which included the Tiber river that runs through Rome.  I also couldn’t help but post photos of the beautiful hostel room I had all to myself the first night, I am now in the older section, but it was a luxury for sure!

 

Barcelona – Round 2

I must say it was nice to return to Barcelona, already knowing how to get around and to my hostel.  Although only a 8 person room was available this time around which was cramped, the social environment was still right down my alley.  A variety of people ages young 20’s – 30’s from all over the world.  Many people travelling alone (I was surprised how many others are doing this).  More interested in visiting with a beer or two than partying all night (although several of them did both as the nightlife starts late around here).  My last night, several of us got together to drink Shandy (beer and lemon fanta) and visit. The crew pictured below were from all over – from the left Estonia, LA, Me, France, Trinidad, Hawaii, & Wisconsin.  Most of the group had, or is, travelling for an extended period of time.

 

I spent yesterday completing Park Guell, a garden with amazing architecture throughout, in the Garcia district of Barcelona.  It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi who started construction in 1900.  The unique curvature and use of materials is amazing.  I have never seen anything like it.  It is a must see if you visit Barcelona.  Going on a Sunday brought crazy crowds but also the addition of live music performers all over the park.  The live music really touched me, it was incredible.  The heat was brutal leaving me a bit sick from the sun, but I finished the night with dinner and 3 new friends from Texas.

     

Today, I spent the morning making travel arrangements and visiting with folks in the hostel.  I then headed out to the Placa Espana in the Montjuic District which is where the Olympics were held in ‘92.  I saw the torch, stadium, Palau Sant Jordi and much more.  This part of the city was very dirty though : (  I guess not all of Barcelona is so clean after all.

        

I then walked through several botanical gardens in the area.  Today was slightly cooler, but still hot, so the shade of the trees was very refreshing.

 

Tomorrow brings Rome – Goodbye Barcelona!!

The end of the cruise

Today was our last day at sea – and we arrive early in the morning back to Barcelona.   I enjoyed Celebrity Cruiseline a lot.  The itinerary was amazing, the live music on board (not the shows) was also great.  There was even an all you can eat ice cream bar (yes Wm that includes soft serve, so you would have been in trouble).  I also tried escargot for the first time (anything with that much garlic can’t taste bad). I am too tired to write much – not easy to pick a favorite port as they were all so different.  Below are some pictures for those who wanted to see the boat.  On a side note:  today was Wm & I’s one year anniversary – sad to not be together, thank goodness for technology. XOXO miss you!

Southern Italy

We docked in Solerno, a town near Naples.  I took my mother’s great advice and opted for the excursion that included a boat ride up the beautiful Amalfi Coast (the southwestern coast of Italy) and a visit to the lovely town of Sorrento.  The Amalfi Coast  features extreme limestone cliffs that give way to the sea below and are covered with green (trees, vines, lemon groves, etc) and small villages scattered about.  The depth and dimension of the cliffs was jaw droppingly beautiful.  Sadly, they just couldn’t be captured on camera at all.  First because, as Wm taught me, a camera sees like a human does with one eye closed.  Also because they were doing some controlled burning in the area which caused the camera to pick up a significant haze : ( sad for you, because they were awesome. 

   

Along the way were medieval towns, watchtowers (some which were ruins, some which had been refurbished as homes), and caves.  Also, for those who dare travel this coast by car, their is a very curvy road built two centuries ago that connects the communities along the Amalfi coast.   We could see the road up on the cliffs, the extreme drop offs would be enough to keep me off of it : )  When we arrived in the town of Amalfi itself, we had a lot of time to explore and try the local specialty delizia a lemone (a light lemon cake).

          

We then drove on a curvy, but less scary road, 20 miles to the 1700’s resort town, Sorrento.  Much different than Amalfi, Sorrento is situated on a 50 meter tall volcanic rock cliff which steeply drops off to their ‘beach’/swimming area.  This town was beautiful, it’s larger variety of buildings and statues were a refreshing change and the vegetation was amazing.  The first picture is a glimpse of Pompeii (the village still being excavated that was covered by a volcano). 

    

Our tour took us to a wood shop that specialized in inlayed wood, something my great uncle did so it was fun to see the demonstration.  The work there was amazing (1st picture).  We had several hours to explore Sorrento including a three course meal which was part of the excursion.  The town was decked out in all types of flags for the World Cup, all things lemon (look at the size of this one), and the favored goods to sell in this area: scarves, limoncello (a very strong lemon alcohol that each store is willing to let you sample), art (which is crazy expensive) and leather goods of all types.  I also met a ton of fun people on this tour, one group was from Fox Island, right outside of Tacoma, go figure!

   

Did you notice my new Murano glass pendant : )  I got 3 for $15.  Tomorrow brings our last day, a day at sea.  It has been a great way to start off my travels, I return to Barcelona for 2 nights – from there – we will see : )

Split, Croatia

The beauty continued.  Today we visited Split, a palm tree lined, 1700+ year old, seaside town in Croatia situated on a small peninsula on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea.  Split is Croatia’s second largest city and is North of Dubrovnik which we visited last week.  Although I liked Dubrovnik a lot better, I appreciated the cleanliness and organization of Split (lots of seaside benches & maps posted throughout old town).  I also found the people here very friendly and helpful.

 

Split seemed to be a bit more devastated by the aforementioned unrest in Croatia, having a more difficult time rebounding.  But the city was still alive with local artists, musicians (what the heck is this instrument?), and other’s selling goods like these beautiful silk scarves.  The streets also smelled strongly of lavender which was growing and being sold everywhere.  Those who know me well,know I am a bit obsessed with the smell of good lavender.  I also encountered the cutest kitten (although a bit disheveled) that was just screaming to get out of a second story window.  I followed the sound of his cries through the maze of alleyways inside the city walls.

     

Old town Split is within the walls of what was the Diocletian Palace.  At the end of the third century, the Roman Emperor Diocletian built his palace here, which started the city of Split.  The palace is significant because of its level of preservation and those built in succeeding historical periods within it’s walls, which includes a collection of old churches and buildings with plazas and a maze of stone alleyways between them.  Very fun to explore like old town Dubrovnik. 

      

Tomorrow, we get a much needed day at sea!!

Venice – Day 2

Today, I visited the very sunny (thankfully) St. Mark’s square and the surrounding area.  It is amazingly beautiful and extremely crowded!  St. Mark’s Basilica dates back to the 11th century, the square is filled with pedestrians, live musicians, artists and pigeons.  It is peppered with coffee houses and shops of every designer you have ever heard of. I am in a bit of a hurry today to post prior to leaving the city – so will scatter my pictures in with some interesting Venice info!

    

Very few locals live in Venice anymore given the high expense of living.  A small 1 bedroom apartment home costs around $600K in addition to the steep expense of renovating and maintaining the old properties and paying extreme amounts for gas, electricity and water which are tunneled over from the mainland.  Everything else is very expensive as it exchanges hands several times in order to reach it’s final destination.  Given the absence of vehicles here, everything is moved by boat and then on foot – so you see people moving goods everywhere.

The city is greatly impacted by the tide.  During high tide, St. Mark’s square can get flooded (it was yesterday) and the gondolas and boats can not always fit under the bridges.  During yesterday’s gondola ride, we all had to tip to one side to make it under a low bridge.  This is particularly a problem when there are high winds, which causes high waters that prevent ambulances etc (which are boats) from getting through the city (helicopters are used as an alternative).    Venice is doing several things to combat the rising waters.  Every couple of years, the canals need to be dredged anyways to ensure boats can get through, they use the sand and mud from this process to build a sand bar between the lagoon and sea.  A larger project called Mose, funded by UNICEF and many other across the world, is an effort to install 78 electromechanical gates and barriers to be raised during high tide.  This project should be completed in 2014. 

I did not find the Venetians to be the most helpful people.  It took me 45 minutes to find wifi, which is apparently hard to come by here (even if you are willing to pay).  On a positive note, I did manage to buy myself 3 glass pendants for around $15 US (for all 3). 

Venice – Seattle Style

We arrived in Venice for just short of two days.  Sadly, day one brought us grey skies, drizzle, and mid-60’s (sound familiar)?  Despite the Seattle-like weather I had an amazing day.  As many of you know, Venice is located on Italy’s north-eastern Adriatic Coast.  This unique city is comprised of 117 islands separated by 177 canals which are spanned by over 400 bridges. WOW!  There are no cars of bikes in Venice proper so the only forms of transportation are your feet or various forms of water transportation: waterbus, watertaxi, speedboats, and (for the tourists) gondolas.  As our ship arrived, I was able to snag some great pictures of the city.

  

My tour started with a 35 minute gondola ride : ) Fun fact: All gondolas in Venice are black.  After realizing their people were spending great amounts of money decorating their gondolas to compete, the government made this a law.

   

Our second stop was St. George island, situated just across from Venice’s most famous landmark, St. Mark’s square (which I am visiting tomorrow).  St. George also had a beautiful church (no photo’s inside), which was one of the first neo-classical style churches in Italy (which I learned is identified by the triangle shape top supported by 4 columns).

    

Our tour ended by visiting the island of Murano, world renown for its glass-making.  The furnaces used today are the same ones used back in the 13th century when the glass manufactures were moved over to Murano island for fear that the 1000+ degree furnaces would cause fires in Venice proper.  We were able to see a man blow glass, tour a factory, and walk along the picturesque canals of Murano (which were less crowded than Venice).  I even got to see some local men having their evening vino in a cafe that was jam packed with locals.  Murano was beautiful, I highly recommend the trip out if you are in Venice.

 

   

Dubrovnik, Croatia

After two days of rest (for me as I skipped Rome for now) we arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia known as the Pearl of the Adriatic.  Quick geography lesson: to the North – Hungary, to the West – Slovania, to the East – Bosnia & Serbia, to the south Montenegro.  Also across the Adriatic Sea, to the West, is Italy.  The Adriatic is the cleanest sea in the Mediterranean with little pollution.  Croatia is very green (lots of trees, vines & shrubs), sunny, and the majority of the country is on the coast.  Men are required to plant 25 olive or grape vines in order for the government to allow them to get married (this is one way they ensure staying green).  The language sounds and looks VERY difficult.  The outfit the lady below is wearing is their national costume (we were there on a Sunday when the wear them).  The colors on their head indicate whether they are single, engaged, married or widowed (she is married).  Interestingly enough, the men wear nothing to indicate their marital status. 

  

Dubrovnik’s origins can be traced back to the beginning of the 7th century (the name means Oak Tree Forest).  As recent as 1991, Croatia was considered part of Yugoslavia.  In 1991 & 92, Croatia was subjected to considerable bombing by Serbs who ruined many of the towns landmarks and famous hotels.  Many of their major towns were under Serbian control for 7 months, but eventually the Croatians were successful and became their own country in 1992. It was fascinating to be in a country that had suffered so much, so recently.  Our guide told stories about not having electricity nor running water for 3 months.  The city of Dubrovnik itself is amazing, the old town being surrounded by 1,940 meters of tall city walls.  It was all enclosed and a fun maze to explore.  The majority of the pictures below were from inside the walls (pictured in the first).

            

Aside from exploring Dubrovnik, I took a tour that drove through the countryside and visited two other towns.  At the first Konavosui Dvori, we visited a local restaurant to have some local wine and a sandwich featuring local meats and cheeses.  The restaurant was beautifully situated on the Ljuta River which was very clean and had tons of trout in it!

 

The second was a popular tourist destination called Cavtat.  The pictures speak for themselves, this place was awesome!

 

We get to visit another city in Croatia (Split) in a few days.  But tomorrow brings us Venice (for 2 days).  I am excited, but a bit sad to not have William with me in this city of romance!  A shout out to my dad and and Wm for a Happy Father’s Day!

Cinque Terra

Day 2 on the cruise took us just outside of Florence, Italy in the Tuscany region.  I however opted to skip Florence and it’s famous statue of David & Pisa in exchange for visiting Cinque Terra (pronounced shink-wa-terra).  Cinque Terra is located in the Liguria region of Italy on the west coast of the Riviera.  These 5 villages cling to the steep cliff face and are concealed in miniature inlets.  In order to fully experience these villages I took a bus (1.5 hours) then a boat that stopped at 4 out of 5 of them.  Although very steep, the region is filled with terraces used for growing grapes and olives.  I can not imagine the work that was needed to build these terraces into the very steep hillside (not to mention harvesting).  We started off in Manarola in the POURING down rain.  It was miserable and I was dreading spending the day walking in it.  But the village was very cute and I got a great pastry and espresso for breakfast here.

We lucked out and the weather cleared up for our walk on Lover’s Lane.  This beautifully vegetated walkway, with amazing views of the cliffs and sea, connects two of the villages and thousands of lovers have made their mark here.  Couples names were written everywhere (including being engraved on some of the plants).  There also is a neat tradition where lovers take a padlock, sign it, lock it somewhere on the pathway, and throw the key into the sea below, forever connecting them together.

 

At the end of Lover’s Lane was our next village Riomaggiore, as with the other villages there were terraces surrounding the town.  This region is known for two of it’s own wines and is the world’s largest producer of olive oil.  I learned the extra virgin is made with the first press each year an therefore has less acidity.

 

We then boarded our boat which took us back by Manarola, then past Corniglia, the town we did not get to visit on foot.

We then arrived at Vernazza which we got 45 minutes to walk around.  I had a great time taking pictures and visiting with some of my new friends from the cruise.

After boarding the boat again, we reached our final destination, the largest village of Monterosso.  Although we had 90 minutes here, we had a long lunch.  I tried a pesto pasta as pesto is from this area.  I was unsure if I liked pesto, but now I know that I do.  I also tried one of the Cinque Terra wines, Vendemmia.  A sweet, white, dinner wine.  It was fantastic.

We then boarded a bus for a 2 hour ride back to the cruise boat, I took a MUCH needed nap.  Cinque Terra was amazing.  I may return again during my travels as I spotted a couple hostels. Tomorrow – we are outside of Rome, but since I have decided to return to Italy during my travels and need more than 1 day to see Rome anyways – I have decided to sun by the pool instead.  I have been going non-stop for days with little sleep and my body and mind need a sunny down day. 

Southern France

Today our cruise made it’s first stop in Villafranche, a small, coastal town, located in the heart of the French Riviera.  The amazing blue waters, architecture, and colorful buildings in this area are amazing.  Villafranche itself is small but extremely cute.

  

I had planned on taking the train to Monaco, but a landslide prevented that so I tracked down the bus!  In 25 minutes I arrived in Monte Carlo, Monaco.  Monaco is governed independently and known as the play-ground of the rich.  Monaco is ruled by Prince Albert II of the Grimaldi family who has reigned here since 1274.  Let me tell you, the rich sure do live nice!  The expensive automobiles alone were overwhelming.  I started my time in Monaco at the Grand Casino.  The elaborate copper-domed building was built in 1878.  Sadly for you – I was only permitted to take photos of the outside.  They confiscate your cameras when you enter the property, but it was quite impressive to say the least. Here are some pictures of the outside.

 

After the Casino I walked down to the main part of town – the yachts were SO huge.  I have never seen anything like it.  I lunched near the marina and had the best lemonade ever (this area is known for it’s lemons) and it was sparkling.

 

I then walked up a steep hill to see the Prince’s Palace which is situated on top of Monaco Rock and offered some amazing views.  Again, no cameras were allowed inside.  The weather was also overcast at time, preventing great pictures of the Palace’s exterior.

I was determined to see Nice while in the Rivera (even thought several people told me I could not do both)  I hopped on another bus for 30 minutes and am SO glad I did.  The water in Nice was the most amazing blue (pictures do it NO justice).  The rich are everywhere here, I saw the biggest yacht yet and got a kick out of the taxis which were Audis.  There were also quite a few men running along the marina who looked like they had just hopped off their yachts to get in some exercise (they also looked as though they had not ever eaten a carb in their life). 

The beach (which featured some topless) was beautiful but very rocky and too rough to swim.  The sound that the receding waves made was much different than a sandy beach – a higher pitch.

 

Needless to say, day 1 on the cruise was AMAZING!