Life or Something Like it: Four Days, Four Cities

My itinerary for the past weekend follows along these lines:

Thursday morning: Barcelona.

Thursday day: Milan.

Thursday night and Friday: Cinque Terra.

Saturday: Florence.

Sunday: Rome.

Monday morning: Barcelona

*note: Consumption of gelato occurred at least once on each of these days.

Thinking back I can't quite figure out how we thought it possible to experience and see as much as we did in Italy with this schedule, but I, my roommate Katie, and friend Anne are always up for a challenge. Why not take full advantage of a four day weekend in Barcelona?

The continual fast-pace of this trip started Thursday morning when we redefined the idea of a "close call." We left Barcelona at 7 am thinking we had plenty of time to catch our Easyjet flight out of Barcelona at 8:55. After a much longer than expected metro and train ride to the airport, chaos arose. We found ourselves sprinting through the airport, dresses, sandals, giant backpacks and all, until we reached our gate at approximately 8:53. The required 30-minute predeparture arrival for all discount airlines was thankfully waved by the very friendly workers just closing the door to the jetway. After a call to the plane we ran down the jetway, were stopped at the plane's door until a few run-throughs of the safety procedure spiel were given in multiple languages, and were barely buckling our seat belts as the plane taxied to the runway.

A couple hours later we touched down in Milan and caught a train to the center of the city where I believe our first stop out of the station was a gelateria. We wandered around the city with our backpacks enjoying the gelato, went into the Duomo, and admired the city's abundance of beautifully fashionable people. (I learned that over half of the population of Milan works in the fashion industry). In fact, we caught the beginning of fashion week and enjoyed a free and up-close sound check by the band The Kills who were preparing for a concert and fashion show that night in the plaza right in front of the Duomo. While we enjoyed our time in Milan, we all agreed that these few hours were quite enough.

Next stop: Cinque Terra, one of my new favorite places. I didn't know much about this place before I arrived but it's quaint atmosphere and charm captured me from the beginning. It's interesting that such a large tourist destination can still have such a small town feel. So small that we were immediately recognized by the owner of our hotel who was watching a Milan fútbol game in town's center. We must have looked a bit out of place as we strolled around with large backpacks and a puzzled look on our faces while searching for our hotel when the hotel owner approached us, knew Katie's name, and led us through crooked alleyways until we reached the place. We stayed in the small town of Monterosso, one of five in Cinque Terra. One of the main attractions of Cinque Terra is the hike along the seacoast between all five lovely little towns. This hike was absolutely beautiful, but absolutely brutal as well. (the first part at least) The portion from Monterosso to Vernazza, the next town, consisted of nearly all steep, rocky steps and very narrow paths. However a quick glance at the Mediterranean beside us would not let our energy levels drop too low and pushed us until we reached Vernazza where we re-energized with a very delicious €5 spaghetti pomodoro. Each of the towns are very similar with amazing food, beaches, and little shops along the streets. People refer to last stretch of the hike from Manarola to Riomaggiore as "Lover's Lane." While walking right along the sea cliffs you will see small locks everywhere as lovers have latched a lock somewhere along the trail and thrown away the key. After stepping off of Lover's Lane and saying goodbye to Cinque Terra we set out for Florence where once again we had to make a run for it as we saw a train just about to leave from our platform. Anne and I watched the doors close on Katie but managed to shove them open and squeeze ourselves and nearly human sized backpacks through the doors and inside the train. Only problem: wrong train. Luckily this small local train stopped in La Spezia where we were able to catch our correct high-speed train to Florence. Phew.

We reached Florence and got off at Firenze Rifredi. Another problem: wrong station. We weren't too worried though as we hopped on another train that was ten minutes behind us. This train dropped us off at the next and correct station: Firenze Santa Maria Novella. Here we saw Ricardo, our Couch Surf host in Florence, in his green plaid shirt waiting for us at the station's entrance. (The Couch Surf Project is an organization in which people register their homes as a place for travelers to stay free of charge in exchange for an opportunity to learn about and share cultures. One can request a host after viewing his or her very detailed profile on the Couch Surf data base and read reviews about that person from past travelers.) Ricardo, who was born in Italy, got his PhD in political science at George Washington University, now works at the US Consulate in Florence. Since he is fluent in English and Italian and has lived in the US and Italy it was quite easy to get along with, communicate, and relate to him. He led us to his very nice apartment building right in the center of town (you really couldn't get more central) up 90 steps to his apartment and to the terrace which had a view of the Duomo, Santa Cruz Basilica, and just about the rest of Florence. Staying with him we enjoyed home-cooked Italian meals, conversation about differences and stereotypes of each other's cultures, and of course a few games of The Beatles Rock Band the first night to sort of break the ice. During our full day we set foot in the city seeing as much as possible in a day including all 635 steps of Brunelleschi's Duomo, crossing the Ponte Vecchio, and one of my favorite parts, the Accademia and Michelangelo's David. I now know that Michelangelo, one of my favorite Renaissance artists, is not considered a Renaisance artist at all in the art world since he was born at the end of the Renaissance period in the mid 16th century. I absolutely loved the rich art and history everywhere you walked in the city whether checking out the next tourist attraction or meandering down a random street. Thanks to Ricardo we had the opportunity to get a real feel for Italy in the short amount of time we were there. While we of course visited all of the "touristy" places we were also able to get a local perspective everywhere we went.

The next morning we were on our way to Rome by 6 am and met Guiseppe, our next host, waiting for us at the top of the metro stairs in Rome. He was quite the accommodating host as he let us throw our bags in his car so we could start our tour of Rome right then and there since we had only 9 hours that day. Unfortunately by the time we made it to the Vatican at 1 we learned that the Vatican closes at 12:30 on Sundays. But no worries, after throwing a coin behind us into the Trevi Fountain later that night we knew we would be back again someday, as tradition tells us. After our attempt to get into the Vatican we made our way to Saint Peter's Square, the Spanish Steps, the Roman Forum, the Colosseum, and about everything else you could expect to see in Rome in just 9 hours. I even bumped in to an old friend from Redlands walking down the street near the Colosseum who had coincidentally just dropped off another old friend at the bus station. Small world. Guiseppe picked us up from the Colosseum later that night and after 9 hours of walking and being on our feet the drive to his apartment on the outskirts of Rome were wonderful as was the remainder of our time with him that evening. At his apartment he only made us homemade pasta and meatballs using his family's homemade olive oil from the south of Italy, his mother's homemade tomato sauce and preserves, and freshly grated parmesan. The food alone in Italy is enough to bring me back. We awoke the next morning at 5:30 and Guiseppe kindly drove us to the airport to catch our flight back to Barcelona, saving us from the chaos, time, and money it would have taken to get to the airport via metro and bus. We made sure to leave at least 2 hours before our flight this second time round, however when in Rome, missing a flight wouldn't be the end of the world in my mind.

I always thought I would like Italy and was absolutely right. I mean who wouldn't love it? The trip did make it slightly depressing that Spaniards don't quite share that same passion for food with the Italians, but I would probably go broke on food alone if that were the case. Either way it is so nice to know how nearby just about everywhere is in Europe and how convenient this makes it to travel and try all sorts of great food. Where shall we venture to next?

This view of Vernazza greeted us as we neared the end of our hike from Monterosso to Vernazza