Venice & Florence, Italy

There is quite a distance between Budapest and Venice and we had to decide on whether to spend a whole day traveling or to take the dreaded night train. After careful consideration, we chose to take a proper sleeper train overnight. The whole trip lasted from eight at night until eight in the morning. Because we made reservations late, we were in separate cars; I was in a female-only room and Mark in a mixed-gender. The “rooms” contained six “beds,” three on either side stacked on top of each other, bunk bed style. Thankfully neither of our rooms were full. However, that didn’t stop the train from ruining our rest. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep we’ve had, but it was better than the last time we rode a night train in Copenhagen. We arrived in Venice early and excited to be in Italy. Our excitement was deflated little by little as we realized what being in Italy really means. Truly it is a country that wants to squeeze every penny out of you. I can go on and on about how Italy grinds my gears, and we even created a blog post to accompany this one just for the gripes, but we decided against it so that our time in Italy doesn’t seem so negative.


Our first order of business was to get food and then meander through the alleyways of the city. Venice is the world’s only pedestrian-only city, and it was nice to not have to compete with cars, busses, bikes or scooters. It is very easy to walk around the island city, and just as easy to get lost. Venetian streets are exactly what the pictures look like: a labyrinth of cobbled streets snaking over canals tucked between aged brick buildings. It certainly is a one-of-a-kind place. The gondolas were in full effect, many accompanied with singing gondoliers. We made our way to the highlight of the main island, Piazza San Marco. The bell tower, the Campanile di San Marco, is easily the most recognizable symbol of Venice. Next to the tower are the Palazzo Ducale and Saint Mark’s Basilica. We waited in line for a bit to go into the church, which is known for having large opulent mosaics throughout the interior. We came across a number of immense stone churches which were all open to the public. At an exhibit on violin making in Venice, the “Artemio Versari Collection,” we saw a violin that dates back to 1580, along with several other old and interestingly shaped instruments. We crossed over the famous Rialto bridge and the market. Later, we made some time to visit the old Jewish Ghetto, which was where the term “ghetto” was used for the very first time. The area is a bit on the dilapidated side, but it is still home to many whose families lost so much. The majority of our time in Venice was spent wandering around, often times aimlessly to find something new to see and trying to avoid getting caught in the rain.


Venice is a cluster of over one hundred islands, and we only explored a fraction of them. If we had had more time we would have really enjoyed taking a boat out to more of the remote islands. Overall, there really isn’t much to do there other than to sightsee and take great pictures. We were really looking forward to riding in a gondola and eating at a canal-side restaurant, but everything was incredibly expensive and we just couldn’t justify it with more than a month left in our trip. I’m sure we would have felt a bit better about our time in Venice had the weather been less gloomy. We’re not sure it’s a place we’d ever return to, but we’re glad we came and we left with some good pictures.


Our next stop was Florence, right in the heart of the Tuscan region. We quickly realized that our Eurail passes were not enough to get us onto an Italian train, and that seat reservations were compulsory. We were fined twice the amount of a seat ticket for not having one. Plus, most of the train ride was through tunnels, so we barely got to see any of the countryside. Needless to say, we arrived in Florence a bit peeved and ready to say nuts to the whole affair. Our hostel accommodations didn’t ease our frustration as it was easily one of the worst we’ve stayed in. We’ve been relying heavily on consumer reviews of different hotels and hostels wherever we go, and this one definitely led us astray. On the positive, it was close to the train station, a grocery store and a laundromat. It just felt like we were paying a lot of money to stay in someone’s spare room. Our main purpose for staying in Florence was to see Michelangelo’s David, which was as brilliant as we’d hoped it would be. We spent a fair amount of time marveling at the incredible undertaking the sculpture must have been. The masterpiece is housed in the Accademia Gallery along with Michelangelo’s unfinished Slaves and various other pieces of art throughout history. Many of the exhibits were focused on art from churches and historic tapestries. We could not take any pictures of David or of anything else in the museum, but the city has two replicas as it is easily one of their proudest pieces of art. Not far from there is the Florence Cathedral, which was ornate and impressive on the outside and mundane on the inside. With the exception of a few ceiling murals, the interior was beige and tasteless. We moved across the Arno river and climbed up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to get a panoramic view of the city and countryside. From there, the Florence Cathedral dominates the landscape as the largest building in the city. We caught a glimpse into what the rural Tuscan region might be like on the west side of the city. From what we saw, it looks an awful lot like Napa, California. On our way out of Florence on the train, we noticed that the rolling green hills spotted with small farms and vineyards were reminiscent of the drive down HWY 1 from outside south San Jose to the north of Salinas. Some will surely argue, but I say the California version was much more pleasant (as long as there’s no traffic).

Rolling down the boot to: Rome, Vatican City and an incredibly brief stop in Pisa


Venice:

Florence: