Impromptu thoughts on travel

As Lindsay & I looked out over the view of Firenze, we did a bit of reflection on where we were.

It's always been a dream of mine to travel to Italy, and here I was. Two days ago we'd been walking the alleys of Venezia. Yesterday we saw one of the largest churches in the world and a copy of Michaelangelo's David. Today we'd seen one of the most famous landmarks in the world and were looking out over one of the most beautiful city views in the world. And where were we going tomorrow? Rome!

It's hard to forget the significance of some of the places you visit when travelling around for so long. I've seen so many incredible sights, but every week I'm amazed by the new ones I've been able to see. I've had so many awesome, unparalleled experiences, met so many cool people along the way. And I'd hardly change a minute of the entire experience.

Riding down the Death Road on a bike, or in the back of a truck in the Colca Canyon, celebrating my Cusco homestay father's birthday, playing horses with kids in Cusco, standing just a couple of metres away from the most poisonous snake in the Amazon, stunning Carribean landscapes near Santa Marta, walking along the remains of the Berlin Wall and through those of Auschwitz, drinking in the ruin pubs of Budapest, swimming in the crystal clear waters of Croatia, soaking in the atmosphere of central Ljubljana at night, squeezing through the alleys of Venezia...

Not to mention those I haven't even written about yet - exploring Pompeii, the dynamic cliffs of Italy's Amalfi Coast, trekking along the French/Spanish border in the Pyrenees, sampling Spanish tapa delights in San Sebastian, sampling real Swiss cheese Raclete, marvelling at Swiss panoramic mountain ranges or Swedish autumn countrysides or bleak deserted Irish islands, cuddles with my cousin's baby on the organic farms of Ballymaloe, listening to covers of The Beatles in the club they first played in, touching the "This is Anfield" sign...

Meeting up with friends (old and new) or family on the other side of the world in Vancouver, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Made, Turnout, Antwerpen, Aarau, Lund, Ballymaloe or Brighton...

And how about those experiences yet to come and friends and family to meet the rest of my time in England, and in South-east Asia this November-December...

I'm not trying to brag about what an amazing time I've had. All I want to say is go out and do it yourself. The world is so much bigger than our own city, our own jobs or education back home, our tight-knit (or not so) family and friends.

Get experiences. Travel!

"Not all those who wander are lost".

Firenze & Pisa

24 - 26 August

Lindsay and I left Venezia for Firenze (Florence) with honestly not much of an idea what we were in for passing through the Tuscan part of Italy. Turns out Firenze is one of the artistic and architectural gems of the world with a very long history of such. Names such as Dante and Michaelangelo are from Firenze, as well as the likes of Galileo.

So where to start? How about the third largest church in the Christian religion, which dominated the skyline as we walked into town...

Poking up through the streets is the Campanile (free-standing bell tower) of...

The Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo, which was too large to fit into one photo. Way too large.

Exquisite decorations on the Duomo front entrance

Part of the eastern door on the Firenze Bapistry by Lorenze Ghiberti, nicknamed as the Gates of Paradise by Michaelangelo

Inside was vast, there's not much other word for it.

The Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge") is one of the many bridges over the River Arno that winds its way through town. The bridge itself is covered with shops - almost exclusively expensive jewelers - but also makes quite a nice photo.

Ponte Vecchio & River Arno, with some of the seemingly Firenze-iconic brown houses

Lindsay & I on the Ponte Vecchio looking over the river

From the Ponte Vecchio we headed into the central square, Piazza della Signoria, passing up the Piazzale degi Uffizi, which we discovered was surrounded by sculptures of some of the most famous Florentines around - including this guy:

Galileo Galilei (and some other guy)

The Piazza itself is home to a copy of the world's most famous sculpture, Michaelangelo's David. We didn't go and see the real one - an expensive entry fee and long queues unfortunately. I liked the look of this guy better anyway, on the Fountain of Neptune with the Florentian skyline behind, in the late afternoon sun.

Fountain of Neptune in Piazza della Signoria

We had a quiet evening and headed off the next day for the small town of Pisa for a morning trip, just over an hour or so by train from Firenze. I read in a travel guide that Pisa is a "lovely town, with so much more to see than the famous leaning tower". I'm afraid to say I disagree - it's all about the tower and the church beside it, which together make up the Piazza dei Miracoli ("Square of Miracles", from an Italian writer's description; officially Piazza del Duomo). However - that is a sight to see...

Torre Pendente - the Leaning Tower. It's not leaning that much is it?

Whoah! Heavy! Maybe it is leaning...
(Sorry for the stereotypical tourist shot... But sometimes, you gotta be a tourist!)

Piazza dei Miracoli - the Duomo (church) and tower

The leaning tower was originally intended to be the bell tower for the church. It leans due to very poor marshy foundations underneath, and I understand it was quite the feat of ground engineering to get it to leaning in a stable way for the sake of heritage (and tourism of course!). I would've been quite interested in the engineering behind it, but couldn't find out very much.

I think one of the most amusing sights to see though was everyone else trying to mimic the same photo I've got - tons of people were perched on these short posts leaning comically, and it's utterly hilarious to watch... "Move your right hand back a bit"...

Ahh, tourists. Classic.

Back to Firenze again, we had most of an afternoon to spare and headed up to the Piazzale Michaelangelo, a small square on a hilltop to the south of the city. There, the views were quite something over the town centre.

Firenze skyline with the Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno at left, the central tower marking the Piazza della Signoria, and the Duomo at right

Lindsay contemplating another part of the Florentian skyline

Lindsay, myself and the view on yet another gorgeous European summer's day

We got some gelato to relieve the heat from walking up there, took a few more photos and headed back to our hostel for an early train the next day. Destination? The centre of yet another ancient empire - Rome...

Exploring the alleys of Venezia

21 - 24 August

Two urban buses took us across the Italian border to Trieste, from where we caught a train to Mestre, an industrial town on the Italian mainland adjacent to Venezia (Venice). Venezia itself is actually scattered over several islands in the Venezia lagoon, and unsurprisingly Mestre, a 20-minute bus ride away, was much cheaper to stay.

With the afternoon spare we took the opportunity to have a first explore around the famous canal city. All buses, trains and cars can only get as far as the edge of the first island - there's a long bridge out to the mainland - from where the only method of transport is walking or boats. We only walked, for several reasons - it's cheaper, and that the main attraction of Venezia (to me anyway) is getting lost in the alleyways, which come in two sizes - small or tiny.

And straight away, there were iconic canals everywhere...

Welcome to Venezia, huh?

Jagged canals & tiny alleyways like this literally cover the whole city

The central island is where the majority of the attractions (and tourists) are, and is split in two by the large Grand Canal. This is crossed by just three bridges along it's length, and each of these makes for a pedestrian bottleneck. However they're also good spots for iconic "I'm in Venezia" photos.

The Venezia Grand Canal

Venezia isn't really the sort of place where there's lots of things to do... More, it's about the sights, the neat little streets, the tiny canals, the pizza stands... (Forget about the over-priced tourist restaurants & their touts, or the slight stink of stagnant sea water in back canals...)

So for the three days we were there, Lindsay and I got lost, found where we were, got lost again, and explored the quieter back street as well as those on the main route between two main bridges or sights. It's quite incredible how you can turn down a side street and instantly be out of the crowds, and everything goes quiet - it's just you, the ancient apartments crowding on either side, the windowsill flowerpots, and the local's washing hanging on the lines criss-crossing over the street above you.

Iconic small flowerpots like this are found all over the city

And without backyards, this is how the washing is dried

Even if we were walking around, there are of course a lot of boats everywhere, from the larger public transport barges to the small taxis and gondolas. Those gondolas cost some 60-70 euros for a half hour trip, and there's a lot of heritage and tradition surrounding the gondoliers.

Boats moored up in the Grand Canal

Gondolier

Gondolas passing down a narrow canal

There are, of course, some major sights to see. Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square) is home to the Basilica di San Marco (St Mark's Basilica), an impressive, super-ancient astronomical clock, and a huge tower - and the Step-Sitting Police. You're not allowed to sit down on any of the steps around the whole square, and "Heritage Monitors" make sure you don't either!

Piazza San Marco & the Campanile di San Marco tower

Astronomical Tower on Piazza San Marco

Intricate designs on the Basilica di San Marco (all tiled mosaics)

Building decorations on Piazza San Marco

Venezia also is built very close to sea level, such that at high tide, several drains in and around St Mark's Square in particular flood out into the street a little. The city actually has warning systems for extra high tides, which can flood whole alleys. In the photo with the Campanile above you can see a couple of high-tide puddles in the background on the left.

This was the sort of thing we saw in a couple of other places:

High tide on the canals

I did fall a bit in love with narrow alleyways:

An actual "street"

More neat canals

Having a look down a canal at the end of an alleyway - just before I almost slipped in...

And some more miscellaneous photos:

One of the typical bridges down a small side canal

Lindsay & I by the Grand Canal

Bridge of Sighs (apparently so named because it was where condemned prisoners would sigh as they saw their last view of the free world before being locked up)

View out across the Venezia lagoon

Arsenale

Lunch (pizza, of course) down a side canal

One last interesting point - Venezia is where the term "ghetto" first came into use. It is believed to refer to the Venetian word for "slag", since the island where Jews were confined to in 1514 was also used for slag storage from a foundry. The term has now developed to mean an area inhabited by a minority group, and of course ghettos throughout Europe were set up for Jews during World War II.

Venezia really is a maze of fascinating alleys and canals that are a real treat to walk around and explore. It's a must on the European tourist route for a good reason! But after three good days exploring there, it was off first thing the next morning for Florence.

S(love)nia

 17 - 21 August

The train from Zagreb to Ljubljana was just a few hours, and we'd arrived in Slovenia's small capital city. Dropping our bags at the hostel, we decided to make the most of the rest of the afternoon and headed into the central city and the hill rising above it, home to Ljubljanski Grad, the city's castle.

As soon as we got into the small centre of town, both Lindsay & I were quite struck by just how cute & picturesque it was - quite unexpectedly so. There were a number of bars clustered along the banks of the Ljubljanica River that runs through the centre of the city, and it had all the charms of a smaller, old European town. Even better - just like Budapest, this unexpectly wonderful gem was gratifyingly low on tourists!

The Ljubljanica River straight through the centre of town

As planned, we headed up to the castle, which was home to a good museum on Slovenian history (more on that later) and had lots of its own history, having variously served as a castle, a prison, a residence for Ljubljana's poor and a military fortress since the first known settlement there around 1,200 BC (!).

Of course, being on a hill by the city, there was also a fabulous view climbing up the hill and from the castle towers themselves. We were lucky enough to be up there as the sun set in the distance...

View of Ljubljana from Ljubljanski Grad

View of Ljubljana from Ljubljanski Grad

Sunset over Ljubljana

Dusk in Ljubljana

We headed back into the city to find some dinner, a takeaway kebab and a beer by the river - I'm definitely a fan of Europe's slightly more lenient liquor licensing laws compared to NZ! It was just as photogenic as earlier, but in a completely different way...

Ljubljanica River, Tromostovje (Triple Bridge) & Franciscan Church of the Annunciation (pink building) by night

Almost every European city of any size or significance has a free walking tour these days, and Ljubljana was no exception, so the next morning Lindsay and I joined the horde of young tourists to find out a bit more about this surprising gem of a city. Legend has it that a dragon once occupied the marshes around Ljubljana, and it's now become the symbol of the city - and this bridge:

Zmajski Most (Dragon Bridge)

As for the country of Slovenia, the area has been variously populated by Ancient Romans, Slavic tribes, Barvarians, Magyars, and Hapsburgs. The world's oldest wooden wheel, dating from about 2,500 BC, was found in Ljubljana. More recently the area was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and then the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, leading to Yugoslavia. During World War II, the country was occupied by Italy, Germany and Hungary in different parts before liberating itself.

Slovenia itself has only been around since June 1991, being the first to successfully split away from the communist Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav army came to try and keep Slovenia with them, but headed home just 10 days later - after the Ten Day War - with their tails between their legs and a treaty signed. Since then, the country has enhanced it's position on the world and European stage quickly.

More sights from the walking tour... Um... Shoes?

Tromostovje (Triple Bridge) & Franciscan Church of the Annunciation by day

The Triple Bridge is called such because their are actually three separate bridges. It used to be that this stategically significant bridge would allow foot traffic through the sides and vehicles through the centre. Historically, the bridge's predecessor was the location of a key trade route crossing between east and west, but in the modern world, and with the central city being pedestrian-only, the bridge is now more important as a monument and one of the most notable pieces of work of famed Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik.

The afternoon was a quiet one after the walking tour; with the lovely weather still in force, we ended up having a late picnic lunch in a city park, enjoying the sunshine. We booked a third night to stay there - why not, in such a lovely city - and took the opportunity to take a day trip to the famous Blejsko jezero (Lake Bled), just an hour or so north of the city.

Lake Bled was certainly worth the effort to go - I have never seen such a beautiful spot. It was very tempting to book a weeks worth of accomodation there to enjoy it better! The small lake is overlooked by the cute Blejski grad (castle), perfectly perched atop a vertical cliff. Gondolas ply the sparkling blue waters to the small island of Blejski otok in it's centre - the only natural island in Slovenia, and also home to the small Cerkev Marijinega vnebovzetja (Assumption of Mary church).

Picturesque, beautiful, stunning, marvellous - these words hardly begin to describe Lake Bled.

View from Blejski grad to Blejski otok

St Martin's church & Blejski grad (castle)

Blejski grad perched above Blejski jezero

The sparkling waters of Blejski jezero, with Blejski grad & the mountain range forming the Austrian border behind

Gondola on Blejski jezero

Nearby was also the Vintgar Gorge, where the Radovna River quickly carves a wide cleft in the rock into a deep gorge, through which some enterprising person cleverly placed a wooden walkway, with the gorge ended in an impressive waterfall:

Soteska Vintgar (Vintgar Gorge)

Lindsay at the top of Slap Šum (Šum Falls), Radovna River

Lindsay & I at Slap Šum (Šum Falls), Radovna River

Back to Ljubljana, we took the chance to enjoy another beer on the riverside before reluctantly saying goodbye to my favourite hidden gem of Europe. The destination was now Izola, a small coastal resort located in Slovenia's ~45 km claim of Mediterranean coastline, as a stopover through to the north of Italy.

Unfortunately, the weather finally gave up and we were greeted with a windy, overcast coast. The hostel was a nice reprieve - a local's small set-up where Lindsay enjoyed the guitar available - and we did brave the coast for a couple of minutes, where it was possible to see Croatia and Italy to either side.

Avoiding the waves at the end of a jetty in Izola

The weather came right the next day, and off we were in the morning, across the border, ticking off another country and heading for one of Europe's most famous destinations...

Venice...