How did I cheat Spain with Italy...

Half of the year in Spain, in Córdoba, made me feel that I have found my love. It was love at first sight. We spent a lovely time together. Never-ending night walks, warm sunbeams on the face when the morning was coming out, the food which could make you speechless... When I came back to Poland, I came back without a heart. Part of me stayed forever in the incredible Andalucía. My relationship with Spain was like from the movie. But every movie has to contain at least a little piece of spicy romance... And I had my romance with... Italy. I couldn’t do anything more cruel than this for Spain. But let’s go back to the beginning...

February. Break after exams. I’m looking for the destination which I should choose for my next trip. First plan was my beloved Ireland. But somehow all the dates, time and prices of the flights are wrong. Everything just doesn’t go. But desire of the journey is big. So instead of giving up on idea, I decide to put „anywhere” in the destination of the flight. The search tool tells me: Bologna. Hm. Bologna? Italy? Not really. I already see all these crazy „Mamma Mia! ”-Italians, screaming all around and spreading pasta on the streets. No, no, no, thank you. Grazie. I’m trying very hard to reduce the price of the flight ticket to Spain or Ireland, but my power doesn’t work this time. Well, okey. Let’s go to Italy...

One week. 6 cities. One me. 6 hosts. One back pack. This is how detailed plan I had. Actually... Lack of the plan.

Bologna

Everything has started in Bologna. When I think about Bologna now, I think "red”. Red colour and warm atmosphere. Atmosphere of a student’s life, atmosphere of a slowly life in the beams of the morning sun.

Every day of my trip was completely different. Sometimes the whole day of sightseeing just by myself, sometimes the whole day of exploration of every nook and cranny of the city with my host and sometimes just taking it easy and enjoying the spirit of the place... Bologna is one of these cities where you should plan at least one day extra just for the sitting on the stairs in front of the church or exploring the nearby market full of colourful fruits and countless number of fish. What have I loved in Bologna? Fresh spirit of youth in the old and narrow streets. You can easily feel that this city has a huge story behind. That not without a reason is called La Dotta - the "educated one”. If you wanna visit one of the oldest universities in Europe, classroom where for the first time students of medicine have seen an autopsy as the part of the lecture (Teatro Anatomico), you want to overcome 486 steps on the Torre degli Asinelli or you simply always wanted see the tower which has been „cut” because it was too high and could fall- take the first flight to Bologna.

Below the open arcade of Voltone del Podesta, between Palazzo del Podesta and Palazzo Re Enzo, there is a kind of whispering walls. If you whisper, facing one of the four corners, your friend staying at the opposite corner will hear you.

Another interesting thing you can see on Piazza Maggiore. From time to time one older guy is coming there with his bike, plastic little chair and the poster "Public speech”. If you want share with the world your feelings or opinions about politicians, environment, your family or your mood, you can just ask him for the chair and... start talking in the public. If you are a good speaker, soon you will have a crowd around you. If you are not... Well, be ready that Italians can throw tomatoes at you. But it’s always nice to try.

La Grassa - "The Fat One"-, can also offer you (supposedly, because I have heard that in every other city as well... ) the best cuisine in the whole Italy.

I was leaving Bologna with the feeling that my desire for the red cosy streets is still not full filled. But time was flying and another host, this time in Florence, was waiting...

Florence

As I have written before, when I was coming, I didn’t have any plan. I just knew the cities which I was going to visit and the date of my plane going back home. There are two reasons of this situation. First of all, I left to Italy just one day after my last exam, so basically I didn’t have time to prepare anything. And second, because I generally hate plans. They never work. I love the feeling of the freedom which we get during traveling. So why should we destroy that with planning? It’s very easy to move in Italy with trains, which are not that expensive. My every trip between cities took me around 1, 5-2 hours and cost around 10 euro. At every train station you can buy tickets in automats or in the normal cash box. You can always find at least one person who speaks (or thinks that she/he can speak... ) English. There is also an option to choose between cheaper or more expensive trains.

My stay in Florence was the most intensive one. Just few steps from the trainstation divide you from the first important church- Santa Maria Novella. Church is surrunded by very cosy square where you can spend your first or last moments in Florence before your train arrives. From time to time you can also see there little festivals for example of regional food, wines, chocolate...

Saying that this city is full of monuments is not an overstating. You could easily say that Florence is an artistic capital of Europe: Dante, Machiavelli, Michel Angelo, Galileo... It’s pretty hard to believe, but Florence had them all! Every city has little stories which stuck in your brain because of unspecified reason... One of mine is a story about the monument of David. Statue was made of a giant block of marble which was very narrow and damaged. Most of the artists said that it’s impossible to create anything from this piece of a trash. One of them was Leonardo da Vinci. Fortunately our world always contained people who believed that impossible doesn’t exist. Impossible didn’t exist for Michael Angelo and he finished the monument in 3 years. At the beginning David was enjoying the sun (and the rain) on the Piazza della Signoria. But bad weather destroyed his little skirt made of golden leafs and David became naked. Nowadays he is safe and protected in the Galleria dell’Accademia. This gallery is not only a home for David, but also a good place to start the walk in the direction to the cathedral- Duomo. The best way to explore the city is to get lost. For the first time I experienced that in Florence. When I ended up in front of Galleria dell’Accademia, I realised that my goal was to find the cathedral. Obviously it was not a cathedral. So I decided just go down to the street. In one moment in front of me appeared round white and green building.

Very nice, I though. I put my foot on the Piazza del Duomo and... I became (which doesn’t happen very often) speechless. On my left side was standing a huge church in the lovely pastel colours, illuminated with the warm light of the sun. Delicate pink, spring green and little sparkles... This is Duomo. Breathtaking cathedral of Florence.

I’m still wondering how is it possible, that such a huge cathedral could hide in such narrow streets... The round building which I have seen from the street was Battistero, which is the oldest building in the city.

Next day in the morning, I decided to go back to Piazza del Duomo and eat breakfast, sitting on the bench and looking at such incredible artworks. Cathedral gives you the feeling that you expect something big also from the inside. Unfortunatly Duomo is that marvellous only from the outside. Interior of the church is very simple and it seems that its the most important characterisitc is the size. The oldest church in Florence is San Lorenzo, which is definitely worth to see. Its dark walls and quite surroundings have a bit different spirit that the whole city which is very bright, full of life, with a lot of noise on every corner.

When we finally decide to go to the river, we should definitely cross Piazza della Signoria. Not only Palazzo Vecchio is worth to see. On the East site of the square are very interesting monuments. Even if I am not a huge fan of art, I took my time and observed every single monument. For example, Neptune, made by Ammannati, was supposedly mocked by Michel Angelo... Personally I couldn’t find the reason of that unacceptable behaviour of Michel Angelo...

The most recognizable thing about Florence is of course Ponte Vecchio. It’s the only bridge in Florence which hasn’t been destroyed by Hitler in 1944. At the beginning people traded in fish and meat there, and all the trash was throwing away to the river. But the stink was so bad, that one of the kings, Ferdinand I, decided to change all the shops into jewelleries. Descendants we can meet nowadays on the Ponte Vecchio.

It’s nice just to take it easy and sit in the “hole”, enjoying beautiful views. The river Arno is like the soul of the city. But only the inhabitants know the real power of it. Arno was the reason of the huge flood which happened in 1966. So when we look at it, we shouldn’t forget about all the victims of this natural disaster.

My day in Florence I finished in the lovely little pub called “Mago Balducci” (Via Guglielmo Marconi, 24 ). Pub is out of the city so I’ve met there a lot of locals who explained me that “Yes, this food is for free! ” and answer for this rare situation is... Aperitivo! It’s the quintessence of Italian life style, opportunity to relax and talk with your friends. Food which was served at the bar reminded me of Spanish “tapas”- little portions of sandwiches, salads, pasta... Everything fresh and made of local Italian products. Perfect end of the day in Florence.

Siena

Stop number 3. Siena. I have to admit that I haven’t heard about this town before my Italian friend recommended me to visit it. My lovely host from Costa Rica picked me up from the train station and we went to the shopping center. I thought we are going to buy something, but instead of going to the food store, we jumped on the escalator... After few minutes we changed escalator into the moving belt... And another escalator... And then I realised that this is the way how Siena is connected with the bus and train station. Town is located on the hill and everything what is worth to see it’s hidden behind the old wall.

If I have to sum up Siena in one word, I would say: magic. Try not to feel the magic, when you cross the huge and antique gate, like you would enter a different time and world.

Try not to feel the magic when you stand on the Campo. Some people say that Campo is in the shape of the shell, and the others are convinced that square has the shape of the Virgin Mary’s coat which protects the city. The only sure thing is that every year hundreds of Italians and tourists are coming there to see the Palio. Palio is a horse race and one of the most spectacular festival in Italy. It takes weeks to prepare the whole party, but the actual race is just 90 seconds.

You don’t need much time to realise how important Palio is for all the people from Siena. Horses are everywhere. Horse-postcards, horse-tshirts, horse-cups and horse-chocolates... If you don’t like horses, after visit in Siena you will love them. At least you have to say that if any person from Siena asks you about that. Siena is also much cheaper that Florence or Bologna. I could buy one slice of pizza just for 1 euro. It’s a very good place if you want to feel the Italian spirit and not to be crushed by tourists like in Florence. Siena has a beautiful cathedral in the colour shame very similar to the Duomo from Florence. It’s total worth to visit it also inside and the ticket costs just 2 euro. Interior is very original. Green-white stripes all around don’t give you the feeling that you are in the church, but on the other hand around the altar there are countless number of popes’ heads.

Pisa

After Siena, it came time for Pisa. Probably most of the people associate Pisa with the Leaning Tower but for Pisa is... food! My host was a perfect cook and I had chance to try few of typical Italian dishes. Amazing Bruschetta with a delicious olive oil straight from Sardinia, pasta with Bottarga (kind of dry fish’s eggs... I think. ) and real tiramisu for breakfast... Everything accompanied by Italian wine. Such experience is possible only with using Couchsurfing instead of five stars hotels.

When you go to recognizable places like Eiffel Tower in Paris or The Leaning Tower in Pisa you have expectations. What surprised me the most is that The Leaning Tower is really leaning. One local told me that every 4 years, it leans one centimetre more.

I also didn’t expect that the tower is just an element of an amazing complex of medieval buildings. In the past people from Pisa were perceived as thieves. They were stealing stones from the other Italian cities to build their own buildings. One of the examples is Cathedral. If you look from far away, you will not realise that almost every stone is different. Also if you look carefully at the Cathedral’s wall you can see the footprints of the devil. Count them from below and then from above. Any time you count, you will get another number. This is the joke which devil made for people.

Evening I spent in the pub called “Orzo Bruno” (Via delle Case Dipinte, 6/8 ) which is crazy crowded anytime you go there. Orzo Bruno is full of young people, talks, laughs and milion kinds of different beers (I recommend the orange one! ).

La Spezia

So this was the end of my adventure in Pisa. Finally came time for La Spezia, city in Liguria. La Spezia appeared in my plan quite spontaneously. I had one day extra between Pisa and Parma, so I checked on the map what city is on the way and I saw La Spezia. La Spezia is a good place to start a tour through Cinque Terre- Italian dream. I left my back pack at the train station (you have to pay just 3 euro for the half of the day, but be prepared that you will wait at least 20 minutes until anyone appears in the baggage room... ) and I went to the tourist information, which was closed. Fortunatly my host told me before what kind of ticket I should buy. There is an option of buying one day ticket-Cinque Terre Treno Card- for 12 euro, which gives you possibilty to travel between all 5 villiages without any limits, access to every path and few more options which are written on the ticket (REMEMBER to write your name on it! ).

Monterosso al Mare

Also at every train station you can find a time table of the trains and all needed information. I decided to start with the villiage Monterosso al Mare.

Villiagies are connected with a train which goes in the tunnel made through the mountains and the longest distance takes around 10-12 minutes. Most of the time you travel in the darkness, but there are few moments when train goes out of the tunnel and you have few seconds to enjoy the view of the coast. All the people run then to the windows to take the picture.

Before coming to Monterosso I’ve read that this is not the most beautiful villiage, the rest of them is much nicer. I must strongly disagree. Monteresso is breath-taking. Already when you leave the train station you hear the sea and you are welcomed by the picture which looks like from the postcard.

During the summer all five villiagies are full of tourists, but in February it looks like Monterosso is sleeping, waiting for the summer time... Restaurants and shops are closed, cats are walking lazily on the streets and older Italians are dozing off on the benches listening the sound of the wild sea.

Between villiages you can travel by train, but it’s also possible to take a walk and explore the paths. The close location makes it an ideal place for hiking through the high cliffs surrounded by vineyards and picturesque slopes. The whole distance (from Monterosso del Mare to Riomaggiore) takes 12 km and it’s called Sentiero Azzuro. I didn’t have enough time to walk the whole path, but I decided to try first distance which was between Monterosso and Vernazza. It takes around 1, 5 hours and it has 3 km. This roud doesn’t belong to the easiest ones. Sometimes it has very steep approaches and leads through bushes or streams. But the views recompense all the difficulty. I definetly recommend to walk at least a part of the path and see Monterosso from above.

Vernazza

Vernazza... What to say about this villiage? It just stole my heart. Little church located on the rock, boats and fishermen undoing their fishing nets. It looks like the life stopped there.

Church was completely empty and I could hear just the sound of the sea. I sat there for a little moment, lighted the candle and looked from the window to see wild waves smashing on the rocks.

Corniglia

Next villiage is called Corniglia and it’s the only villiage not located directly on the coast. To reach Corniglia you have to overcome 377 steps, because it’s located on the 100 meter high rocky cliff. Probably it took me much more time that it should have to reach the top, because I couldn’t stop turning around to look at the giant sea and the sun which was slowly going down to the water.

Comparing to the others, Corniglia is not that breath-taking like the rest. It’s just few cosy streets and of course amazing view from the top.

Manarola

Manarola was my next stop. Actually when I was looking for the place which I could visit between Pisa and Parma, I thought that I’m looking at pictures from La Spezia, but then I realised all the pictures which uncle Google showed me were images from Manarola! Manarola was a cherry on the top. Colorful houses hanging on the rock and looked like in the minute they will fall into the sea.

The most famous path is called Via dell’amore between Manarola and Riomaggiore. Unfortunately weather was not good when I arrived to Manarola, it was raining, stones were wet and slippery, so I decided just to take the train. In Manarola it was already dark, but it made the view even more beautiful, so I thought it will be the same in Riomaggiore.

Riomaggiore

But when I put my feet on the platform and the train left I realised that I will not see anything. It was raining very badly, wind became much stronger and basically it was so dark that I couldn’t see a thing. Next train, going back to La Spezia was coming in one hour. I was wet, cold and hungry so I sat in the waiting room, spent my last coins on the hot chocolate from the automat and I was trying to understand why I just didn’t go direct to La Spezia. Meanwhile my host was asking me if I am sure that I still want see Riomaggiore, because it became quite late... Anyway, when I arrived to La Spezia, delicious pasta with green pesto and white wine were waiting for me, so very soon I forgot about this little failure.

Portovenere

My last day I spent in Portovenere. Portovenere doesn’t belong to the complex of Cinque Terre, but very often it’s called “The gate to Cinque Terre”. To Portovenere you can get only by a ferry or a bus. In February there are no ferries so I took direct bus from La Spezia. It’s a bus “P” and one way ticket costs 2, 5 euro, or if you buy at the driver- 5 euro, but not every time drivers sell them. After around 40 minutes I was in Portovenere. I wasn’t sure about going there, because it seemed to me a bit complicated all the travel with the bus and after so intensive week I was a bit tired, but it was the best decision which I could take. When you stand on the shore of the turquoise sea, in front of you are mountains which are still covered with the snow.

If you go ahead, a bit up on the hill, you reach the place which I imagined many times during reading a book or I saw in the movies. Byron’s Grotto. It’s a vast and beautiful rocky bay with huge cliffs and sea cave. Whole bay is like a hidden treasure. During a walk to the church on the hill, on the right side you are surprised with a little window and crossing between rocks. Behind them there are boundless sea, cliffs and caves... Picture which I will treasure in my heart forever.

On the other side there is a castle which unfortunatly was closed, but when I was going down I got lost in the narrow and rocky streets which probably I wouldn’t have seen.

La Spezia said goodbye to me with a delicious food- a lot of kinds of prosciutto and amazing wine in La Taverna del Metallo (Via Cernaia 17, La Spezia), a incredibly cosy place where the only light comes from candles...

So did I really cheat Spain with Italy? Well, for sure my list of countries where I would like to live for some time, gained another member. Italy has a unique atmosphere which is appreciated by the whole world, but to be honest has never been appreciated by me. Until I took my back-pack and went for a alone trip. I’ve met on the road amazing people, always open and ready for help, who were treating me like I would be their family. I arrived to a host, I left a friend. Italy is much more then just Rome and typical touristic places. It needs time to be discovered. One week is very little time, but I have a feeling that it was just the beginning of my Italian adventure. Best is yet to come...

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