Part Two: Italy

Back to my spring break story! So we flew from Cairo, Egypt to Rome, Italy (with a layover in Athens). There was another group of girls from my program in Egypt at the time traveling with the same tour company but they skipped school and were there for longer and did slightly different things. So they happened to be leaving the same day as us and they drove us all to the airport together. So it was crazy but one of the girls was also going to Rome and was on the same flight as us! She was staying with her friend who goes to school there so when we got in to Rome the friend took us all in to the center of Rome and helped Elissa and I figure out our way to our hostel. The hostel was kind of out in the middle of nowhere but that's okay it was cheap and we had beds and everything we needed. So the next day Elissa and I woke up to go see the sights in Rome. I really like Rome because you could just sort of wander around the main area and see all the sites easily. The weather was so nice so we did a lot of walking and took a break in the park when we needed it.

I actually didn't see a single rain cloud at all in Italy until the last day in Venice!
So that night we were supposed to meet up with this other girl Alicia who was flying in to Rome and we were all going to take the train to Naples that night. After seeing the sites, Elissa and I went to get on the subway to go back to our hostel and it wasn't running! So we had to quickly walk all the way from where we were to where we transfer lines to go to our hostel. Not exactly what we wanted to be doing after a day of walking but oh well. We texted Alicia to tell her we probably weren't going to make it for the train we were planning on but no answer (she never got it and was trying to get a hold of us too but our phones just did not work very well in Italy). So eventually we got our stuff from the hostel and made it to the train station and found Alica. The next train to Naples was about an hour later but it ended up being at least half an hour late to the station so we ended up getting in to Naples quite a bit later than we had planned. We took a cab to our hostel there but it was locked and they weren't answering the doorbell or the phone! I should probably not reveal this for those of you reading that worry about me, but then we had to walk around Naples (which is supposed to be like the sketchiest city in Italy lol) at night trying to find a hotel to stay in for the night. Between like 1 and 2 am we found one and I'm sure we looked so tired and sad that the guy gave us a room for 70 euros. It worked out for the best because we all had comfy beds and by far the best shower I've had in 2 months!

So the next morning we were in Naples! We woke up early to go bring our stuff over to the hostel so we could stay there our second night in Naples. It turns out they were waiting up for us, but the timing was just off because the guy waiting happened to step out for a break at a bar or something just when arrived. They felt so bad though they didn't charge us for the night before and they just let us stay that night for the small deposit we'd already paid! So we ended up spending exactly what we were planning even though we staying in a nice hotel one night! After sorting all that out we were off to Pompeii!


Pompeii was HUGE. I guess it was a whole city, but I guess I was expecting it to be smaller and look more like it was destroyed by a volcano (but I guess that was what kept it so preserved). Anyway we walked around there for like the whole day and maybe got to see half of the site. I really enjoyed it though and I saw even more how the Ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt are connected. There was a lot of Greek influence and tributes to Greek gods but I was also surprised to find a Temple of Isis (the Egyptian goddess). The uneven stones of the roads eventually got to be too much for our poor feet and we hopped on the train again to head to Sorrento on the coast. Yay! Seeing the Mediterranean from my 3rd country! Sorrento was beautiful. We just got gelato and hung out by the water until dinner time.
Dinner was the best. I got the fresh local white fish. Delish. And of course we had a little local white wine.

Back to Naples for the night. In the morning we walked around Naples and checked out this cool castle:

Then it was back to Rome to pick up Aliza from the airport! (for those of reading that don't know, she's my cousin who is studying in Brussels, Belgium)
It took a while for us to find each other in the airport but we did! Since she didn't have much time in Rome we went straight to the Colosseum from there.

As we were walking around the Colosseum we noticed that it was all blocked off, tons of police were around, and a crowd was beginning to gather. Turns out the pope was there! We didn't even know it though we just saw the crosses and candles and decided it was some religious Easter thing we didn't need to see. Oh well, we kind of saw the pope...
The original plan was to wake up early, see the Vatican, and then take the train to Florence, but after looking at the train times and realizing that the only time we would have in Florence would be on Easter, we decided to cut it out. So we decided to take the overnight train to Venice so we wouldn't have to figure out another place to stay for that night and we'd just continue on to our next stop. That meant that we had the whole Saturday in Rome! So Aliza and I slept in a little and then headed for the Vatican. Unfortunately, it was Saturday/day before Easter so we waited in line for 2 hours and then we were herded through the museum and Sistine Chapel like cattle. It wasn't that much fun but I was still glad we did it. Being inside the Sistine Chapel is amazing. It's hard to believe one person painted all that. As for the Vatican museum's collection I just can't get over the fact that I see no reason for them to have all of that stuff. Put it back where it belongs. Also, waiting in line for the Vatican we had the best gelato we had in all of Italy. The place we went to was actually in Aliza's book as one of the best in Rome. They had gallons of fresh milk in the shop and there was actual fruit in it. We got dark chocolate with blood orange and banana. yummmm. Couldn't find blood orange flavor anywhere else after that :(. So then we walked around Rome the rest of the day and Aliza saw the rest of the main sites. Then we went to the grocery store to get food, including blood orange juice the best thing in the world, because we didn't think anything would be open the next day (Easter). Then we headed to the train station and waited around there for a bit wondering why it didn't say what platform we were supposed to be in yet. Eventually I asked someone and it turns out we were at the wrong station! We didn't have that much time but thankfully it wasn't that far away on the subway and we got there before the train (it was late of course). The other girls missed the train because they got to the wrong station sometime after we left for the right one and ended up having to sleep outside the train station and take the first one in the morning. Karma for calling me paranoid about leaving enough time for everything! Nothing ever goes perfectly so you have to plan for that.

Around 5 am we arrived in Venice! So we hopped on the public boat :), grabbed a fresh croissant and some tea, and arrived at our cute little hostel. Thankfully the owner let us check in and everything so we curled up in our beds for some real sleep. Then we woke up and explored the island. We figured a lot would be closed because it was Easter, but actually it was busy with tons of tourists and everything was open. Venice was quite touristy but I thought it was cool and I could definitely get used to living somewhere where I don't have to drive at all I just get around in my boat.

And that's pretty much it for Italy. The next day we took the train to Milan so we could fly out the next morning. I have to say Italy's transportation system in general is kind of a pain in the butt but I enjoyed it overall. I couldn't wait to get back to Greece and Greek food especially though!

Santorini story coming soon this week because we're going to Athens this weekend and I'll have to tell you about that next week!

Pictures of Italy:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kaitz.j/Italy#