DIARY OF AN ADVENTURER: ITALIAN AMORE
Italy was the country I was most looking forward to visiting - apart from Greece. I wish I could say that it exceeded my expectations and I loved every minute of it, but unfortunately this was not the case and I had a nightmare of a trip. It turned out to be an experience I will definitely never forget though, just not in a good way. I think my biggest problem, and this is being super stereotypical of me, but in general Italian people are super laid back. This frustrates me so much, especially in situations that are beyond my control. I wouldn't say I am a super controlling person, just that I like to be in control of any situation, at all times.
After my first flight I had booked was cancelled two days before I was due to fly, and then my replacement flight was delayed by an hour, I was not in a good mood on touchdown in to Rome. When I finally stepped outside of the airport I could immediatly feel my feet burning on the ground through my jandels! I only had an hour and a half to make it to my prebooked tour of the Vatican City. The queue for the buses into town was ridiculously long and I couldn't even see any buses.
I thought it would be ok to walk half an hour to the train station but after walking for about 10 minutes out of the airport and along the main road, I decided that I would have to return to the airport and take a taxi. It was 1.30pm by this time and my tour started at 2pm. I thought I would be able to ask the taxi driver to take me straight to the Vatican, but I ended up with one of the only taxi drivers in the whole wide world who couldn't speak a word of english!
He ended up taking me to the hostel I was staying at because that's all I had written down to show him and there they confirmed that I had missed my tour and would have to rebook, and therefore pay again. After hoping in the shower fully clothed; the heat was unbearable and I was totally pissed off, I decided to join a free evening walking tour. Halfway to the meeting point - which was a good 20 minute walk from the hostel and I was already sweaty again, I realised that I needed to pre-book for the tour and all the spots were full. I decided to go anyway, even though I felt like crawling into a hole and never getting up!
I couldn't find the tour group and after waiting about 10 minutes, looking like a total idiot, I ended up getting a picture drawn of me by one of those artists. I thought it would be a nice thing to do as when Mum was my age she got one done of here too, but this really wasn't my day and in the picture I look about eight years old.
Florence
The next morning I got up super early to take a day trip to Florence. The train I chose to take was delayed an hour and I didn't end up getting into Florence until around midday. It was worth the wait though as it was such a beautiful city. I spent four hours walking around and seeing the old city. The Ponte Vecchio Bridge was spectacular. It has some little boutique shops on it, but has become a bit touristy.
I would have liked to have spent a bit more time in Florence but there are a lot of Art Galleries and they don't really interest me.
Pisa
After exploring Florence, I jumped on a 40 minute train to Pisa where I spent the last three hours of daylight. I wasn't sure what to expect in Pisa but I was thoroughly enjoyed it. I got my picture taken with the Leaning Tower, the main reason I had come all this way. The problem was that being a solo traveller I had to ask a stranger to take a picture for me and it just wasn't the same. I couldn't resist eating pizza in Pisa for dinner afterwards!
I think that I needed more time to explore both Florence and Pisa more but as I was only in Italy for four days I didn't have enough time. I didn't arrive back into Rome until midnight so I went straight to bed! All in all, this day was certainly looking better.
Rome
I didn't really know how to go about seeing Rome so I planned to join a free walking tour to get my bearings and learn a bit about the city and its history. I should have known though that since nothing else had gone my way that no guide would turn up. Instead I explored Rome on my own, walking from 9am until 4.30pm without stopping for lunch. I saw so much of the city but didn't really understand what anything was or the significance. I was quite ignorant to Roman history, as previously I had never seen the importance of knowing it! I didn't go inside the Colosseum as it was a Sunday which meant free entry and the line being two hours wait.
I went inside the Castel Sant'Angelo instead. It is the Mausoleum of Hadrian, built for Hadrian the Roman Emperor and is now housing his tomb. It was once the tallest building in Rome, and had amazing views of the city and towards the Vatican City. I tried to get into the Basilica but was turned away as I had forgotten and my dress did not cover my knees.
I went to a gelato shop that had over 150 flavors, including Limoncello, Nutella and Twix as well as any kind of fruit! It was unbelievable. That night I ate a traditional Carbonara, which was very yellow and actually quite salty, and I didn't overly enjoy it. I planned to get an early night as I was exhaused from all the walking but also had another full day of exploring as well as a late night flight back to London.
My early night didn't happen though as I was woken three times during the night by different people arriving and leaving, thats hostel life! I was still super tired when I got up the next morning but forced myself to get up and make the most of the day. I tried my luck again with the free walking tour, and fortunately this time a guide turned up. There were two free tours on offer and I ended up doing one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was good to learn about what I had seen on the previous days. I also found out that the many water fountains throughout the city provided safe and free drinking water. This proved to be a massive game changer as so far I had been carrying around a 1L bottle as it was so hot!
The tour guide took us to see the Trevi Fountain which unfortunately was under construction. For some reason I thought the fountain was in the middle of a roundabout, but it turned out to be down a narrow alley way in the tiniest square I have seen. It is 26.3 metres high and 49.15 metres wide and is the largest Baroque fountain in the city.
The Pantheon was my favourite building in Rome. It is the worlds largest unreinforced dome, as there is a hole in the top allowing the sunlight to get in. Finally we saw the Piazza Venezia and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before heading to the Vatican City where the tour ended.
I queued for the Basilica at the Vatican City again after the tour ended, and was surprised to get in within 45 minutes of queuing. I was prepared this time and had trousers in my bag to put on over the top of my shorts. The Basilica was huge and very impressive inside but it had so many people buried in the underground vaults which I found creepy.
I then had to join another queue for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, which fortunately only took half an hour. The paintings on the roofs throughout the buildings were so beautiful even though they depicted religious scenes, which I am really not into. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos inside. They were monitoring the capacity for the Chapel as well because it isn't an overly big room, and they crammed so many people in at once.
Afterwards, I hoped on the Metro and raced back to the meeting point of the second free walking tour for the day. This tour explored the whole Capitoline Hill area, the Roman Equivilant to the ancient Greek Acropolis.
The Capitoline contains only a few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance Palaces (which are now housing the Capitoline Museums). There is so many ruins of old Basilicas and Temples in this area that it is impossible to remember them all! We saw the Arch of Constantine which is the largest Roman Triumphal Arch at 21 m high, 25.9 m wide and 7.4 m deep.
The tour ended outside the Colosseum where I walked back to my hostel. I then had Maccas on my way to the airport, which was really gross. I caught the shuttle bus to the airport. The flight was scheduled to depart at 10pm but when we hoped on the airport bus to take us to the plane, there was still the passengers from the previous flight on board. The Rome ground staff hadn't brought them any stairs to get off and they had been sitting on the plane for half an hour. We finally boarded and were told that the fuel still hadn't been connected to the plane and we ended up waiting half an hour on the tarmac.
We finally landed in London at 1.30am and I had to take a taxi home as it was school holidays and I had to get up for the kids at 6.30am!
"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.” - Unknown
I hope this has inspired you.
LARISSAJODEE x
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