Originally Posted May 9, 2011
Italy – Part 1
Yesterdays became vivid memories. Tomorrow was an unknown. The present was truth, and a welcome surrounding. Within he found himself a victim of content silence. Though alone in travel, one was happily kept company by the breathtaking views and in conversation with the words the mind uses to describe them. A country became a yesterday, yet the anticipation of new discovery left no feelings of loss. A new land that existed only in dreams was soon to rid its label as an unknown. Unwelcome obstacles were no match for true determination as a traveler moved swiftly to his destination. Though unknown at hand, a memorable journey was about to begin. Daylight soon revealed a city designed as if Picasso were given a Lego set. As if construction had been done neither with brick nor mortar, but with pastels and paint. Beauty not easily captured by camera lens, but one young man’s quest for such. Cinque Terre delivered welcome sights of déjà vu. One becomes easily accepting of these feelings as every town exists as stunning as the last. Cliffs, views, trails, ocean, sun, colours, buildings, amalgamating into perfection. A lone traveler became the opposite, presently able to share experience. Memories were created and shared, not soon to be forgotten. On then was discovery, deeper into country. Cities traveled, steeped in history. A traveling gentleman had embarked on a never-ending search for the world’s offerings of surreal landscape. He entered a world of travel populated with welcome and willing people to experience it with. A country soon became viewed in many forms, dazzling in wonderment. Conquering mile after mile, the final destination was reached. Though dwellings were guarded by ladies of the night, nothing could protect him from views robbing him of breath. Venice became a living postcard. Every sight neck-breaking in its need for a second look. Beauty only appreciated with the human eye, he had reached an awe-inspiring city. He had fallen in love with country. But as many a love story, he was forced to let her go. Only the unknown of tomorrow would decide the fates of their future. Until then, “I don’t know what that will be, I’ll get back to you someday, soon you will see.”
I left off my last post with my exiting of France. Though enjoyed, France was only a precursor for my true intentions of travel through Italy. I had heard of a location in Italy called Cinque Terre through friends and family who traveled there and ever since I pressed enter on my first Google search, I knew I had to visit this place. It was my first stop in Italy. But before I made it there I had a bit of a run in, which I referred to at the end of my previous post. I had left Marseille with a train ticket to the border of Italy, and then purchased a ticket there to Cinque Terre. In the excitement of getting train tickets for 6 euros, and my ‘play it by ear’ demeanor for the trip, I had done nothing in terms of planning for my sleep that night. It turned out that I had an hour-long layover in Genova, so I figured I would run to an Internet café and book a hostel. I got to Genova 30 minutes late, so I ran from the train into a very unfamiliar city. A couple rather rude hotel workers later I found an Internet café with 20 minutes until departure. I quickly scan Hostelworld and finally find a place in Cinque Terre available, but as I am writing down the reservation number and directions I read a disheartening line of text: “Please note: if you think you can not arrive before 8pm do not book here,because the office closes at 8pm.PLEASE DO NOT BOOK IF YOU THINK YOU CAN NOT MAKE IT”….My train arrived at 9. This moment of panic was mixed with the realization of my train leaving in 10 minutes, so my mind had 20 euros down the drain and I was hightailing it to my train. In this sprint for the platform I had a new realization, I never looked at what platform. I had a slight recollection of track 20 on the board, so I went for it. A glance at the train label and I swore I saw the station I was supposed to be going to, so I thought I was okay. In what was supposed to be a 50-minute train, an hour went by, hour fifteen, hour and a half…Enter panic mode.
Not only was I bed-less, but I now thought I was on the wrong train. The life of a traveler, am I right? False, I was stressed. Finally, almost an hour late I reached Cinque Terre only to find blacked out streets and one old couple who gave me a look of “enjoy sleeping on the beach”. I had every intention of breaking my travel virginity and spending a night in the train station, but the train station wasn’t really a train station, so indeed the beach was looking pretty good. There were no hostels, so I checked out some hotels and they were 100+ euros. Being that I already thought I was 20 euros down, there was no chance I was paying that much. After a long walk I finally found a 2 star hotel reasonably priced, so I enjoyed my most expensive night of the trip in a nice room. The sleep and breakfast were excellent, so I moved on to booking my next few nights in Cinque Terre. I ended up having to book the same hostel as the night before, so I made my way over and when greeting the guy running the hostel he said “de Vooght?, weren’t you supposed to be here last night?”. I replied with “yes, you cheeky slag,” thinking this rascal had stolen 20 of my euros. Curveball, he turns out to be a lovely man who upon payment of cash for the next few nights didn’t charge me for the first night. All was well and this paved the way for a fantastic trip to Cinque Terre.
Cinque Terre is a set of five towns built along the coast of Northwest Italy. They are gorgeous, colourful towns along the cliffs, which are all linked by pathways from town to town. I walked around three of the towns on a gorgeous sunny day and took pictures, hiked the paths, and made small talk with old American couples about how big the lemons were on the trees. At the end of the day I met a bunch of people in my hostel, a few of which I ended up traveling with later on. We all went out for drinks that night and the next morning a few of us walked the last two cities and ended up on the beach. Before my lone beach day, I first need to address arguably the best part of Italy…the coffee. Sweet Moses I love Italian coffee. The best cappuccinos I have ever had, only 1 euro. Bananas. This day proved to be my favourite of the trip with beautiful weather, hanging out with new friends, relaxing on the beach with some beers and wine, swimming, climbing cliffs, gorgeous setting sun, and a tiny Asian girl getting unexpectedly drunk. We got back to the hostel and a new crop of people meant more socializing that night over pizza and wine. The next day after a Nutella & banana crepe and a breakfast tea, I packed up, said goodbyes, and headed for the train station to Florence. (For the record that was a complete lie, I obviously had a cappuccino.)
This train ride was on a grey, almost rainy day, but I met a couple of Torontonians taking the same train, so friendly chat-chit made things go quickly. After days of walking and sun, I was ready for a night in, so I made my way to the hostel in Florence (which turned out to be a converted monastery, kinda weird) and met my roommate who was a nice fellow from Brazil. We got along quickly and decided we’d buy some wine and hang out for the night. That turned into 3 more bottles and 2 more people joining us, so it was a nice relaxing night. The next day we all met up and walked the city together. The Brazilian guy had been there a few days so he was a fantastic tour guide. It was culture week in Italy, which meant all of the museums and churches were free for entry. However as good as this sounds it just meant the lines were all 3+ hours long. This prevented any sightings of David or the Duomo, but I saw both fake David’s and everything else around the city. Weather wasn’t great, but the views of the city easily made up for it. After the best gelato of my trip (biscotti chocolate and coffee, thank you Rob for the coffee recommendation) and a sighting of the Fiorentina Football stadium, I made my way to the next hostel. A friend I had met in Cinque Terre had planned this night at the same hostel, so we met there and ended up meeting a friend of his who was studying in Florence. This was my only real night out on the trip as we started in a pub and ended up at a couple clubs. We drank lots and had a great night out meeting loads of international people. As he said, we became each other’s go-to guy on the trip, thanks to Alex for a great time; hopefully we can travel again soon!
The next day I did a day trip to Siena. It was only an hour away, but my mom and brother had traveled there and said it was worth a look. An uneventful day, but a very cool city nonetheless and I’m glad I made the effort to go. I had spontaneously added this day onto my trip, so I had no place to sleep that night in Florence. Luckily I had made friends with the guy running the hostel who was a Mexican that had traveled through Toronto (I had no idea Dundas Square was so cool until I talked to this guy). He hooked me up for an extra night and for 10 euros I got to sleep on a cot in a nook above the kitchen, which was technically the computer room. It turns out sketchy cots in small nooks on a warm night in Italy after having discussions about bed bugs will really affect the success of ones sleep. Lesson learned. On then to Venice…
No Regrets.
Pete