In the Land of Pizza, Spaghetti and Expresso

I used to read about the roman empires, about the epic of Caesars, the brute and strength of gladiators, the beautiful landscape of Florence, and not to mention the fashion in Milan. All that I know about Italy, the history, the food, and the culture is from what I read in the book.

Last March, I booked a ticket to explore some parts of Italy in 10 days and 8 nights. Etihad gave me the best offer for airfares. The flight is at 2am and it’s a 6 hours flight from Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi. In Abu Dhabi I can rest for a while, stretch my body, and get my blood circulation back to normal. Then I took another flight from Abu Dhabi to Da Vinci airport in Rome. The flight took from Abu Dhabi to Rome takes another 7 hours. I prefer for transit flight rather than direct flight. Flying can be boring and not to mention the pressure on your bump.

They said that there is in flight wi-fi service but you need to pay extra. Since I’m in economy class (like other normal not so rich people) I can do without internet access for few hours. I survived the rest of the flight without suffering from any internet withdrawal syndrome.  It is syndrome suffered mostly by millennial. (To test whether you are suffering from this syndrome, put away your phone and lock it in a safe for few hours. People who suffer this syndrome will be like a junkie without the drugs as they cannot check their Facebook status, Insta, and update their Tweeter)

Day 1

We arrive at Da Vinci Airport, Rome around 1pm local time.  Our hotel have a pick up service but you need to pay around €50 for this. The driver will pick you from the airport and send you straight to the hotel. After flying for 13 hours, I guess its good to be chauffeured in a Mercedez Benz to your hotel.

The first thing you notice about Rome is the archaic building. As if all buildings has its own history.  After 40 minutes drive, we arrived at Home Sweet Home Hotel at Via Principe Amedeo, 47, 00185 Roma. The Hotel is at a very strategic location.  3 minutes walk from Rome Train terminal. 10 minutes walk from Coliseum. 3 minutes walk to stretch of halal food restaurants operated mostly by Indian nationalities.  

Home Sweet Home Hotel is a family run hotel. The owner is one by the name of Bruno, an old but stylish guy. The hotel is in an old building, older than Bruno. The building has been refurbished to fit in glass walled lift in the middle. It’s a good marriage of ecstatic design of old building with classy taste of modern technology, design and functionality. The room is quite small but fit just nice, clean bathroom and it came with wi –fi.

We took a bath and headed straight to the subs towards Fontana di Trevi. Bruno asked us to watch out for our wallets and valuables. Too many foreigners causing too much social problems he said. Guided by Google map, and some basic Italian with Malay accent, we managed to find the fountain. Tourist and locals swamped the fountain like bees to the honey. I can’t get a good shot of the fountain while guarding my wallet at the same time. Well, I am not a professional photographer, and just another traveller.  Don’t have to get a perfect shot of everything. I snapped some photos and move away from the crowded fountain.

Using our Google map, we walked along stretch of archaic building and found the Hard Rock Café near the US embassy. Of course, we bought T shirts for souvenirs.

Day 2

We took the city bus tour first to get an overall view of the historical places. It valid for 24 hours and only cost you €24. You can find the station for this tour bus in front of the Rome train terminal. Buy the ticket around 10am so you can utilize the ticket until 10am the next day. Our strategy was that we went one complete around the city in a bus to have a complete idea of the tourist attractions. After one round we hop on and off to various place of interest.

Our first stop is the main attraction: the Coliseum. Come early, as the queue can be very long. It is also advisable to pre book the entry ticket. Buy the ticket online. It saves you few bucks and hours of waiting time. Coliseum is such a huge complex. Walking up the staircase can be very challenging. Take time to enjoy the view and sit on the bench to look at the wall. Yes the wall. Think of thousand of romans watching and cheering as the gladiators kill each other. At that time, it is a form of an entertainment.

Adjacent to the Coliseum, you can find the Forum and other historical buildings. The area was filled with Bangladeshi and Africans selling selfie sticks and other souvenirs. It seems that Bangladeshi are everywhere. I don’t see any one buying anything from them makes me wonder that it may tough for them to make a living. Whether they are legally to be there is another question.

We hope on to our city tour bus and stop at Piazza Di Spagna. Here you can see another fountain, Spanish Steps, and a road full with designer labels. Actually, from here you can walk to the Vatican and Hard Rock Café. Vatican is tomorrow. Today’s itinerary stopped at Piazza Di Spagna. There is no point covering so many places in one day. We just want to enjoy the moment and relax. No need to rush. I love to watch the street performer at the piazza. There is one gypsy lady performing bubble show back up with some music. It’s a hit with children when they can play with the bubble. For the parents, kindly donate some money to the gypsy 

We took the tour bus again going around Rome city. Its getting dark but we want to see the city at night.

Day 3

We are still in Rome but our focus is the Vatican City. Using the tour bus ticket, we stop at Vatican City bus stop. We bought the 1pm ticket to the Vatican Museum online. Yes, bought online, as the queue can be very long. The price of the online ticket for two person is €40.

The interior of the museum is beautiful and confusing at the same time. The renaissance architecture and sculptures fill up every corner of the museum. Get use to be surrounded by “naked men”.  

The main attraction of the Vatican Museum will be the “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo at the ceiling of Sistine Chapel. I read somewhere that when he was first asked to paint the ceiling; Michelangelo hesitated from starting the project. His main specialization is making sculpture and not painting. He experimented with various techniques and took a long time to finish off the painting. Yes, genius will always delay his end product. They are not procrastinating but some time to perfect their work.

Today we made a bold move of walking from the Vatican city back to our hotel. Like Bruno the hotel owner said: the best way to know the city is get lost in it. We don’t actually get lost. By the third day we already knew our way around the city. Back at the hotel room, we have a warm of packed nasi lemak bought from Malaysia.

Day 4

We took Alitalia Train to Florence. For two person, we need to pay €48. We arrived in Firenzi Station around 11.36am and checked in at Boccaccio Hotel. The hotel is 5 minutes walk from the train station and just in front of the bus station. We put in our bags and headed back to the train station to catch a train to Pisa. It’s a 1hr 30 minutes ride. Take a rose bus in front of the station to the tower. Pay €2 per person for 60 minutes. It’s quite funny that in the bus somebody with Asian look ask whether this is the correct bus to the tower. I started to explain in English when she said where do I come from. The moment I said Malaysia and she replied she is from Indonesia; there is a slight spark in my face. Suddenly, I can communicate in Malay with a stranger in Italy. I miss speaking in my native language.

The leaning tower of Pisa as the name suggests is not vertically straight. It leans sideways. How it stands without collapse is a mystery.  There are many tourists here but not as many as in Rome. So many tourists posing in cliché pose in front of the tower. You know, the pose where your hand seems to be touching the top of the tower. Yay, I’m at the leaning tower of Pisa!

We reached Florence just before 8pm and we are starving like hell. However, we stop for a while at the bus station to buy ticket to Luxury outlet, at Regello, the outskirt of Florence. The return ticket price is €16 per person. Then we go hunting for foods. It seems that we don’t have to go far. Just next door from the hotel is an Egypt. My wife who cannot live without eating rice ordered biryani chicken. I ordered beef kebab and that night we feast like there is no tomorrow.

Day 5

We got bit early around 4am. Today is bit special. We had subscribed for day tour to Cinque Terre, a fishermen village, 1hour and 45 minutes outside Florence. It is a stretch of fishermen village consists of 4 main villages. Our first stop is Manarola. Most of the photos of Cinque Terre you see taken here. What makes the villages unique is that the houses are built on the hill. Each house is colored differently making it a colorful landscape, a joy to any photographer. Just be aware that using video mode can drain up your GoPro battery life pretty fast. Be easy and selective on your video shooting or bring a spare battery with you.

You can reach each village by train, in less than 2 minutes to each station. During lunch hour, we stop by in a local restaurant at Monterosso Beach and had pasta and seafood carbonara. Eating Italian food cooked by local is heaven.

By the time we reach Florence it already 9pm. Most of the shops are closed. We walked around the city in freezing night and found Hard Rock café. Thought of buying another t-shirt but the design seems to be the same.  We headed back to our hotel with a quick stop at the Egyptian deli for take away.

Day 6

Our bus to Luxury Outlet departs at 8am. The bus was full with Asians. We arrived at the Regello Luxury Outlets and find more Asians. The outlets are different from our premium outlet. Here in Florence, all the outlets have their own separate building but within the same area. You can find designer labels like Prada, Gucci, Dunhill, Chanel, Ferragamo and other labels. I got my Todds shoes here at a good price.

We arrived at the Firenzi terminal around 2pm. We waited around 2 hours at the terminal to catch 5pm train to Venice.  The ticket price is €78 for two person. We took the time to rearrange our bags due to vast inclusions of shopping goods from the Luxury Outlets.

We arrived in Venice around 7.30pm. It’s freezing cold. The water taxi station is just in front of the train station. It is a challenge to carry one big haversack, one back backpack and a cabin trolley bag through the maze of Venice streets. At that time, I truly understand how camel’s feels.

All buildings in Venice are old buildings; our hotel included. I do not know whether the heater is working as it is freezing inside and outside the room. Quickly after checking in to the hotel, we went for dinner at the restaurant next door. Hot seafood risotto and seafood spaghetti cooked by local seems to be more delicious in this freezing weather.

Day 7

I woke up early the next morning. I tried to explore the alleys before the tourist fill up the city. There are lots of activities in the morning; mostly food supplies at the local market. I saw these huge strawberries at the market; bought a small box of it. I sat at the plank next to the Grand Canal waiting for the sunrise while eating the strawberries.

Before get back to the hotel, I stop by at Restorante Caffe Saraceno for coffee, pizza, and doughnuts. If only every morning can be like this…

We had a relaxing moments walking through the maze of Venice alleys and spend much of the time at Piazza San Marcos. Here we saw few more leather shops. More bags. Piazza San Marcos is even more beautiful in the evening. Shops close early but restaurants and bars still open until late at night.

By this time, we already feel tired and we just walk around enjoying the moments. We stop to relax, eat strawberries, and walk again until evening. That night, we had another local dinner at the same restaurant gone back to the hotel burying ourselves under the blanket; no thanks to the absence heather.

Day 8

We leave the hotel early and board the water taxi to the termini. There is some time to kill while waiting for our train to Milan. The best thing about this termini is that there is a piano at the waiting area. Any one can play the piano and they are very good. Few visitors played with the piano while waiting for their train. I wish Malaysian would be to this level of good culture sooner not later.

We arrived at Milan termini sometime around 12pm.  Board the subway and headed to Duomo station. We stayed at Ariston Hotel at via Torino, about 10 minutes walk from the station. We asked the police for the way (my Italian now is getting better) and walked to the hotel. Arrived at the hotel, my wife was so tired that she decided to stay at the hotel, leaving me with the task to hunt for dinner. I don’t blame my wife, as the hotel was so comfortable. Given the choice, I want to just sleep in the room.

I went out to Duomo and took photos by my self. As it getting dark, I tried to find my way back to the hotel. I practically took the wrong turn and lost my way. I was like going round and round. I then went back to Duomo, systematically walking from Duomo station, remembered the exact point I asked for the direction from the policemen and visualizing his instructions. Well, I can use the Google map but I purposively getting lost in Milan.

In my temporary lost of directions, I stumbled into Prince Kebab, an Egyptian kebab store. The owner, Hamed Al Shawry quickly recognized me as Malaysian. He said Malaysian love rice.  I also found a local café EatMe&Go. I love the hot chocolate and different variety of pastries and cakes. I bought some doughnuts and taste the espresso. I love this café so much I followed them on Instagram and they followed me back.

Day 9

I get up early and went straight to Duomo. Not many people at the Piazza in the morning that I can shoot lot of photos without any people at the background. It was so quiet and the tranquility gave me such a soothing feeling. Once in a while, I hear the sound of city trams cutting through the traffic. It was freezing cold though. On my way back to the hotel, I stopped by EatMe&Go café and buy the hot chocolate.

Around 9am we went out to the Duomo. It’s the Easter Sunday and most shops are closed. Luckily we had done our shopping at Florence. So, today our activities are just sightseeing. Furthermore, we need to pack our bags as we need to fly back tomorrow morning. Partly tired, partly homesick. I miss my cats terribly. We could have enjoyed Milan more but it’s a public holiday. Next time perhaps.

Day 10

Well, it is not even a day. We fly early in the morning. But do not forget to claim your VAT at the airport. After all the shopping, you should get the tax refund. It makes you thinking that you should have buy more.

Great story sells. That’s what Italy has been able to do. They sell the story, people bought it, and people buy the products. The same goes to your products..sell a story..a great story.