Not a mere checkmark on the bucket list...

.. Mi Amore! The only thing we'd change about the trip is the timing. With crowds and heat at its peak, May/early June or September may be better months to travel to one of the most popular destinations in the world. We ran into friendly tourists from at least a dozen different countries during the course of these 11 days. What's not to love about Italy after all! Italians talk like they are singing, they really know how to make the most of life and enjoy every moment. The piazzas and the campos are like a big party scene, where everyone is invited! 

Bucket loads of love, laughter, memories, and pasta, pizza, Apertivos, vinos, gelatos, cappuccinos and longer than the longest walks, history, culture and splendid vistas sums up our journey.

We agreed to return with the kids and explore Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast with them sometimes in the future.

There is one and only "Venezia", my dream city!

Venice emerged out of refugees from Rome who escaped the Barbarians in the 5th century A.D. and settled on the "mud isles", which over the years transformed into Venice. By the 11th century, it was a major trading city, a seaborne empire was created by a huge navy and commercial fleet by the 13th century. The Republic with the "Doge" as the executive chief for life had seized Constantinopole (present day Turkey) and hence there is a lot of semblance to Istanbul throughout the city. The plague or the "Black death" hit the city 3 times in 1348, 1575 and 1630 wiping out a significant population. It was the printing capital of the world in the 15th century. In 1797, Napolean dissolved the Venetian Republic. After a short 5 months, Venice became an Austrian territory; eventually being a part of the kingdom of Italy in 1866. 

"The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wooden piles. Most of these piles are still intact after centuries of submersion. The foundations rest on plates of Istrian limestone placed on top of the piles, and buildings of brick or stone sit above these footings. The piles penetrate a softer layer of sand and mud until they reach a much harder layer of compressed clay.

Submerged by water, in oxygen-poor conditions, wood does not decay as rapidly as on the surface." (Extracted from "Triposo Italy") 

The fast train from Florence brought us to Venice on July 12 in under 2 hours. We took the water-bus from the train station to our hotel, "Savoia and Jolanda". To our surprise, it was an easy 5 minute walk dragging our bags, a much-talked about tourist nightmare in this city with stairs and bridges. Our hotel was strategically located in close proximity to the famous St. Mark's square with the top attractions including the St. Mark's basilica, the bell tower and the Doge's palace. The lobby, breakfast room/patio, the room with character and space and of course the location are worthy of mention and exceeded our expectations. 

We started our under 2 day stay in this charming city with a visit to the St. Mark's basilica and took the elevator to the top of the Bell Tower for stunning views of the city.

Modeled on the Constantinopole's Church of the 12 Apostles, the church burned down in 976. The present church was completed in 1094 but extended over subsequent years, serving as the personal church of the doge. The interiors are exquisitely gilded with Byzantine mosaics added over 7 centuries and covering every inch of the ceiling and the pavement.

We paid a nominal admission to go upstairs to the Museo di San Marco to appreciate the highly intricate mosaics and the Loggia dei Cavalli, for a panoramic view of the piazza San Marco below. The museum houses the "Triumphal Quadriga" of four gilded horses dating from 2nd to the 3rd century A.D., originally set on the Loggia, and moved inside in 1980 for preservation. These horses were brought to Venice from Constantinopole in 1204 with lots of other loot from the 4th Crusade. 

With the onset of the cooler evening, we were ready to explore the streets of Venice. By the end of the second day, I had begun to wonder if the concept of a "maze" was inspired by the labyrinthine narrow streets of Venice! I had read about how common it is for tourists to get lost in the back streets of Venice and how it is part of the fun! And I completely agree to both! At every corner of the narrowest street imaginable, would be several people looking in their smart phone GPS apps or the street maps trying to navigate their way through! And we blended right in! Google maps goes awry in Venice, we'd end up on a "dead-end" many times and mind you, this is not your typical "dead-end"; it's the narrow canal where the street ends at! 

There's photo-ops at every possible step on the way, with cute little bridges, colorful facades, waterways and canals galore! With the Grand Canal as the major artery of Venice running across in a reverse S-shaped curve, it has six districts. With the evening sun ray's gleaming on the Adriatic Sea, the historic facades lining the canal on both the sides and the waves splashing on the foundations, it is a sight to behold for hours on end. And when you have your loved one on your side, sipping the evening "Apertivos" together, life does not get better than this!

Our walks through the streets and the many "campos" in Venice continued, interspersed with some souvenir shopping at the boutique stores along our way, admiring the icons like the "Bridge of Sighs" and the oldest bridge, the "Rialto Bridge", which is under restoration currently. We had a delicious pizza for dinner, however we would find out from our walking tour guide the following day that pizza is the last thing one should have in Venice as wood fired ovens are banned due to fire hazard! 

We had signed up for the "Free walking tour of Venice" after finding it on Tripadvisor for our 2nd day starting at 11.00am. Our German tour guide, Jacqueline who had spent a few years in Venice took us through parts of Venice, which even if we'd stumble upon while exploring would not be able to put it in context. It was an extremely enjoyable and informative 2.5 hours tour with fascinating stories on this enthralling city's geography, rich culture, history and music, it's landmarks, the plague churches, the significance of the quintessential Venetian masks and what each kind means, the carnival and its origin, recommendations on "cicchetas", "off the beaten path" places and restaurants. We learnt about the "Apertivo culture", where Italians have a drink or two before their evening meal standing up at the local bars and socializing which we witnessed throughout the city. We learnt our restaurant categories where from "baccarias" to "osterias" to "ristorante" to "trattorias", there is an increase in hierarchy of the ambiance and the price point! The tour was started by a group of passionate individuals who really value the history and culture of the city and are seeing some of it getting diluted over the years. Almost everyone in our group of 22 was happy to give the voluntary contribution at the end as a way of thanking the group for this extra-ordinary insight into Venice. We saw the Accademia bridge, one of the 4 bridges across the Grand Canal and the spectacular vistas it offered. 

With so much more to see and the beautiful weather, we decided to ditch our Doge's Palace trip and managed to sell the tickets. The "cicchetas" (Italian style tapas, we had mostly smaller bruschetta with different toppings) at a local bar helped soothe the burning stomach and gave us some fuel for further exploration. 

We also ditched the famous and over-rated Gondola ride for a long ride on the Vaporetto (water bus), Line 2 culminating in the little island of San Giorgio Maggiore right across from the piazza San Marco. The church is one of the masterpieces of Andrea Palladio, the great Renaissance architect whose work has influenced architecture around the world. We took the elevator up to the bell tower (campanile) to experience breathtaking views of the island, the lagoon and the piazza San Marco with its important monuments across.

Apertivos by the water and shopping were in order next followed by another long hunt for food! La Zucca looked inviting after the thousands of steps that we took to find it, only to be informed that dinners are by prior reservations which apparently get booked at least a few days in advance! We settled for the Tagliatelle pesto dinner at another garden restaurant. The much awaited "Venchi" trip for my last scoops of yummy chocolate and Mango gelato was charted our by Chinmay's Google maps who also warned us that our "business of interest" is closing shortly at 11.00pm!

I tried my best to capture every nuance of the taste and texture of the gelato sitting at the bustling piazza San Marco, where we lingered longer listening to the few live bands play beautiful tunes and engaging in some meaningful conversations about our life and the kids! 

Cinque Terre (5 villages)

We went with the same travel company, Mytours for our day trip to Cinque Terre. On Rick Steve's insistence in his guide book, I had wanted to squeeze in this detour in our trip and possibly spend a night on this picturesque Ligurian coast. However, the logistics of getting from there to Venice were quite time consuming so I had to settle for a day tour. The tour bus, full to the brim with tourists took us to La Spezia in a couple of hours after which we took the train to the first village, Manarola. The coastal hill side village overflowed with tourists. We spent a few minutes in Manarola, it was spectacular. The first village of the five, with promised views to be better than the  next. 

But then, the Indianness of Italy hit us; the train we were supposed to be on was more packed and sweaty than the Mumbai trains on a hot August morning. Half of our tour got on and the other half stayed back.  The tour guide took an executive decision of getting everyone off and going to Riamaggiorle to take a ferry to Vernazza. Believe it or not we were excited by the sudden turn in events, because Cinque Terre is even prettier from the boat. Besides, the gentle breeze was a welcome bonus! With more stunning views and a gelato which made me arrive at the conclusion that although gelatos in Italy can be "hit or miss", chocolate is a constant hit, the hour went by quickly. Chinmay ran up the hiking trail in his flip flops for the picture he had envisioned to take and boy was it postcard perfect! 

The best was yet to come; our jaws literally dropped at the first sight of the fifth village, Monterosso. The crystal clear water of the Liguirian sea outlined with specks of colorful umbrellas and the verdant hills made for a landscape which was right out of a fairy tale of some sorts! 

A simple outdoor pizza and panini lunch and a little time on the beach was a perfect way to bid farewell to Cinque Terre! Oh, and how can I forget the fresh strawberries and kiwi daquiri for which I cut through the 30 minute line just because it was time for our group "Florence" to leave! 

It was our last night in Florence and we were not yet ready to let it go. So after a refreshing shower at the hotel, we walked into town to the Triposo recommended vegetarian friendly, "O.K bar", which was way more than okay! With very reasonable prices (19 Euros for our dinner and his wine), no cover charge, generous portions, authentic flavors and the biggest selection of pastas in Italy so far, it was handsdown one of the best meals we'd had on our trip! 

Now that's what I call saying "Ciao Florence" in a "Tantalizing tastebuds" kinda way! So what if the Venchi gelato flavor selection was a slight disappointment. The orchestra that played YMCA at the Palazzo Vecchio just made it up for that! 

A peak into Renaissance

Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli all left their mark in the world here in Florence, the cradle of Rennaisance. Florence is a walking city, we could easily stroll between the top sights and they were the Accademia Gallery in the late morning and the Uffizi Gallery in the afternoon today for our introduction to the Renaissance.

"David", Michelangelo's personal best sculptor, stands tall (16ft) and larger than life and leaves a lasting impression on the viewers' mind. You do not have to be an art conossier to be able to appreciate this majestic sculptor which took the master 3 years to complete in 1504. 

Michelangelo's unfinished "Prisoners" statues are a contrast to David, with the rough forms struggling to free themselves from the stone. The Accademia is stuffed with other notable works including sculptures by the master's students. What a revolutionary influence in the world of art and architecture did a handful of highly talented artists had is mind blowing. The short guided tour helped us skip the hours long line to get in and the passionate Italian guide shared some interesting stories about the cynical personality and life of Michelangelo. 

We had to try the much acclaimed, supposedly the best pizza in Florence at "Gusto pizza", a modest hole in the wall place. We shared the "Gusto special pizza", which was delicious for sure; I am skeptical about the "best" title, nonetheless!

We parted ways after lunch, Chinmay was off to see the Galileo museum and I hung out near the Duomo and the streets nearby, mostly window-shopping, browsing and shopping for some gifts. We met up at the Uffizi gallery, where Rick Steeve's audio guide helped us get oriented to the overwhelming collection of art and sculptures to some extent. There are some 60 or more rooms and magnificent marble corridors, built in the 16th century as the Medici's private office complex ("Uffizi"). The collection of Renaissance art at this place remains unmatched in the world, after all you are in the birthplace of Renaissance. It is amazing to see the progression of the pre-Renaissance Gothic art form, where paintings lacked depth and dimensions to the beginning of Renaissance and all the refinement and "three dimensional effects" in art that it brought along. One needs an in-depth interest, knowledge, time and curiosity in art to be able to fully absorb even more than half of the marvelous collections of art by the numerous extremely talented artists at the Uffizi. 

The rest of the evening was spent enjoying the lively vibe at the Piazza de Signoria with its several statues making great photo props. The orchestra played live music with the audience comprising of mostly people like us and an outstanding stage with all the statues in the backdrop. It was a perfect summer evening in Florence for Chinmay and a much awaited opportunity to update my blog for me before I started forgetting the details that matter a lot to me!

 

Vespa ride through Chianti

The Chianti region of Tuscany, famous for its wine spans from Florence to Siena. It has acres and acres of vineyards amongst rolling hills, beautiful landscapes dotted with wineries. Touring this region on a Vespa was the highlight of our trip. It was almost a resurrection of our early dating days riding on the Kinetic albeit in Ahmedabad! 

With stops in between to appreciate the scenery and strolls through tiny villages like "Castellana de Chianti" made it even more charming. And top it off with one of the best gelatos, "pesca (peach)" and you've got a winner. 

The winery tour was simple, yet quite informative. They really take pride in the wines they produce here, a decades old family business, centuries in some cases. 

Our collegial group of about 10 fellow tourists enjoyed the lunch in the winery with wine tasting, featuring the "Chianti Classico" (the only name I remember!) and great conversations. My favorite was the last course, almond biscotti dunked in the dessert wine, Vino Santo! 

The evening was spent cherishing the lovely sunset from the famous Ponte Vecchio together with thousands of other tourists with futile attempts to capture our visual images with pictures.

Strolling along the Arno river, we arrived at one of the happening Palazzos for dinner (Restaurant Le Giubbe Rossi) a great place for people watching and a lovely vibe but a not so great and pricey dinner! 

Ancient Rome

We took the bus to go to the Colosseum bright and early around 8.30am. We had bought the tickets online not knowing that the first Sunday of the month is free and also not anticipating the 30 minute wait in the line to just get in! Our virtual travel buddy for Europe, Rick Steve's did an excellent job on his audio tour guide helping us put the grandeur of this 2000 year old structure into perspective from a Roman history standpoint. Built at the peak of the Roman Empire in A.D. 80, the Colosseum represents Rome at its grandest. In the oval-shaped arena of this "Flavian Amphitheater" is where the gladiator contests and other public spectacles took place. Animal fights with dogs, lions, tigers, bears, crocodile, elephants, hippos and porcupines, female gladiators fighting each other would precede the main event featuring the gladiators.  They were kept in cages beneath the arena floor, then lifted up in elevators. Animals would "pop out" from behind the blinds into the arena at the floor level. Many gladiators met their death here, at times not knowing what hit them. Towering 150 ft. high, it could accommodate 50,000 roaring fans. Only a third of this massive ancient wonder remains. Seeing the king of beasts slain by a gladiator would remind the populace of man's triumph over nature. These spectacles were a way to bring home the environments, animals, and people of the conquered lands, parade them before the public and make them real. It seems to me that Suzanne Collins wasn't too far fetched in her gory "Hunger Games" series after all! 

With the coming of Christianity to Rome, the Colosseum and its deadly games slowly became politically incorrect. Gladiator contests were completely banned in A.D. 435. Animal hunts continued a few decades longer. Finally, around A.D. 523, after nearly 500 years of games, the last animal was killed and the Colosseum shut its doors.

 Between earthquakes and recycling some of the pre-cut stones into other buildings including St. Peter's during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance  took care of the rest. An engineering feat in an era devoid of the modern machines, a variety of materials were used including big white travertine from Tivoli, brick, concrete and plaster. Today, major political demonstrations begin or end here, providing an iconic backdrop for the TV cameras. On Good Friday, the pope comes here to lead pilgrims as they follow the Stations of the Cross. For nearly 2000 years, the Colosseum has been the enduring symbol of the Eternal city. 

The legendary Roman Forum is right next to the Colosseum. The sweltering summer afternoon heat made the 15 minute long line for entry seem much longer. Fortunately, the beauty of these historic ruins made up for the heat. The Forum is a rectangular valley running roughly from the Colseeum on one end to the Capitoline Hill on the other. The rocky path, "Via Sacra" leads from the "Arch of Titus", through the trees, past the large brick Senate building, through the triumphal arch at the far end. This expansive valley was full of gleaming white buildings topped with bronze roofs back from 500 B. C. to around A. D. 500. The original Forum, or the main square, was the flat patch about the size of a football field. Surrounding it were temples, law courts, government buildings, and arches. Rome was born here. Legend has it that twin brothers Romulus (Rome) and Renus were orphaned in infancy and  raised by a she-wolf on top of the Palatine Hill. The square was the busiest and most crowded. It was the political, religious, and commercial center of the city. It was the place for religious processions, political demonstrations, elections, speeches and parades by conquering generals. 

Amongst multiple temples, arches, the Curia (senate house), House of the Vestal Virgins, the Temple of Julis Caeser has the most significant story from my viewpoint. This famous Roman emperor was stabbed 23 times by his political conspirators in 44 B.C after he assumed dictatorial powers. His body was cremated on this spot and the temple built to honor him. Caeser 100-44 B.C) changed Rome and the Forum dramatically. He cleared out many market stalls and began to ring the square with even grander buildings. Later, Emperor Augustus dedicated this temple in his name, making the first Roman to become a god. Ancient Rome lasted 1000 years- 500 years of growth, 200 years of peak power and 300 years of gradual downfall. Amongst the many causes of the fall, the barbarians played a major part. However the Pagans and the Christians blamed it on each other! Barbarian tribes from Germany and Asia attacked the Italian peninsula and looted Rome in A.D. 410, leveling many of the buildings in the Forum. The Dark Ages in Europe began in A.D. 476. But Rome lived on in the Catholic Church. The glory of Rome remains eternal!

Chinmay's extreme enthusiasm coaxed me to go on top of the Palatine Hill despite the tiring heat for a rewarding bird's eye-view of the forum. We took the train to the Termini station and stopped for an okay lunch and headed back to our hotel to crash for the next hour or so before heading to the lively Trastevere and the Jewish Ghetto.

The outdoor Italian vibe resonated in the extremely lively Trastevere neighborhood across the Jewish Ghetto. Live music, happy people all around and lots of restaurants serving delicious Italian food and drinks- cannot go wrong wherever you go! We soaked in this lovely Roman evening while enjoying our drinks at one of the outdoor bars before strolling around more for a lovely dinner with our "table-mates", a couple from New York who shared their experiences and gave us some tips for Florence! 

Bike tour of Rome and Piazza De Novona

The neat thing about our trip without the kids and family was the thrill of just going with the flow as against planning excursions ahead of time. The not so neat thing is the consequence of the last minute plans! We tried to book the bike tour of Rome online at mind night on the 5th, however it didn't go through. So we decided to call them first thing in the morning to check for availability of the 8.45am tour. While we were lucky enough to get it last minute, we took a taxi and rushed to the bike rental place near the Colosseum. Once there, I realized I didn't have my phone! After frantically searching in my purse, failed attempts to call the hotel to see if I left it on the breakfast table, we decided to just enjoy the 3.5 hours of biking through Rome with our friendly guide and fellow tourists. We got to see parts of Rome that we would not have explored on foot ourselves. The Campo De Fiore produce market was in action and the panoramic views from the Capitolline hill were well worth the uphill ride! 

The Pantheon or the "Temple of all Gods" built by Emperor Hadrian in the early 2nd century A.D. is a massive structure supported by 16 pillars. We only spent about 10 minutes inside appreciating the interiors and the circular opening on the roof to the sky. 

We had received the unwelcome news about my phone not being found at the hotel. Chinmay's techno efforts had pinned the location down to the airport which either meant someone was heading out of Rome with my phone or it was in the taxi which was at the airport! I was optimistic for the later and rightfully so! "Vienna 22" was the taxi name which Chinmay remembered and it helped us get the phone number from the hotel. The honest cab driver delivered my phone to the hotel and this incident made it to our family list of "lost and found" objects on our trips! And of course to my personal list of the "magic of gratitude"! 

Lunch was worth a mention, at a small hip joint, "Good pizza" that sold a variety of pizzas by weight. Gelato stops were a daily (sometimes twice daily!) occurrence! 

A little siesta went a long way to combat the lingering effects of the jet lag and the heat. A trip to the beautiful church of "San Giovanni in Laterano", where the pope comes to celebrate Mass on certain holidays was a nice little detour. Across the street are the "Scala Santa" (the holy steps), supposedly the 28 marble steps originally in Jerusalem that Christ climbed the day he was brought before Pilate and brought to Rome by Constatine's mother in A.D. 326. Today devotees come here to climb these steps on their knees. 

A leisurely evening at the very lovely and happening and utterly gorgeous Piazza De Novona was made even more lovely with the "Spritz" drink I had and meeting our friends Arti-Amit and their twins on the only co-incident evening on our trips!