Italy

With the first leg of my trip completed, I shipped off to Italy to meet up with my dad. Before I could get to Italy though, I had to sit through a 10 hour, overnight layover in Athens. Initially, I had planned on going out and trying to find a bar to pass the time in, but I soon realized that the airport was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and it would be too much effort to schlep my bags around for a few hours before inevitably heading back to the airport. So instead I found a cozy little corner and settled in for the long haul. I tried to sleep a few times, but a mixture of noise, lights, and paranoia of getting my stuff stolen prevented me from dozing off for more than a couple minutes at a time. To pass the time I decided to write for my blog, read my book, and generally dick around.

After my long wait, I hopped on a plane for a quick flight to Rome. From the Rome airport I took a taxi to the AirBnB my dad and I had booked before I left, and decided to take a much needed nap as I waited for my dad to get there. Several hours later, my dad showed up, and after dropping off his bags, our Italy adventure officially began.

Side note: we walked A LOT while in Italy. I am going to put the total miles walked (according to my phone) at the end of each day, and then add them all up at the end of the post.

Day 1 (7/11/16):

From the apartment we were staying in, we decided to skip the bus and walk to the two miles to the metro station, which would lead us directly to the city center. The metro exit that we got out at was literally 100 feet from the colosseum, so it was a nice welcoming view to validate the fact that we had made it to Italy. After taking a few pictures, we went in search of food, as neither of us had eaten a proper meal all day. We found a nice sit down restaurant, and treated ourself to the typical pasta/pizza/wine dinner. 

From there we decided to walk around and explore the sights of Rome. We ran into the Altare della Patrai (Altar of the Fatherland), some cool ruins, the Pantheon, a couple castles, and the river which lead to the Vatican. Since it was getting late, we thought it'd be good to leave the Vatican sight-seeing for the next day. We hopped back on the metro to head home, and got off a few stops early so we could catch the last bus which would drop us off at the apartment. Unfortunately, after about an hour wait, the bus never showed up, so we made the 3 mile walk back home.

Miles walked: 7.82

Day 2 (7/12/16):

Our first stop of the day was Vatican City. We went into St. Peter's Basilica, and marveled at the intricate decorations that covered the building, inside and out. From the endless paintings, to innate carvings and statues, it truly was a sight to see. After a couple hours, we decided we had seen enough of Rome, so we caught a bus to take us a few miles outside of the city to visit Christian catacombs, in which around 500,000 people were buried. Due to some delays and a longer-than-anticipated walk, we arrived at the catacombs just as the last tour was starting. We managed to buy tickets for the tour, and we got to see a little portion of the 40 acre burial grounds, all the while learning about the history of the catacombs.

Afterwards, we walked a few miles to a little bar to have a quick drink before hopping on a bus to take us back into the city. While waiting for the bus, we met a few fellow Americans who had also been touring the catacombs. We discovered that one of them had been living in Prague for the last year for a teaching job. I mentioned I would be visiting Prague for a few days at the beginning of August, and she ended up offering me and Goda (who I will be meeting up with in a few weeks) a place to crash while we were there!

Once we were back in the city, we walked to the local university to try to get a taste of youth life. We found a bar which was overrun with old people, decided it was what we were looking for, and partook in a few drinks and happy hour snacks. We ended up staying for a couple hours before ultimately heading to the metro to go home for the night.

This time, we decided not to trust the bus, so we got off at the closest exit (about 2 miles from the apartment), and began to walk home. We tried to take a shortcut on our way back, but ended up getting horribly lost, and turned the 2 mile walk into a 5-6 mile one. When we finally got back, we basically collapsed onto the bed and didn't move until we woke up the next morning.

Miles walked: 15.8

Day 3 (7/13/16):

Our stay in Rome had run its course, so inspired by the suggestion of our AirBnB host, we headed to Siena for a few days. We bought the proper bus tickets, and settled in for the 3 hour drive out of the city. As we got into a more rural part of Italy, we were treated to some great views of rolling plains and small villages settled on top of some hills. We got to the Siena bus station in the early afternoon, and made the couple mile walk to our new AirBnB.

Siena is a beautiful little town, full of small winding cobble roads surrounded by cute vintage apartment buildings. After dropping our bags off at the apartment, we had a short conversation with our new host about what we should do while in Siena. A few minutes later, we were out the door with a decent plan for the night. Siena is known for a cathedral in the center of the city, so we headed over there to admire the artwork and architecture. Afterwards, we walked a few blocks to the center plaza, where we decided to relax and people watch for a few hours.

For dinner, we headed in the direction of a bar which was supposed to be a popular hangout area for the locals. Unfortunately, due to some rain, we were practically alone there besides the bartender and DJ. We hung out for a little, enjoying some wine and snacks before heading back to the apartment to call it an early night.

We were welcomed back by the 3 residents of the apartment we were staying in, who treated us to a nice little fish and salad dinner. We stayed up a while talking to them about life in Italy, and ended the night by getting some help figuring out how to go about our planned excursion for the next day.

Miles walked: 8.64

Day 4 (7/14/16):

Our plan for the day was to catch a bus to a little area about 30 minutes out of town that was home to some natural hot springs. We had found the place through the help of our hosts, and it sounded like a nice way to relax for a day. We packed up some food, a change of clothes, and plenty of water, and headed on our way.

After getting off the bus, we start making our way in the direction that the street signs were pointing. There were two different options of where to go, and according to Google, one of the options was more of a spa than hot springs. So we headed for the other option.

We had to walk about two miles down a little street, passing a couple farms and vineyards. After finally getting to where our GPS was pointing us to, we were sad to discover that our destination was just another spa/hotel. Disappointed, we explored the area for a little bit in hopes of finding some hot springs, but after a few minutes we realized that it was hopeless, so we started our walk back.

Once back in town, we decided to walk to the other option, in hopes that Google had lied to us. This option was less than a mile away, so it was a quick trip. Unfortunately, Google had told us the truth, and it was just another spa area. We decided to go in though, as there was a large pool area that we could relax by for a few hours before the bus came. We found a nice shady spot, and snacked and read for before jumping in the pool for a little bit to cool off. After a little more time spent hanging out, we headed back to the bus stop.

We got on the 4:00pm bus, the last one on the route we needed until 9:30pm. While on the bus, I started dozing off while my dad read his book. At one point, I woke up as the bus was stopping, and thought I recognized our stop. Since neither of us had really been paying attention to the ride, we assumed I was right. We quickly got off the bus, and only to realize it was not our stop as the bus was driving away. We were 11 miles off target. We looked at the bus stops in hopes that we could catch anything back into town earlier than the 9:30 bus, but we were shit out of luck.

Still hoping that we wouldn't have to wait 5 hours for the next bus, we went into a local bar to ask if they had any suggestions on how to get back. It turns out, the next town over had a bus to Siena every 30 minutes. Awesome! Unfortunately, we also discovered the next town over was 5 miles away.

After deciding making the 5 mile walk was better than waiting for 5 hours, we filled up our water bottles, and headed on our way. While the walk was long, it was mostly down a scenic winding road. We passed countless farms full of grapevines and olive trees. It was actually a pretty enjoyable walk since it was a cooler day. We finally made it to the other town just as a bus had pulled up, and while I enjoyed our walked, I have never been more grateful of public transportation. We got home, exhausted, and spent an hour or two lying in bed catching our breath.

After a shower and more resting, we headed back out to get some much deserved pizza. The restaurant we had found was supposedly the best pizza in town, so we were excited as can be to dig in to our food. Unluckily for us, the restaurant was packed, so it took close to an hour for us to be able to order and get our food. The pizza was great, but it was probably the best meal I had while in Italy, simply because I was so hungry. We finally made our way back to our apartment, and quickly fell asleep.

Miles walked: 15.14

Day 5 (7/15/16):

That morning we packed up our stuff, and headed to Pisa. Once there, our new AirBnB was a little over a mile from the train station, so we headed over there to drop off our bags. After that, we decided we would head back to the train station and catch a quick train to a town on the coast called Livorno. We walked from the train station in Livorno to a supposed plaza, but when it turned out to basically just be a bus stop, we turned around and headed back towards the beach. We found a large dock (large enough for a couple cruise ships), and we walked through it in hopes of finding a shoreline to sit on and eat some bread. After walking a mile or so, we didn't find anything, so we headed south to the boardwalk. Although the boardwalk was only a mile away, it took us about twice that distance to get there, since we had snaked our way through the dock in search of a shore.

It was an incredibly hot day, so when we finally made it to the boardwalk we quickly found a bench to sit on and eat some food and drink some wine. After about an hour, we walked down the boardwalk, enjoying the view. We decided to catch a bus from there to some cliffs that you could climb down and enjoy a secluded little beach area. The waves were pretty rough, and the shoreline was very rocky, so we ended up not swimming at all, and just relaxed on the rocks. I took a short nap, and once I woke up, we caught a bus to go to the train station to head back to Pisa.

Once back in Pisa, we walked around the town for a while to see the sights. We saw the leaning tower (which is really fucking leaning), had some good beer and food, and finally headed back to the apartment to call it a night.

Miles walked: 17.3

Day 6 (7/16/16):

I had a 2:00am bus ride from Florence planned that night, so we decided to spend the day there as to not be rushed to get there later. With bags in hand, we caught a train into the city as our last day together began.

As soon as we arrived at the Florence train station we realized how crowded the city was going to be. There were tourists everywhere, and it was hard to just walk down the street, so we quickly made our way to an amazingly unpopulated gardens. A short but steep walk up a hill later, we were treated to an amazing panoramic view of Florence. After a while, we left the gardens to visit a slightly more popular gardens area called Boboli Gardens. By this time I was getting pretty tired from lugging my heavy bag around, so we went in search of a place to eat.

We found a nice little restaurant slightly off the beaten path, and we indulged in a delicious 3 course meal, including a nice bottle of wine. We stayed for a while to recover from all of the walking, and eventually to grabbed our things, paid for the meal, and headed back towards the center of the city. On our way we stopped to look at some art and browse the markets, but nothing really caught our eye so we didn't buy anything past a couple posters.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. Dad had to catch a train back to Pisa where is flight was leaving from early the next morning, so we found a gelato shop with tables and wifi, put down my bags, and said goodbye. I stayed in the shop for a while, figuring out where I needed to go to catch my 2:00am bus, and sending a couple emails to my future hosts in Switzerland. At around 9:00pm, I grabbed my stuff, and set off at a leisurely pace back towards the train station where my bus was supposed to pick me up. I found a few nice places to sit and watch people walk by, but as it got darker and cooler, I headed into the train station to find a corner to sit in until my bus came.

Miles walked: 12.25

Italy is a beautiful country. It was my first time visiting, and while I enjoyed the touristy sights (and feel like I needed to see them at least once in my life), if I ever visit again I definitely want to explore the southern part more. According to several people that we chatted with, the south is much cheaper, and much less laden with tourist groups. I've always preferred living like a local when I travel, so southern Italy seemed much more inviting. 

The 6 days I spent were wonderful all the same. I spent some quality time with my dad, and it was a nice transition into the next 6 weeks which I'll be spending on my own. From Italy, I took a bus to Switzerland (which is where I am as of writing this post), where I spent a day with some family friends, before leaving the next night (now this night) for Amsterdam! The next three weeks I'll be all by myself, and I couldn't be more excited.

Total miles walked: 76.95

I haven't been able to get any planned workouts in, but I'm not too worried about staying in shape so far.

Thanks for reading,

Ben