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Europe Trip 2017

June - August 2017
A 70-day adventure by celiajohnston Read more
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  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
    Day 11

    Day 11: Bari, Italy

    July 1, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today we arrived in Bari after a 16 hour ferry ride. The ferry ride didn't turn out to be so bad and felt like it was actually pretty quick.

    When we arrived in Bari, google told us of yet another bus that didn't exist so when we asked around and no one knew, one of the port guards asked the Police. Since they couldn't find the bus either, they told us to get in a gave us a lift to our Airbnb. They were really nice and gave us some tips about Bari. There car was really small so the backseat was full with us and our two backpacks.

    Our Airbnb was pretty nice too. They had a cute 2 and a half year old son (or daughter - Zoe and I are debating as I heard Liam and she heard Lea, but he looked like a boy). At one point we were napping and we heard our door creeking so I went to go check and he was in the hallway.

    At night, we had a nice walk around the city and went to a pizzeria recommended by our Airbnb host. It was delicious, but took us a while to find it as it goes by three names apparently and we only knew 2/3 and it wasn't the one listed on the outside of the restaurant. Zoe had a Margharita pizza and I had a Caprese and then we walked around the town a bit and walked in a few stores (including H&M).

    It's a cute little town and it was nice to see it. Our Airbnb was right by the water too which made for a nice walk. :)    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
    Day 12

    Day 12: Naples, Italy

    July 2, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    It took us longer than expected to get to Naples, but we've learned to go with the flow. We stopped over in a town called Taranto for two hours while we waited for our train to Naples and it was the type of town where you expected hay bales to just pass in front of you because there was absolutely nothing there. We ended up getting to Naples at 2:45.

    Naples is quite iffy, but our Airbnb is nice and we're pretty centrally located. We went for a walk tonight to end up at a Castle which google said was open till 7:30, but it actually closed at 1:45 (damn google). It turned out good though because we ended up in a really nice part of Naples, had more amazing pizza (we tried fried pizza too!), ate with a really nice couple from Arizona and then went to a store to get sandwiches for our hike tomorrow and told her to surprise us. We shall see how they taste tomorrow! I'm not 100% sure what she put in there.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
    Day 13

    Day 13: Amalfi Coast, Italy

    July 3, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today we did the most amazing hike. The views we saw looked like came right out of a calendar or desktop. We did the hike "Path of the Gods" from Bomerano to Nocelle and then walked down the steps to Positano. It's debatable online as to how many steps there is, but we think at least 1,000. We ended up meeting a guy from Montreal, Richard, who was really nice and hiked the majority of the way with us.

    Our plan was to go back to Amalfi to go swimming after our hike, but we decided to jump a bus to Sorrento instead and it did not disappoint. Such a nice place! There are all private beaches there though, so we had to squeeze on the only private free beach (because that 8 Euros can get us 4 gelato instead...) :)

    That brings me to saying that I forgot how much I missed the gelato here, but then again, probably best that we don't have it back home because I'd have it every day. The pistachio is my absolute favourite. Sounds weird, but it's honestly a must.

    We then had supper with Richard and my caprese ravioli was to die for. The only thing in Italy is they serve the food super weirdly. They don't serve them as appetizers (we ordered bruschetta) and most of the time they serve it last or one plate at a time.

    To end off the night, we were going to catch the 50 minute train from Sorrento and Amalfi, but turns out the last one was at 9:30 so we missed it (by 7 minutes). We had to wait for the 11 o'clock bus and it took 2 and a half hours to get back to Naples.

    Regardless of the time it took, our day was amazing and we are totally dead. 😴 Too bad I can't add more than six pictures to this post because it doesn't do it justice.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
    Day 14

    Day 14: Pompeii, Italy

    July 4, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Pompeii was the town that was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted. They've actually built a whole new city around it, but they've kept the ruins and it's pretty big. We spent four hours there and still didn't feel like we saw much.

    For those who ever go, we highly suggest a walking tour. It's confusing and hard to get all the information without a tour guide and the audio tours weren't the best. We didn't know we could go to the entrance and wait for them to collect a larger tour for us to take it with a bunch of people as the tour guide said it would be 100 Euros for just the two of us. Regardless, the sights were really cool and it was interesting to see how they lived back then. They even had mummified bodies of the people. It was hard to look at. Since they were covered in ash, they were able to fill them with plaster and show the position and what they looked like after carving the excess away.

    For the night, we went to a nice restaurant and had amazing spaghetti and meatballs and pasta with seafood. We also went to Lush and H&M which made us have a nice taste of back home.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
    Day 15

    Day 15: Rome, Italy

    July 5, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    We are in Rome!

    Our Airbnb is so nice, the sights are amazing and the food is delicious.

    We got to Rome at noon, brought our bags to the Airbnb and took off to see the Colosseum and Ancient Rome which is only a 20 minute walk from our Airbnb. We got a tour that included both areas so it was a lot of fun. We got some pretty interesting facts:

    1. Ancient Rome was originally a lot higher in some areas as they built over the originally standing buildings. They excavated it to show the true Ancient Rome so the "newer" buildings' doorsteps are much higher than the ground.

    2. If you were convicted of a crime and you were Roman, you had to fight. If you won, you were free and if you lost, well you were dead...

    3. They would fight other men or animals. When they fought animals, it was 3-to-1, and the chance of survival was apparently 30%.

    4. There was a "vomit" staircase in the Colosseum for when fights broke out in the stands and they had to empty out the venue. They called it that because the 80,000 people could empty out in less than 18 minutes and the staircase would look like it was "vomiting" people.

    5. The Colosseum used to have all equal standing walls, however an earthquake made large parts of the walls collapse, thus giving its shape today.

    They were pretty interesting tours, but by the end, we were really excited for food (what a surprise). We found this cute restaurant by our place and had delicious carbonara pasta and a plate of meatballs. We got back pretty late to our Airbnb and crashed out as we have to be up at 5:30 am tomorrow to head to our Vatican tour.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
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    Day 16

    Day 16: Vatican City & Rome, Italy

    July 6, 2017 in Vatican City ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We woke up at 5:30 to make our way to Vatican City. We bought tickets to go in with a tour guide at 8 so it wouldn't be as crowded when it opened to the public at 9. It was still so crowded with all the other tours doing the same thing, but our turtle-paced walk allowed us to really look at everything. The Vatican is just simply amazing.

    We walked through all the galleries, into the Sistine Chapel and then finished off in St. Peter's Basilica. I don't think any of my pictures do the art and architecture any justice. We also walked the 551 steps to the top of the St. Peter's Basilica Dome and the views were incredible. I forgot just how narrow the staircases were!

    After the Vatican, our plan was the head back to our Airbnb to eat lunch and freshen up before heading out to the Trevi Fountain. Since all public transportation was on strike from 8:00-5:30, we had to change our plans. The metro was completely closed and the buses were incredibly limited and packed to the point where no one could get in. We decided to walk from the Vatican to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and then the Spanish Steps.

    The Pantheon is so cool as there's a 9 meter hole in the ceiling so it essentially tells time from the inside from wherever the sun is shining. When it rains (which is barely does) they have holes in the middle to drain all the water. The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous and of course we made our wishes. The Spanish Steps were really nice too.

    By the time we saw it all, it was 4:30 and we were pooped out so we decided to walk the hour back to our Airbnb rather than wait for the public transportation to start up again. When we got back, I've never loved a shower or a bed so much.

    After we relaxed, Zoe cooked up the chicken we bought and tried to kill me by serving it to me raw. All is well, but I think she just wanted the big bed to herself as none of us offered to take the single...

    We also met our roommate from Michigan. He's really nice and we all went out for dessert. Zoe had Tiramisu which she said didn't disappoint and I had some Nutella dessert (not sure exactly what it was), but it was really good too.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
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    Day 17

    Day 17: Rome, Italy

    July 7, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Food, food and more food.

    Whenever we plan our day, we always make sure we add in a restaurant (or two) to our itinerary. For those of you who know me well, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Today we had the most amazing fresh gnocchi from That's Amore (a cute restaurant near the Trevi Fountain) and gelato from Venchi. I've recently become obsessed with Pistachio gelato because it's the best.

    Thank god we've been walking a lot the past few days to work it all off. Cumulatively, we've walked 47 km within the two and a half days that we've been in Rome. Today we visited the Jewish Ghetto, the Piazza Venezia and the Crypt of the Capuchins. The crypt was cool, yet eery and the Piazza was gorgeous. The detail in Italy's architecture is on another level. It's incredible.

    Today also reminded me of the best advice that we got for Italy. It was from two Australian girls we shared a room with in Santorini. They said "just walk" and at first we were confused, but after having been in Italy for a few days, it makes complete sense. No one gives you the opportunity to cross so you've got to wait for the perfect moment (or take a chance) and just walk across. Seems like we've got it down pat as many people today followed our lead.    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
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    Day 18

    Day 18: Rome, Italy

    July 8, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    It was a wonderful, lazy day.

    We were exhausted from the past few days and decided to be lazy in our lovely room before heading to a hostel tomorrow.

    For dinner, we went to a nice place near the Trevi Fountain and had pasta carbonara for the fourth or fifth time since being in Rome. Best pasta ever.

    We then went to have gelato at Venchi again, but had the cone that they fill with Nutella. Thank god we're leaving Rome tomorrow as I would go back everyday to eat that. We also walked over to the Trevi Fountain to see it all lit up and it was really nice. There was even a proposal!

    It was a nice ending to our last night. I shall miss the lovely Rome, but on to Florence tomorrow!    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
    Day 19

    Day 19: Florence, Italy

    July 9, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We got to Florence around noon and took the opportunity to walk around the city. We wanted to go see the Statue of David, but the line was 2.5 hours to get in so we said we'd give it a shot on Tuesday (since it's closed on Monday).

    The city is beautiful and the people are really artistically talented. The art and music certainly adds to the feel of Florence.

    We decided to go to the Central Market for supper and it was perfect. It's so nice and the food was really good. We had Caprese Pizza and Ravioli (we're still not sure what kind of meat was inside, but we think lamb). Zoe always bought us Spinach Arancini and two glasses of wine. When we got back to the hostel, Zoe and I played cards for a bit. It was a nice ending to the day.

    The sleeping part not so much. Our hostel is the most humid and hot place I've ever slept. Thankfully we got another fan, but it doesn't make much of a difference. We shall survive with only three nights, but makes me miss the good old weather of Canada (and air conditioning).    Read more

  • celiajohnstonEurope Trip 2017
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    Day 20

    Day 20: Pisa, Italy & Viareggio, Italy

    July 10, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Since the museum was closed on Monday, we decided to take the day to go see the leaning tower of Pisa and relax by the beach.

    The leaning tower of Pisa was actually really cool, but it's essentially one of the very few things to do in Pisa. You can visit for half a day and feel satisfied that you've seen the city. When you get to the tower, it's really funny to see everyone posing for their pictures as if they're either holding up the tower and pushing it down. We fit right in when we started taking ours.

    After our visit to Pisa, we took a train to Viareggio. We ate at this cute local pizzeria and then headed to the beach. The local (free) part of the beach is about 1:100th of the whole thing, but we found a good spot and spent a good four hours enjoying the sun. Zoe and I got some nice burns.

    When we headed back, we planned to cook ourselves a meal with the food we bought, but we were just too tired so we stopped and had a nice bite to eat close to our hostel. We were slightly dreading heading back to our room, but it didn't turn out so bad because we put aloe which felt really nice when the fan hit it and we left the door open which let in some cooler air.    Read more

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