Italy Diaries - Day 20 - London to Calgary

On our last day of the trip, we woke up at 8 am and had in-room coffee. We finalized our packing, got ready and checked out around 10 am. We took a taxi to the London Bridge station where we bought peri peri chicken wraps before boarding the 10:42 am train to Gatwick airport. We ate our sandwiches during the train ride. After reaching the airport, we dropped off our bags, passed through security and waited in a lounge.

WestJet airlines had emailed us a few days back that they had changed the time of the fight from a departure of 11:15 am to 1:15 pm. When we checked-in, we found out that the flight was further delayed by 20 minutes. After everyone had boarded the aircraft by 1:35 pm, the pilot announced that the airport had suspended all activity because of a passing thunderstorm. Even after the weather had cleared up, we couldn't take off for another couple of hours. That meant that we sat in the plane for exactly three hours before it took off! Our total journey ended up being close to 12 hours instead of the scheduled 9 hours.

During the flight, we were quite hungry by the time the purchase-only dinner service started so we purchased three main courses instead of two. The cabin service was quite efficient with several rounds of complimentary beverages. Towards the end of the flight, we also bought a cheese tray for snacking. Overall, it was a comfortable flight. We slept for an hour at the start of the flight and another hour towards the end of the flight. During the rest of the flight - between meal, beverage, washroom and stretching breaks - Samia watched a couple of movies on her phone while I wrote the three updates for London that I hadn't had a chance to write earlier during the trip.

Our flight landed in Calgary at around 6:45 pm local time. We got a ride from Sarim to our home. On our way home, we stopped at a burger joint to have dinner. After reaching home, we did unpacking and laundry. It's back to work for me in the morning whereas Samia has some more days off till the weekend for resting. Hope you enjoyed reading the updates. Till our next travel adventure, take care and ciao!

Italy Diaries - Day 19 - London Part Three

We woke up at 8:30 am on our third day in London and started the day with in-room coffee and biscuits. Then we got ready and left our hotel at around 10 am. We stopped at another chain Pod for a proper breakfast. I had Turkish scrambled eggs - regular scrambled eggs with some veggies and black pepper as toppings. Samia had a bagel with cream cheese and we both had smoothies as well. Then we walked to the tube station and took the train to Westminster station.

Our main sightseeing attraction for the day was the Westminster Abbey. We did a tour of this old church that is a symbol of continuity of the royal family. We did the audio tour offered by the church. In typical British fashion, you see organization at its best. It's the first church we've been to that had full time staff walking around and you could ask them any questions. The audio tour is also laid out in the most efficient way with very clear directions and excellent narration. The church hosts royal weddings, coronation of the new monarch and funerals. It's also significant as the final resting place of many English monarchs and famous people. It was a little weird to walk on top of stones marked with the names of the people buried under them but I guess when you have to bury so many people over the course of centuries in what's not a huge church, that's the only option.

We saw graves of pioneer scientists like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin and the so-called Poet's corner with the graves of many writers and poets like Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, William Wordsworth and CS Lewis among many others. We saw the resting place of many kings, queens, members of the royal family and dukes. The church itself is a fine example of gothic architecture with its ornate nave and the so-called lady chapel. We saw the main altar with its decorative floor of Italian tiles lined with semi-precious stones. It's the location where English monarchs have been coronated since the eleventh century. After doing the audio tour, we exited the church but not before we saw the original oak coronation chair that was last used in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth the second's coronation and will be used next time for her heir.

Then we took the tube to Oxford Street for some shopping. After that, we decided to stop at the Turkish restaurant where we had dinner a couple of days ago, this time for lunch. We tried their combo deal that came with 8 appetizers to share followed by two small main courses - lamb for me and chicken for Samia. All 8 appetizers were outstanding and included hummus, baba ghanoush, yogurt with beans, falafel, cheese pastry, eggplant, mahmara and fatoush salad. We then had Turkish tea before ending the splendid meal with kunafe for dessert. We decided to rest up so we took the tube back to our hotel to rest for about an hour.

We left at about 6 pm and took the tube to the Greenwich station. We were meeting Samia's aunt Phoppo Appa for dinner. As soon as you walk out of the station, you see the Greenwich line which is the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) line that's the standard reference used for specifying time zones around the world. We met her outside the O2 arena which is a huge complex for shopping and restaurants. We walked along the River Thames for a very peaceful walk, very much unlike the busy touristy path outside the Tower of London. The weather had cooled down after a hot day and the breeze was just perfect. We walked to a bench along the river bank and sat there for about an hour catching up with Phoppa Appa while savoring the serene sights that lay in front of us.

Then around 8:20 pm, we started walking back to the O2 arena and reached Jimmy's Restaurant. The restaurant was picked by Phoppo Appa and it was an excellent choice. The restaurant offered an all-you-can-eat buffet for a variety of cuisines - desi, Chinese, continental, Thai, sushi and of course desserts. There were also stalls where you could get freshly stir-fried noodles and fresh naans. It was a delightful dining experience and we made the most of it since we needed a few hours to do justice to the variety of offer but only had an hour before the restaurant closed at 10 pm. Dinner was a treat by Phoppo Appa. After dinner, we walked back together to the tube station and took the first train together to the junction station of London Bridge. After a splendid evening with Phoppo Appa, we then took the train back to our hotel and finalized our packing for our flight in the morning.

London has been the perfect end to our vacation. There is so much to do, so much to see and such excellent food that we have decided that we will continue coming back, perhaps for short stopovers on our trips to Pakistan and other parts of the world. The cosmopolitan mega city is a unique blend of history and the global modern world with excellent culinary options and a worthy transit system. For urban explorers like me and Samia, it's the perfect getaway. We were lucky to not get any rain so perhaps that's why our experience was so good but we'll put that to test by making London a frequent destination in future.

Italy Diaries - Day 18 - London Part Two

London is the relaxing leg of our trip so we had decided to sleep in and woke up around 10 am. Last night we had again purchased butter croissants from the grocery store across the road from our hotel so we had them for breakfast, in addition to the in-room coffee and biscuits. Sleeping in late was a great idea in terms of catching up on sleep but since that meant a longer gap between meals for Samia, she started having symptoms that she typically gets before the onset of a migraine. We walked to Eat for a proper breakfast comprising hot oatmeal (which is called porridge in England), toast with avocado spread and latte. Then we went back to our room and Samia rested some more while I opened the windows to let in fresh air. Thanks to the caffeine, food, oxygen and rest, we were able to quell Samia's migraine before it had started. Then we got ready and left for the day at around 2 pm.

We took the bus to a stop close to the Westminster bridge, another iconic bridge over the river Thames. We stopped at a Pakistani restaurant for lunch. I had chicken achaari with rice and Samia had a beef burger. I also had a samosa. The food was pretty good which was more than we expected as we had stopped at the first place we saw after getting off the bus. It was a much hotter day as compared to yesterday.

Our plan was to do a walking tour using Rick Steves' audio guide. We started in the middle of the Westminster bridge where we could see the giant Ferris wheel called the London Eye on the East End behind us. We then walked to the end of the bridge to perhaps the most famous icon of London, the Big Ben. This giant clock tower is on one corner of the Houses of Parliament. The Houses of Parliament used to be the royal residence in olden days but is now the location of the two Houses of Parliament - the lower house called the House of Commons and the upper house called the House of Lords. House of Commons and the MPs that comprise it are the real governing power of England. We also saw the offices of the MPs in a modern looking building that's the real seat of power in today's England.

We walked a little further down to the parliament square that has statues of some famous world leaders like Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The parliament square sits between the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and the adjoining smaller Saint Margaret's church and finally a boulevard called Whitehall that leads all the way to Trafalgar Square. We started walking along Whitehall and saw various departments' ministry buildings such as the foreign ministry and the defense ministry. We also saw the road that leads to Churchill War Rooms that chronicle the world war history. There were a few statues in the middle of the boulevard as memorials to women soldiers and a couple of generals. We also saw Downing Street being guarded by London policemen called bobbies. The Prime Minister's house at 10 Downing Street could be seen with a nondescript entrance a few houses down the street.

Our last stop of the walking tour was the Trafalgar Square, the important square that sits between the National Gallery, the road called The Mall that leads to Buckingham Palace and of course, Whitehall that leads back to Parliament Square. There was an event going on in the square where hundreds of Sikhs wearing orange turbans were present on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India. We walked back to get an ice cream from McDonald's and then made our way to Churchill War Rooms. Unfortunately, we missed the last entry into the museum by two minutes so we decided to pass time in the Saint James Park across the road.

We sat there for about half an hour at a bench, savoring the shade of the green trees on the hot day with a view of a pond with different types of birds including pelicans. Then we started walking on a path that is a memorial for Princess Diana of Wales. We crossed a bridge that has some great views and then exited the park on to The Mall and continued walking towards the Buckingham Palace. It's the official residence of the Queen of England who is technically also the Queen of Canada. When I took my citizenship oath earlier this year, I swore allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the second and now here I was, at her residence, to thank her personally. Just kidding, the queen wasn't at the Palace which is signaled by flying the Union Jack on the palace. If she is in the building, the royal flag is flown instead. After having seen many palaces all over Europe, the Buckingham Palace didn't seem as grand as some of the others but it's unique because it's an active royal residence. We sat at the base of the giant statue of Queen Victoria in front of the palace for a few minutes before making our way to the closest bus stop.

We took the bus to Edgeware Road and passed the Marble Arch on our way. The Marble Arch was originally designed to be a part of the Buckingham Palace but Queen Victoria did not like it so it was moved where it stands today. We were meeting Samia's childhood friend Sameen and her husband Bilal for dinner on Edgeware Road. This road is quite well known to Pakistanis as many rich Pakistanis live around this area. Altaf Hussain, the in-exile leader of MQM also lives here. The road is dominated with Middle Eastern shops, shisha bars and restaurants. We met Sameen and Bilal at a Lebanese restaurant. We spent the next four hours chatting with them over dinner that was a treat by our friends. We had hummus, kibbeh and fatoush salad for appetizers. I had the mixed grill and Samia had chicken Shish Tawook for the main course and finally we had a Lebanese version of the Turkish dessert kunafe. After dinner, we took the bus back to a stop close to our hotel since the tube wasn't running anymore as it was pretty late. Then we walked back to our hotel and called it a night.

Italy Diaries - Day 17 - London Part One

We woke up at 7:30 am and after relaxing for about half an hour, we had the butter croissants that we had purchased the night before and then had complimentary in-room coffee with biscuits. Then we got ready and left the hotel at around 11 am. We stopped at a chain cafe called Eat that's one block away from our hotel for a second breakfast. I had an avocado and egg sandwich with ciabatta bread and Samia had a toast with avocado spread. We also shared a latte. All ingredients were fresh so everything tasted great.

Then we walked to a nearby bus stop and boarded the red double decker bus to London Bridge. When people think of the London Bridge, the image that comes to mind is that of a bridge that passes through two giant towers - that's not the London Bridge, it's the Tower Bridge. London Bridge is a very plain looking modern bridge and the name is perhaps more significant for a nearby station by the same name that's a major junction for the underground tube and rail service. Then we walked for about ten minutes to our main sightseeing attraction of the day, the Tower of London.

The Tower of London is a medieval complex of buildings that's still intact. It gets its name from a white tower that was one of the first buildings to be built within the complex. There is a main castle in the middle surrounded on all sides by towers and stone buildings, some of which serve as a museum now. One of the buildings is a chapel and one old barracks has been converted to a modern cafe for tourists. The buildings are behind a tall thick wall that used to be guarded. Beyond the thick wall used to be a moat filled with water and the other end of the moat was another thick guarded wall, shorter than the inner wall but still quite tall. There used to be only a couple of bridges connecting this fortress to the rest of the city but when those were drawn, it was virtually impossible to penetrate this stronghold. It was built in the mid-eleventh century by the then English king as a means of intimidating the residents of London with the power of the royal crown. Through the centuries, it was used as a prison for notorious criminals and enemies of the state and had state of the art torture techniques. Just outside the stone building complex is a small square that's now next to the ticket booth. This square has witnessed many executions that were carried out using a chopping block and axe. The axe and the chopping block are now on display inside the tower.

We bought our tickets and waited for about half an hour for the next guided tour of the Tower of London. These guided tours are conducted by the so-called beefeaters. These beefeaters were the guards of the tower and got the name because of the generous quota of beef that they got from the monarch. Currently, there are 35 beefeaters and to this day, they live with their families inside the tower. This was an extremely entertaining one hour long tour with typical British humor being employed while narrating gory stories and the history of the tower. We found out during the tour that among the many executed at the tower, some of them were members of the royal family that were executed on the monarch's orders. Specifically there was a king who had a few of his wives executed as they were unable to provide him with a male heir. We also found out about how one executioner botched an execution because he was drunk and needed seven strokes of the axe to kill the poor victim on his block!

After the guided tour, we went to the cafe to have lunch. To our surprise, unlike most tourist attraction cafes that offer very one dimensional food, it had a great variety of cuisines. We had a roast chicken leg with steamed veggies and butter chicken with rice. After the lunch, we got in line to see the most famous items housed inside the Tower of London - the Crown Jewels. We saw the scepters, orbs and crowns of various monarchs of the past including a crown that has the 530-carat Cullinan diamond from South Africa and the crown with the Koh-i-Noor diamond from India. We also saw the extravagant gold vessels that are used for royal coronations and important events. We also learnt that the royal crown can never leave England so when King George visited India just before the partition of British India, new crowns were forged for him and his queen to wear in India.

We also checked out the Fusiliers museum that pays tribute to the Fusilier soldiers of the British Crown. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the British is the continuity of traditions that they've held on to for centuries, with adaptations to keep up with changing times - they still follow royal protocols, still have a monarch, the palaces are active palaces, Westminster Abbey is an active church and in the same vein, the Fusiliers are active soldiers that still fight in wars around the world. There was a sample Fusilier backpack on display that people were invited to lift. It was very heavy and I could only briefly lift it, only to find out that the typical Fusilier backpack is much heavier than the one on display! Then we visited the Beauchamp tower where various prisoners who were held there for multiple years have left their mark on the walls in the form of engravings - quotes, last words or their coat of arms.

In the remaining time, we could've gone up some of the other towers or walked on the inner wall but instead we decided to visit the coin museum that's located inside what used to be the coin mint of the day located inside the tower. Now it's next to where the beefeaters live with their families. The coin museum chronicles the different techniques that were used over time to mint coins. We were surprised to find out that Sir Isaac Newton was the Master of the mint. When he wasn't busy theorizing gravity or the laws of motion, he would find new techniques to make the coin minting process more efficient. We learnt that to this day, British currency Pound Sterling has the face of the reigning monarch on it. This means that when a new monarch ascends to the throne after the much loved Queen Elizabeth the second, all currency will have to be reprinted. It was time for the Tower of London to be closed for the day so we decided to head out. Then we rested for a few minutes at a bench next to the River Thames and took a few pictures with the tower bridge in the background. We walked back to the London Bridge bus stop and took the bus back to our hotel where we rested for an hour.

We left for dinner around 6:30 pm and took the underground tube. London's transit system is the most comprehensive and efficient that we've witnessed anywhere in the world. Due to its coverage, it rivals the Japanese train system in Tokyo but is probably slightly better than the transit system of New York City or Paris. We got off at Oxford Street that's a lively shopping street. We passed through a narrow alley that opened into a square where our restaurant was located. It was a Turkish restaurant with delicious food and efficient service. We got hummus and mahmara for appetizers. My main course was a mixed grill plate with two types of lamb kababs and a chicken filet whereas Samia got chicken Shish Tawook. To make room for dessert, I had the traditional Turkish tea while Samia had mint tea. Then we had kunafe for dessert which is by far our most favorite middle eastern dessert. We don't have any Turkish restaurants in Calgary so the excellent depth of cosmopolitan London's culinary scene is our chance to enjoy delicious Turkish food. After dinner, we took the tube back to our hotel and went to bed.

Italy Diaries - Day 16 - Italy to London

We woke up at 7 am in Sorrento and quickly got ready. All our bags were ready to go when we went upstairs to the top floor breakfast room. We had cereal, yogurt, croissant and latte for breakfast and then checked out of our hotel a little after 8 am. Then we walkeyd to the nearby square where our airport transfer service car and driver were waiting. It took us about an hour to reach Naples airport.

We checked-in our bags around 10 am and then sat at one of the very comfortable lounge couches for about an hour. During that time, we used Rick Steves' pocket guidebook for London to plan out our trip. We passed through passport control and then boarded our plane around 11:30 am. The flight was delayed by a few minutes and then the pilot decided to take a longer route since apparently the labor strike in France is still affecting air traffic! After a two and a half hour duration flight, we landed at the Gatwick airport in London at 2:30 pm local time, after a one hour time adjustment from Italy. We got some sleep on the flight and used the remaining time to do some more London sightseeing planning using our very helpful guidebook.

The immigration processing line moved slow so we had to wait about 15 minutes for our turn. After we had passed immigration, it took another 20-25 minutes to get our bags since the baggage claim information screen was displaying the wrong carousel number so everyone was waiting at the wrong one initially. Once we finally got our bags around 3 pm, we purchased a couple of Nando's peri peri chicken wraps for a late lunch. Then after buying train tickets, we hopped on the Gatwick Express train and ate our wraps during the 20 minute ride. It was a very smooth ride and we disembarked at the London Bridge train station. Then we took a taxi to our hotel and were in our room at 4:30 pm after checking-in.

London is very different from North America and possibly the rest of Europe as well. It's unique - I'll give an example. The official London black taxi is a special car that we haven't seen anywhere else in the world so it's possibly a custom built car/design just for London taxis. It doesn't have a trunk in the back and the seat is all the way in the back. You have to help yourself by loading your luggage in front of your seat at your feet behind the taxi driver. The cars are right hand drive like Pakistan but the speed limits are in miles per hour like the US. 

Our hotel is in Central London and one of the best ones where we've stayed. They provide the usual perks of a five-star hotel like turn down service at night but also go beyond that. They have given us a smartphone with mobile maps and GPS that is free to use! It came in really handy later in the evening when we had to meet up with our friends from LUMS Sherry and Sana who live in London. We took showers to freshen up and then left our hotel a little before 7 pm.

We took the underground train, called the tube, for about 40 minutes after buying the Oyster Card that's needed to travel on the tube. Luckily, Samia had her Oyster Card from last year when she was in London for her MBA summer exchange semester so we only needed to buy just one new card and loaded credit in her old card. After getting off the tube, we walked for about ten minutes to reach a Persian restaurant that our friends had picked. The food was amazing. We had two appetizers, one made with eggplant and the other was yogurt with mint. Then we had a huge mixed platter with all kinds of kababs to share, in addition to lamb shank. Everything was delicious, specially the touch of real pomegranate seeds on the plain white rice. The dinner was our friends' treat which was very nice of them! They even dropped us back to our hotel. After that, we walked over to the local supermarket to buy water. We also got a couple of croissants for breakfast since there is no complimentary breakfast at this hotel. Till the next update from the capital of England, take care and goodbye!

Italy Diaries - Day 15 - Capri

On our last sightseeing day of what has been a thoroughly enjoyable two week trip of Italy, we woke up at 6:30 am in Sorrento. We got ready and then headed up to the top floor for breakfast. We got a table on the terrace with a clear view of Mount Vesuvius, the island of Capri and the calm sea. We had cereal, yogurt, croissant with Nutella and latte. Then we walked to a nearby piazza with a gorgeous view of the sea, the same view that we got from our breakfast table on our hotel's terrace. The pickup shuttle van arrived in a couple of minutes and we were on our way to the marina. Thanks to staying close to the marina, we were the last ones picked up which gave us a bit more time.

We reached the marina a few minutes before 9 am and met our guide. She explained the plan for the day and then we boarded the high-speed ferry to the island of Capri. The ferry ride took a little over twenty minutes to reach the island of Capri. The island is to the west of the Sorrentine peninsula with the Gulf of Naples to its north and the Gulf of Salerno to its south. The island has two main villages - Capri and Anacapri. Capri is almost at sea level whereas Anacapri is about 500 meters above sea level. After disembarking the ferry, we got on a smaller boat that seated about 20-25 people for a cruise around the island to see its geographic highlights.

We saw the high mountainous cliffs with expensive celebrity owned villas on them. We also saw some grottos - another name for caves inside mountains. One of them has a stalactite formation that looks like Virgin Mary and is very popular with Italians and tourists alike. Another grotto is big enough that small boats can pass through it and the mountain to emerge on the other side. We also saw the most famous grotto - the Blue Grotto - which gets its name from the magical whitish blue hue of the water inside the cave, a phenomenon caused by the sunlight that enters the cave. Only one small boat can go inside the grotto at a time and it is only open to tourists if the tide is low. The tide was high and the grotto was closed. We also saw the red colored lighthouse of the island and a road called "Mamma Mia" or "Oh my God" road. The road is on the way from Capri to Anacapri and gives the most breathtaking view of the village of Capri and its harbor. When American tourists used to pass that stretch of the road, they would always exclaim "Oh my God" at the sharp turn and the breathtaking view so that's how the road got its name. We also saw the three faraglioni rocks that are just a few meters away from the coast of the island with a giant "gate" between them.

After the cruise had finished circling the island, we got dropped off at the marina. We then opted for an optional leg of the tour which turned out to be a great decision in retrospect. We drove in a mini bus to the village of Anacapri and passed through the "Mamma Mia" stretch. The name is absolutely spot on because the picture perfect scene does take your breath away. You can see the harbor with its deep blue water, you see stationary and in-motion boats/ships and you see the houses of the village of Capri on the hill. Once we reached Anacapri, our guide told us about possible activities in the village. We couldn't do the chairlift/cable car ride to the top of the mountain so we had lunch. It was a fixed price menu with decent food. We had cheese ravioli and chicken cutlet followed by chocolate cake for dessert. After lunch, we walked through a shopping street and reached a vista point where we got the same view that we got from the "Mamma Mia" road. We took some pictures there and then walked back to the main square. We did some window shopping and shared a mango milkshake. Then it was time to meet with our tour group so we boarded the mini bus again, this time to the town of Capri.

If we had not taken this optional mini bus tour, we would've certainly missed what ended up being the highlight of the day. Our guide did a short walking tour through the main square of Capri with its church and bell tower and then a high-end shopping street lined with famous Italian designer brand name shops. We also saw a perfumery Carthusa that continues the perfume making tradition of local monks that had stumbled upon the recipe of making flowery scented perfumes when they had accidentally left some local flowers in a vase for a few days and the water started to smell like perfume. Finally we arrived at the gardens that gave us a view that'll always stay etched in our memory. The gardens have a few vista points that gave you views of the other side of the island. Luckily, we found the bench in front of the best view unoccupied so we sat there for almost half an hour admiring the scene in front of our eyes.

We saw the mountainous cliffs meet the sea with the deep blue water waves splashing against the rocks on the shore. We were viewing this from high above so the splashing waves seemed to create a white foam upon impact with the rocks. The sea bed near the shore was shallower with the water having a lighter greenish hue. We could see the pastel colored houses and villas on the hills and boats leaving their trails in water. The three faraglioni rocks could also be seen standing majestically in the distance. The clear blue of the sky and the deep blue of the sea water seemed to merge at the horizon, making the entire scene seem like a continuum of land, water and sky. After the two scenic views earlier in this trip - one in our Bellagio hotel next to Lake Como and the other in Monterosso in Cinque Terre, this was another memorable moment of serenity and calmness.

After the amazing half an hour, we walked back to our mini bus, passing through the high-end shopping street and the main square. We stopped for a quick gelato break and got pistachio and banana flavors to share. The mini bus took us back to the harbor in the village of Capri where we waited for our tour group for about half an hour. We were hungry so we had a slice each of marinara pizza that was okay. We met up with our tour group at 5 pm but the ferry was late so we had to wait till about 5:40 pm to get on the ferry back to Sorrento. We reached Sorrento a little after 6 pm and got on a shuttle van that dropped us off at our hotel. We were the second ones to be dropped off, thanks again to the proximity of our hotel to the marina. We rested for a couple of hours before heading out for dinner. We went back to the Kabab place that we went to a couple of days back. Samia had the same sandwich as she had last time but I got two sandwiches since I was really hungry. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and packed our suitcases to get ready for the flight from Naples to London in the morning. Till the next update from London, take care and ciao!

Italy Diaries - Day 14 - Amalfi Coast

It was going to be a relatively laid back day so we slept in and woke up at 9 am. After half an hour, we went for breakfast to the top floor of our hotel. There are some really nice views of Mount Vesuvius and Capri from the dining area and the breakfast was also quite fancy. They had quiches, pastries, tarts and cakes in addition to the standard croissant, eggs, coffee, muffins, bread and cereal. We were going to drive on the winding roads of the Amalfi coast so didn't want to overeat and stuck to cereal and yogurt with caffe latte. After breakfast, we came back to our and got ready. We left the hotel at around 12:15 pm.

The Amalfi coast is a stretch of coastline on the Sorrentine Peninsula in Southern Italy. The Gulf of Naples is to the north of the peninsula whereas the Gulf of Salerno is to its south. The coastline starts a few kilometers after Sorrento on the Gulf of Salerno side and goes on for about 40 kilometers. It's that stretch of the road that's famous as a tourist attraction for its gorgeous landscape and is known as the Amalfi coast. The region is famous for its lemons that are used to make virtually all kinds of things involving lemons, specially limoncello which is a liquor made from lemons. You can see lemon products shops all over Sorrento as well.

We walked to the train station and bought tickets to the town of Amalfi for the sightseeing bus. The bus left Sorrento at 1 pm. It's a 90 minute ride to Amalfi although the distance is less than 50 kilometers. The roads along the Amalfi coast are winding so speeds have to be relatively slow. It's a beautiful drive with mountains on your left and the sea on your right. You can see different coastal towns from afar because of the curving road. The sea water was a clear blue that sparkled in sunlight and the occasional towns with pastel colored buildings reminded us of the townscape of villages of Cinque Terre earlier in the trip. After the drive, we reached Amalfi at around 2:30 pm. Other notable tourist towns along the Amalfi coast are Positano and Ravello. During our drive, we had passed through Positano whereas Ravello is another half an hour from Amalfi. We could've tried to fit one or both of those towns in our itinerary but we felt that the touch-and-go would not be worth the effort so we decided to focus on one town - Amalfi.

We walked to the main square of the town and like all other towns of this region, we saw many lemon product shops, pizzerias, gelato shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. We picked a recommended restaurant that served pizza since you can't miss having pizza when in the greater Naples area. Naples makes a fair claim to inventing pizza and they did such a great job of exporting it globally that now there is probably nowhere in the world where you can't get pizza. We had marinara pizza and vegetable minestrone soup with a side of grilled vegetables. Fresh ingredients meant that the pizza was amazing and so were the grilled vegetables. The soup needed some help from Parmesan cheese but with some generous help, it tasted good too. We also tried the lemon cake that was probably one of the best we've had, the secret again being fresh ingredients.

After lunch, we strolled around the square doing window shopping and then sat at the steps of the square's church to rest. Then we went out of the town square to the harbor and walked on a long narrow pier into the sea to get a great vantage point of the townscape. We took some pictures and then walked back to the main square where we took a gelato break. I tried cheesecake and yogurt flavors and Samia got hazelnut and mint. We sat on the chairs outside the Gelateria and indulged in people watching while getting our daily gelato fix. At about 5:20 pm, we decided to head back to Sorrento so we got on the 5:40 pm bus and were back in Sorrento at about 7 pm.

On our way back through the lovely pedestrian street, we stopped at a tourism company's office and inquired about their tour package to Capri for the next day. After getting all the information, we came back to our hotel and rested for about an hour and a half. We researched the tour package and it appeared to offer good value for money by saving us time and organizational efforts. We went out for dinner at about 9:15 pm and first stopped at the tourism company office to buy the day tour to the island of Capri. We also bought the airport transfer service tickets from our hotel to the Naples airport for Friday morning. That's when we will be taking a flight from Naples to London's Gatwick airport. We will be in London for our final 4 days of this trip.

Dinner was at a burger joint a few steps away from the Kabab place that we had discovered yesterday. This burger joint was ranked just one below the Kabab place so we had a feeling that it would be good. We were right - the burgers were juicy and tasteful. We had read in the reviews for this place that the owners don't speak any English so communicating with them was a fun experience. But their service was impeccable. They even gave us free dessert - fresh strawberries topped with cream and chocolate flakes. After dinner, we came back to our hotel and went to bed. Till the next update about Capri, take care!

Italy Diaries - Day 13 - Pompeii

We forced ourselves awake in Rome with our 6:30 am alarm since we wanted to catch an early train. After packing our suitcases and having breakfast, we checked out around 8 am and then took a cab to the Roma Termini train station. We wanted to take the 8:38 am train to the main train station of Naples called Napoli Centrale. The standard second class and even first class seats were all sold out so we ended up buying the only available tickets that were for business class. The tickets were a little pricy but our philosophy is that time and comfort is always more valuable than money, especially on a vacation and this was no different.

The high speed train ride to Naples was very smooth and had no stops so we reached Naples in a little over an hour. At the Napoli Centrale train station, we changed to the regional Circumvesuviana train that's named as such because it goes around Mount Vesuvius. The regional train was a stark contrast to our earlier train ride. It had 33 stops and no air conditioning. The train itself seemed quite old. Luckily, Samia got a seat right away and I got the one next to her after a couple of stops. This ride also took a little over an hour because of all the stops and slower speed but we finally reached Sorrento around 12:30 pm. We took a cab to our hotel. The hotel is about a 10 minutes walk from the train station but because of the hilly terrain, the roads are winding so it wasn't possible to walk with two suitcases.

After checking in, we freshened up and rested for about an hour before leaving at around 2 pm. Sorrento is a very intimate town on the Amalfi coast of Italy and our hotel is in the old town near the marina. With cobblestone streets and a view of the bright blue ocean with a couple of hilly islands in the background, it's a gorgeous town with a very relaxing vibe. We walked to a pedestrian only street that has shops and restaurants lining both sides and had lunch at a restaurant that seemed to have good food. It ended up being a great pick - both the beef burger and the chicken burger turned out great. It's getting to that stage where we've had so much pasta and pizza that we now want to try other types of food.

Then we walked to the train station and took the Circumvesuviana to the Pompeii train station. Pompeii used to be a town with a population of 20,000 people that was founded about 500 years BC. It was a bustling port town with some main trade routes of the Mediterranean sea passing through it. When the nearby volcanic Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the debris of ash and lava that fell over the city froze the city in time. About 2000 people were unable to evacuate by the time the catastrophe struck and they were all buried with the city. The city remain buried till the 15th century and when it was rediscovered and excavations started, it was remarkably well preserved because of the sudden nature of the incident. We had seen one city of ruins previously, Ephesus in Turkey but Pompeii is a much bigger city that is much better preserved. We walked through the city for almost three hours and saw the main town square, the basilica, the market, some houses, streets with chariot wheel marks, pedestrian streets, a brothel, public baths, water supply pipes, frescos on walls, brick ovens inside houses and an aqua duct. It is truly a city and you can get a very clear idea of the advanced nature of the Greek/Roman civilization in those days. We had to keep reminding ourselves that it's not an inhabited town but rather one that had been buried for almost 1500 years! Machu Picchu in Peru is extremely impressive but part of the reason is its remote location hidden inside jungles. Pompeii is equally impressive (and maybe marginally more, depending on what impresses you more) because it gives you a better idea of the life of the people of this city in their time. Pompeii is one of the top highlights of our trip.

After visiting the ancient city of Pompeii, we took the train back to Sorrento and walked back to our hotel to rest. We researched a Kabab joint that's ranked in the top 3 restaurants of Sorrento. It was in a narrow street behind the Main Street so while we were making our way there, we were skeptical of its ranking. All doubts melted away once we took the first bite of our Kabab sandwich. It was so good that even before we had finished our sandwiches, we decided that we would come back here again. Instead of buns, the sandwich had two toasted naans on either side with the chicken and beef mixture with garlic mayo and chili inside. After this delicious meal, we walked back to our hotel and went to bed. Till the next update from the Amalfi coast, take care and ciao!

Italy Diaries - Day 12 - Vatican City

We woke up at 8:30 am on our second day in Rome and relaxed in bed for half an hour before going down for breakfast. As good as the scrambled eggs and omelettes have been so far on this trip, we wanted to try something without eggs and were glad that our hotel had pancakes. They weren't that special but we enjoyed them nonetheless. We also had cereal and excellent lattes once again. Along with pizza and gelato, coffee is another of those Italian specialities that is always top notch. After breakfast, we came back to our room and lazed for another hour or so before getting ready and heading out around 12:30 pm.

We walked to the Republica square and along the way stopped for some window shopping. Then we took the metro to the station closest to Vatican City. After getting off the train, we had to walk for about 15 minutes and then we arrived in Saint Peter's square, the giant "square" next to the largest and the most important church in Christianity, Saint Peter's Basilica. On our last trip, we had missed out on visiting the church but not this time!

The square is actually in the shape of an oval that inclines downwards towards the center like a basin. The shape is perfect for fitting a giant cross along the major axes in which case the church would be at the tip of the cross. The sides of the oval next to the church are flanked by the Columnade built by Bernini. It's a hallway with some 200+ giant 50 meter tall columns supporting a roof. There's an Egyptian obelisk in the middle of the oval. You can also see the pope's apartment and the Sistine Chapel building with the chimney that's used to signal papal election results. To get into the church, we first had to wait in long lines for security check and dress code assessment - no shorts or bare shoulders allowed inside the church.

Once you enter the church, you are stunned by the sheer magnitude and size of the interior. The main nave is lined with statues and is over 200 meters in length. It's so high and so wide that when pigeons accidentally fly inside, they don't realize that they're inside a building! The dome above the main alter rivals the dome of the Pantheon but is much higher. Behind the alter is a stained glass window designed by Bernini. It's designed in a way that during mass, it lets sunlight in such that it seems that golden light is illuminating the throne of Saint Peter which is a chair. Above the main alter is a giant bronze canopy that helps draw your attention to the altar which would otherwise be lost in the humongous space. Beneath the main altar, Saint Peter's bones are buried in the dungeon. Saint Peter was one of the apostles of Jesus whom Jesus chose to be the head of the church so he became the first pope of Christianity. We also saw the very well preserved body of a recent pope in a glass crypt, a bronze statue of Saint Peter where people line up to kiss the feet for good luck and statue of Michelangelo's Pieta. Pieta is a scene in which Mary holds the body of Jesus after his crucifixion. Michelangelo's genius shines through the Pieta once again - the statue captures the sadness of the moment and Jesus' body looks very real. The statue incorporates many subtle elements like Jesus' body appearing heavier and appearing to slide down Mary's robe, Mary appearing very young to emphasize her innocence and despite Jesus being the size of a grown man, he appears childlike in comparison to the larger than life Mary.

After touring the magnificent basilica, we stopped at the only post office in Vatican City and thought it would be funny to post ourselves a postcard! Hopefully it'll reach us after we're back in Calgary. The Vatican City is the smallest country in the world that's completely surrounded on all sides by the city of Rome. It has its own security force comprising Swiss mercenaries with their colorful and rather ridiculous looking uniforms, its own passport, a post office that we visited and even its own radio station. In other worldly matters like currency, it relies on its neighbors and uses the Euro as its currency.

We were hungry after our trip to Saint Peter's so we decided to have lunch. Vatican City may be the smallest country but it's also possibly the only country in the world without any restaurants! We started walking along the boulevard that Mussolini had built that enters into the oval of Saint Peter's square. Learning from our past experiences, we generally try to avoid restaurants near touristy attractions since they tend to be overpriced and sub-par establishments that want to make a quick buck from customers that are never going to return. This was an exception as we were famished so knowing well that we were walking into a rip-off, we still decided to take our chance. We ordered the safest possible options - bruschetta and a marinara pizza (just tomato sauce and oregano). The pizza was decent but the bruschetta was not that great. There was a pretty high mandatory service charge of 17% and then our server decided to "keep" the change to make it more like a 25% service charge. It's this side of Rome that's ticks us off but the amazing history somewhat balances it out.

After lunch, we continued walking along Mussolini's boulevard and arrived at Castel Sant'Angelo. It's a round castle building next to the river Tiber. We walked over the bridge that connects the castle to the other side of the river and is lined with statues on both sides. The view from the bridge is interesting. You can see other bridges, green trees, colorful buildings, the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica, Castel Sant'Angelo and lots of tourists.

After that we decided to walk to Piazza Navona that shouldn't have been too far but in trying to take a shortcut using the inner streets, we ended up getting a little lost but finally reached the Piazza. It's a lively square with a famous statue by who else but Bernini. We had visited this square on our last trip as well and we liked it so much that we went back. We sat at a bench to enjoy dance performances by a Michael Jackson look alike and then headed to a cafe on the square that was recommended in our guidebook. The cafe Tre Scalini was established in the 1940s and used to be a hot spot during the 1950s where Hollywood celebrities used to hang out. Its signature dessert is called Il Tartufo and is dark chocolate gelato ball with a cherry inside, coated with nuts and a dollop of whipped cream and a wafer on top. Samia tried the Il Tartufo whereas I got Tiramisu.

After the dessert break, we walked to our favorite ancient site in Rome - the Pantheon. The place is absolutely marvelous and despite coming here a second time, we couldn't help but marvel at the enormity of the building and how the ancient Romans must've undertaken the monumental construction project two thousand years ago. We sat inside the Pantheon for about half an hour, marveling at the genius of the ancients and then headed out when it closed at 7:30 pm. We've been to the Pantheon twice now and are quite sure that we wouldn't mind coming back again!

We had shortlisted a couple of restaurants from our guidebook for dinner close to the Pantheon. One of them was fully booked but the other one was able to seat us. It turned out to be our best dining experience in Rome - that includes both visits! It wasn't fancy but the quality of food was amazing. For appetizer, we had bruschetta and the fried Napoli rice thing called suppli that we had discovered last night. For our main course, Samia had gnocchi with tomato sauce and I had casarecce pasta with spicy arrabiata sauce. For dessert, we shared a panna cotta. After dinner, we walked to another of our Rome favorites, the Trevi fountain. Then we took a cab back to our hotel and went to bed, ready for our final stop of Italy, the Naples area. We'll be staying in the town of Sorrento. Till the next update from the birthplace of pizza (and Italian mafia), take care!

Italy Diaries - Day 11 - Rome

I woke up around 8:15 am but Samia was tired so she slept for another half an hour. Then we packed our suitcases and went down for breakfast at 9:30 am after getting ready. After breakfast, we checked out of our Florence hotel and noticed that it had rained in the morning. It started raining again while we were walking to the train station so we had to rush. We caught our 10:38 am train and after a high-speed train ride of about one and a half hours, we had reached Rome's main train station Roma Termini. We took a cab to our hotel and thanks to the instructions and fare estimate from our hotel's very helpful reception, we had a much better experience this time as compared to our experience of taking a cab from Roma Termini on our last visit to Rome a couple of years ago. The hotel even let us check-in before the regular check-in time. Having a comfortable and helpful hotel makes your first impression of a city so much better!

We have seen the major attractions of Rome - Colosseum, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Sistine Chapel - on our last trip so our schedule is going to be very laid back this time. After resting for about an hour, we freshened up and headed out on foot towards the Spanish Steps. On our way, we stopped at a pizzeria for lunch. We had bruschetta for appetizer and then shared a cheese pizza and a margherita pizza. The food was decent but given that it wasn't based on any recommendation, that's the most we could've expected. After lunch, we continued walking towards the Spanish Steps. We found out that the steps themselves are closed for repairs but the fountain in front of them is open now. It was the other way round the last time we came here. The fountain was made by Bernini and is in the shape of a sinking boat. We stopped at a cafe to have dessert. I had tiramisu and Samia had ice cream. After that, we took a cab to Galleria Borghese.

The gallery is actually a palace that was used as a residence by the noble Borghese family. Now it serves as Rome's premier art gallery after having gone many redesigns of its layout. The current layout is closest to the original one with certain exceptions to bring thematic unity to all the rooms. We entered into a giant hall with all the walls lined with statues but the most impressive feature is the painted ceiling that took 3 years to paint. We had a shortlist of the most significant art pieces so we focused on those during our two hour tour. The most impressive works that we saw were all statues carved by Bernini. It's hard to decide if his Apollo & Daphne is the best (the execution of depicting the moment when Daphne is turning into a tree is dazzling) or if his best work is the Rape of Persephone (the strong hands pressing into the soft flesh seem absolutely real despite being etched in marble). His version of David is also very interesting and captures the moment when David is just about to release the stone from his sling with his brow furrowed and his lips tightened. We saw some of Bernini's earlier work as well where his genius had started to shine through. There are many other statues and paintings in the gallery but the most outstanding work, in our non-artsy opinion, was all by Bernini.

After visiting the gallery, we were tired so we boarded a kiddy train that took us through the entire Villa Borghese or the gardens. It was a very refreshing ride through the huge green space and we were dropped off near Piazza del Popolo. We saw the Piazza from a high vantage point before climbing down the stairs to the Piazza. We sat there for a little while reminiscing about our last visit to the Piazza and made dinner plans. Most of the recommended options in our guidebook were closed because it was a Sunday so we chose a cafe on the way to the Spanish Steps but couldn't find it. We then walked into a decent looking restaurant which had a clean and modern decor but the food turned out to be average. Our appetizer was fried Napoli items - the fillings were cheese, rice, more cheese and potatoes. I ordered a margherita pizza and Samia ordered pasta with cheese. The pizza was decent but the cheese in the pasta was too strong.

After our first semi-disappointing meal in Italy, we walked back to the Spanish Steps and got gelato. The gelato was really good and somewhat made up for the sub-par quality of dinner. We tried chocolate and yogurt flavors and both hit the spot perfectly. Then we took a cab back to our hotel and called it a night. The highlights of another hot day were Bernini's statues and we'll probably see a few more on our second day in Rome. Our main plan is to visit Saint Peter's Basilica that we were unable to see on our last trip because of the Pope's special address meant only for children. Till the update from the center of Christendom, take care!

Italy Diaries - Day 10 - More Florence

We had planned to not do any sightseeing in the morning so it was our chance to catch up on sleep and rest so we woke up around 9 am. We lazed in bed and went down for breakfast in about an hour. We came back up to our room and took our time getting ready. We left around 1:30 pm.

Our first stop of the day was Santa Maria Novella Church which is in the same square where our hotel is located. The main train station of Florence that's behind the church is named after the church and is called Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. It's a peaceful church and there were very few tourists inside. The church's main draw is Masaccio's early renaissance painting on a wall in which the concept of perspective and mathematical proportions was used. Its importance to painting can be compared with Brunelleschi's importance to architecture and Donatello's importance to sculpting. We saw many other paintings and frescos in addition to the stained glass windows of the altar before checking out the courtyard and then made our way out.

We started walking towards the Accademia Gallery and passed through the famous San Lorenzo flea market with shops selling leather goods among other things. We had purchased our Accademia tickets online so thankfully we didn't have to wait too long in the blistering heat outside the Accademia and were inside after a wait of about five minutes. The Gallery was primarily commissioned to house just one masterpiece - Michelangelo's David. When you enter the gallery and turn left, you emerge in a long hall and David is at the end of the hall.

What a magnificent statue! You can start to appreciate the 14 feet tall giant statue as you walk towards it. Five of Michelangelo's unfinished statues flank both sides of the hall as you walk towards David. We were initially unsure if we should come to the Accademia to see the original but we are so glad that we did. There is something about Michelangelo's creations that leave you spell bound. We had the same feeling a couple of years back when we saw the Sistine Chapel that he had painted and we were spellbound once more. The white marble statue is a naked David sizing up his opponent Goliath with a stone in his right hand and a sling strapped over his left shoulder with one end in his left hand. His gaze is steady and confident and his muscles relaxed. The mastery with which Michelangelo has depicted the detail of the human anatomy is astonishing. Everything from the veins in David's hands and feet to his calf muscles to his abs to his chest to his biceps to his thighs to his knees is so real! You can almost be forgiven for thinking that he can start walking any moment. If the Renaissance marked the most significant era of art in history, then the most significant work of the Renaissance has to be David. David is the epitome of the Renaissance. He is thoughtful and confident in his abilities and doesn't need an army to slay the giant Goliath, just his wits. David is truly the highlight of our trip to Florence and dare I say perhaps the highlight of our entire trip to Italy!

After admiring the magnificence of David from many angles, we observed the unfinished statues to get an idea of the chronology of Michelangelo's sculpting since they are all in different stages of creation. Michelangelo was a true genius and worked without any model or blueprint, directly on marble. We also saw another statue that draws inspiration from Michelangelo's David in the sense that it's also a spiral work - there is no one "best" vantage point but you get a different view from every angle. The Accademia gallery is still very much a teaching academy for sculptors so we also saw a huge room with hundreds of marble busts and statues that are basically the students' final exams. We finally made our way out and then decided to have lunch.

The sun was still at its peak and the heat was unbearable so we decided that we will take our time having lunch so that it got cooler by the time we were done. We walked to the Repubblica Square to have lunch at the famous cafe Gilli that was founded in 1733. It was a hotspot during the 1850s and 1860s where intellectuals met to discuss the unification of Italy. Our lunch started with bruschetta for appetizer. I had gnocchi with tomato sauce and fresh buffalo mozzarella while Samia had spinach and ricotta cheese filled Cannelloni for the main course. For dessert, I had tiramisu and Samia had panna cotta. It was an exceptional meal in a historic cafe with stuccoed ceilings but the best part was the air conditioning! We left around 5:30 pm and came back to our hotel to rest for a couple of hours.

In the evening, we walked through the Duomo Square, the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi courtyard to arrive at the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) and walked along the River Arno. The bridge is the only one that survived the Second World War bombing. It has shops lining both sides. When we got there, there was a band performing live songs so we spent a few minutes enjoying the music while looking at the Arno river flowing beneath the bridge. Then we walked to the Repubblica square and got gelato from a shop Venchi that we (read Samia) had been eyeing since our first day in Florence. We got chocolate, cappuccino and milk flavors. The milk was pretty generic but the other two flavors were the best gelato we've had in Italy so far. We sat next to a column in the Repubblica square and ate our gelato while listening to yet another live music band. Florence is a very intimate city and reminds us of Prague. After listening to a few songs, we walked back to a restaurant next to our hotel for a dinner. Samia had the eggplant parmigiana and I had a margherita pizza (tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese). The pizza was the best we've had so far in Italy. After dinner, we came back to our room and called it a night. We'll be taking a train to Rome in the morning. Till the next update from the Eternal City, take care!

Italy Diaries - Day 9 - Tuscany

We were up at 7 am for our Tuscany day trip and were out of our hotel at 8:20 am after getting ready and having breakfast. We reached the meeting point of the tour at the train station that's a five minute walk from our hotel. The tour started around 9 am and we got seats in the top deck of the air conditioned double decker bus.

Our first stop was the village of San Gimignano that was about an hour's drive away. Tuscany is the name of the region that's north of Rome and encompasses a diverse landscape from beaches to mountains to Chianti's famous vineyards and olive groves. The major cities of this region are Florence, Siena and Pisa so technically, we've already spent two days in Tuscany. In the context of today's bus tour, Tuscany referred to a few highlights outside of Florence. Specifically, we were going to see the village of San Gimignano, have lunch at a farm/vineyard in Chianti, do a walking tour of Siena and then end with a quick trip to the walled castle of Monteriggioni.

The village of San Gimignano is famous for its medieval towers. At its peak, there were about 70 towers in this town, 14 of which survive today. It's sometimes referred to as the Manhattan of medieval times. Walking through the village makes you feel like you're back in the Italy of medieval times with winding cobblestone paths, stone walls and high medieval towers. It's a fairly small village with two squares - the square with the well and the Cathedral square. We walked to the square with the well and bought gelato at a Gelateria that had won the first place in the world gelato competition twice. Samia got Nutella hazelnut, mint and yogurt flavors and I got mango, coffee and yogurt. We sat in the shade on a marble bench in an old resting area in one corner of the Cathedral square and savored our gelato, a great way to get respite from the heat. Then we explored the town on foot before walking back to our bus around noon and drove for about an hour to our next stop in the Chianti region.

Chianti is famous for its vineyards that arguably produce the best wines in the world. Driving through the Chianti valley with green vineyards and olive groves in all directions till the horizon was a picturesque drive and it felt like we were part of a landscape painting. We stopped at the Casafrassi farm and vineyard where the owner gave us a primer in the composition of different wines. He explained that the Chianti Classico wines are the ones that are at least 80% Sangiovese grapes whereas all Chianti wines less than 80% are simply Chianti wines. Then we had lunch which comprised bruschetta, cheese and salad for appetizers, pasta with tomato sauce for the main course and panna cotta for dessert. The pasta was delicious despite being very simple and the dessert was also great.

After lunch, we drove for about half an hour to our next stop of Siena. Siena used to be Florence's rival back in the day before the plague but while Florence lost about half its people to the plague, Siena lost almost 90% of its people and was never able to recover. Shortly after that, it was conquered by Florence. We did a walking tour of the town where we saw the main "square" that is in the shape of a shell unlike most square-shaped or rectangular-shaped squares of Europe. The town of Siena still holds an annual horse race in the main square to determine which of the 19 districts will get to be the caretaker of the canvas of Virgin Mary for that year. The square also has the main town hall of Siena. Then we walked to the cathedral of Siena which has a magnificent outer facade. Once Siena ran out of money, they decided to complete a smaller portion of the cathedral than was originally planned and this has left a few walls without marble on them that are now outside the boundaries of the cathedral. The walking tour ended in the square next to the cathedral so we sat there for a few minutes before making our way back to the tour meeting point and then to our bus.

We drove for another half an hour to our final stop of the day, the walled castle of the village of Monteriggioni. It's a relatively small castle atop a hill and the walls are is still intact. You have the option of walking on the walls to admire the Tuscan landscape. We spent a few minutes in the castle main square and then headed back to the bus. It took us another hour of drive and we reached Florence at about 7:30 pm. The bus dropped us off just a couple of minutes walk from our hotel so we walked back and rested for about an hour. It had been a tiring day with the walking tour of hilly Siena being the most taxing.

We asked our hotel concierge to give us a casual dining recommendation close to the hotel since we didn't want to walk too much. He told us that the trattoria adjacent to our hotel was a decent option. We went there and our dinner was grilled vegetables and bruschetta for appetizer followed by eggplant parmigiana and a thin-crust pizza with eggplant and zucchini. I also discovered a spicy variant of the extra virgin olive oil that you always get with the complimentary bread so my pizza and bread had a nice zing to it. After a tiring day of exploring the highlights of Tuscany, we went to bed knowing that we don't have anything planned in the morning so we'll be able to sleep in and rest. Till the next update, take care and ciao!

Italy Diaries - Day 8 - Renaissance in Florence

We woke up well rested in Florence after a comfortable night's sleep. We got ready, went down to have the complimentary hotel breakfast - scrambled eggs, cereal and latte - and left around 8:45 am for the Uffizi museum. We were there by 9:05 am. The Uffizi Gallery offers an excellent primer in Renaissance art - its birth, evolution and spread to other parts of Italy and Europe. But before we get to the details, let's answer the question - what is the Renaissance?

The Roman Empire fell in the 5th century and much of Europe plunged into poverty and ignorance. By the start of the 14th century, Florence was doing really well on account of its banking, trading and cloth making. Then came the Black Death Plague that killed over half the population of Europe in the mid 14th century. Almost half the people of Florence also died in the plague but the infrastructure remained and the city was rebuilt better than ever. The ruling Medici (pronounced Medichi) family of Florence were big sponsors and collectors of art so it's no wonder that the Renaissance took root in Florence. Renaissance literally means "rebirth" and in this context, it was the rebirth of the Greek and Roman traditions of logic, democracy and science that had been lost for a thousand years since Rome fell. In the medieval times, the church was the opiate of the masses whose lives were miserable and short so the art produced reflected that and was primarily a means of telling biblical stories. The art of the medieval times was not very realistic and used to be either highly simplified or highly exaggerated. Florence's recovery from the plague and general prosperity gave rise to the Florentines having more confidence in human ability. With the backing of the Medicis, artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, inspired by the Greek and Roman statues of the past embarked on a journey of celebrating humanism and realism that continued for another 150 years and the rediscovery of emphases on logic and science led Europe out of ignorance.

The Uffizi Gallery houses many statues from the Greek and Roman times that served as inspiration for the Renaissance masters. Works of Renaissance sculptors like Michelangelo and Donatello are also on display. Similarly, there are hundreds of paintings by Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian and Caravaggio. The amount of art can be overwhelming but thanks for Rick Steves' audio guide and our pocket guide book, we focused on about 15 masterpiece paintings that give you the perfect introduction to how realism and humanism started with features like adding depth and human expressions to paintings. The tour took us almost four hours and by the end of it, we had gained a much better understanding of the different styles and ranges of the Renaissance masters. We also saw a great view of the Arno river and Ponte Vecchio (literally Old Bridge) during our tour of the Uffizi Gallery.

After the whirlwind tour of perhaps the most important era of art history, we needed a break so we came back to our hotel to freshen up. It was another hot day so we grabbed a banana flavored gelato to share on our way back to the hotel. In fact, the weather forecast is for the temperatures to get higher in the next couple of days so that'll give us an excellent excuse to have more gelato. They say that the gelato of Florence is the best in Italy so why not?

We rested for about an hour and then got a lunch recommendation from our hotel concierge. The restaurant wasn't too far from our very centrally located hotel so we got there after a five minute walk at around 2:30 pm. We had bruschetta and fried zucchini flowers for appetizers, then a tomato garlic pizza and mushroom fettuccini pasta for our main course and finally tiramisu and creme caramel for dessert. It was a late lunch and we were quite hungry so had a hearty meal. After lunch, we walked back to our hotel and took a nap for a couple of hours since our next activity was a self guided walking tour and we decided to do it at night to avoid the afternoon heat.

We woke up around 7:30 pm and got another recommendation from our hotel's concierge desk, this time for dinner. We also booked a guided bus tour for the Tuscany region for the next day. We got the dinner reservation for 9:45 pm and then headed out to do our self guided walking tour of Florence with help from our Rick Steves audio guide. We started at the Duomo or the Main Cathedral of Florence. The Duomo's dome was designed and built by Brunelleschi after studying the Pantheon of Rome and getting inspiration from the engineering feat of the Romans. Brunelleschi's dome was the biggest dome of its time in the world and later inspired many famous domes like the one in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Capitol in Washington DC. We also observed the outer facade of the Duomo and the bell tower of the Cathedral that's called Giotto's Bell Tower since it was designed by Giotto. We saw the Baptistry of Saint John across the Duomo and its famous bronze doors that were built by Ghiberti and dubbed "Gates of Paradise" by Michelangelo. Similar to the attempt of Renaissance paintings to make the scenes natural by adding depth, the bronze doors add an element of depth that makes the scenes depicted on the doors 3D.

Then we walked to the Piazza where the Vecchio Palace building is located. It used to be the residence of the Medici Duke of Florence but when the residence was moved across the Arno River to the Pitti Palace, this was renamed to Palazzo Vecchio or Old Palace. It now serves as the town hall of Florence. There are several interesting statues next to the building but the most famous is the statue of David by Michelangelo that's outside the palace. The original is now kept in the Accademia Gallery so this one is a replica. Right next to the Palazzo Vecchio is the Uffizi Courtyard where we had started our sightseeing day. There was an orchestra playing in the square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio so we enjoyed the live performance for a few minutes before leaving for dinner.

Then we walked to the restaurant recommended by our hotel. Dinner was outstanding. We had fried onions filled with parmesan cheese and zucchini salad with pine nuts for appetizers. My main course was pear ravioli filled with cheese and topped with sea bass fish fillet and cherry tomatoes. Samia's main course was pici pasta (think a thicker version of spaghetti) with cheese and butter and a side of roasted potatoes. The dessert was Apple pie with gelato. It was a modern take on typical Tuscan cuisine and we were thoroughly impressed. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and went to bed. Till the next update about Tuscany, take care!

Italy Diaries - Day 7 - Pisa

We woke up in Riomaggiore a little before our alarm for 8:45 am and quickly got ready and packed our suitcases. We were out of the room before 10 am and went down to the cafe. We had been hearing trains stop at our station after waking up and that continued during breakfast so we wondered if the strike had been called off. We were done with breakfast by 10:20ish so we decided to sit at the train station to wait and see if our first train scheduled for 10:55 am would be operational. Much to our surprise, it arrived on time and thanks to the railway strike, not many passengers had turned up to the station so it wasn't too crowded either.

We reached La Spezia by 11:10 am and found out that our intercity train to Pisa scheduled to depart at 11:23 am had been cancelled due to the strike. We waited for the next train scheduled to depart at 12:15 pm which was going to be a regional train. The train didn't arrive at 12:15 pm but they kept announcing that it was delayed. It did arrive around 12:40 pm and we boarded with our suitcases, only to hear an announcement after a few minutes that it had also been cancelled due to the strike! After that, the next regional train to Pisa was for 1:14 pm but it was from a different platform so we went through the onerous task of going down the stairs, walking through the underground passage connecting all platforms and then taking the stairs up at the new platform. We boarded this train and waited, hoping that this wouldn't be cancelled last minute like the last one. Thankfully, it wasn't cancelled and we finally left La Spezia at 1:22 pm. We arrived in Pisa around 2:30 pm. Thanks to the note from the TrenItalia official that we got the previous day and some trains that were operational during the strike, all the strike cost us (not counting the inconvenience and panic) was a delay of a couple of hours from our original plan where we would've reached Pisa by 12:30ish.

At the Pisa train station, we stored our bags in paid baggage storage, got return tickets for the bus to the Leaning Tower area and then had lunch at a Kabab place. The chicken shawarma plate was quite tasteful and filling. Then it took us a few minutes to find our bus stop but we were on the bus by 4 pm and got off near the Leaning Tower after about 15 minutes. The walk from the bus stop to the so-called Field of Miracles has scores of souvenir shops so we passed through them and entered the complex.

The Field of Miracles is a gorgeous square carpeted with lush green grass that is extremely well maintained and there are a few white marble buildings around it - the Duomo, the Baptistry, the Cemetery and the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower is also famously known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa because of its slant. After the tower was constructed, once the building started settling down, it began sinking on one side because of softer soil. Since that day, they've used a very simple concept to prevent the building from collapsing - adding additional weight in the direction opposite to the slant. Of course, I have grossly over simplified it but even to this day, that's the essential principle in effect. After taking lots of pictures with the Leaning Tower, we took a gelato break since it was another hot day.

After that, we bought some souvenirs and then headed for the bus stop. We were at the bus stop at 5:45 pm but had to wait for the bus for about half an hour. Once we reached the station, we picked up our bags and checked the time for the next train to Florence or as its called in Italian, Firenze. The next train was scheduled for 6:54 pm and much to our relief, it left the station just two minutes late so we were on our way to Florence. It was a very peaceful ride after a tiring hot day where we had to spend a lot of time waiting. We admired the green countryside of Tuscany glowing in the evening sunlight as our train made its way to the birthplace of Renaissance. We reached Florence after a little over an hour around 8:10 pm. Our focus had been to get to first Pisa and then Florence and in that rush, we forgot to find the exact directions from the train station to our hotel - it was supposed to be walking distance. There was no free WiFi at the train station so we decided to go to the McDonald's across the road. While we were there, we also had chicken burgers for dinner. Ironically, the WiFi didn't work there either so we pulled out the pocket guide for Florence and Tuscany that we had purchased from Calgary. We have actually purchased 4 different pocket guides for this trip - Milan (and the Lake District), Florence (and Tuscany), Rome and London. It turned out that the square where our hotel was located was behind the square that was next to the train station.

Even after realizing that, it took us another fifteen minutes to get to our hotel because of the irregular presence of pedestrian crossings. Finally we checked in at 9 pm and then relaxed for a bit. It had been a hot day and tomorrow is an early start so we decided to take showers before going to bed. That's when we realized that the Airbnb experiment wasn't bad but it's not our thing. When we are traveling, we like to come back at night to a hotel that offers a luxurious experience. Our vacations are usually aggressively focused on exploration and sightseeing so what makes it relaxing for us is the luxury at the start and end of a day. Keep reading to find out about our exploration of Florence and the Tuscany region over the next 3 days. Take care and goodbye!

Italy Diaries - Day 6 - Manarola and Varnazza

We woke up around 8:30 am in our Airbnb room in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre. Initially our plan was to take the ferry to visit different towns but the ferry wasn't operational because of the rough sea so we reverted to our plan B - using the train instead of the ferry. We got ready by 10:30 am and went down to have breakfast at the cafe. While we were leaving, we ran into our host Sandro who was showing some new guests their room and he mentioned to us to check the timings of our train out of Riomaggiore. We didn't really understand at the time why he said that but we found out when we went to the ticket office after breakfast. There was going to be a national rail strike all over Italy starting at 9 pm that would stay in effect for 21 hours till 6 pm the next day. That meant that our trains from Riomaggiore to Pisa (two trains really since there was a stop at La Spezia) and then onward to Florence were all going to be affected by the train strike!

Making sure that we had a way out of Riomaggiore the next day remained a major focus for the rest of the day along with our sightseeing. We formulated a couple of plans after extensively discussing and researching all available options. We curtailed our plan for the rest of the day to ensure that we were back in our room latest by 6 pm so that we had time to finalize the plan for tomorrow.

The ride from Riomaggiore to the adjacent town of Manarola was just ten minutes but including the wait at the train station, it took us over an hour to get there. It's a shame that the hiking trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola is closed for repairs so we couldn't do the hike. It's the easiest and shortest hike amongst all the trails between the five towns, requiring about 20 minutes for a distance of about 700 meters. It's supposed to be romantically beautiful and is termed Via del Amore or Lovers' Way. Once we were in Manarola, we made our way from the train station down to the harbor. Manarola is perhaps the most picturesque of all five towns and we were able to capture the quintessential picture of the Cinque Terre region by walking a few meters up a trail that gives the best vantage point of the townscape. Thanks to the selfie stick gifted to us by our friends Madiha and Ali, we didn't have to walk any farther and were able to get the best view and picture at a spot that wasn't crowded.

Then we made our way back to the train station by passing through the pastel colored buildings of the town. There was still time for the next train so we decided to check out the 100 or so meters of Via del Amore that's still open to provide access to a restaurant that's located on the hiking trail. Our train was delayed so it took us over an hour to get to the next town of Vernazza. The sun was baking hot and we couldn't find sitting space in the shade so waiting for our train was quite tiresome.

Once we reached Varnazza, it was almost 2 pm and we were hungry and tired so we stopped at the first shady restaurant that we spotted which had its outdoor tables under large white umbrellas. We both got lemon sodas to replenish our electrolytes and then ordered our lunch - beef steak for me and fried calamari for Samia. The food was average but we were thankful that the break provided us a chance to recharge. Then we walked through the town towards the harbor and found a nice place to sit and relax while observing the townscape. We got gelato - pistachio for me and Samia got a mix of honey and yogurt - it was just perfect for cooling down in the hot weather. After finishing our gelato and taking a few pictures, we slowly made our way back to the train station. This train was also delayed and it took us another 60+ minutes to get back to Riomaggiore.

We headed back to our room to finalize our plan for tomorrow. There was a very slim chance of being able to get out on a ferry since they had been cancelled for two days in a row. Trains were cancelled because of the strike. One option was to take a taxi but since there are only a couple of taxi drivers in the remote town of Riomaggiore and they knew about the train strike, they were asking for exorbitant amounts of money. Another option was to get our tickets changed to the first trains available after the strike and spend the day in Riomaggiore. There are only a few roads, no buses and no rental cars. We also considered some outside-the-box options like taking a train to the relatively larger town of La Spezia that night before the strike started and getting a hotel there. We were beginning to realize the mistake of staying in a small town and in retrospect, if we had a chance to do it all over again, we would get a hotel in La Spezia.

We found out that even during train strikes in Italy, a few trains do run and some are even guaranteed to not be cancelled. We decided to stop relying on information on the Internet and decided to visit the ticket counter at the Riomaggiore train station to find out the official verdict. We were told that during strikes, regional trains get affected the most whereas some intercity and high speed trains still operate on schedule (which in Italy means with a delay of 5-25 minutes). We were asked to visit the TrenItalia ticket office in the larger town of La Spezia to get our tickets changed. It was almost 6:15 pm and the strike was going to start at 9 pm. We quickly went back to our room to get our jackets and then got on the first train to La Spezia. We reached there at about 6:40 pm and made our way to the ticket office. The railway official was quite helpful and wrote a note on our existing tickets that the same tickets would be valid for the first trains after the strike was over. The last train back to Riomaggiore was at 8:10 pm so we sat at the train station nervously waiting and hoping that it wasn't cancelled already. Thankfully, the train was running and we were able to get back to Riomaggiore by 8:30 pm. We went back to our room to freshen up. We had a solid plan for the next day now - wait to see if our trains were the exceptional ones that were not cancelled and if they were, then spend the day in Riomaggiore and get the first train after the strike is over. To make things uncertain, there was also the possibility that the strike could be called off early. Anyway, we had done the best we could so we decided to not dwell on it too much and walked to the town center to have dinner.

We went back to the same restaurant La Lampara where we had dinner last night since it was exceptional and we didn't feel like experimenting. This time, we shared an arugula salad with walnut and tomatoes, rigatoni pasta with garlic and eggplants, and finally the same pizza that we had last night - thin-crust tomato sauce pizza with mushrooms. The dinner was exceptional again and we were thankful that we had a good meal before what could be a very uncertain and frustrating day. We decided to deal with that in the morning and went to bed to get some much needed rest and sleep. You'll have to wait for the next update to find out if we got stuck in Riomaggiore or if we were able to get to Pisa. Till then, take care!

Italy Diaries - Day 5 - Monterosso and Riomaggiore

Since we could not get quality sleep the previous night in Bellagio, we decided to sleep in and woke up around 8:30 am after sleeping for almost 9 hours! We felt refreshed and all set for exploring more of Cinque Terre. We went down to a cafe that has an agreement with our Airbnb host to provide complimentary breakfast and a pretty good one at that - it included cheese and tomato omelette, toast with butter, orange juice and caffe latte. We came back to our room to get ready but Samia wasn't feeling too great so we decided to rest. The weather was a bit windy too and there was forecast for possible showers till noon so we decided that we would leave after the weather got better. Our room WiFi stopped working so I told our host and then we spent some time trying to get that sorted out. Eventually we left our room around 12:30 pm.

All five towns of Cinque Terre are connected by train. The train line was built a few years after Italy's unification and was meant to celebrate and demonstrate the strength of a united Italy. We boarded the train from Riomaggiore and got off at the farthest town, Monterosso al Mare. The town is the largest of all five and has two distinct parts. After you get off at the train and reach the waterfront, if you turn right, you head towards the new part of town that mostly comprises resorts, hotels and restaurants and is relatively modern. If you turn left, you have to gain some elevation and pass through a tunnel during your walk to reach the old town. That's what we chose to do first. After emerging from the tunnel, you see a lookout point with benches on the cliff and if you walk a few steps further, you arrive at the cosy town square.

Three streets emerge from the square so we explored them one by one. The Main Street or Via Roma has the most activity and allows cars whereas the quieter ones are pedestrian only and transport you back in time. The restaurants, cafes and shops are all operated by locals and despite offering a modern dining experience, they somehow manage to retain their old world charm. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and had bruschetta for appetizer and then pasta for our main course - Samia got the mushroom ravioli and I got the tagliolini pasta with crab. Then we continued our walk and also quickly toured a couple of churches from the inside. We stopped to take a break at a cafe where I had a latte and we shared a coconut and honey flavored gelato.

Then we sat at one of the benches at the lookout point for about half an hour, getting mesmerized by the rising and falling waves of a very turbulent sea. We had overheard other tourists earlier in the day that the sea was much more rough than usual and so the ferry service (that also connects the five towns as an alternative to the train) wasn't running. The sound of the high waves splashing against the shore, the distant sight of a blue-green sea meeting the horizon and the remains of a towering old castle on a neighboring cliff makes you wonder how it would've been like in the Middle Ages when the guards atop the castle towers would warn the townsfolk if they spotted Turkish pirates. There are better safety measures today in the form of railings and breakwaters but the sea, the waves, the cliffs and the stones at the shore would have been the same all those centuries ago. It was energizing to sit in the sun on a breezy day while we contemplated the past.

After our "bench meditation" session, we walked back through the tunnel and past the train station to the new town. It seemed much more commercial than the old town in the sense that it had banks and ATMs and of course the train station,but still you couldn't spot any food chains and the buildings were the same pastel colors as the old town so it very much felt a part of Cinque Terre. Another local staple is the focaccia bread. We pronounce it fo-kay-she-a in North America but the Italians call it fo-ka-chia. We then quickly grabbed a pesto focaccia bread to a snack and boarded the train back to Riomaggiore. Pesto and focaccia bread are both quite salty individually so their combination was a bit too much and we couldn't have more than a few bites. When we got off in Riomaggiore, while getting water bottles from our breakfast cafe, I spotted Nutella focaccia bread so I got that to balance the salt overload of the pesto focaccia.

We rested for about an hour in our room before heading out again. We decided to explore the streets of Riomaggiore before we were hungry enough for dinner. Riomaggiore is much more hilly than Monterosso so we covered a lot less distance and had to go much slower to counter the steeply rising streets. Perhaps it was the evening time or the fact that Riomaggiore is a smaller town but it was much quieter and much more peaceful. We window shopped and explored a couple of streets before we had built enough appetite for dinner. This time we decided to try another of our host's recommendations.

The restaurant turned out to be even better than the one where we had dinner yesterday. We shared trofie al pesto and almond crusted scallops for appetizers and then shared a phenomenally fresh thin-crust tomato and mushroom pizza. The meal got even better once we had our dessert - penna cotta with caramel - it's like a soft custard that was delicious. After another great meal in this land of food lovers, we walked back to our room and are going to call it a night. Take care till the next update!

Italy Diaries - Day 4 - Lake Como to Cinque Terre

We didn't sleep too well last night since the bed was a bit uncomfortable and on the harder side. We were up at 6 am but remained in bed till 7 am, trying to fall back asleep unsuccessfully. We got ready and left the apartment at 8 am, dropping off our suitcases with the hotel luggage storage.

Breakfast wasn't included in our apartment stay so we stopped at a cafe and had scrambled eggs and croissants. I had a latte as well. Then we leisurely walked, with lots of photo stops along the waterfront, to the Villa Melzi Gardens that were supposed to open at 9:30 am. We got there at 9:15 am and waited outside the gate. The person who was supposed to open the gates saw us waiting and let us in 5 minutes before the opening time! There was no one in the gardens at that time so our walk was even more peaceful.

The gardens are part of the Villa Melzi that's located along the Lake Como waterfront, similar to our hotel Villa Serbelloni. There are various gravel walkways at the "ground level" and cobblestone pathways along the hilly green spaces on the side opposite to the waterfront. There were different types of green trees lining the walkways, a couple of bridges over mini water canals/ponds and some statues, most of them next to the villa. There were flowers of various colors - I spotted red, purple and white. The gardens are very nice and super peaceful but perhaps the best part is the view of Lake Como with the town of Menaggio to be seen in the distance on the other side of the huge lake at the base of mountains covered in green. The view was very similar to the one that we got yesterday from the bench in the gardens of our hotel and you could catch a glimpse of the Swiss Alps too, although they appeared closer from yesterday's vantage point.

Once we had reached the villa, we turned back and were out by 10:10 am. We walked back to the ferry terminal where Samia decided to rest on a bench by the waterfront to take in more of the serene lake view. I walked back to our hotel and picked up our suitcases and then joined Samia at the ferry terminal. Our ferry arrived at the Bellagio dock on time at 10:50 am and after another breezy ride over magnificent Lake Como, we arrived in Varenna at 11:10 am. We shared a thin-crust cheese pizza at a boat-themed cafe across the ferry terminal and then walked our way to the Varenna train station.

The first train took us from Varenna to Milano Centrale in exactly one hour. Our compartment didn't have air conditioning so it reminded us of warm summer rides from school to home in Pakistan where the combination of outdoor heat and sitting in a shade makes you sleepy. Both of us had quick 15-20 minute power naps before reaching Milan. At Milano Centrale, we changed platforms and bought orange juice from the vending machine to freshen up. The next train ride to Levanto was almost three hours and was way more comfortable since we had air conditioning and bigger seats. During the ride, we bought chips from the snacks trolley for munching, then Samia got some sleep while I wrote part of this update and then read a couple of chapters of the first Game of Thrones book. In Levanto, we changed trains to catch a 20 minute ride to our final destination of the day, Riomaggiore and reached there around 5:30 pm.

Riomaggiore is the eastern-most of the 5 towns that make up the Cinque Terre region (pronounced Chinkua-Tayray) along the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre means "the five lands". All five of them have distinct dialects and slightly different cultures but they all share the common geography of being hilly towns next to the Italian Riviera. The characteristically colored yellow, pink, green and blue houses nestled next to the Ligurian Sea are a magical sight. We'll be staying in this region for three nights and for the very first time, we've booked lodging through Airbnb which is a service that allows regular people to list their apartments and houses as vacation rental spaces. We have been communicating with the owner of our temporary apartment since January and Sandro and his cousins have proven to be extremely helpful. It's like having a friend who is a local of Cinque Terre so we plan on using his local knowledge to make our stay more authentic. Sandro's cousin Colette met us at the Riomaggiore train station and helped us with carrying our bags to the room which is almost right next to the train station. We got some dinner recommendations from her as well. We also met Sandro's brother Andrea when we asked for something else a little while later. It's a very cosy and comfortable room that has a pretty big terrace overlooking the town. The room has all the basic amenities you hope to find in a professional hotel. So far we are extremely pleased with our first Airbnb experience!

We rested in our room for a little while and then headed down to the town for dinner. We explored the marina area for a bit before heading to one of the recommended restaurants. We had salt-cured anchovies fish for appetizer, Ligurian trofie al pesto pasta for Samia and mixed seafood spaghetti pasta for me. The Liguria province (where Cinque Terre is located) is where pesto was invented and the trofie pasta is native to Cinque Terre so the Ligurian trofie al pesto pasta is a truly local dish. We had creme brûlée and a slice of peanut lemon pie to cap off our meal and then walked back to our hotel. Our plan was to buy some stuff for midnight snacking from the local grocery store next to the restaurant but it was closed by the time we were done with dinner. Now we're sitting on our terrace while it gradually gets dark - I'm finishing this update and Samia is browsing on her phone. We're going to do some research to finalize what to do in our two upcoming days in Cinque Terre and then we'll call it a night. Till tomorrow's update, take care and goodbye!

Italy Diaries - Day 3 - Lake Como

We woke up a little after 8:30 am and had our hotel's complimentary breakfast. We were in no rush so took out time to get ready. Then we packed our bags and checked out of our hotel around 11:30 am. We took the metro subway train to the Milan Central train and then bought tickets to Varenna. The next train was scheduled to depart at 1:20 pm so we had desserts at a cafe. I had a tiramisu and a latte while Samia had a bowl of fruits. The train was on time and after a one hour train ride, we were in Varenna.

Varenna is one of the towns on the edge of Lake Como. It's one of the larger lakes in the Italian Lake District which is an area south of the Swiss Alps mountain range and about 30 kilometers away from the border of Switzerland to its north. We walked to the ferry terminal of Varenna and bought tickets for the next ferry to Bellagio, another town on Lake Como that'll be our base camp for our short stay here. There was some comical confusion in identifying the correct ferry since the ferry that arrived right before the ferry to Bellagio was going to the town of Menaggio! Every person standing at the dock waiting for their ferry asked about the name of the destination town. The poor ticket checker resorted to shouting "Menaggio with an M" after at least two dozen people had interrogated him. We can easily imagine that happening every day and it makes you wonder why aren't the names not changed to make them a little easier to identify! Oh well, the ferry arrived at 3:10 pm and we reached Bellagio (with a B) after about half an hour.

The lake is gorgeous with clear blue water that sparkled in the bright sunlight of a warm day with a backdrop of lush green mountains and snow capped peaks of the Swiss Alps. Our ferry ride was refreshing with a cool breeze providing much needed relief on a warm summer day. The town of Bellagio is famous for its villas with flowery gardens that are so picturesque that people take tours through them. It's also famous for being the location where a great many Hollywood movies have been filmed and is home to a villa owned by George Clooney. Another claim to fame is that the hotel Bellagio in Las Vegas gets its name from this town and its architecture is inspired by the villas of this Italian Lake District town.

We made a strategic mistake in deciding to bring our bags with us and staying overnight in Bellagio. In retrospect, we should've either done a day trip from Milan by leaving early or we should've rented a car and driven here. The train/ferry combo actually takes longer because unlike the highway, it's not a direct route. The warm weather and having to lug two big suitcases up and down stairs at each subway/ferry station is not worth the effort unless you're planning on staying in Bellagio for two or three days. Even in that case, driving is probably a better idea. Our one day stay will probably not give us enough time to do justice to this breathtaking town.

We are staying at the most recognizable hotel in town that is actually a villa itself with beautiful gardens and winding roads. We are staying at one of the apartments in the residence of the hotel which is in a building farther removed from the main hotel building. Our apartment has a living room and a kitchenette in addition to the usual bedroom and washroom. After checking in and resting in our room for a little while, we headed out for a stroll around 6:30 pm. The temperature had gone down by this time and the weather was just perfect. We walked through the peaceful gardens of our hotel and sat at a bench by the lake to marvel at the scene - the blue water with the sound of splashing waves, the chirping birds, the backdrop of the green mountains, the outline of the Swiss Alps, the distant hum of the engine of ferry boats - it was one of those moments in life that live in your memory forever. We continued walking through our hotel's gardens and then stopped at our hotel's concierge desk to get dinner recommendations. After we had picked our restaurant, we walked to its location in the town center.

Dinner was splendid. We had mashed potatoes topped with mushrooms and French onion soup for appetizer. Our main entrees were Basa fish for Samia and chicken in tarragon sauce for me. We finished off the meal with apple crumble for dessert. Every dish was made fresh so dinner was an elaborate affair that took about two hours! Food in Italy is one of the major highlight of the country for foodies like us - the people love their food and any city or town you go to, they always have fresh and local ingredients.

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel and enjoyed a live musical performance of violin and piano specially arranged for the entertainment of hotel guests. Then we got back to the apartment and are going to call it a night now. We will try to wake up early to possibly visit the best garden in Bellagio before we leave the Italian Lake District to travel south to the Italian Riviera, specifically the Cinque Terre region. Tomorrow will be another day with a lot of transit time before our itinerary starts slowing down. You'll find all about that in the next update. Till then, take care!