Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Spanish Fling

We took a flight from Rome to Madrid and landed around 2 pm. The hotel we had chosen was near Atocha Renfe (the largest train station in Madrid) - for two reasons - one, there is an express shuttle that connects Madrid airport to Atocha Renfe at just 5 euros per head. Two, Atocha is the primary station serving AVE high speed trains to other key cities in Spain. Since I had plans to visit Barcelona as well, a hotel near Atocha Renfe made perfect sense.

We were tired due to a long day at Pisa the previous day, so we decided to just walk around the neighbourhood (after check in) and had an early dinner. This hotel didn't provide complimentary breakfast but there were several small cafes around that served delicious pastries with wonderful coffee all day.

Next day we decided to finally break my vow and climb aboard a hop-on-hop-off tour bus. And to be honest it was a good way to figure out the key attractions of the city. There were two routes and we had enough time to do both. I found Madrid to be a really beautiful city - really gorgeous architecture!

After the tour, we stopped at a place that is known for its Calamari sandwiches. It was a Saturday and a lazy day for locals as well. We sat in the sun, enjoying chilled beer and hot sandwiches. The sunny and beautiful day soon got over and it was time to board the AVE to Barcelona.

AVE, so far, is the best high speed train I have travelled in. My first experience was TGV in France and then Frecciarossa in Italy. But for some reason the ambience inside the carriage in AVE felt very superior - wider aisles, better luggage storage and cleaner restrooms. Plus the train reached 299 kmph within minutes and I barely felt the speed. And the best part, the train departed and arrived on dot - I haven't seen this timely performance with TGV and Frecciarossa.

I reached Barcelona Sants at 22:40 and was met at the station by other group of friends (the Italy group had left for India from Madrid itself). In spite of the late hour, we first went out for dinner (with my luggage in tow), then walked back to the service apartments and then (after midnight) we headed for an area called Port Olimpic (a place with a happening night life) and landed at a club called Shoko.

By 2 a.m., I was wiped out but rest of the gang was just starting to get into the groove so I decided to head back alone. As I stepped out I found the cold sea air very invigorating and I walked around for some time before hailing a cab back to the apartment.

The party gang came back at 5:30 am, woke me up and then went to sleep themselves. I went for a run at about 9 am in the 7 degrees Celsius temperature but thanks to the sun I didn't feel cold at all. It was a gorgeous Sunday morning and soon I reached the road frequented by runners. Since I was sleep deprived, I decided on a short run (3 miles) and post shower headed to Barcelona Sants to book return ticket to Madrid. Near the station, I had an amazing coffee and a wonderful chocolate croissant while enjoying the mid morning sun.

The afternoon was spent walking around Barcelona and enjoying a long paella lunch along with some Spanish cava. Evening the party gang again left for club hopping and the old me decided to catch up on my sleep instead.

Next day I woke up to find everyone sleeping (they had come back around 4 am) so I decided to let them rest and joined a bicycle tour of the city. One of the guys woke up, wanted to join me and in the process delayed me so much that I had to run 2.5 km from the apartment to the tour starting point. I made it in the nick of time and had an amazing day with a Canadian guide and 14 members of the group that comprised of Americans, English and Portuguese.

After the tour I grabbed some tapas and wine at a tapas bar and walked back to the apartment. On the way I grabbed some gelato again and yes, I am paying for that (I have gained 5 pounds on this 10 day holiday across Italy and Spain). I wrapped up the day with some cava and a short dinner as next day I had an early start for Madrid to catch the flight back home. The group went partying as usual and came back at 5:30 am to wave me goodbye!

While 4 days are not enough to cover 2 cities like Madrid and Barcelona, I am glad that I was able to catch some glimpses. May be a longer Spanish affair awaits me in future but for now this fling would have to suffice :)



 


Casa Batllo


Casa Mila


Spanish version of Trevi


Man made beach with imported trees and sand

Good to know

Water:
Unlike France or UK, in Italy whenever you ask for water in restaurant or cafe, you will be brought bottled water that can cost you anything from €2.5 to €5. Some restaurants may serve tap water if you ask for it but mostly offer only bottled one. It's cheaper to buy water in bulk from a supermarket and carry it with you instead of buying it in restaurants or from vending machines. For instance, we paid €5 for 1.5 litres of water that costs 50 cents in the supermarket.

Language:
Most serving staff in cafes and small restaurants barely understands any English so it's better to learn some basic phrases and key words for ease of communication.
Plus all information is not shared upfront. Clarify all doubts before buying a ticket or ordering a meal.

Transport:
Express train from Airport to Rome Termini costs €14 per ticket and a cab to city centre costs €50. Take a call based on how many of you are travelling together. As you exit the gates at airport, you will also find shared cabs, you can negotiate the asking rate of €20 per head down to €15.
Within Rome, single use metro ticket costs €1.5 and a 6 day multiuse pass is €24. Buy the latter if you know you will be needing metro often.
 
Attractions:
To know timings of key attractions to better plan your days use the website www.visitacity.com. It has a wealth of information.  
Try to buy tickets online as much as you can to avoid long ticketing queues. Even if you take guided tours, admission ticket is still needed. 
Also note that there is access to top to almost all bell towers and leaning tower of Pisa but unlike Eiffel there is no elevator till the top (Cupola at St. Peter's Basilica offers one till about half of the way) Climbing these towers means climbing 300-550 steps. So buy the tickets only if you are sure you will use them. One of us couldn't climb the leaning tower and those €18 were wasted for him. 
 
Other tips:
Carry some cash on you as gelatarias and cabbies don't accept credit card. But leave your passport in hotel safe as you won't need it. Carry your country's driver's license instead as an ID.
 
Wifi is not a very common facility in public places or restaurants so if you need data access, buy a SIM card from Lyca mobile. 
 
Avoid road side vendors as they don't care about repeat business - they simply fleece unsuspecting tourists. A road side vendor charged me €4 for a scoop of lousy gelato claiming it was medium in size when I had specifically asked for small.

Torre pendente di Pisa

I had planned last day in Italy to be in Pisa where we would get back into Rome around midnight as next day all we had to do was catch 14:20 flight to Dubai. However now our flight was at 9:45 am to Madrid.
 
Since Rome-Pisa-Rome train tickets and attraction admission tickets were already booked (total about to €75 per head) and because I really wanted to see the leaning tower, we proceeded with the original plan to visit Pisa.
 
It was raining in the morning so we had to take a cab to Rome Termini. Onward we took an intercity train and it turned out to be a very a scenic journey. However it took us 3.5 hours to our destination and we reached Pisa around 13:40 hours.
 
As soon as we landed cold gusts of strong wind greeted us. As we walked from Pisa Centrale to the Torre di Pisa, we could barely hold a conversation because of the wind slapping hard against our faces. As we neared the tower, the wind became a gale and threatened to knock over anyone who wasn't being careful. We couldn't even get to top of the tower as it's dangerous in such windy conditions.
 
Again we had some gelato before we proceeded with tour of the Cathedral and the Baptistery (both housed in the sample complex) The museum, unfortunately, was closed so we headed back to train station.
 
We tried getting earlier trains to Rome but all options were either too expensive or too long (4 hours). We had tickets for a fast train that would take us back in just 2 hours, so we decided to spend the evening in Pisa. We had some great Prosecco, some amazing pasta and boarded our 9 pm Frecciabianca drunk and content :)
 
Back at Rome Termini we got a nice cabbie who took us to our hotel without asking for additional fare. We were all too happy to be back in warm and cozy beds though pretty worried if we would wake up in time to make our flight to Spain next morning. 
First view

Notice how much it leans
Cathedral with green lawns and blue sky
 

A lazy day

Today was an unplanned day. We started with a walk to the Pantheon (entrance to Pantheon is free). Once there, we saw the sign that we could have downloaded an audio or video guide on our smartphone but, since we hadn't, we ended up paying for the audio guide (€5 per head)

The day was much cooler than the previous day and quite windy. So we couldn't spend much time in the piazza opposite Pantheon and instead sat down for a short lunch at a small café in the piazza. The wine was good but the food was excellent, especially a vegetarian eggplant dish.

Of course we had our daily dose of gelato inspite of feeling cold and resumed walking - this time to Piazza Venezia. Again wind didn't allow us to enjoy the Piazza so we decided to get back to hotel where I spent 2 hours on phone changing return flights and booking some fresh ones as some of us had decided to extend our itinerary to Spain.

We ended the day with some wine and another awesome dinner at the hotel restaurant. 


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The colossus amphitheatre

Having learnt our lesson the previous day, we decided against a lazy morning and landed at the Colosseum before queues started running long. Again online booking was helpful as there was almost no queue for those in possession of tickets or Roma passes.

Today we decided against the guided tour (just €5.5 per head) and paid for audio guides instead (€5 for one and €8 for two) as we wanted to do things at our own pace because the day was bright and sunny and we didn't want to be rushed.

Big mistake - for two reasons - one, the signs in Italy are very confusing and the self paced tour soon became a hunt for the points mentioned on the map. Second, self paced tour doesn't allow access to lower arena and third level of the Colosseum. Now this information was NOT mentioned upfront. We found this only when we tried to access third level. So it would have been better had we taken the guided tour.

After spending couple of hours in the Colosseum we walked over (200 m away) to Foro Romano (Roman Forum) and Palatine Hill. The online ticket had combined access to both Colosseum and Foro Romano & Palatine Hill area. The ticket also said that we have two day access but what wasn't very clear was that entrance to each attraction was allowed only once. Plus the entrance to Foro Romano and Palatine Hill is common (which I came to know once I reached there) so you have to cover both together. So we ended up covering everything in one day. It turned out to be along day so if you want you can do Colosseum one day and Foro Romano & Palatine Hill the next day.

This ancient site was discovered only in late 20th century and the excavations began only in 1989. Lot of portions are now under renovation and add to the confusion as the route given by map doesn't match the actual accessible route. In the whole confusion we ended up exiting the area to see a sign at the outside that read "Exit Only". That sign should be visible from inside so that we don't exit by mistake.

After a long walk we reached the entrance again only to be told that we need to buy tickets again. After a lot of pleading we were finally allowed back in but it did ruin rest of our day.

Someone had told us that Italy is very chaotic and now we started to understand the true meaning of the word chaotic here. Imagine you are at the entrance of the attraction and as soon as you enter you are greeted with exit signs. At the metro stations we saw instances of one street name sandwiched between two arrows pointing in two opposite directions. You have to look closely to find that one arrow actually belongs to another street name.

After having visited Paris and London in peak season and never once getting confused inspite of throngs of crowds, I was surprised that there were many like us who couldn't figure out where exactly to proceed to once inside the monument. Maps handed to you seem useless as renovations happening in these attractions end up blocking a part of the route on the map and there is no signage in English language to inform you about the alternate path.

I honestly don't have a solution to avoid this confusion except to suggest that read everything carefully and spend a little time understanding the maps handed out. And wherever possible take guided tour - ofcourse only after ensuring that it gives you some benefit (additional access or helps skipping long queues). Infact for Vatican one can pay to just skip the queues (instead of a guided tour) - where you enter the museum with the guide (to skip queues) but once in you are on your own.

Today was also a long day where we had been on our feet for 7 hours and we badly needed some rest. One of us was so tired that we decided to have our dinner in the hotel restaurant itself which turned out to be really great. Everything we ordered was super tasty - I had what I would classify as the best risotto of my life!



Monday, March 9, 2015

The Vatican!

The forecast was cloudy with chances of drizzle but my mood couldn't be better as today was the visit to the Vatican! We had a lazy morning and after a great breakfast we took the metro to the Vatican City. I could have walked as well (about 2 miles) but not everyone else was up for it. However, as we reached the museum entrance, my mood darkened in tandem with the clouds above. The queue was about a mile long!!!!

We decided to joined a guided tour at an additional cost of €21 per head (had already bought admission tickets online). This helped us avoid the long queue, allowed direct access to St. Peter's Basilica from theSistine  Chapel and the knowledgeable guide gave us wonderful background on the paintings on the ceiling of Sistine Chapel and the 4 years of effort by Michelangelo on the altar wall - The Last Judgement 

The tour lasted for 2 hours and ended at the chapel. But we circled back to the museum and the gardens to enjoy them at our own pace. It's not possible to come back to museums once you exit the chapel for Basilica. 

Around 3 pm we made our way to the Basilica (through Sistine Chapel again) - the largest in the world and it took our breath away. It's massive, it's beautiful and houses the famous La Pieta by Michelangelo. The view of the square from the cupola (500 plus steps to the top) was also gorgeous

We had started the tour around 10 am and we exited the Vatican around 4 pm. Not a moment where we felt bored or tired - so absorbed were we in the beauty and history of everything around us. As soon as we left the Vatican, we had some gelato and then headed back to the hotel to rest our tired (yes now we could feel the 6 hours of standing/ walking) feet.

The evening was colder as it had drizzled during the day but still pleasant, so we stepped out for dinner and landed up at Hard Rock Cafe! After struggling for 3 days with non-English speaking serving staff we all just wanted an evening where we knew what we were ordering :) Plus having spent significant time over the last 10 years in United States on work related travel, anything American now feels almost as comforting as home! I had never imagined I would feel like this but guess familiarity does breed comfort as well!

The food was good, helpings were big and the service was better than a typical Italian joint. Overall we had a good evening and we retired happy and content.

Ceiling of Corridor leading to Sistine Chapel


Madonna & Child - Glass painting


A "modern" structure - a gift to Vatican


Inside view of St. Peter's Basilica


View from inside the dome (black flecks are people)


St. Peter's Square from top of Cupola


St. Peter's Square at eye level


A collage of tapestries

Sunday, March 8, 2015

A day in Florence

Day 2 was incidentally the first Sunday of the month when most of the attractions in Rome have free entry resulting in long queues. Plus Vatican is closed on Sundays. So instead of staying in Rome, we left for Florence.

It cost us about €65 per head (had done online booking) for a return ticket on the fast train that takes just 90 minutes. I had also done all attraction bookings online in order to avoid the ticket buying queues.

We decided to walk to Rome Termini since we had time on our hand and because it was a beautiful morning. The train was on time and we reached Florence around 11:30 am. We started our day with a visit to Baptistery of St John, moving on to the Cathedral and then climbed the bell tower with a beautiful view of the Florence city.

Each of these attractions have different opening and/or closing times so it's important that you know that in advance. For instance, Baptistery closes at 2 pm while cathedral opens only at 1:30 pm. Bell tower is open whole day till 7:30 pm. So the order we chose was based on timings. In addition, bell tower had longest queue before lunch and I knew most people wouldn't want to climb up 440 steps post lunch so I kept that for later in the afternoon. As a result we could spend enough time in Baptistery before it closed. Then we had time for a short lunch before cathedral opened. And after that bell tower queue had reduced to just 5 min wait (which was at least 30 min when we had landed in Florence)

Next on our stop was Uffizi Gallery that has really great collection of sculptures. It took us 40 minutes of waiting in queue to get inside as the entry to gallery was free. One can also buy reserved tickets (except for first Sunday of the month) to avoid queues.

We spent about 2 hours in the Gallery before we decided to head out for a gelato :) Slowly we made our way back to the station. The sun had vanished and it had started to drizzle but wind-chill was the worst problem. I wished I had carried a warm hat.

The Florence train station is very basic and has hardly any seating. It was tough to stand and wait for an hour after such a long day but soon we got lucky and managed to find seats. We reached Rome Termini around 8:45 pm. We were too tired to go out for dinner so we picked up a pizza at the station. We then hailed a cab to the hotel as it was cold and we were in no mood to walk another mile at that hour.

Baptistery, Cathedral and Bell Tower
Some parade in front of Uffizi
Ceiling of Baptistery
Cathedral
Altar



View of Florence from Bell Tower



My Roman Holiday

I spent a week in Italy in the colder month of March this year. The idea was to avoid the hot summers but more than that to avoid the peak tourist tarific and the long queues at key attractions. I had been to Paris and London last year during peak season and waiting in the long queues had really tired me out! Plus I ended up spending lot of money on special tickets, wherever there was an option, to skip the queue. So I planned this trip on purpose during the colder low season.

Day 1
Since we were flying economy and had a long (6 hour) layover at Dubai, we had kept the fist day light. We checked in around 10 am (thanks to my rewards status and low season we were able to check in early) and after a short workout, to wake up my jet lagged body, we headed towards Piazza Spagna and Spanish Steps.

I had selected our hotel in such a way that all key attractions of Rome were within 2-3 km distance from the hotel. In addition, nearest metro station was just a half a mile away and Rome Termini was just over a mile. Location wise we got really lucky!

Since we were hungry we first stopped at a small local cafe for lunch where we had one of the best lunches of our vacation. After that we continued our walk to the Piazza Spagna. It was a nice sunny afternoon and the Piazza & Spanish steps were fairly crowded - guess, there never is an off season in Rome :)

There isn't much to do here except sit on the steps and watch the world go by. Since weather was cold and sunny at the same time, it felt amazing.

Then we walked to the Trevi Fountain which unfortunately was under renovation. Renovation is the key problem while visiting attractions in low season. We decided to uplift our mood by having gelato - that ended up becoming a daily affair for us. The different flavours and amazing colours have made gelato my new favourite pick me up!

We tried Kiwi, Tiramisu and Coffee on day one at a small gelataria just next to Trevi fountain and all the flavours were simply amazing.

We were beginning to feel tired so we headed back to our hotel, on the way we stopped at a wine shop and picked up couple of local wines - a Cabernet and a Syrrah. Back at the hotel, we soon dozed off and woke up in the evening, just long enough to get a short dinner at a small café near by.




Trevi Fountain - without water :(
Spanish Steps
Piazza Spagna