Firenze, Italia

I’Brincello was our restaurant in Florence. Our first night we were searching for some good Italian food when we came across a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant and decided this is where we wanted to eat. We were seated and soon found ourselves eating delicious garlic olive oil pasta with chili sauce and eggplant. We needed to drink some good Italian Chianti with our meal so we asked the waiter Max, how much for a glass. He handed us a liter and a half of chianti and said in broken English…"I give..you drink”. and that we did, the whole liter and a half.  It was so good we went back the next night!

 

At our rather luxury hostel, we met up with some new friends and went to the rooftop bar. There, a bottle of wine was only 5 Euro! (This was not the full name of the wine)

Cathedral in the middle of town. Florence is very beautiful and easily walk-able. Every street surrounding this church was packed with great outdoor shopping, especially for low priced high quality Italian leather.

 

Replica of the famous statue of David by Michelangelo. It is one of three in the city. The original was removed from this location in 1873 due to weather deterioration. It is now in a museum nearby.

Famous bridge in Florence, lined with many jewelry shops overlooking the water.

Close up of the outside of the jewelry stores. Before getting on the bridge we had no idea that’s what these buildings were.

Overlooking the water while on the bridge. 

We stumbled upon a tiny artist’s studio while walking the streets of Florence. Stopping in, we were eagerly greeted by a very friendly Italian artist, Gianni Silvestri. He spoke very broken English but strived on good people and good conversation.

After talking with him for some time and looking at his artwork we made some purchases. Sitting at his little work desk, glass of wine and numerous supplies around him, Gianni personally wrote us a letter of authenticity and wrapped up our artwork for us. It was such an experience again, meeting and talking with a local Italian artist who was so high on life.

Thought this was funny to see while walking back from Gianni’s shop. An old banged up blue and orange bicycle still chained up for protection and amusing graffiti of a person running from a man with a club.

When in Rome…

We can’t believe this is the last leg of our trip already, Italy.  It doesn’t seem like that long ago we were traveling all about Dublin telling of our tales amongst the Irish.  And now here we are; our last week in Europe.  But what better way to end it than in the great country of Italy? 

After returning our car in Spain, which by the way is nothing like that in The States.  They direct you via signs to a parking garage where you just park the car then walk to the terminal which in our case was about 600 yards away.  You then just give them the keys, they ask you if it is full and that’s it.  No one from their company ever saw the actual car but I guess they do have our credit card info.  We then flew to Rome and arrived in our hostel around 7:00 PM. 

About five minutes after arrival we left the hostel ready to explore the great city of Rome and get some pizza!  And get some pizza we did.  Two slices at the first place then one more each at another place just to compare.  The pizza is good but not as good as we both expected.  I think to get the really good pizza you have to go to a restaurant, we only went to the quick by the slice places where they actually sell it by weight.  Rome at night is awesome.  There are people everywhere and the streets are full of Italians trying to get you to eat at their restaurants.  After a long day of travel and a full belly of pizza we retired for the night completely satisfied and aware of the adventures in store for the next day.

I have never been in a town that is so old.  As we walked around Rome it seemed as though everything was built upon ancient ruins which were built upon ancient ruins and it was true.   Where The Coliseum stands today was once a huge plaza with a fountain.  The fountain was just uncovered within the last 20 years and you can see the shape of the fountain right next to the massive arena.

The Coliseum is amazing.  Having a background in construction it was interesting to see how a structure that massive could have been built; what almost 2000 years ago?  Next we hoofed it up to the P antheon a little dehydrated and nearly soaked in sweat under the hot sun of  Rome.  Luckily for us the Ancient Romans were very smart and brought fresh water from afar via aqua-ducts.  These ancient aqua-ducts are no longer in use that I am aware of, but you can still drink the water from every fountain in Rome and drink it we did, lots and lots of it all day.

The Pantheon is basically an enormous dome with a front facade like that of The Parthenon in Greece with huge Doric columns.  As we walked into the structure, free of charge, we stood in awe of its greatness.  The ceiling in the shape of  dome with opening at the crest that must be 12 feet across to let in sunlight.  We sat there for about 30 minutes just taking in the scenery and talking about what we thought each of the many monuments and statues inside meant.  We find it more fun to imagine and decide ourselves what they mean, rather than find the true meaning!

With each stop in Rome I felt America get younger and younger.  Being in places that were built in times B.C. its hard to imagine my own country celebrated its 200th anniversary only 33 years ago.  The great Roman Empire lasted nearly 1500years, kinda makes you think…

After our stay at the Pantheon we felt we had no choice but to head to Vatican City and St. Peter’s Basilica.  We were not sure how we would get in, hearing that the Vatican is its own country, the smallest in The World.  As we walked into the plaza there was no gate, no walls, no guards, we didn’t even know the moment we crossed into the country so I suppose that was a thing of the past and not its simply a part of Rome.  St. Peters Basilica was beautiful and enormous.  There are so many statues and chapels depicting stories of past Popes and Saints.  The most interesting part to me was being in the tombs of the popes.  Under the floors of the basilica are the tombs of Popes.  Not being Roman Catholic, it didn’t have as much meaning to me as it did others for as we walked by the tomb of Pope John Paul II there were many people gathered around weeping and embracing each other.  Feeling out of place, we left the tombs and made our way over to the Sistine Chapel.  Unfortunately, the chapel was closed for the day and would not open until after we were to leave Rome so sadly we headed back to our hostel.

After walking about 500 miles in the hot Roman sun we were hungry, very hungry, and there is no better place to be as hungry as we were than in Rome.  After walking the streets for two days being offered excellent Italian food around every corner we set out to feast.  We thought the best way to find a good restaurant was to look at everyone else’s food as we walked and whatever food looked best we would eat there.  We decided  on a place in a narrow street with outdoor seating.  After deciding not to order the Risotto fungi porcini rughetta – translated: Rice, Boletes, Rocket – I ordered the Spaghetti al Gricia and Anna the Agnolotti al Teganino – lenten ravioli with peas and ham.  Delicious, hit the spot, couldn’t have been more satisfying and of course we washed it down with some great vino rosso.

-Ross

Sunflowers and Vineyards

I need to begin with two points. First point, visiting major cities is amazing because you see so much history, statues, monuments, and churches. Yet, something about the countryside is a more personal experience to take in.

Second, visiting a winery is a relatively different experience in Europe than in the States.

A chateau outside wine country in a small town in France, was our destination. The previous day was Sunday and wineries were not open so we explored the city of Boudreaux. It was quiet but nice to see the city.

This day was Monday and we were off in our rented car to see French wine country. You know you are there as soon as you get off the exit. Rolling hills as far as the eye can see of vineyards and sunflowers. In the old wine town of St. Emilion we were faced with many options.

As stated before, the wine tasting experience is far different than that of the States. Here, you simply pull up a dirt driveway, upon an old house and are greeted by dogs. They bark at you until you get out of the car and after that are the most friendly creatures you’ll meet. The first winery we went to was just like this. A girl came outside knowing basically no English and guided us into the side of her house. Upon opening the large wooden doors we were presented with walls lined with unlabeled full bottles of red wine and a tasting table. On the wall behind us was a shelf of homemade jellies. They had a few different types of red wines, all merlot grapes considering the region we were in. The wine was fantastic. After trying three we settled on our favorite bottle to buy and also had the opportunity to sample the jellies and proceeded to purchase two small jars as well. They were made from the wine. Absolutely delicious. Taking in this type of setting is surreal. No crowds, no extra prices, no pressure. Just a personal, quiet setting interacting with a girl who’s family has worked and owned a winery their entire lives in this beautiful country. I could of stayed there forever.

Upon leaving this winery, we went to another not far away. A larger man greeted us in French and again, he knew no English but this was okay. He led us into his wine cellar. First room was full of large steel tanks, the second barrels, and the third just a long wooden table with wooden chairs around it. He put two glasses on one side where we took a seat and he sat at the other. He only made two types of reds and we sampled each. The samples, instead of straight out of the bottle, were small carafes to sample out of. Both were good but we settled on one to purchase and he handed us the bottle.

We set out after this to our little French chateau in the hillsides. With a few hours ahead of us in the car we began our journey. Finally we arrived pulling up a dirt road. Despite how beautiful the landscape was, we pulled up to a large rundown looking house and my heart sank. Seemed a little rundown to be a hotel…and I couldn’t imagine how this is where we were staying. A man was sitting at a white patio table when we parked the car, and two dogs, again, greeted us as we got out of the car. Walking in we found a man sitting in the kitchen watching the Sopranos. We asked if he spoke English and he said a little. Turns out he was joking with us, he was originally from England and knew perfect English. This was a relief as well as the interior beauty of the house itself. Our room was massive. A small kitchenette, table and chairs, bathroom, country bed, large closets and best of all, tall doors opening to a small balcony which overlooked the hillside, down past the sunflowers and to the street below. Two goats, that must of been the owners, wandered outside all night. They were funny to watch.

We were hungry and since we already had the jellies and wine, we unpacked sausage, bread, and two different types of cheeses we had purchased early that morning and made up a platter.  Then we took it all to our balcony where we ate our food, drank our wine, and watched the sun set in front of us.

Standing outside late that night, the moon lit up half the yard and you can see many stars in between the clouds. Hearing the sounds of the crickets and feeling the cool breeze I couldn’t break myself away. So vast and beautiful you forget places like this existed and have been there for so many years. After so many nights in  a city the sounds of the country is so peaceful. You feel you can just clear your mind and take it all in minute by minute never wanting to take your eyes away.

Sadly we only had one night here. We left the next day to drive to Gerona, Spain to catch our flight to Rome. But I’ll always think of that beautiful old French chateau hotel sitting on top of that hill and it’s magnificent atmosphere.

~ Anna