Used to Live in Dublin: An Italian Holiday

I had a bad night of trying to sleep on Thursday, the night before I left. The only success I had at the attempt apparently occurred during my alarm, set for 4AM, going off. I woke up at 6:10 for a 7AM flight. Awesome! Needless to say, the first word out of my mouth that morning was an expletive. I threw on some clothes and high-tailed it to the street with my suitcase. I hailed the first taxi I saw. We got stuck at the first light. And the second. And the third… well, you get the picture. I missed my stupid flight. I had to buy a ticket for the flight leaving at 3PM. I took the bus home and waited until noon to leave again.

Believe it or not, I caught my afternoon flight to Rome and it was a smooth flight, excluding the guy sitting next to me, who continuously snorted and sniffled the whole way to Italy, normally while leaning over me to see out the window. I felt like saying, “Look dude, if you wanted the view you should have requested a window seat.” In his defense, we were flying over the Alps at dusk. Quite a sight.

I had already called the hotel and told them I’d be checking in around 10PM, later than expected. However, catching the first available train to the main Rome train station quickly became an issue due to the miles-long passport control line, and it was barely moving. Missing that train resulted in my missing a train from Rome Termini to Naples, which landed me on the very last train from Naples to Sorrento, watching the graffiti-covered station walls fly by outside of my window. The end result was checking into my hotel at midnight. Luckily, I’d had no firm plans for Friday, so I didn’t feel too terrible about the whole incident. I mean, it certainly wasn’t convenient to miss the flight, but it didn’t wreck the trip or make me miss any sights. Plus, I did have the pleasure of overhearing a conversation between some girl and her boyfriend on the train from the airport to Rome.

Boyfriend: What do you want to see in Rome?
Girlfriend: The Colosseum, St. Peter’s, the Sixteen Chapel…

OMG.

Saturday morning I made my way back to the train station to catch the bus around the Amalfi Coast. I got on the bus and our journey began. It was funny, because I wondered why there weren’t any tourists on the bus. It seemed like a bunch of locals. I should have realized something was up when the five people on the bus all got off at random local stops. We ended up in a place called Nerano, which was beautiful, but looked nothing like I thought Amalfi would be. I asked the bus driver if he was stopping and he said he was, for twenty minutes. So I got out and walked around for a while. When I got back on fifteen minutes later I asked him if it would be obvious when we got to Positano, and he said, “No. We no go to Positano. We go back to Sorrento.” I asked where I could get the bus to Positano and Amalfi and he said I could get it in Sorrento. Super! That was two hours down the drain.

When I got back to Sorrento I decided to get some lunch and walk around instead of getting on another bus. Nerano was pretty, so maybe I didn’t need the Amalfi Coast. I went for lunch at a pretty fancy looking restaurant that was reasonably priced. I had a LOT of bread (it was good!) and some pizza with artichoke and ham (delicious). I couldn’t finish my pizza, and the waiter said “You no finish. What’s wrong-uh?” I said I had eaten too much bread. He brought me a cappuccino and said it would be the best I ever had (it was close) and then he brought me a glass of something he called a digestif, which I had not ordered. He said it would wake me up. I don’t know about waking me up, but it sure scorched the hell out of my throat. Whoah! Anyway, it was on the house, so it was worth a shot. Literally.

I spent the afternoon walking around Sorrento. It’s a beautiful place, like something from a fairytale. The weather, though cold, was sunny and clear and it made for a nice stroll. I explored gorges and hills and narrow alleyways, and saw lemons as big as my head. After walking around for a few hours and a quick nap in the hotel, I went to the restaurant recommended by my hotel for dinner. It was an adorable place, and the staff couldn’t have been nicer. Rocco served me bread (which I ate sparingly this time) and cannelloni and veal. Then for dessert I had a delicious cherry chocolate cake thing. Feeling like a bloated whale, I went back to the hotel and vowed not to repeat the horrifying splurge that had just occurred for the rest of my trip. I spent the rest of my night planning Sunday. I decided to get up extra early and go to Pompeii so that I could be back in Sorrento early enough to get on the right bus for the Amalfi Coast. I decided I couldn’t miss it.

Early on Sunday, I took the train from Sorrento to Pompeii, a city that dates back to the 6th century BC, and which was ruined by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August, 79 AD. At the beginning of my tour, I was the only person on the grounds wandering the ruins of the churches, bakeries, houses and gardens of the city. I met up with the sweetest dog, who ran to me when he saw me and then walked with me for most of the rest of my tour. I wanted to take him home with me. I spent about four hours in Pompeii and saw the most interesting spots.

I had a bite to eat and then went back to Sorrento. I was a little early for the bus, so I went down the street from the train station and had a cappuccino with a heart on it. It started to rain while I was there, but I figured I was going to be on a bus anyway. After that I got on the right bus and saw literally breath-taking, jaw-dropping scenery, even with the nasty weather. I mean it – it was the best scenery I’ve ever seen. Impossibly high cliff roads, with deep gorges with clear blue water at the bottom. Houses built right into cliffs, with swimming pools on the edge of the earth. I couldn’t imagine a week in a place like that, much less to live there. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got off the bus at the Amalfi stop and walked around for as long as I could stand the rain, then went back to Sorrento. The lady at the hotel asked me if I wanted to eat dinner. She wanted to make a reservation for me at “seventeen past thirty.” (AKA 7:30) I had pizza for dinner, and finally tried the limoncello, which was delicious.

Monday morning I took the train to Naples, then got on the fast train to Florence. This was a great train ride, on which I enjoyed scenes of Tuscany outside my window. Unlike Sunday, this was looking much better. Nice, clear blue sky again. I arrived in Florence, went directly to my hotel and checked in. They had upgraded me to a double room for free! I threw my bag in the very nice room, and headed back to the train station to go to Pisa. I was squeezing in a quick peek at the Leaning Tower. Oh man, I never expected to be so amazed by it, but I was totally floored. It was so worth the train ride over. I took about 20 pictures of it and then made my way back to the train station. It was dusk as I rode back to Florence, and about time for dinner as I arrived. I went to a restaurant near the hotel, where I had the very best bruschetta I have ever eaten, and some risotto and asparagus.

Tuesday was my day in Florence, and I started early in the Galleria Accademia, where I saw Michelangelo’s David, displayed larger than life in an atrium, with the morning sunlight shining down on him. After the gallery, I walked on to the Duomo and it was so beautiful. I could see it as I approached, filling the view at the end of the street. This church is huge!! I went inside, walked around and took a walk around the outside before moving on to the Uffizi Gallery in Piazza della Signoria. There I saw paintings I’d seen in Art History class years ago, including the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. It was very humbling.

After a couple of hours wandering through the 45 rooms of the gallery, I walked toward the Arno River. With the blue sky and sunlight, it was a beautiful sight. I took quite a few photos and then crossed the river to Palazzo Pitti, a giant palace bought by the Medici family in the 1500s. There are galleries in the palace today, but I passed, since I’d spent the entire morning in galleries.

After strolling around the south side of the river, I made my way back over to the north side and had some lunch. Pizza – again. I went to the Santa Maria Novella, which was a church located a few doors down from my hotel. It was about 3:30 at that point, so I decided to go back down toward the river and walk around a bit more, killing time until the sunset. I thought the bridges would be beautiful at that time. No disappointment there! The photos do not do the sight justice. The Tuscan hills in the background looking purple in the coming dusk were gorgeous. I met a girl from Chicago on the Santa Trinita bridge. We had a photo shoot and talked about how much we loved Italy. After a quick rest at the hotel, I went for dinner and met an Australian couple and a group of American girls who kept me company through my entire meal. I spent a few minutes sitting on a bench outside my hotel, staring at the Santa Maria Novella and thinking how this was my last night on my last trip and how amazing this whole past two years has been and how much I’ve seen and how lucky I’ve been. It was a special moment.

As I began packing my suitcase for my homeward journey, I turned on my phone to set the alarm and found that I had received a text message at 8:52 PM from the airline. My flight back to Dublin had been cancelled due to an Irish Aviation Authority strike. Reluctant to take the text message as the final word, I began to panic and try to find a computer to get to the internet to confirm. The receptionist in my hotel sent me two doors down to a sister hotel which had internet. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it to work, even after trying once, waiting an hour and trying again. I went back to my hotel and decided to take the train to Rome anyway, since I’d already bought my train ticket, and find a hotel once I got there.

I took the train to Rome and headed outside the station, hoping to see a giant Marriott or Hilton or some other reputable American chain hotel to stay in. No luck, so I went back inside the station and into a book store there to look at some tourist guidebooks for some advice. I found a recommended hotel that was nearby the train station but not too close where it would be noisy and dangerous. So I walked over to it and into the reception. They had a room and I checked in. It was a little cheap compared to what I usually pay, and I should have turned around at that moment, but I didn’t want to have to keep wandering the streets with my suitcase in tow. The room was alright, but certainly not of the caliber I usually require. It sucks not being able to research and plan someplace to stay online prior to getting somewhere. But it was only one night, so I sucked it up, dropped in my suitcase and headed out to the hop-on hop-off bus.

I spent the day riding around Rome in the bus, remembering the fun I’d had there and all the amazing things I saw from my trip nearly two years ago. It was interesting to go back to where I started my travels at the end of my European experience. I had a very nice lunch and walked to the Trevi Fountain. This time I actually threw a coin in, ensuring my future return to Rome. It seems it wasn’t necessary the last time! Anyway, that was my last unplanned day in Italy.