The second part of my Italy trip was in the Northern region of Italy. Between cities, I took the Italo Treno which is the intercity train in Italy. Although it was the beginning of April, northern Italy still felt very cold, but we still had a great rest of our spring break.
From Naples, I took a train to Florence early in the morning to get more time to explore Florence. As usual, in every city, we try a new Italian pastry for breakfast. In Florence, we tried Sfogliatella and it was delicious. After a good breakfast, I got tickets online to check out the architecture in Piazza del Duomo. We waited for half an hour in a line to enter the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. Once I entered, I was mesmerized by the frescos on the ceiling. Right near the Cathedral, there was a tower that offered great views of Florence from above. We had to wait in a line to enter the tower, and climb over 450 stairs to get to the top of the tower. The wait and stairs were worth it. After taking some pictures of the city from the tower, we made our way back down, which was not as strenuous as the way up.
Sight seeing can be tiring especially when we wait in lines for long. So we went to a famous pasta restaurant in Florence called Osteria Pastella, which was famous for their Truffle Pasta. It was my first time trying truffle and I loved it! After lunch, we walked around the streets of Florence, had gelato (of course), and Florence being famous for their leather markets and vintage stores, we checked out the markets and did some window shopping. My friends however did end up buying a leather bag from the market. We also stopped by a famous Panini place and got ourselves paninis, and walked up the Michealangelo Hill to see the sunset. It was a half an hour walk from the city and the hill overlooked the river and the city. We ended our time in Florence with a beautiful sunset.
A new day means a new city. So the next day, I split with my friends to take an early morning train to Milan. When it comes to travelling, I can get very ambitious. My aim was to see both Lake Como and Milan in a day. Little did I know, that was too much of a stretch. So as soon as a reached Milan, from the Milan Centrale station, I took a train to Lake Como, which was only a half an hour train ride. Lake Como, consists of many tiny towns. The train got me to Como, but to get to the prettier side of the Lake, I had to take a ferry to Bellagio. The wait line to take the ferry was quite long, but I was determined to get to Bellagio, so I waited in line and finally got tickets to a ferry. I took a slow ferry, and enjoyed the views of the lake and the mountains. A part of the Italian Alps cover Lake Como, which is what made the lake so scenic. Bellagio and Varenna are small towns, so once I got there, I had an amazing pizza for lunch, and walked around the towns. It took me less than an hour to walk around. I enjoyed my solo time in Lake Como as I was able to move through the day at my own pace. There were many benches along the lake, so I sat down and soaked in the views for sometime before I took the ferry back to Como, to make it in time for my train back to Milan as I was staying in Milan for the night. The train ride back was disappointing. I got into a train that was also heading to Milan, but it was not the train I was supposed to get into. So for my carelessness, I had to pay a fine of 50 euros, but I looked at it as a learning experience to be more attentive. When I got back to Milan, the sun had set by then. Although I couldn’t see much of Milan, I did walk to the Duomo in Milan and walked around the central area for a while before I ended my day in Milan.
For the last city in Italy, we had planned to go to Venice. I can easily say that Venice was one of my favourite cities! Although the food in Venice was not the best. I enjoyed walking around Venice and seeing the canals from the bridges. The central parts of Venice, near St. Marks Square, was filled with tourists, but I loved wandering into the quiet alleys. The highlight of the day was a Vivaldi Concert! It was called Interpreti Veneziani and the concert was mindblowing and the musicians played pieces by Antonio Vivaldi and some other artists. We were not allowed to take photos or videos of the concert but it was surely an unforgettable evening. I had two days in Venice. I also spent the second day walking around the canals in Venice, trying out Italian pastries, tiramisu and walking into interesting stores. I was able to get amazing pictures and videos of Venice.
Overall, I had a great spring break in Italy and everything was a learning experience. I also met a lot of new people on the way through tours and events that I attended and I also got to experience solo travelling in some cities which I enjoyed. Rome and Venice are definitely my favorite cities and I cannot wait to go back to Italy already.
Published by
