After Crazying: Italy

Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts

Italy, one of the most beautiful country to visit,
It is a MUST to come and visit to at least 1 Italian cities if you have a chance to travel in Europe.
Italy is a country with rich culture, history, art and food.
There are so many attractions you can stop by in Italy.
Some readers asked me about the itinerary guide for Italy.
Hmm, I took sometime to think about the best route for Italy travel.
I come out with this guide, with some of my suggested duration of stay in each place.
Of course, in this post I will only write about the Italian cities that I have visited.
However, there are still a lot of other Italy cities that worth to visit.
If you have budget and time, it's definitely worth to stay in Italy for longer time.

(A) 1st stop : Milan. (Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Milan, located north of Italy, a city with Fashion and modern.
Milan is well known for it's Duomo(Milan Cathedral).
For shopping queen and luxury brand lover, you can arrange 1 more day in Milan.
For me, I think 2 day 1 night is quite sufficient.
Personally, I expected this city a lot before go, but it's end up not that nice compared to other Italian cities I had visited.

Tips:
-To enter Duomo(Milan Cathedral),you don't need to pay for the entrance fee , but you can only enter with appropriate attire (no singlet, no short, no sexy).
- If you arrive Italy from Milan, you can follow my following route from (A) to (I). This is the best, direct way according to Italian train route.
- The best way to travel Italy from one city to another city is by train. You can book the train ticket online 2 weeks earlier to get the cheaper price. Here is the website:
http://www.trenitalia.com/

In front of Sforza Castle, Milan with my friend

(B) 2nd stop : Verona ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
I would recommend a stop between Milan and Venice, with Verona, home of Juliet.
The city is famous as it is the place where William Shakespeare set his play Romeo and Juliet.
Verona is not as famous as Venice and Milan. However, you can discover the surprise beauty of Verona.
If you would like to watch an opera( Most famous show: Romeo & Juliet) in Arena, you can stay for 1 more night.

Tips:
The Opera will be performed in Italian, therefore you might find boring if you don't understand the language. However, you still can amaze with the music, costume and the ways the performers sing & act.

Juliet's Home

Verona, Italy

(C) 3rd stop: Venice ( Recommend duration of stay: 4 day 3 night)
Venice is my most favorite city in Italy. I love it so much~~~ I think almost all ladies love Venice.
For more detail about Venice , you may refer my previous blog post
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-story-in-italy-3-beauty-of-venice.html

Tips:
The maximum amount of passengers allowed in 1 Gondola is 6 person. However, not all the gondolier( the person who row the gondola) allow 6 person in the same time. Therefore, you need to be smart on finding the good gondolier. Some gondoliers are funny , some even sing the Italian song on the gondola.

Venice, Italy

(D) 4th stop: Florence ( Recommend duration of stay: 3 day 2 night)
After Venice, you can choose a direct train toward next stop, Florence.
The most well known bridge, Ponte Vecchio, which span over the Arno river.
It's a must to go to Piazzale Michelangelo to get a scenic view of Florence.
If you are Prada fans, you definitely need a half day trip to Prada factory outlet( Space Outlet), which you need to take a short train from Florence to Montevarchi, a small town near Florence.
This outlet is known as selling the cheapest Prada in the world. ( I heard from my friends, not sure how cheap it can be...)
Anyway, beside shopping, Florence is a city with rich culture and arts, beauty plus heritage site from UNESCO.

Tips:
You can spend another half day to Pisa, which is also near to Florence. There is frequent train from Florence to Pisa and vice versa.

Florence, Italy

(E) 5th stop: Rome ( Recommend duration of stay: 3 day 2 night)
Rome, capital of Italy, with the most well known Colosseum, and the wishing fountain, the Trevi Fountain.
Besides the above mention attractions, there are many other place you can discover in Rome.
There is also a river in Rome, but not as famous like Arno river in Florence.
Inside the Rome, there is a famous, the smallest country in the world- Vatican city.
Therefore, you should expect to spend more day in Rome, and also more walking in this city.

Tips:
The summer in Rome is relatively hot compare to the cities in north of Italy. If possible, come to Rome in other seasons, even during winter, the weather is comfortable and not extremely cold like other European city.

Rome, Italy.

(F) 6th stop : Naples ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Before going to Naples, my impression toward this city is that it is the home of pizza.
With 1 hour plus of train from Rome, this city is not so big, hanging around 1 whole day should be enough.
I did some homework before going to Naples, and I found out this city is not as clean like other typical tourist city.
The price and living cost in Naples are also lower than other Italian city.
Therefore, it's another city for budget shopping.
You have to try the so called "authentic" pizza in Naples. It's cheap.

Naples, Italy

(G) 7th stop: Pisa ( Recommend duration of stay: Half day )
This city is famous because of this "non-straight" tower.
Not much thing to see in this city. I believed most of the tourists and travelers spend less than 1 days in this city.
For more detail about Pisa , you may refer my previous blog post
http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-story-in-italy-7-visit-of-leaning.html

Tips:
-Sometime Pisa Tower looked "straight" in some point of view. Therefore, if you really want to take photo with "non-straight" tower, you may need to turn around and find the best place.
-There is always a lot of visitors all year around in Pisa , and most of us will take a series of candid with the Pisa tower. Therefore, you should expect spending more time if you want a very good photo with the tower.

Pisa Tower.

(H) 8th stop: Cinque terre ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)
Cinque terre in Italian means "Five land" , which comprises five villages: Monterosso ,Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. It's portion of coast on the Italian Riviera.

The Italian have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. The amazing, colourful terraces building and the beach have become the tourist attraction especially during the summer.

Tips:
If you don't have enough time to visit every villages of Cinque Terre, you can skip some villages. Among all 5, I like Manarola and Monterosso ( just my opinion).

(I) 9th stop: Genoa ( Recommend duration of stay: 2 day 1 night)

Last but not least, I would recommend this city--Genoa, which is 1.5 hours train from Milan.
I live in this city during my stay in Italy for 5 month (September 2013 - January 2014)
It's not a very popular city among the tourists.
Therefore, if you want to feel more about Italian culture and avoid the crowd, this is the best city for you.

Basically this is my suggested itineraries in Italy:

~~My suggested route~~

* If you arrive Italy from Rome, you may follow this route
Rome-Florence-Venice- Verona- Milan- Genoa- Cinque Terre-Pisa-Rome

Hope that this itinerary is useful for anyone who plan to have the holiday in Italy.

Enjoy~~

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REVIVING NEW POST FINALLY!!!!! After almost 2 months break with no new blog post....
I'm really busy these 2 months, many thing ( good and bad) happened ~~
After 5 months living in Genova, it's again time to move to another country for my upcoming journey.
However, series of "My Story in Italy" will still continue in this blog, with my real, funny story happen in Italy. I will do a post about itinerary of travelling in Italy in this blog too.
In the same time, I will start a new series- " My story in France" in my next blog post~~~
Stay tune my latest update in this blog- be the follower of this blog and share it if you like :)

So, it have been few weeks ago since I left Italy. One of the dessert I miss the most is ---- Tiramisu !!!
The best,real, authentic tiramisu can only found in Italy!!!
Before living in Italy, I have a really wrong conception about Tiramisu.
I thought that all coffee-flavor cake is Tiramisu.

In fact, the main ingredient in Tiramisu is Savoiardi ( a kind of ladyfinger cake, can be easily found in any Italian supermarket). These Savoiardi should dip in coffee (espresso), layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, egg whites, sugar and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.
Many modification of tiramisu that we see all over the world is without Savoiardi. ( that why it's not really real tiramisu).
Beside the Savoiardi, the cream is also very important element in tiramisu.
A good tiramisu should be soft texture layer cake, with the coffee fragrance Savoiardi, with the cream in suitable amount.

When I traveled in Rome, some local people introduced me the most famous tiramisu specialty shop- Pompi.

The unique thing about this shop is there have some special flavor of tiramisu, such as strawberry, banana, chocolate,pistachio etc..., not only with the traditional flavor.
The price is reasonable and affordable. The quality is very good with the price you paid, but I believe it's not the best tiramisu in Italy (of course the best maybe cost more expensive).
Definitely still worth to try Pompi's tiramisu if you go to Rome.

I'm Tiramisu lover!!! Do share with me if you know any good tiramisu in any country , any place~~~
I would like to try more ~~~

~~That all~~
More update coming soon.....

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Pisa, city in Toscana region in Italy, which is famous because of the Leaning Tower.

I know this tower since small... It's once my dream for me to witness the tower by myself...

Although the only special thing in Pisa is just this tower, it's definitely worth to pay a visit.( most travel website recommend 1 day trip to Pisa from Florence )

3 main sights in Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa

3 main attractions in Pisa are all in Piazza dei Miracoli. It's include famous Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente), Duomo di Pisa and Battistero.

Leaning tower originally is used as the bell tower for Duomo. The feeling to see the real Leaning Tower was awesome; and it's less slant than expected... and my friend and I were spending few hours to view this tower in different locations and angles. Of course, we acted like other tourist, taking lots of candid photo with this tower.

Beside the tower, the another two buildings beside the tower are amazing too... with sculptured decoration and fine, historic design and architecture .

One of my crazy poses with the tower....

Some interesting thing in Pisa~~~
No WiFi in Pisa? is WiPi~~~ hahaha...

The Arno river. You will cross this river if you come from Pisa main train station to Leaning tower.

Piazza dei Cavalieri- Chiesa di Santo Stefano. The main university in Pisa is located nearby this Piazza.

Last but not least, the Leaning Tower and ME again ~~~ I'm happy!!

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Italy, my 3rd European country, 3rd university to stay for my Master study,
It's also my last semester with classes and exam, as my next semester will be internship.
This Master course give me opportunity to study in 3 countries, to experience the culture of 3 European countries....
As this is 3rd semester, I'm more familiar with the adaption to new environment. It's easier for me to get use of everything.
Every semester have their difficulties and challenges; and yes, nothing come easy.
This semester the university is Universita degli Studi di Genova, one of the largest university in Italy, founded in 1481.
The unique thing about this university is that each department and faculty are located in independent campus and located in different part of Genova.
For example, the building for all my classes are situated in 3 different locations. While the International Student office and registration administration office is in another location.

So, like my previous post written about study at France and Poland, first to show is definitely the student card. Tadaa~~~

A glimpse of moment of class... Lecturers mostly speak an English with strong Italian accent. Sometime it's hard to understand their explanation.

Coffee and Snack area. You can get a cup of coffee in 0.35 euro.

Corroded metal display during corrosion class

I have 2 classes in Faculty of Engineering, which located opposite the sea. Find out this scene during lunch break. It's seem enjoyable to eat and revise in such a wonderful scene, maybe~~~ ( I haven't try yet..)

Some classes are in Department of Physics. It's taken during fire drill session.

For the whole semester, we have 5 industrial visits... Mostly is small industrial, spin off; but it's a great experience. I like this kind of visit, and study outside the classroom. This photo taken during our visit to a refinery plant in Italy.

Genova is definitely a good place to stay, with nice weather, sun, hill and sea. This city gave me more than what I expect. I had not regret choosing my 3rd semester in Italy. In addition, Italian people are mostly friendly, although their English proficiency might not so good, they are willing to help you as they can.

Genova is not famous like other city like Rome or Milan. It's not a big, busy city. Genova don't have complicated metro line ( lrt ) or tram.

Piazza de Ferrari in city centre of Genova,Italy.

Check out my previous posts.....
1st semester : Study@France http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2012/11/study-paris-france.html
2nd semester: Study@Poznan, Poland http://mush4crazy.blogspot.com/2013/04/study-poznan-poland.html

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Anyway, I just realized that I haven't mention about the city I live in Italy in my blog.
Genoa ( in Italian : Genova), historical port city in northern Italy.
Not as famous like Milan, Rome or Venice, but definitely is a nice city to stay and travel....
There are so many famous food that is originate from Italy, and of course origin from Genoa.
Thanks to my lecturers and some local Genoa people, I had tried some local Genovese food.
Here gonna introduce some Genovese food.

1. Farinata
Typical food in Ligurian sea coast, unleavened pancake which mainly made of chickpea flour
Taste of farinata-- oily, salty...
It is worth to try this food, which is quite unique as a street food .

Farinata sold in stall opposite of Port Antico, Genoa,Italy.

2. Panisette
This snack use chickpea flour too, with some pepper, salt, water.
The special about this snack is it's look exactly like french fries.
However, when you taste it, it's totally different, a bit taste of seafood...( I suspect maybe the stall I tried panisette, selling fried seafood too, maybe the taste a bit mix, I will try again to confirm the taste...)

3. Cuculli
The ingredient used for Cuculli is almost similar like panisette and Farinata. The only special ingredient added is yeast and a herb called maggiorana
Anyway, the shape and overall look made me think of Jemput pisang ( a popular street food/ dessert, mashed banana fritters in Malaysia)

The main ingredient of 3 Genovese food above use chickpea flour ( ceci in Italian )
Ceci is popular bean used in Liguria region for cooking. Flavor of ceci depend on the way it's used. Anyway, taste is smooth and pleasant.
When I searched more information about this kind of flour, there are benefits to our health,
"Very high in protein, iron ; good for stabilizing blood sugar, preventing digestive disorders, lowering your LDL cholesterol and lower the risk for heart attack. "

Source: http://passionandcooking.com/tag/taggiasche-olives/

4. Focaccia
It's a type of bread, very popular in whole Italy.
It is typically rolled out or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in a stone-bottom or hearth oven.
The unique about this bread is the dotting on the top of bread. This creates multiple wells in the bread to poke the unbaked dough. As a way to preserve moisture in the bread, olive oil is then spread over the dough. Therefore, the bread is sometime oily, especially if keep it for few days...( The best is to eat it fresh)
I like fococcia.... even the taste is plain.

I will write more about food in Italy... I love it so much~~

That all for today

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In my previous post, I wrote about stamp in Italy...

This post I gonna share about Post service in Italy.

I remember when I still small, when I listened the sound of motorbike from home, I know the postman is coming. ( Ok, I know the sound of motorbike is not always a postman, but I have this thought when I'm still an innocent kids. )

In Italy, yellow represents the Poste Italiane. ( anyway, the postbox colour is still typical red)

Anyway, the interesting part is this.... the vehicle use by postman (or postwoman)

ahaha, it's small electric car....
Anyway, I curious about it and check about the information about this electric car.
It can travel up to 50km, with "zero emission" while delivery of mail.
This environmentally friendly car model has it's name "Free Duck Ducati Energia"
There have hybrid version too, which can travel longer distance up to 200km...
Anyway, I like the idea of reducing emission of carbon dioxide.

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There are many nice places in Italy, in fact, many tourist attraction spots.
I went for few cities in Italy. Venice is definitely my favorite.
It's is one of my dream place to go ( Sometime,I though I might go to Macau first in my life to experience eastern Venice before experience the REAL VENICE)
Yes, I'm lucky, able to see the beauty of Venice in Italy.
The REAL VENICE ( why I need to emphasis REAL? because there are too many fake, imitate Venice all around the world)
Venice is a must to visit if you come to Italy.
A place where you will lost even with your map,
A place where you will keep on crossing a bridge
A place where you can't find any pollution coming from road vehicle (In historical centre, only form of transport is on water or on foot )
A place where you will find most people are tourists instead of local people.

I wish I can go again.... in fact, the time I stayed in Venice is too short....
Venice is also a place for couple, as I saw many couple came here, taking Gondola...
Gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat. The gondola is propelled by a person (the gondolier) who stands facing the bow and rows with a forward stroke, followed by a compensating backward stroke.
As we saw in some travel documentary or video, the gondolier will sing Italian song, and some people may drink wine while in Gondola, enjoy the wonderful scenery of Venice.

Anyway, It's fucking expensive to have a gondola ride. Really really expensive...
A ride around 15-20 minutes, it's cost 100 euro (RM440.00 !!!) .
We met a good gondolier, who let us share the ride with 6 people ( the maximum a Gondola can take)
He even told us some story about Venice. He is funny, as you can see his look on the photo...
(Haha, he is very professional to pose and let us took photo)

The price for gondola ride is keep on increasing every year. ( LOL, gondola ride is worth to try it once, it's enough, haha!!! )

Anyway, still a very nice experience of gondola ride. Satisfied :)

There are many thing in Venice that you may need to have some time to discover.

It's definitely worth to stay in Venice around 3 - 4 days .

Some photo I took in my trip to Venice.
Met a painter, who draw the beauty of Venice.

A city with water....

Sunset in Venice

Oh, such a cute resident who hang their clothes in this way.... ( even hanging the underwear...opps!!)

Mask in Venice ( It's now selling everywhere in Italy). Usually, mask is wear during the Carnival of Venice, which is held around February-March annually.