Travel Archives - Page 40 of 48

Colombia South America

Candelaria by Night

Last night after my post, i met a couple of guys here at the hostel and went our for dinner. We walked several blocks through streets that were fairly quiet and then stumbled into areas that were filled with people – young people and families and children seemingly out on their own. It hardly seemed dangerous. I’m sure that at a certain point the crowds thin out and perhaps it then gets sketchy, but Calandaria after dark is not the threatening enclave that i had been warned about. Plus, there are police and private security guards on most corners, wearing uniforms and carrying machine guns, so it doesn’t feel unsafe. And it was so beautiful out; cool and breezy and quite pleasant.

I slept well in my bed. It is quite chilly at night, but i was cozy. It does feel a bit like camping as one must go outside and through the courtyard to reach the toilets and showers, but when the courtyards are so lovely, it seems ok.

I awoke this morning to a pounding headache – most likely a result of the altitude, but it is only temporary. Anyway, i had just had the rather modest breakfast provided at the hostel and i will be soon off exploring.

So far so good. I am exceedingly happy.
d

Colombia South America

Bogota – first impressions

I have arrived! I landed in Bogota this afternoon and made my way into the city by taxi. I am staying at the Anandamayi Hostel which is ridiculously beautiful. It is an old colonial house surrounding three courtyards filled with hammocks, little ponds, flowering trees, and hummingbird likd creatures. My room is whitewashed with rustic wood beams. There are shared bathrooms and a rustic kitchen for guests to cook and take breakfast. It appears to be run by young women who are very helpful but do not speak English. This is all very charming and i can’t wait to end the day in a hammock looking at the stars.

After settling in i went for a wander through the Caldalaria district (where my hostel is), which is the historic part of town.

I walked through the Bolivar plaza, which is surrounded by stately government buildings and filled with buskers, protesters, fruit sellers, and llamas. Llamas everywhere! They are probably just brough in for tourists to take photos of, but still: llamas! Not surprisingly i walked all afternoon through the streets of this neighborhood. The streets are rough, shabby, dirty and filled with dangerous holes, but they are also lined with beautifully colored colonial-style buildings with balconies and flowers; many of these buildings housing tiny cafes and bodegas. There are vendors everywhere selling candy, cigarettes, fruit, corn, and fresh juice. I have seen numerous groups of buskers playing what i can old call Colombian style salsa. It is terrific. One of the groups attracted a group of old men in suits who were salsa dancing solo for almost an hour for a crowd of onlookers. It was very entertaining.

I tried a few Colombian treats today. I went to a famous cafe called La Puerta Falsa and had Chocolate Completo, which is dark hot chocolate served with bread and butter and white cheese. You tear off pieces of the cheese and put it in the hot chocolate until it gets all melty and then you eat it with a spoon and dunk in the bread and butter. Marvelous. I can’t believe i have never had this before. I also tried some new fruit. No idea what it was but it was hard and fibrous and orange and served with honey. I didn’t care for it. For dinner i bought an arepa con queso from a street vendor cooking them over coals and had a chicha, which is a type of corn based beer. I don’t like beer, but this is quite different and i thought i should try it. It doesn´t taste anything like beer, but more like a thick fermented bready grog. It wasn´t bad, but i don´t think i would have it again. I smoked a lovely partagas torpedo on a street called the Funnel, which is a narrow, colorful street, filled with bars and cafes and young kids drinking beer and smoking in the street.

The city has so much amazing graffiti. Certainly some of it is just sloppy but much of it is amazing and ranges from whimsical to political. On the note of art, i visited the Botero museum today, which features, Botero’s bright, obese figures but also a good collection of art by Picasso, Ernst, etc. It was small but very impressive.

So far i have not encountered anyone who speaks ensligh, including the women who run the hostel, so i am relying on my rudimentary spanish, complemented by lots of smiling and nodding.

Ok, that is sort of a jumbled introduction, but i have only been here a half a day and am suffering from a combination of mild jet lag and mild altitude sickness, which has manifested itself in a headache. I think i might go out and see if the area is a dangerous as everyone suggested.

I will write again tomorrow. Sorry for the typos. i am not proof reading and it is a weird keyboard.
That is all for now.
Adios.
d

Europe Italy

Arreverderci

Last night in Venice was delightful. I went out for a night time walk by myself, down the quiet streets and past the nearly silent canals before settling in a reasonably calm piazza for a glass of wine and a cigar. It was wonderfully warm and dark and peaceful – such a contrast to the day, which was marvelous, but loud and hot and colorful. I took great delight in the fact that i had mastered my way around our area of Venice. Able to make my way from point a to b without a map made me feel like a genius.

This morning, after a coffee and croissant we took a boat back to the train station and took the train back to Rome (it was a fancy high-speed train and got us to our destination in about 4 hours). We are now staying in the Piazza Farnese at the Casa D Santa Brigida convent, which is indeed a proper convent filled with a gaggle of nuns, but they also offer some simple rooms for rent. It isn’t cheap, but it is a great location and it is cool to be in a convent. This afternoon we poked ourheads in the chapel during one of their many masses or prayers (or whatever they call them). There is a beautiful rooftop garden from which we have lovely views into the piazza where we can see people sipping wine and espresso, children playing ball, and dogs sniffing about.

Tonight really is the final night, so there will be dinner and a wine or negroni and probably one final celebratory cigar before heading back to Canada tomorrow.

Europe Italy

Venice

Venice. We arrived yesterday morning on the train from Bologna (about a 1.5 hour journey). The first glimpse from the train station was amazing and it has continued to be so. It has water for streets! I know, everyone knows that, but to actually see it is amazing. There are the gondolas, of course, shuttling tourists lazily up and down the waterways, but more amazing are the other boats: the water taxis, individual motor boat, boat delivering office supplies, produce, hauling away recycling, etc. It is quite remarkable how the whole city operates on the water.

Water aside, there are streets. There are however no cars or motorcycles and very few bicycles, just pedestrians making their way down the streets, both normal sized, and those barely big enough to pass single file, between buildings and over foot bridges, past the glittering canals. It is phenomenal. Walking through the city is like walking through a beautiful maze. Walking down each street one is not sure whether it will end in a brick wall, courtyard, body of water, or connect to another street or piazza. It is possible to use maps, but it much more fun to just follow one’s whims.

We took a vaporetto (a type of transit boat) from the train station to our hotel, which is charming, with a front door on the street and a back door that opens right up onto the canal. Our tiny room is on the third floor and looks down onto the canal.

We walked yesterday around the San Marco district, down to the Piazza San Marco, where we stood in the magnificent square and took in the sites, including a hitchcockian mass of pigeons circling overhead, and visited the stunning basilica.

We then walked to the Rialto Bridge and aimlessly through the streets and squares. The evening was beautiful. Quiteish (compared to the day) and the streets were dark and decidedly less crowded. I enjoyed a cigar by the canal and watched the boats.

Today we walked back to the Rialto Bridge and through the market where they were selling produce and an array of seafood. After that we walked up through the Santa Croce and Cannaregio areas, and through the Jewish district before catching a vaporetto to the island of Burano.

We picked Burano because it was supposed to be a colorful, quaint fishing island and it did not disappoint. The streets on the tiny island were lined with small houses, each painted in a vivid color, different from and in contrast to the houses on either side of it. I don’t think there was a single brown, beige, or grey anywhere. It was all bright chartreuses, fushias, yellows, blues… running through it were canals and along side were cute little shops and eateries. Betty-Lou was in heaven. We ate a delicious lunch after our walk and then caught a boat back to the mainland.

Tonight is our second and final night in Venice and tomorrow we head back to Rome for one more night before returning to Canada.

Europe Italy

Parma & Modena

After a few rather full days, including yesterday’s unexpected excursion to San Marino, we were pretty tired today and i woke up feeling a bit under the weather. That said, we couldn’t just lay about, so today we took the train west to Parma, which is about an hour away. Parma is known for its ham and cheese and there was certainly a lot of both. We walked the streets and through markets selling fruits and vegetables, meats and fish, and clothing and housewares. There were many more piazzas and churches to visit and they were lovely, although today I think we both felt a bit saturated with Italian splendor. It is not that we didn’t appreciate what we saw, but it didn’t feel like the first time we had seen it.

After Parma, we took the train to Modena (half way between Bologna and Parma), which is another gastronomic town, famous for its balsamic vinegar. It was quite attractive and was very quiet when we arrived – during lunch when the shops are closed. We settled in for a nice lunch on the piazza and waited out an afternoon thundershower before visiting Modena’s most famous site, its impressive 11th century cathedral, which we spent some time in before heading back to Bologna for a bit of a rest.

People in this part of Italy certainly speak less English than they did in the other areas we have visited.
In the other cities, we would attempt to communicate in Italian, but at the first error or pause, the other party would jump in with excellent English. Up here however we have had several encounters where we relied on our awkward Italian and sign language.

We are headed out now for a bit to eat or something. Tomorrow morning we catch a train to Venice – our final destination. We are pretty excited about this last leg of the journey, as it should be spectacular.

We will blog again when we are able.
d&b

Europe Italy San Marino

In and Out of Italy

Yesterday, having seen much of Bologna the previous day, Betty-Lou suggested that we take a trip to the sea so we caught a train to Rimini on the Adriatic. Rimini is a prosperous feeling town with the expected sunny piazzas and beaches…or at least we assume there were beaches. We never did actually make it to the shore.

San Marino (the city) is the capital of San Marino (the country) and it located atop a small but high mountain and seems to be entirely made up of medieval towers and walls running dangerously along the jagged peaks of the mountain. It was a delight to explore their craggy nooks and crannies. The streets were tremendously steep and lined with shops – mostly selling jewelry, alcohol, and weapons. It seems that San Marino is one of those countries with very low tax on everything and oddly it attracts a disproportionate number of Russian tourists/shoppers. They were everywhere by the busload buying up bag-loads of merchandise. Many of the signs and menus were even posted in Russian.

So we spent the afternoon climbing the hills and walls and snacking on cheese and bread and watching the changing of the guard atop the castle before heading back to Bologna, via Rimini, quite exhausted.

It was a very long day, but well worth it, as we got to add an unexpected country to the list. (yes, there is a list)

Europe Italy

Hams and Arches

Today we arrived in Bologna, a mere 40 minute train ride from Florence. We are staying at a lovely little pensione on the 5th floor of a non-descript building. We have a beautiful view of the red rooftops of the city – particularly picturesque at sunset we discovered.

Bologna is (not surprisingly) another attractive smallish city with cobbled streets lined with inviting cafes and shops and dotted with churches and piazzas. What sets Bologna apart is that most of the sidewalks are covered by arched porticos, apparently about 40 kilometers of them. This makes them particularly nice for walking in the hot sun. The other notable thing about Bologna is the hams, which are everywhere. Every second store seems to be a deli of sorts and the ceilings, stair rails and windows are all hung with enormous hams – the sort that an Italian Tiny Tim would have stared at hungrily through the window (had A Christmas Carol been Italian, that is). There are fewer vegetarian items on the menus and decidedly less pizza than in the other towns we have visited, but i think we will get by.

We arrived and did the requisite walk about to get our bearings. Betty-Lou encountered a group of jazz buskers with which she was particularly taken and we had lunch in one of the streets of the Quadriletero district.

Betty-Lou then took the afternoon to rest in the room while i pounded the pavement seeing what there was to see. I visited a few churches, including several simple, medieval ones and walked through the lively university districts which was crawling with students and lined with bookstores and noisy cafes. The walls of the buildings around the university were covered in graffiti, mostly of a political or economic nature (a lot of ‘occupy’ themed stuff). I picked up a book at an international book store and settled in the Piazza Maggiore with a glass of wine and a cigar and watched the street scene and began reading my new book.

reading ‘ham on rye’ while looking at arches, bologna

Just now we have returned from an excellent dinner of salad, risotto and pasta and are going to call it a relatively early night. The weather here is beautiful, as it has been all through our travels (except for that one night in Gubbio). With one exception all of our meals have been al fresco.

We are in Bologna for three nights, which is remarkable, because in slightly less than one day I have seen nearly everything i wanted to see. We will likely do some day trips in our remaining time here.

That’s all for now.

Europe Italy

Cinque Terre

Today we took another day trip from Florence. We had a free day with nothing scheduled (however did i let that happen?) and Betty-Lou suggested that we visit Cinque Terre. She had raised this as an option months ago, but i thought it seemed too far to visit in a day from Florence and we had heard that a couple of the town had been destroyed in mudslides…or earthquakes. Anyway we made the trek and are pleased to report that the towns are restored and it is possible to see it all in one (long) day.

Cinque Terra is, not surprisingly, five small towns clinging to the rocks above the sea on the west coast of Italy. The first town is about an hour an a half from Florence (via Pisa and La Spezia). The five towns are joined by a train but also by a ridiculously picturesque walking trail that winds along the cliffs. To walk the whole thing would take several hours (and one stretch of the path is closed due to the slides), so we mostly took the train between the towns, but along the part that we did walk it was lovely. The water was a perfect Mediterranean blue and the views were breathtaking.

The towns were similar to each other in that they were all beautiful. Tiny clusters of colorful buildings seemingly piled on top of each other, on top of cliffs, heading down to the sea. Each town had at least one tiny church and the hills above were covered by grapevines and fruit trees. As we walked up to one of the towns we ate some purple grapes from one of the vines. They were magnificent. Betty-Lou wants me to say that the grapes ‘even tasted purple’. I will simply say that they were delicious. Each town had narrow, hilly streets lined with touristy shops and inviting eateries, and atmospheric sea ports where small, colorful boats bobbed in the surf and locals and tourists alike swam in the sea.

It was all pretty great. It was very busy with tourists – being Italy, and Sunday, and such a great destination, but the crowds did not detract from the atmosphere. We spent several hours visiting the five villages and snacking our way through them.

Europe Italy

Pisa & Lucca

Yesterday we ventured outside of Florence for a day trip to Pisa, which was about an hour and half away by train. Pisa was a pretty little town and had some lovely streets for wandering but the main focus of course was to see the famous tilting tower.

The leaning tower was surprisingly small and surprisingly beautiful. I did not think it would be so white. Set against the particularly blue sky yesterday it was striking. The tower does indeed lean at a very noticeable angle and we, like the countless other visitors captured numerous photos of it from every angle. (What we did not do was take photos of ourselves ‘holding up’ the tower, which many others seemed to be doing.) The queues were far too long to wait around in the hot sun to climb to the top so we visited the neighboring duomo and baptistry, which were splendid. (Also splendid was the fact that while walking through the tourist crowds Betty-Lou found a fifty euro note on the ground!) After the architectural sites, Betty-Lou spent her newly gained money on a relaxing lunch. Betty-Lou had mussels, which she assured me were delicious.

From Pisa we took a half hour train ride to Lucca, which is a lovely medieval walled city filled with beautiful churches and winding alley ways, each more perfect than the last. There are not any major sites in Lucca, but the town itself was wonderful to spend a few hours exploring.

It was also filled with tourists, mostly filling the shops, which lined the streets. We had planned to eat dinner in Lucca, but we were caught in the old problem of the restaurants in Europe not opening for dinner until late (i never will get used to that), so we took the train back to Florence where we had a wonderful meal out doors (as all of our meals have been so far). Betty-Lou ate wild boar sausage, artisanal cheese, and osso bucco, which she said was as good as hers. I had porcini risotto and asparagus and more than one glass of limoncello, which the waiter brought me in an admitted attempt to get me drunk. Limoncello isn’t bad, but two glasses is definitely enough.

It was a very long day and we ended it quite exhausted, but it was wonderful and we went to bed reflecting on the day and looking forward to the next adventure.

Europe Italy

A Day in Firenze

Our first full day in Florence is complete and we have now seen all of the sights on my list and we have wandered leisurely down countless streets, each more picturesque than the last.

After blogging last night we ate at a tiny and inviting Moroccan restaurant. It took Betty-Lou three full days to decide that she does not care much for Italian food. There seems to be a paucity of fresh vegetables on the menu, she ordered eggplant at one point and it came smothered in cheese. The Moroccan food was a welcome change.

Today we hit the streets and sights that we missed yesterday. We visited the Church of Santa Croce, where Michelangelo, Galilleo, and Machiavelli are buried, amongst others. We went to the Church of Santa Novella which houses some excellent renaissance art, we walked the stalls of the central market and dodged the friendly vendors. There is an impressive array of leather goods here for sale, as well as beautiful stationery, and an endless array of Pinocchio bric a brac. It is odd; i do not often think of Pinocchio, but when i did i always thought he was German…something about his little shorts and bavarian looking hat. Anyway, he is Italian and his likeness is everywhere.

We did do a bit of shopping and enjoyed coffees at some exquisite cafes on various piazza. Note to readers: if you order an espresso at even the finest cafe it will not cost you more than about 1e50, if you drink it standing at the counter that is. If you want to sit at a table, that espresso jumps to 4 or 5 e, as i discovered. In some cafes though the extra cost is worth it just to soak in the atmosphere.

So today was mostly wandering, and it was lovely. We just had a brief rest in our hotel room from which we can hear the most marvelous din of the square around the Duomo – it is all a hum with the voices of people and regular, jarringly beautiful church bells.

Now we are out for a glass of wine or a snack and cigar before bed. Tomorrow we shall take the train to Pisa and possibly beyond, time permitting.

Arrivederci.
PS It is a great challenge to come up with titles for blog posts and avoid the plethora of cliches that fill the mind. Rejected titles so far: Mambo Italiano, The Light in the Piazza, and La Dolce Vita. I gave in to Betty-Lou on ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’.

Wandering North

Tag: Travel

Candelaria by Night

Bogota – first impressions

Arreverderci

Venice

Parma & Modena

In and Out of Italy

Hams and Arches

Cinque Terre

Pisa & Lucca

A Day in Firenze