Tourist life

Farewell

As we travel somewhere for some time, we get used to that place and those people who surround us. We also become a little part of their culture, because we are curious about the way they live and we want to know about it. Visiting Italy for few weeks, showed how small cities can be enormously different from big cities.
It also taught me how every culture is unique and how people see everything totally differently. Let me give you the most simplest example. In Toronto, when we go to the bar or restaurant we are most likely to tip the waiter/waitress who served us because that's how it is for us. In Italy, tipping the waiter is totally something big, because their wage is as high as the wage of an engineer so it wouldn't matter for them at all.
Shopping boutiques and grocery store would close early on the weekend.
All these small, different, unique and cultural things we learn make us understand and learn more about the culture and also get used to it very quick.

As my amazing trip ended in Italy, I can say that Italy stole my heart. I may not be Italian, but as they say "Home is where your heart is." My home is in Gaeta now. I'm planning on living there happily every after! :)

Naples Pizza

From my previous blog post you probably know that I visited Naples for couple of hours.

Naples is known for the best Italian pizza!!! And it’s so true. :)

Of course my friends and I had to stop by at the restaurant because we were so exhausted and hungry. And because we were so exhausted and hungry we realistically didn’t look at the name of the restaurant. BUT I’ll update this if I remember the name :)

As soon as we enter the restaurant, the waitress welcomed and seated us. It was a pleasurable environment: music playing, people enjoying their time. Since I’m from Canada, I’m used to waitresses to bring water as a start... Clearly, it’s not like that in Naples. When I asked for water she looked at me like I was asking for million bucks. Haha. She brought us all water and took our enormous order… Four different pizzas! It did not take them long to make those pizzas. We all shared and tried each one of them. They were so damn delicious with crispy thin dough and fresh vegetables.

As our drinks we all got Coca-Colas with different fancy things on it.

Honestly, it was a pleasant experience in that restaurant and I loved Naples pizza!

They definitely do have and make the best and most delicious Italian pizza ever!

If you ever end up in Naples, come by and enjoy their pizza :)

 

P.S Hopefully, I’ll remember the name of the restaurant and will ask my friends, stay tuned.

American flag

As our journey finished in Rome, we were on our way to Gaeta, south side and seaside of Italy. Prices for trains are cheap. It all depends on timing. Prices for train tickets are fairly cheap. The train ride was about two hours.

As we arrived, it felt like we were in another country. Formia, Gaeta was so much different than Rome. Well, I guess it was because more rural and more naturalistic I would say. The view of Gaeta is incredible. It’s a perfect mixture of nature, sea and architecture. I feel like Gaeta stole my heart, because I fell in love with that small city that you could probably walk around in couple of hours.

Since it was south of Italy it was less crowded, and not too many tourists. However, when we went to the beach, it looked like half of the world’s population was there. There were a lot of people. Who would not want to enjoy the beautiful weather on the beach?

Water was crystal clear and warm. The funniest part about that beach was when I saw American flag… right beside Italian. It’s common sense why there was Italian flag, but I was wondering why American flag was hanging there. It was so random and I had to kill my curiosity. I asked a man who was picking up the garbage at the beach, because he looked very non Italian, as we spoke, I find out that he works for US Navy and that there’s a big ship in the sea. That’s why there was an American flag.

P.S That's an American ship in the picture

Gianicolo Hill

Since I was in Rome for a week, I had to visit all tourist sights, it was a must! One of my friends did a research about Gianicolo Hill, and we all decided that this must be viewed from early morning when sun starts rising. Gianicolo Hill is known as of one the tallest hills in Italy. We looked at some picture on Internet and we were so stunned and excited for the sunrise n Gianicolo Hill. We woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and jogged to the hill. When we got there, luckily it was still dark. Every 5-10 minutes I was taking pictures. The view was one of the most incredible views that my eyes ever witnessed. You can overlook most of the city from the top of the hill, which makes it a very breathtaking view, especially to see the city's dome and skyline from far. Also, you could see the mount Vesuvius! Isn’t it so incredible? I never saw anything so beautiful! The hill contains very historic sights such as San Pietro in Montorio that is a very unique design of Roman architectural history. There's also the fountain (Fontana dell'Acqua Paola) It is a monumental fountain that was made from marbles and located right beside San Pietro in Montorio church.  Spending almost 3 hours just looking at the beautiful sunrise was absolutely gorgeous! I tried to make a collage from the beginning of the sunrise and the end, but honestly if you see it with your own eyes it’s so much different and breathtaking! Gianicolo Hill is a must in Rome :)

August in Italy

Canadian summer is weird. It may be rainy, cloudy, hot or chilly. (#canadianproblems). No matter how humid it gets all the malls and shops are open. On the weekends most of them are open till 7pm. I went to Italy in the beginning of August and the weather was amazing! (And by amazing I mean it was real summer weather there that I was enjoying every second of it.) But I didn’t know that everything closes either early or shops are just closed. August for Italians is the month of the summer when they go to the seaside of Italy, that’s why most of the shops are closed, but tourist’s sights are open. Another reason some shops are closed is because of the hot humid weather. They even have a special name for it. Streets are pretty quiet, but everything get busier when people start coming out in the evening time, except tourists, who are out the entire day. My friends and I had to pull long missions to find a restaurant that was open where we could go and eat and enjoy our time together. But hey, it’s a part of their culture that I learned about Italy :)

When walking in Rome, we could find small water fountains with drinking water. Isn’t it so smart? Especially when your bottle of water finishes, you can easily go and refill it anywhere.  OR you can refresh yourself with cold water and get a really nice tan without trying hard.

P.S oh and by the way you should really try Italian ice cream (gelato)! The most delicious thing over there besides real Italian pizza of course.