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Come
Christmas and its time for long vacations and holidays and
myself being a travel lover and a shutter bug it would
have been a shame to stay at home in the cold and rainy
English weather. Now the tough decision is to
decide on the place, where do we go, the climate should be
good and not very cold, it was then a voice from nowhere
rang the bells sounding Itallllllyyyyyyy Itallllyyyyyyyy....
Ahhhh yes
now we know where to go, its Italy trip, the 5 days of
holidays is a wonderful time to cover a lot of Italy and
its Christmas, where else can you be other than the holy
Vatican city for X'mas.
Read
on below to know more details........
 Our
5 day Itenery for Italy
Day 1 -
Flew into
Rome, Major attractions : Trevi fountain, Colosseum,
Spanish steps, Pantheon, Forum, Arch of Constantine.
Day 2 -
Ancient volcano destroyed town of Pompeii in Naples.
Day 3 -
St Peters
basilica and Vatican city
Day 4 -
Leaning
tower of Pisa and the prestigious FERRARI Gallery in
Maranello.
Day 5 -
Venice.
Italy as
such, wherever you go, is a beautiful city with
architectural splendour visible all over even in small
buildings and roads. Now I remember the saying "Rome was
not built in a day", yes its very true.
 Traditional
drinks of Italy
These were a
couple of traditional drinks we tried in Italy. To start
with we had zambooka, Grappa, Cashaka in Rome, Lemoncello
is a traditional to Naples, and the Cocktail of Venice.
Haven't tasted such awesome coffee anywhere till now, had
coffee all over Italy and it tasted superb in all the
places.
Its a worth
mention about the food in Italy, the exotic Pastas,
Pizzas, lasagne, spaghetti, panini and the different
sandwiches still leave an excellent taste in my mouth,
haven't had such wonderful coffee anywhere, now I know why
people say Italian Coffee, you need not be a coffee lover
to taste it, but one you taste it you would definitely
love it.
 Travel
and useful tips for Italy tour
We booked
all our accommodations through the Hostelworld.com site,
this site gives you umpteen choices of hotels and hostels
to stay at a very cheap rates.
Going around
in Rome
: Going around in Rome is very easy, just get a local
map from the hostel or from a local tobacconist.
Metros
in Rome : There are only two metro lines Line A and
Line B, pretty easy and much less confusion.
Where to buy Metro tickets : There are no special
ticket counters for the metro and bus tickets, you need to
get tickets for travel in Metros and buses from the local
tobacconists, these shops are there in an around all
stations, the shops will be called "Tabacchi" and
"Metro Tickets" will be displayed on the shops window.
Once you have purchased the ticket you can use it the same
way you do for the London underground. A 3 day tickets
costs 11 Euros. They know very little English!.
Intercity Travel
: Intercity travel is one of the easiest and fastest,
you have a lot of intercity and Eurostar trains. If you
plan for travelling during the peak season, its always
advisable to book your tickets online, you'd definitely
wouldn't want to find yourself short of tickets and flop
your plans in the last minute. You will find self service
machines in all stations and you can choose the
destination and book the tickets, Don't panic, you have
display options in English as well.
Intercity Travel Note
: If you are travelling by any intercity train other
than Eurostar, then you will be given an open ticket for
travel and you have to "VALIDATE" the ticket before
the journey, you would find small yellow box clinging on
to the walls, displaying the time and a slot to insert the
ticket, insert the ticket breadth wise any side and it
will print the date and time and this is called
Validation. Eurostar tickets have the date and time of
travel printed on it and the seat numbers as well.
Good
links to explore and know more about Italy
Very
useful Handy words and Phrases in Italian
|
Billet |
Ticket |
|
Bigletteria |
Ticket office |
|
Bineri |
Platform |
|
Treno |
Train |
|
Uscita |
Exit or Way out |
|
Piazza |
Place |
|
Partenze |
Departures [always
shown in yellow in display boards] |
|
Arrivo |
Arrivals [always shown
in white in display boards] |
|
Aperto |
Open |
|
Chiude |
Close |
|
"ciao" (pronounced
"CHOW") |
for both "hello" and
"goodbye" - it's a handy multipurpose word that's easy
to remember |
|
"Mi chiamo" (mee
key-AHM-oh) |
Introduce yourself by
saying "Mi chiamo" (mee key-AHM-oh) and then your
name. |
|
"per favore" (pehr
fa-VORE-ay) and "grazie" (GRATS-ee-ay) |
Make copious use of
"per favore" (pehr fa-VORE-ay) and "grazie" (GRATS-ee-ay)
to say "please" and "thank you." |
|
"sì" (SEE) for
"yes," and "no" (NOH) |
Say "sì" (SEE) for
"yes," and "no" (NOH) for "no." Nodding or shaking
your head will work, too. |
|
"dove" (DOH-vay) |
Say "dove" (DOH-vay),
which means "where," if you're looking for something. |
|
"vorrei" (vohr-RAY) |
Use "vorrei" (vohr-RAY),
which means "I would like," in many situations. Just
point to whatever you want, remembering to tack on a
"per favore" at the end. |
|
"Parla inglese?" (PAHR-lay
een-GLAY-say) |
If all of the above
fails, ask "Parla inglese?" (PAHR-lay een-GLAY-say),
or "Do you speak English?" If your new Italian friend
doesn't, he or she can probably find someone who does. |
Italy
related downloads and useful information
 Know
more about the attractions below.........
 Rome
and Vatican city - [DAY 1]
 The
first day of our Italy trip was to get to Rome, check in
the hostel, drop all the baggages and then start roaming,
went exactly planned.
These were
the list of places that we visited on Day 1 of our trip,
click on the attraction to know more on that place.
Roman Colosseum : The Flavius amphitheatre is the
biggest and most imposing in the Roman world, but is also
the most famous monument in Rome and is known as the
"Colosseum" or "Coliseum". Started by Emperor Vespasian of
the Flavia family, it was opened by his son Titus in 80
A.D.
The highly ostentatious opening ceremony, lasted one
hundred days during which people saw great fights, shows
and hunts involving the killing of thousands of animals
(5000 according to the historian Suetonius). For the
opening, the arena space was filled with water for one of
the most fantastic events held in Roman times, naumachias
– real sea battles reproducing great battles of the past.
The Arch of Constantine : This Triumphal Arch
was dedicated in AD 315 to celebrate Constantine's victory
three years before over his co-emperor, Maxentius.
Constantine claimed he owed his victory to a vision of
Christ, but there is nothing Christian about the arch - in
fact, most of the medallions, reliefs and statues were
scavenged from earlier monuments. There are statues of
Dacian prisoners taken from Trajan's Forum and reliefs of
Marcus Aurelius,
including one where he distributes bread to the poor.
Trevi Fountain : The Wishing Fountain. At the bottom
of the street, backed by the façade of the
Palazzo Poli, looms the most stunning of the fountains of
Rome: the central figure, the Ocean (by Pietro Bracci) is
shown dominating sea horses guided by Tritons, while in
the niches on either side are the figures of Abundance (on
the left) and Health (on the right), both by Filippo della
Valle.
Vatican City : As we went during the X'mas season, we
decided to make it for the midnight X'mas mass that is
presided by POPE in St Peters basilica, its a privilege to
be in the midnight X'mas mass with his holiness.
Got a very
good close view of his highness, really a great chance in
life.
 If
you ever plan for an Italy trip during X'mas plan for the
midnight X'mas mass as well, for attending the mass you
need an invite/ticket, the tickets are not sent by mail or
there is no online booking for the mass, you need to send
a mail to the Visitors office of the Vatican city and they
will confirm your participation by return mail, once you
have got the invite mail, you can collect the
tickets/invite for the mass from the office a day before
the mass before 12 noon, mail address and the address of
the Bishops office given below.
Send mail to
this ID for X'mas mass invite :
nacvisoffrome@pnac.org
Bishops'
Office for United States Visitors to the Vatican :
North
American College - Casa Santa Maria
Via dell'UmiltB, 30 – 00187 Rome, Italy
Rome
Tel. 06/
690.01.821
FAX
011/3906/679-1448
 Pompeii
Scavi - [DAY 2]
Pompeii is
an ancient town near Naples in south of Italy, this town
was totally destroyed by a Volcano
from the nearby mountain Vesuvius, the remains of this
town are now excavated and preserved as an archaeological
site. Its worth a visit to this ancient town and its
beauty and planning is still visible through the rubble
filled streets and broken houses and temples that surround
it.
If you are
planning a trip to this place from ROME, then you need an
entire day for the trip for the travel from ROME to NAPLES
and back.
Easiest way to get to the Scavi : Get a Train from
ROMA Termini to Naples, Eurostar trains are faster and not
that expensive compared to the trains in London, you can
get the tickets for Naples in any of the automatic vending
machines in the station, plan for the 9Am train to Naples,
the travel time from Rome to Naples is approximately 1
hour and 40 minutes.
 Naples
is also called Piazza di Garibaldi, once you get down the
train, walk towards the exit, do not get out of Naples
station, before the exit, take a left and you will find
the sign boards "CIRCUMVESUVIAN TRAIN", follow the sign
boards and you will get to the circumvesuvian trains
ticket office as shown on the image in the right.
You can buy
combined tickets for the Scavi and the return train
tickets from the tickets office 5 and it costs you approx
17 Euros.
Get down at
Pompeii scavi station, its a 35 minute journey from Naples
Garibaldi, and the Scavi entrance is just opposite the
station exit.
Its advised
to take the Circumvesuvian trains due to the frequency and
the proximity to the ruins, there are also Trenitalia
trains to Scavi, but its a 10 minute walk to the ruins
from the train station and the entrance will be through
the back of the ruins.
If you have
more time and need not rush back to ROME, then you can
plan for a bus journey to the top of mount Vesuvius as
well, seems like the volcano is still emitting fiery fumes
till date.
ROME
and surroundings - [DAY 3]
Day 3 was just a ROAM around ROME, we went for the
christmas market in vatican, purchased a lot of souvenirs
and visited a couple of nearby places. It was 2Pm by then
and there was no transport, no busses or metros and
getting a Taxi in Italy was the toughest part of our
entire trip, may be bcos it was X'mas time.
Finally we
got a taxi after an hour of lazy stroll on the Vatican
streets and reached the hostel, Srinath, the bevuda [drukard]
of our gang wanted to taste the 95% alcohol that was on
the bar shelf desperately and somehow the bartender was so
kind to make an excellent drink with that 95% alcohol even
though it was 5:30Pm and the bar opens only at 6:00Pm,
cudos to our excellent and friendly mate there......thanks
a lot for him.
Finally we
left for the station to get on the Eurostar train to
Florence.
Tower
of PISA and Ferrari Gallery in Maranello - [DAY - 4]
Day 4 was a
bit of run around and a possibly busy and hectic day as we
had to cover lot of ground. We started for the 6:57AM
train from Florence to Pisa Centrale, we might have missed
the train by a minute if we wouldn't have run to the
station.
From the
PISA station its approx 15 to 20 mins to the tower by bus,
but we took a cab and was 10 euros for 4 people.
We already
booked the tickets to the PISA tower online to avoid waste
of time in the Qs, we finished the pisa tour and the foto
sessions around and started from there back to Florence to
pick up our luggages and head to the FERRARI gallery in
Maranello.
The
Ferrari Gallery in Maranello : Maranello – the
Mekka for every real Ferrarista in the world. The
hometown of the Ferrari factory and the Scuderia Ferrari
is located about 20 kms south of Modena, the famous old
city in the Italian Emilia Romagna region (170 kms
southeast from Milan). Maranello – Italy’s secret capital
– is so important for the region that the small town is
signposted right from the exit "Modena Nord" of the A1
motorway from Milan to Bologna.
The factory
is located on the Via Abetone Inferiore; this is the very
road on which one enters the town if one follows the
signposts from the above
 mentioned
motorway exit. Unfortunately, it is normally not possible
to visit the factory. Guided tours are sometimes arranged
for dealers and their customers; maybe your local
authorized Ferrari dealer is willing to provide you with
an opportunity to join him on his next visit even if you
are not a Ferrari owner – just give it a trial.
Ferrari’s
factory museum is to be found in the Via Dino Ferrari. You
can find photos of the majority of
the automotive exposits on this site; but since the
exhibits are changed from time to time, the Galleria is
always worth a visit – even if one has already been there
once. The Galleria is open daily except on Mondays between
9.30 h and 12.30 h and from 15.00 h to 18.00 h.
There are
plenty of memorabilia shops in Maranello. "Warm Up" and
"Hors Ligne" are located close to the Galleria Ferrari in
the Via Dino Ferrari, "Shopping Formula 1" can be found in
the Via Alfieri, facing the factory entrance. And these
are only the most "famous" shops. It is possible to buy
official Ferrari merchandising products in the Galleria
Ferrari, too, by the way.
The entire
day was awesome and everything was exactly as planned and
with Swiss precision, again it was a search for Taxi,
there were no buses back to the station, after half hour
of roaming around the streets of Maranello in the 3 degs
cold winter, we found a taxi who could take us to the
station, the sad part was that no body knew English in
that town and none of us knew to speak Italian.
Cost of the
taxi is 30 euros to the station from the gallery.
Next
destination is Venice, so got on to the train from Modena
to Bologna and to Venice.
Click here
to download word document on
How to Reach FERRARI GALLERY in Maranello.
Enchanting
Venice - [Day 5]
Venice is an
enchanting and romantic place with water all over, the
moment we got out of the train
station, we saw the streets of Venice with water and water
taxis and water buses plying on the excellent charm of the
city.
No extend of
words could describe the beauty and the charm that's
magnificently gleaming on the stretch of water ways
around.
We had no
specific place, but started our trip to explore Venice by
9AM, best bet is to purchase a day ticket for the boat
journeys, get on to a boat, get down in the next stop,
explore the nearby places.
Best places
in Venice would be the Rialto bridge a famous bridge and
tourist spot on top of the river and St Marks Square, you
could get to see thousands of pigeons around you, buy a
packet of corn for a Euro from the vendor, drop 1 and by
the wink of your eye you will be surrounded by a 1000
pigeons. I could say feeding the pigeons was the best of
my trips and enjoyed it a lot, with nature the natural
way, what else do i need to ask for.
Travel
Information.
London
Airports to Rome - 2 hours by flight
Going
around Italy - A lot of intercity trains.
Check
out the
 fotos
section to find out more on the amazing history of Italy.
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