A short trip to Italy

Europe has always fascinated me and has been a top tourist destination for ages. I had the chance to get a small taste of that in 2014. It was during the summer of 2014, around the 4th of July weekend. It was a very short backpacking trip. I visited three places: Venice, Florence, and Rome. This blog is an attempt to summarize my experiences in these three cities. 

Venice: a city of canals

Venice: A city of canals 

Venice was our first stop in Italy. It is a city of narrow and crowded streets, surrounded by canals. It's a very romantic city. The gondolas with couples reminded me of the famous Bollywood song: "do lafzoon ki hai dil ki kahani ......"

Gondola in front of Rialto bridge

Piazza San Marco or Saint Mark's square is a famous plaza right at the heart of the city. This place is located right next to the Basilica. The plaza at San Marco is full of restaurants and there were live music all around. It was an unforgettable experience to sit here and listen to live music, with some traditional Italian food and a nice Italian wine. 

A view of the Basilica 

Transportation in Venice is through the canals. They have water bus or vaporetto that takes you from one  station to another. Although Venice is small city and you can basically walk throughout the city, these water buses are nevertheless very effective and it saves a lot of time. It is also your best bet for traveling to places like the Murano island. 

Glass manufacturing in process (Murano island)

Murano is a small island which is famous for glass making. It has many glass factories which manufactures glass items for export all over. If you are travelling to Venice, this place is a must see. It has many guided tours of the glass factories. It's also a good place to buy Murano glass souvenir item.

A glass made structure at the Murano island

The Murano island was our last stop in Venice. After this we headed for the city of Florence.

The City of Florence

Florence is a city famous for its architecture. The short stay at Florence can be summed up by a visit to Galleria dell'Accademia which house the famous statue of David, and a visit to the Duomo. 

After waiting in the queue for about an hour and a half, we finally got to enter Galleria dell'Accademia. Although there is a collection of other statues of Michelangelo, and a variety of other sculptures and paintings from the 15th and the 16th centuries, the star attraction of the gallery is the statue of David. The level of details in the statue of David is beyond imagination.  

Statue of David

Face of the statue

Level of details in the statue, down to the veins

After Galleria dell'Accademia, we headed for the Duomo. The dome of the cathedral is adorned with paintings which is a representation of The Last Judgement.

The dome of the cathedral 

Paintings on the dome of the cathedral 

Paintings on the dome of the cathedral

We climbed up to the top of the Duomo, and from there you get a view of the entire city of Florence.

View from the top of the Duomo

View from the top of the Duomo

Next we headed to Rome, which was our last stop for this short trip.

Rome and the Vatican City 

The capital city of Rome is a busy and populous city when you compare it to the city of Venice or to Florence, which is very calm, peaceful, and relaxed.

Our tour of the city started with a visit to the Colosseum. The oval amphitheater located at the center of the city and constructed with concrete stone is one of the greatest and world famous piece of architecture. Scenes from the Russell Crowe starrer Gladiator comes to mind once you are inside the Colosseum; someone there shouts: "Are you not entertained?"  

Colosseum

On the last day of our trip, our destination was the Vatican city. The Vatican city is an independently recognized state which is ruled by the Pope. Inside the Vatican city we went to the Vatican city museums and also inside the Sistine Chapel. Shown below is a photo collage with some sculptures and paintings from inside the Vatican museum. 

It all ended with a stop at St. Peter's Square, a plaza located right in front of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican city. 

St. Peter's Square in front of St Peter's Basilica

With that ended the short trip to Italy. However, the blog would be incomplete without acknowledging my companion for the trip, Arindam, who made this possible. 

Me and Arindam, somewhere in the streets of Venice