Ciao Italia!

Ciao ciao!

It has been a while since my last article for Insider. The reason is that I was longing for something interesting and fascinating enough to get me start typing. It came quite late though, but definitely my trip to Italy for the autumn holiday has given me and my friends so many up and down experiences. Our 5-day-trip covered 2 destinations: Venice and Rome; if Vatican is also counted then we covered 3 places during our holiday. It was a pity that we also wanted to visit Florence while getting in depth about the other two cities but only got 5 days. From a more optimistic perspective, it means another trip to Italy is waiting for us!

 

Venice

One of us incessantly said with a joking tone when we were planning for the trip: “Wherever is optional, but Venice is a must, guys it’s gonna sink real soon!”. True that, the lagoon city is facing the threat of permanent submersion in a few generations as a result of the groundwater pumping decades ago which has been stopped and the sea-level rise. While the city is still in its time, we got the chance to get lost and admire the aesthetic vibe of turquoise canals, moist atmosphere and the Venetian Gothic architecture. I highly recommend whoever planning to visit Venice to take a Gondola ride that offers you a chill tour on water with guiding information about Venice or whatever you want to know. A bonus point is that those Gondoliers are really cool and funny so let’s try talking to them.

Rome

Welp, this is definitely a tourist city. Tourists everywhere at anytime. Trevi fountain as an example of a beautiful spot but packed with cameras and human beings. For those fans of Roman mythology, a visit to Pantheon should serve you well. Next thing you should do in Rome is to have an overall view of the city and the best way to do it is by visiting Castel Sant’Angelo and go to the top of this cylindrical building. From here you can see almost all important wonders of the city: the Roman Forum, Pantheon, Vatican city, … What’s more, there is a restaurant here with very quality food where you can have #lunchwithaview to all these beautiful sceneries. I was always wondering how human back in the time can manually constructed such meticulous and giant structures.

Vatican City

A must while staying in Rome. The queuing before entering St. Peter’s Basilica is not that long as I expected. The line kept moving and you don’t have to stand in one place for more than 15s. For the lucky ones, you might get a chance to see the Pope in flesh during your visit as we did! Once inside Vatican City, you should not miss the Sistine Chapel and prepare to be wow by its ceiling paintings as well as other masterpieces of High Renaissance art by Michelangelo.

Some ups and downs #wheninRome

This is a sad part but let be realistic: Rome is a tourist city that filled with thieves and pickpockets. Some of us were the victims of bad guys there and partly this has affected our impression on the city negatively. While travelling around Rome and Italy in general, you really should be aware of your surrounding and people around you. If you are unlucky and get robbed (backpack, wallet), be calm and try searching around as the bad guys don’t always take everything. They only take cash, valuable things and leave your documents (passport, RP) somewhere to avoid being caught red handed.

 

Photos by Trung Dao