Incredibile Italia : Italy Trip 2015

Namaste. I planned this trip to Italy since August 2014 with Nad and two other girls (but one of the girl was sick so she could not make it and the other girl backed out when Nad and I were already in Italy). So I bought the flight ticket (Saudi Airlines) worth SAR 3500 (I could get it for SAR 2800 or cheaper actually) and I brought along about  €2000 as my pocket money, accommodation, transportation and for berfoya-foya. We booked our hotel and hostel via Booking.com.

12/3/2015

I just finished packing in the afternoon and I rushed to King Khaled International Airport at 2100 hours. My flight to Jeddah (transit) departed at 2300 hours.

13/3/2015

I arrived in Jeddah at 0045 hours. My next flight is to Malpensa Airport, Milan at 0315 hours. The journey took about 5 hours and I arrived in Milan at 0700 hours. The temperature was 7°C and I waited for Nad to arrive from Barcelona at 
Terminal 3. Nad arrived at 0900 hours and we
took a bus to Milan Centrale (about 50 km away) at 
0930 hours. We left our luggages there for €6 each luggage and took a metro ride (€ 1.50) to to Piazza Del Duomo to get to the famous Milan Cathedral/ Duomo and...

Tadaaa..I'm here mom!-Coco 2015

Milan Duomo is the second largest church in Italy (one of the largest church in the world) and it took almost 600 years to complete! This cathedral is well known for its gothic style (large, colourful windows and and pencahayaan yang lebih baik maybe) dan banyak architect yang famous terlibat dalam pembinaan duomo ni, one of them is Leonardo da Vinci. Haibat kan?

Punya la halus binaan dia. Cantikkan?

Banyak tingkap yang colourful dan ada imej yang cantik, bila cahaya matahari memancar memang cantik sangat view dalam cathedral ni.

Travel buddy

A proud Malaysian in Milan

Comel kan kedai buku ni

We went back to the centrale and took a train ride to Venezia at 1635 hours. The journey took more than 2 hours and we reached Venezia St Lucia station at 1900 hours. Cuaca memang sejuk sangat and we were not sure how to get to our hotel area by water taxi. After hours of walking and dragging our luggages on the uneven road/pathway, finally we found our gothic looking with Medieval style hotel. Nak putus nyawa angkat luggage sebab takde elevator. Hehe. The receptionist is Ula from Bangladesh and he is a very helpful man, especially after he knew that we are Muslims from Malaysia (and he mentioned so many good things bout Tun M). Our room is sooo big and facing a church that rings its bells at interval of times. We had our bath, solah and went out for dinner at Bacaro Jazz Bar. I had spaghetti nero (nero means black, and it has lots of squid).

They decorate the bar with colourful bras. Hehe

14/3/2105

We walked around Venice and went to Piazza St Marco. It's a big square with cafes and shopping lots surrounding it.Ada banyak burung merpati and orang jual monopod kat sini.

St Mark's Basilica

St Marco's square

Astrological clock

Lost in Venice :)

Then we walked back to the bridge (that 1 famous bridge in Venice) to take photos. Nad hampir2 terkena dengan pick pocket here. So guys, sila berhati hati with your belongings and keep your bag zipped all the time. In the evening, we went for a gondola ride (€80 per gondola) and I managed to see the Ponte Dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs: a bridge where inmates will sigh, looking outside before being taken to their cell) and the Doge's palace. We bought a pizza from Aurora Pizza e Kebab, a Turkish pizza restaurant and shared it with a dog at the boat jetty.

This guy is funneh!

Doge's palace

Ponte dei Sospiri

At around 2000 hours, we went to Henri Museo (art museum) to see the masterpieces of Henri Rossseou. All I can say is, I don't really understand art. Hehe.

Kitorang jalan-jalan and masuk kedai jual Venetian mask (dipakai masa Carnival of Venice). The masks sangat cantik yet so creepy as well.

Harga dia boleh mencecah beratus euro.

A stall yang jual barang-barang spaghetti

Coco in a bookshop; the notebooks are handmade by leather and pen bulu-bulu dijual sebagai souvenirs

15/3/2015

We checked out from the hotel and went to Venice airport (our actual plan was to rent a car and drive to Verona from Venezia). However we have to make an adhoc change to our plan since both of us takde international driving license (the girl who has the IDL backed out from the trip). So we took a bus ride from the airport to Mestre Train Station and took train to Siena via Firenze (Florence). 

I sat next to a local guy and we talked about Malaysia, Italy and Saudi. Then he told me that we might not be able to take regional train to Siena due to strike (regarding the train services). Pulek dah. We reached Firenze station and took a 1 hour + bus ride to Siena instead of train. We reached Siena bus stop at around 2200 hours. It was freaking cold tahap berasap mulut, it was drizzling and there was no other bus to our hostel. Nangeh! Haha. We managed to get a cab at 2300 hours. Finally, we ended our long, tiring day after we reached our hostel and received a warm welcome from the receptionist of the hostel :). Our hostel room is so fine, two beds for both of us and a sharing bathroom/toilet.

16/3/2015

I personally think that public transportation agak kurang efficient in Siena. We had to buy bus tickets from shops,petrol stations and hotels. We took bus num 4/35/36 to the town and then we walked to Museo Civico.

Gila tak cantik?

Ni simbol Siena; she-wolf: a wolf menyusukan 2 orang budak kecil.

This is one of the smallest museum i've been to tapi 
one of the best. There are many sculptures
and drawings on the wall and ceilings.

The famous sculpture

The drawings were so detail that I could actually 
understand the stories behind it. 
Lepas habis tu, kitorang jalan pergi Museo Tortura 
and Accademia Musicale.

This is Museo Tortura (Torture museum) which shows the judiciary system and punishment during medieval period.

17/3/2015

Hari ni adalah hari beriadah (mampuiii). We rent 
bicycles and cycled dekat kawasan Siena. Penat gila 
dengan muka bumi yang kejap naik kejap turun
tapi pemandangan dia, oh tuhan.

Cycling in Siena. Bunyi menarik tapi orang tak tau betapa gigihnya kena mengayuh

Then, we took a bus ride from Siena to my favourite 
city, Florence (Firenze) via Firenze Centrale
(Santa Mona Nouvella). We checked in our hostel
then went out to Hard Rock Cafe Firenze to have 
supper. Sedap gila brownies dia.

In the middle of the medieval town

18/3/2015

Today, we went to Pisa Centrale from Firenze SMN. 
We had lunch dekat a Turkish restaurant, 
then we walked to the famous leaning tower of Pisa. 
Fuh, stunning gila pemandangan dia.

Enjoying my lollipop from Amsterdam. Hehe

Nearby Pisa Tower tu ada book market yang jual 
buku-buku lama dated 1800 
and they are quite pricey.

It's like a flea market, selling only books. Ah, heaven :)

At night, we went to Piazzale Michealangelo and 
it was so sejuk kat atas tu. Dari situ, we can enjoy the
view of the town. Sumpah cantik.

One of my favourite town

Please include Firenze in your itinerary to Italy.

This is not the original David sculpture.

19/3/2015

So today we are going to Galleria de Accademia 
where the real David sculpture by Michealangelo 
is kept. David stands 5.16m in height and I was so 
berdebar-debar to see it before my very eyes. 
Unfortunately, tak jumpa gambar David dalam ni. 
Sob sob. Later in the evening, kitorang naik train to Roma and we 
arrived at Roma Termini Station at 1900 hours. 
We walked to our hostel - The Yellow (using GPS and
 google maps as guide). So for tonight our roommates 
were Elaiene from Brasil and a girl from China. 
We had dinner at a restaurant owned by an Egyptian 
guy :)

20/3/2015

 VATICAN!

We took metro from Termini to Ottavio to go to 
Vatican. We have to que in a very 
long line and guess what, we que for 4 hours just 
to get to the entrance. Gila mencabar la.
So guys, kalau korang nak pergi, just buy the express 
pass. You gotta pay for € 25-40 but I think berbaloi daripada beratur panjang kedahak. Haha. The museum was so overcrowded but I managed to enter the Sistine Chapel. Terlampau ramai orang,
I couldn't enjoy the place much. Then we walked to the St Pietro Basilica and I
was sooo excited to see it in front of my own eyes sebab dah lama teringin nak
pergi sini since baca newspaper when I was in secondary school :)

That.

Sign dia kecil je

We did not go in sebab que panjang nakharomm

Just ignore that ugly shoes

The famous Vatican museum staircase

After years reading about it, finally dapat juga sampai ke sini :)

From Vatican, we walked to Piazza Navona and this 
place is so lovely and hidup with so many people, 
and so many artists selling their paintings and 
artwork here.

Don't you think this is cool?

Lively

Pantheon and Santa Maria Martyr

one of the best spot to lepak

Kononnya nak pergi Fontana de Trevi, but it was 
under-construction, therefore tiadalah 
air di situ. So we continue walking back to our hostel.
 Jauh tapi it was fun :)

21/3/2015

Today is the most exciting day ever! After breakfast, 
we took a cab to Colosseum or 
known as Flavian Amphitheater. This is a huge 
building/arena built for battles for 
gladiators and wild animals. I rent an audio guide for €5 (you can put on your
earphone and it is worth renting this as you can get so many infos).
The Colosseum is simply astonishing and you can actually imagine how the
battles take place if you watch 'Gladiator'. Seriously, I don't feel like leaving
the Colosseum for I love the history of the arena itself.

Roma's pride

Phew..

Horse carriage and the colosseum

That is senator's name carved on the seat reserved for him

 

I'm so in love with this

Arc of Constantine

Lepas puas pusing Colosseum, we walked to 
Vittoriano. This place has strict policies, 
you can't eat/drink, you can't sit on the staircase 
and you can't even make funny 
poses there. Pakal je cantik, kalau tak rasa 
macam malas juga nak masuk. Hehe.

Impressive gila

Chapel in Vittoriano

Kitorang balik hostel and singgah di Indian Halal 
restaurant. We had seafood spaghetti, chicken curry 
and mutton beriyani. The food taste so damn good! 
At night, we went to the Yellow Bar next to the hostel 
to have drink dengan our roomates, Elaiene and 
Daniella (from Argentina). We watched live band 

kat tingkat bawah as well.

22/3/2015

Owh, today was our last day in Italy. We had lunch 
then we took a bus from Termini to Roma 

Fiumicino Aeroporto (€6). We checked in and bid farewell to each other as Nad is going to
Istanbul and I'm going back to Saudi. My flight departed at 1520 hours.

I would like to thank Nad for being a good travel partner, yang bijak dan sabar. We enjoyed the whole trip but we miss you Anusha! And for the trip, it was one of the best trip I've ever been to sebab Italy memang jadi my dream destination. And yang paling mengagumkan is when I met so many Bangladeshi and Filipinos working here. They really know how to survive and I admire them so much. 

Till then. Thanks for reading. Grazie and ciao!