Where
does one begin to start when discussing
Italy. Well, if you intend to travel
there, Rome and Venice are good places
to start.
Rome
Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
It goes without saying that Rome has
a rather prominent past. Lets see,
in Rome you will find…[deep breath]…the
Vatican, Coliseum, Pantheon, Piazza
Navona, Church of Saint Agnese, Trevi
Fountain, Spanish Steps and a guy name
Allassandro. Just making sure you’re
paying attention. Indeed, Rome is filthy
with historically significant attractions.
It seems you can’t turn around
without bumping into something an Emperor
built, captured or destroyed. For those
willing to risk potential wrath, there
are also the new Divinci Code tours,
which take you to the locations found
in the book.
In all serious, Rome is a city you
should visit at least once in your
life. No article could ever do it justice,
so I’ll just stop here.
Venice
I fondly refer to Venice as the floating
city even though it is apparently sinking.
If you’ve seen Venice is movies
or televisions shows, the depictions
are accurate. Piazza San Marco looks
exactly the same, birds and all. The
Grande Canal is, well, a grand canal
with incredible houses lining it and
boats putting up down this water way.
Built on mudflats in a lagoon, the
city doesn’t really have much
room to grow. It just seems paralyzed
in time.
Once you’ve conquered the tourist
attractions, it will be time to get
serious about Venice. The best way
to do this is stand in front of your
hotel or hostel, determine which direction
the tourist attractions lie and start
walking in the opposite direction.
While you may feel like you’re
driving the wrong way on a freeway
for a few minutes, you’ll eventually
start getting into real Venice.
An entirely different side of Venice
will appear and you’ll life it.
You’ll find little cafes with
locals happy to talk to you [and non-tourist
prices]. In fact, the Venetians will
tend to hold you in high regard since
you’re a tourist who is bypassing
the tourist areas. This, of course,
will logically lead to a whirl of introductions
to this nephew, that son of a brother
and so on. Next thing you know, you’ll
be complaining about Italian politicians
and how things used to be better in
the past.
While Rome and Venice are excellent
travel destinations, you can’t
really go wrong in Italy. For the adventurous,
set your itinerary with the old map
on a wall and dart technique.
