Friday, February 12, 2010

Excursion 3: Gargnano, Lake Garda, and Trento

If there's one thing I don't like about Bologna, it's the humidity. Bologna is backed up against the mountains at the bottom of Po River Valley, so all the moisture from the valley ends up in Bologna. Plus, I don't see much green in the city, so we decided that we needed a break from city-life. We planned a trip around Lake Garda (the biggest lake in Italy) to Trento, a city nestled in the Alps.

On Monday morning we took a train to the southern tip of the lake and then took a bus to Gargnano - a small city on the west edge of the Lake. The bus ride itself was very entertaining because we could see the transition between the Po River Valley and the Alps and could catch quick glimpses of Lake Garda. Here are some pictures from our first bus ride.

When we got off the bus we were surprised at how few people were there. We must have been the only tourists in the whole town. As we walked down the road we saw a limonaia (place where lemon's are grown). I took a picture...

...and then a man that was working in the limonaia shouted to us that we should come up and he would give us a tour. So Fabio, the son of the owner, showed around, gave us some lemons, and then let us explore on our own. First me picking a ripe lemon (Fabio told us how to tell if they were ripe). Second, the view from the top of the lemon villa, and third and forth some more pictures of the terraced inside of the limonaia.

After we left the limonaia, we started to explore the town. We found one of Mussolini's homes (apparently Gargnano was his summer get away), some interesting churches, and a really cool board walk on the shore of Lago di Garda. Here are some pictures of the town (I forgot to take one of Mussolini's home).
Gargnano was pretty awesome, but we saw almost everything there was to see in one afternoon. So, we hopped a bus from Gargnano to Riva del Garda. The first bus ride we took we cool, but this ride was absolutely stunning. We were on the edge of a cliff hanging over the lake for almost the whole ride. You could see the mountains and the little mountain villages across the lake and the sheer cliffs ahead. The road was so narrow that when a bus or truck was coming at us, we had to stop and let the other inch forward until it passed us. It was difficult to capture in a picture the fact that we were literaly hanging over the water, but I gave it my best shot.

We arrived in Riva del Garda - and we were not very impressed. It was super touristy, yet nothing was open because it was winter. Apparently Riva del Garda is one of the most popular vacation spots for central Europe - Especially Turkey, Switzerland, and Germany. We tried to see a waterfall, but it was closed (I didn't think that was possible) and we tried to hike up to the light house, but that was also closed. We left Riva del Garda as soon as possible for Trento. This busride was also cool. A short ride through the alps as the sunset. Unfortunatly we were moving fast and it was pretty dark so I couldn't take any pictures.

When we arrived in Trento, we walked around and saw the main Piazza's at night. The buildings were pretty cool, but very similar to Bolonga. The piazza even has a nearly identical statue to Neptune as Bologna's Piazza Maggiore. We found a place to eat and crashed for the night.

In the morning our first stop was Castelo Buonconsiglio (Castle Good-Advice), because I was really itching to see a castle. The medieval stronghold of Trento was very different from the castles I saw in Germany. Our tour was much less focused on castle defenses, dungeons, watchtowers, knight's quarters, moats etc. In fact, actual battles and or attacks were not mentioned at all in our tour. The castle didn't even have a dungeon until it was no longer in Italian control. Instead the tour was focused on the medieval lifestyle and the art that the lord had collected from all over the world. There was a particular emphasis on the idea that Trento was the meeting point of the Germanic/Austrian art from the time period (like wooden sculptures) and Venetian Renaissance Art (namely frescoes and paintings of the Madonna and baby Jesus). I finally learned that a frescoe is a painting done with water colors on wet plaster (while it's still fresh or fresco). The castle tour wasn't really what I expected, but was interesting nonetheless. Here are some pictures of Castelo Buonconsiglio. First, the somewhat lavish (in my opinion) atrium of the watchtower. Second the courtyard, and last the view from the top of the Acquila Torre (Eagle Tower).


After the castle visit we went to the grocery store to buy food for a picnic. We found a spot next the Fiume Adige (Adige River) and ate our mozzarella, speck (spiced meat similar to prosciutto), piadine, and some bananas.

After a relaxing lunch we took a cable car about half way up the mountain closest to Trento in order to get a great view of the entire city and explore a typical "suburb" of Trento. Since Trento is almost completely surrounded by mountains, the suburbs are small towns in the surrounding mountains. The town we explored was called Sardagna and the only way to get there from Trento was by cable car. First, some pictures from the cable car ride and then some that I took as we hiked around Sardagna. I must have been getting tired of taking pictures because the only two I snapped of Sardanga were of the old church and a Converse All-Star Van.


Our train to Verona was at 7, so we returned to Trento, stocked up on some food from EUROMART, and took off. I really enjoyed Trento. It was a very clean, crisp, organized city and there were hardly any tourists. There were beautiful buildings and interesting attractions, yet it still felt very authentic.

We arrived in Verona around 9, and headed to the main piazza to eat. From what little I saw of Verona, I think I will really enjoy the city when I visit. It was dark, but I took a few pictures anyway.

And that's all. We took a train back to Bologna around 11:30 and that ended our two day adventure around Lago di Garda.

Hope to have a new adventure to share soon.

Arrivederci!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Excursion 2: Carnevale a Venezia

Ciao!

Over the past couple weeks, I have been busy studying for my first set of finals. To celebrate the end of finals, I took a day trip to Venice. We had absolutely no plans for the trip. We only knew which train we would take there and which we would take back.

When we arrived in Venezia (Venice), we noticed that there was a path from the train to Piazza San Marco that EVERYONE was taking. We decided to wander off the beaten path to see if we could get a better idea of what Venezia is like. There are tons of bridges with unbelievable views and small churches and cool buildings everywhere. The pictures really don't do the city's beauty justice.

Gondole - the boats that Venezia is famous for were sprinkled throughout the city. Why didn't I take a ride in one you might ask? Well... they cost 80 euros (120 bucks) for a 40 minute ride. I'll stick to walking. As we walked along aimlessly, we noticed that we were a 2 euro vaporetto (large motor boat) away from Murano, the island world renowned for it's glass. So, we hopped a ride to the little island.
When we got off the island we were told that there was a free demonstration of how Vetro di Murano is blown. The master glass-blower made a bottle and a horse as the tour guide explained some interesting facts about Murano Glass. I would relay them, but he was speaking in Italian and I didn't catch much of it. Afterward we looked in some of the glass shops along the main canal in Murano. I really like some of the stuff, but a set of 6 shot glasses was 400 euro and a small elephant figurine was 105. After that I stopped asking... Below is the glass blowing demonstration room.


Along the way to Piazza San Marco, the largest Piazza in Europe, we saw people dressed up for carnevale heading the same direction. There were street musicians and almost everyone had at least a mask on. Here's one of the carnevale shops, some people dressed up for carnevale, and me eating some nutella next to a statue and a street musician.

Finally, after about 4 hours of exploration, we arrived in Piazza San Marco. This was definitely the coolest piazza that I've ever seen. The intricacy and color of the buildings was unbelievable, and the amount of people packed into one place was absurd. Here are some pictures that I took of the Piazza. First, the Basilica di San Marco. The next two pictuers of the Piazza itself. The fourth is of some typical costumes, the fith of some intricate costumes, and the last one is a giant lion constructed completely with vegitables.



Piazza San Marco was definitely the place to be during Carnevale. We stayed here for a couple hours, bought masks of our own (partially as souvenirs and partially to wear) and then we took the tourist route back to the train station. Along the way we stopped to sample some traditional carnevale dolce (dessert). The last view I had before we left the city was amazing. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out that well. Try to imagine what it actually looked like...

Overall I though Venice was an awesome city, but it has the same type of atmosphere as Florence - it's 100 percent tourist trap. I'm definitely glad I went, though, especially during Carnevale. I think it's my favorite place I've seen so far!

After we got home (around 11), my roommates and some of their friends who were visiting from all over Northern Italy, went out to a disco pub. We were out until 5:45 AM?! which is apparently pretty normal. Here is a picture of me with 3 out of 4 of my roommates (after a very long day).

When I woke up the next "morning," I made french toast for "breakfast" because a couple of my roommates had never heard of it before. It was my first time, but it wasn't too hard and I figured it out well enough - even put chocolate chips and powdered sugar on it.

That pretty much sums up my end of finals celebration. Ciao!