More on France at another point in time, but as of now, we are in Barcelona! It's been great to be back here and wandering the streets of the city. We are living right off La Rambla, on the block next to the fabulous Boqueria (market) and within walking distance of the highlights of the Gothic Quarter, Picasso Museum, Gaudi houses and the beach. In some ways it even kind of feels like New York.
I know that I'm going to love every minute of living in Spain.
I've been taking lots of pictures (my brand new Canon S90 is perfect for this trip) and I wanted to upload a few of them for now, since I haven't posted any online yet. But as good as this camera is at capturing the moments, there is nothing like being there...
Here are some pictures from this incredible journey so far.
Florence:
We spent a few days in Florence seeing as much of the city (basically the art) as we could possibly cram in the time we had for exploring...
The Arno river was beautiful, and we walked along some of the bridges throughout the time we spent in Firenze. The coolest bridge is Ponte Vecchio, where they have jewelry shops lining the bridge itself. The Duomo and the baptistery were nice (I loved the gates on the outside of the baptistery, including the famous "Golden Gates"), but the views from the tower were kind of disappointing, especially after Venice. Still, one goes to Florence for the art and that was obviously fantastic.
So, I didn't get to take a picture of the real "David," since my sneaky picture taking skills were a bit rusty, but this is a replica is in the Piazza where the masterpiece used to stand before it moved indoors to the Accademia. Still so awesome. In addition to Michelangelo's unfinished(?) sculptures, including "The Slaves," there was a really good collection of sculptures/casts for grave monuments in a side room, an exhibit on medieval Romantic love, and a collection of rare musical instruments, including some beautiful violins and pianofortes. We also hit the Palazzo Vecchio, which is where this "David" replica stands.
We got to the Uffizi early to avoid crazy lines and get in without being stuck to a scheduled time/paying the annoying booking fee...and it was a pretty quick line once the museum actually opened at 8:30 (we got there at 8, got in within 45 minutes aka 15 minutes after opening). Unlike the Accademia, it was extremely efficient. Later on in the day, tons of street vendors and those awesome mimes (they get very creative, and related their costumes to the art collection) line the area around the Uffizi from the Piazza to the bridge. Unsurprisingly, the normally crowded square was pretty empty at this early morning pre-museum time...
Firenze had a lot of amazing people that it lays claim to, and how cool is it that they can say, Dante lived/walked here, etc. There's also a very nice church where a number of incredible people are buried, including Machiavelli, Galileo, Michelangelo, and needless to say, I was a little starstruck.
Siena:
The next stop was highly recommended, but we didn't realize how awesome this place was, since it isn't as well known as Florence. Even coming in, you could see the charm of the place, with windy streets that spiral inward and a great atmosphere. But in terms of what we got to see, we barely made it out of the cathedral. It was amazing. It's pretty and quirky, and even the floor is an incredible work of art. I highly recommend Siena (including over Florence) for anyone going to Northern Italy.
Pisa:
Pisa was supposed to be an hour tourist stop on the road between Florence and the coast, but we got out of Florence really late, loved Siena too much to leave earlier, and ended up having a tense drive along the winding mountain roads through the hills of Tuscany, past huge cliffs and beautiful hilltop villages. Luckily, a serious of fortunate events occurred in Pisa, which left us both with an unexpectedly good impression of the area (not that we saw all that much besides the main attraction, but still). We ended up staying at a great hotel right near the famous leaning tower completely by accident (Hotel Athena...definitely recommended). Plus, we ate pizza in Pisa and when my dad forgot my passport at the restaurant after an exhausting day and late dinner, the waiters were incredibly sweet and generally amazing about it. And I got adopted by the most adorable tiny cat who roamed around the base of the Tower, and it attached itself to my leg as I was taking pictures of the buildings.
Hopefully this precarious monument doesn't go the way New Hampshire's poor 'Old Man in the Mountain' did... Apparently scientists are working to reduce the tilt so that it falls over at a much later time. We saw some wires running along the back length. Of course, my first impression was that it wasn't tilted enough, but it's actually pretty interestingly angled. And though not as famous, the baptistery and duomo were pretty neat too, with the same style of architecture, but less of a tilt.
Italian Riviera:
We stopped here for lunch and hit the beach... we were mesmerized by the contrast of the colorful umbrellas lining the beach, the deep blues of the sea and the sky, and the backdrop of those mountains. It was painful to leave this beautiful beach because it was just incredible. I don't think I've ever naturally seen such colors and pictures definitely don't do it justice.
Cinque Terre:
The views here were pretty spectacular...
What a beautiful area. Unfortunately we didn't have the time to do the hike around the cliffs between all the five different parts of Cinque Terre, but we did get to explore the area around the middle of the Cinque Terre. Since there are no cars in the village itself and we had to park at the top of the cliff, we walked down (and back up) the windy road. This actually was certainly no easy stroll, but provided more than enough breathtaking views to make it worthwhile. We got to watch the sun set over the cliffs and the sea/sky turned vivid shades of blue and purple. I could spend all day gazing at these views... There is so much beauty in the world.
italy >>>> monaco >>>> france
I'll upload more pictures at another time, but for now here is a few from France/Monaco too:
Monaco (Monte-Carlo):
We passed through the very unglamorous train stop on the way to Nice the first night, but on the day we went east from Nice, we hit it up. Also, got the very best sorbet/gelato I've ever had here. Well, I didn't go inside the infamous casino, but I kind of want to rewatch "Casino Royale" now. It was a very interesting area (2nd smallest country in the world after the Vatican, and yes, they have royal palace guards). Had some very futuristic buildings mixed with huge buildings cut out from the land and there was a walkway along the water that had some footprints of famous futbol players (among other athletes). There were a lot of yachts in the harbor and some paparazzi roaming around too. The fountains in front of the casino were great and I was tempted to go fountain hopping, but somehow I don't think that would have been appreciated in this ritzy area.
France:I might not be allowed to make any french jokes ever again because the country is fantastic. I had no idea how great the Côte d'Azur is before this trip, but I'm kind of in love with it now.
Antibes & Cannes:
We went west the next day along the coast, stopping whenever we saw some great views. One of the places that we stopped was on La Route Napoleon, where Napoleon landed in 1815. Hit the gorgeous beach in Antibes, right under the ramparts for some downtime. Plus, they have a Picasso museum. Walking along the water on La Croisette at Cannes was another highlight. It was so picturesque, even if the evening lights were a little tacky, and the theatre where the Cannes Film Festival is actually pretty ugly compared with all the other architecture along the waterfront. There are handprints of lots of famous people lining the area around the Palais des Festivales. The sculptures throughout the waterfront area and the natural beauty kept us entertained...plus, the water just sparkles.
Nice:
No comments:
Post a Comment