Italy - Venice

I took a super-fast and comfortable Eurostar Italia train (oh how I love my Interrail pass) to Venice Mestre station, and catching a glimpse of the amazing landscape I then had to trundle back out on a lowly local train to a small town I was staying in outside the city. The centre itself has very few hostels and little budget accommodation to speak of.

A Gondola on the Grand Canal. I love being original.

After an exhausting walk in 40C temperatures across the 'small' town to find my B&B, I recovered in the air conditioning of my room and headed back into Venice. It really is like in the postcards - walk straight out of the rather grotty train station and you are greeted with a movie-like view of the Grand Canal stretching out in front, packed with canal boats and gondolas and lined with historic renaissance buildings.

Torre dell'Orologio (Clock Tower)

I took a waterbus, the best method of travel in the city (there are no roads or subways at all), along the length of the Grand Canal to St Mark's Square, the hub of Venice. The famous Basilica was nice, although there is little to see thanks to the darkness of the interior and is perhaps best viewed from outside. The square itself and the surrounding area is a wonderful place, and made all the more nicer with the total lack of traffic jams (or in fact, any cars) that somewhat spoiled Rome.

Entering St Mark's Square

Venice is one of those cities with not so many specific 'sights' to see, and is best experienced just wandering around and getting lost. And getting lost is quite easy actually, and happened to me a great many times, but every time it happened I would just discover another amazing area around the next corner. The maze-like array of narrow alleys and passages means it's never difficult to find somewhere away from all the tourists.

A typical 'street' in Venice

Once again the weather was against me, with temperatures climbing well above 40C and rapidly becoming unbearable, even with the shade afforded by the narrow streets. I was forced to head back to my hotel room and relax in the comfort of my own air conditioner (which really I came to appreciate), until the evening.

I love exploring all the narrow alleys. Even the creepy ones...

The city is beautiful at night, although even easier to get lost in, with little street lighting available to read maps. More than once I would think I was nearly back to the train station and then come across a complete dead end, requiring much back-tracking. Still, it was a lot of fun!

The grand canal. Again.

However, leaving Venice was not a pleasant experience. The Italian railway system, in all its wisdom, decided to go on strike the day I needed to leave Italy. I was assured by two separate ticket offices that the strike would not affect international trains, and so happily boarded the departure to Slovenia. About half way to the border, it simply stopped and everyone was told to get off - the driver was now on strike and it would go no further. Typical! Stuck in a random town in the middle of nowhere, that didn't even have any bus services, I luckily managed to meet up with two fellow Brits in the same position as me and together we managed to get the last operating train back to Venice and spent the day trying to get some useful information out of any railway staff, which was not forthcoming. Find out in the next post if I made it to Slovenia...

Italy - Milan & Rome

I wasn't exactly sure where to go after Munich, other than to head 'South' and maybe pass through Italy. I jumped on the next train to Milan, which arrived after dark at the main station. Not a good idea. The area around the station was probably the dodgiest I've been in on my travels so far, with large groups of homeless and illegal immigrants acting very aggressively to passers by. I did not feel comfortable there. To make matters worse, I had not booked ahead any accommodation, hoping that my luck in Munich would be repeated here.

The centre itself wasn't too bad

Unfortunately, it wasn't, and I had to wander around the city at night with my bags looking for a place to stay. Everywhere was either far too expensive, or creepy, so after a bit of sightseeing I went back to the station and booked a place on an overnight train to Rome. I would have to sleep on the train instead!

Milan in a nutshell

The city centre itself was quite nice, although there was little to see, with the exception of the nicest shopping mall I've ever been in and the glorious Gothic church, the largest in the world. Obviously there were the ubiquitous designer shops all over the place, what with Milan being the capital of fashion, but that didn't particularly interest me and they were all closed anyway!

Even in a posh mall such as this, there is still a McDonalds!

The overnight train to Rome was not the relief I was hoping for. Despite being past 11pm, the digital display board outside the station read the temperature as 35C(!) and there was no air conditioning on the train. Or rather, there was, but it wasn't switched on until after several hours. Rather than fall asleep I think I may have passed out!

The enormous statues outside are wonderfully imposing

I made sure to call ahead to Rome and book a place in what seemed to be the only available hostel in the city. Arriving at about 9am at Roma Termini station, I set out into the bustling streets and caught a bus to the edge of the centre, past the Vatican, to the hostel. Surprisingly my bed was ready for me, but I resisted the temptation to sleep and went back out into the heat to begin sightseeing.

There's history all over the place

I braved the long queue for the Colosseum, which was definitely worth it in the end. It really is an almost magical place to be in, dripping with history and an amazing engineering achievement that has to be seen to be believed. The surrounding areas are also full of Roman ruins, perhaps not quite as impressive but equally interesting, although the sun really was wearing me down by that point.

St Peters Square and Basilica at night

After a good night's sleep, I devoted the entire next day to the Vatican. I started with the Basilica, which was until recently the largest place of worship in the world. It can hold a staggering 60,000 worshippers and the cavernous yet intricately detailed interior is absolutely stunning. Probably my favourite building I've ever visited, it really did take a long time to take it all in.

At the top of the Basilica

I climbed to the top of Cupola, which was exhausting but completely worth it, giving perhaps the best available view over Rome, looking out across St. Peters Square. The stairs to the top, especially the final few, would however cause a lot of problems for those with claustrophobia. I saw more than one person having a panic attack, which is not a nice thing to see!

Looking out across St Peters Square from the Basilica Cupola

Later, after visiting the tombs of the Popes, I went to arguably the main attraction - the Vatican Museums. Widely heralded as one of the best collections of art in the world, if not the best, I spent the entire afternoon gazing at some of the finest objects, engravings, paintings and sculptures created by man. The Last Judgement, the incredible fresco by Michelangelo covering an entire wall of the Sistine Chapel, is the star attraction. Luckily I managed to avoid most of the queues that form earlier in the day and walked straight in.

The Roman Colosseum

Of course, I spent much time simply wandering the streets of Rome, and also looking at the other famous sights such as the mythical Pantheon and the collection of beautiful fountains, notably the magnificent Fontana di Trevi. I could have spent an age in Rome (if not for the heat) but once again it was time to move on, this time to another famous Italian city.