Eurotrip 3.0: Pisa...

The drive from Rome all the way upto Pisa was a tiring one. While it’s on most tourist itineraries, it was forcibly on ours as a single drive all the way up to Monaco would have been too tough to do.

After catching the Fontain de Triveli in Rome, we set out on our drive to Pisa. Lunch was at a place on the highway, and wasn’t really much to write home about. On arriving in Pisa, we were treated to its famous foul odour, which is ever-present throughout the town. After checking into our hotel room, we drove out into town to grab some grub. The restaurants weren’t all that great so we ended up having some shawarma at a ‘Turkish’ joint run by a Bangladeshi (again!).

We dropped by the leaning tower in the morning, and it was utterly unimpressive after the grandeur of Rome & the Vatican. After the usual pics of holding up the tower, leaning against it, etc., we were off! Next stop, Monaco!

Eurotrip 3.0: Rome & Vatican!

We arrived in Rome late in the evening on the 23^rd. It was going to be another campsite (Camping Roma) just outside the city. With the exact address not showing up on the GPS, we actually ended up asking someone for directions, something we should’ve probably done when we were close to the address anyways! (What idiots technology makes out of us sometimes J). The staff was quite rude on arrival, and even refused to consider Riya as a baby (despite the bookings.com policy not making any mention of it).

The bad mood was all wiped away though by Hari whipping up some awesome spaghetti pasta. Riya was fast asleep and with some red wine also flowing, the scene was set for a super night of fun. We had singing sessions, wearing the Venetian mask sessions, and jokes galore. My throat was a bit of a mess before the night started, and by the end of it, it was a colossal one. But it had capped a memorable birthday celebration for me which had started almost 24 hours ago, in a beautiful restaurant in Florence!

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The next morning was a late one. After having the usual brunch in the camping village, we drove out to meet the monumental achievements of Roman architecture. Starting with the Colosseum, the sheer grandeur of Rome has to be seen to be believed. Each structure is made with utter disregard to scarcity of any materials or space. It was as if the kings just told the architects & engineers “Make it as big as you can, with whatever it takes!” I think, by the end of evening, I had seen so many of these structures with my jaw agape, that it had an irreversible change of shape! And we had, literally, just seen one ‘street’ full of monuments. No pictures can do justice to this place. And to think that it was made all those centuries ago, made it that much more awe-inspiring.

After the 'monument'al dose and what seemed like an age of having pasta & pizza, we were craving for some good-ol’ Indian food. We hooked up the GPS to direct us to any Indian restaurant around, et voila – we made it to a place called ‘Jaipur’ and had some delectable roti & curry!! Ah, what a relief it was!!

The next day was reserved for the Vatican, and for the size and sheer detail of it, it probably needed two, even for the regular tourist. The audio guide was seemingly endless and had so many layers and levels, it was difficult to go through it completely while keeping pace with what we were seeing. And it was near impossible to take time at every exhibit with Riya powering through like a Duracell bunny!! :-)

I simply had to continue my ‘jaw agape’ expression through the Vatican, with each painting or work of art being of such intricate detail and such historical importance. All said & done, they had also packaged it all really well, and I just thought to myself that if some of India’s sites had packaged their art and history even half as well, they would see many, many more international visitors than the Vatican.

After spending the day gnawing through Vatican, we dinked into a McDonald’s to get a quick bite before we headed back to the camping village. On the way, I picked up some wine at a store run by a Bangladeshi, and that was to keep us company as we wound down the day with some light food and snacks. 

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We had planned 3 nights, and 2 days in Rome, and in the end it was just about right. The major sights – The Colosseum, Vatican City and the infinite list of monuments, were all covered comfortably.

Eurotrip 3.0: Florence!

We arrived on the eve of my birthday in the beautiful city of Florence. I was told that the city’s vibe is much like Bombay, and I could already see why. At 9pm on a Saturday night, it was near impossible to get any parking! We rode around for over half an hour before we could find a parking lot which wasn’t full! By the end of it we weren’t quite sure which area we were in, but it didn’t matter, we had parking!! Just outside the parking lot, was a road dotted with restaurants and pubs. People were stumbling in and out of most pubs, as we passed by looking for a quieter place to settle. Round the corner was just the place we were looking for – a nice little restaurant, buzzing with people having their pizzas, pastas and wine. We had to wait a bit for our table to be available, and I was already eyeing some yummy-looking seafood on one of the tables. Once we had our own, and the menu, I instantly looked for the seafood platter, and knew that the new year in my life was going to be rung in with a satisfied tummy. J

And the platter did not disappoint. Vidya & I dug into the fish, prawns and calamari! Shyam ordered a rice dish and didn’t look too happy, so joined in some of the seafood binge. Big brother, Hari, done with his veggies and wine, was more than happy to take the tab, making my birthday-eve dinner even more memorable!

But there was more to come. As we got to our lovely serviced apartment, at the stroke of midnight, the three stooges conjured to pick me up and give me a dose of (rather labored) birthday bums. I was at least 20% heavier than my 50 or so kgs when I had gotten my last dose back in college. But Hari’s work at the gym ensured that he alone could carry most of the weight. It ended a one-of-a-kind celebration with family and we were all set to get a glimpse of the Duomo next day before riding to Rome…

Sunday morning was as all Sunday mornings should be. Late, relaxed and lazy… We had to checkout by 12, so that necessitated some scrambling for brunch, but that was about it.

We headed straight out and were lucky to find a parking spot just a walk away from the magnificent Duomo. The entrance line looked long, but moved quickly. I had dinked away to get some cash and by the time I rejoined the line, the gang was right at the entrance!

The structure was beautiful on the inside as well with sunshine streaming in through multiple stained-glass windows, including some on the incredibly high domed roof. We strolled around for a bit, I tuned into the ‘Santa Maria’ audio-guide, and took some snaps before heading out to shop for some good leather goods. After about an hour or so, only Vidya managed to get hold of a stunning pair of boots for a steal. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular (as usual), so ended up empty-handed (again, as usual). We had a rather long drive to Rome, so after a quick bite (PIZZAS, what else?!), we headed out to our penultimate destination in Italy – Rome, was a calling.

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I’m sure I will come back to Florence someday. While this visit lasted only a few hours, it whetted the appetite enough for a Florence Part Deux. There are some places where, when you arrive, you just feel at ease. Florence’s similarity to Bombay, perhaps, gave me that feeling.

Eurotrop 3.0 : Venice!

After the incredible ‘high’ of Kranjska Gora, we moved towards the ‘low’ city of Venice. We were to camp just outside Venice, in the town of Marghera, at Camping Jolly. This was the first “Camping Village” that we were going to stay at. I was looking forward to it after the glimpse I got of camping at Camping de la Treille in Cavalaire-sur-Mer, France, earlier on in my trip.

A Camping village is set of row houses with the bare necessities – a few beds, dining table, kitchen with utensils & gas and bathrooms. They’re quite cramped on the inside, but with ample place on the outside – usually a sit-out area with a wooden floor, tables & chairs. I noticed several families completely setting up shop at these ‘villages’ as though they were going to stay there for weeks, if not months. And that’s how they usually go, I suppose, like a holiday home away from home!

Camping Jolly also had a supermarket, restaurant and pub in the premises – so one could do shopping for veggies, pasta & such for cooking themselves a good lunch, and then have a glass of wine & shake a leg in the evening. We bought a ton of stuff as supplies for the next few days that we were going to spend there. (In hindsight, these were low quality & expensive, so we actually shopped for supplies at supermarkets in the city instead).

The drive down from Kranjska Gora was quite eventful, with everyone agreeing at some point that we’d clearly crossed over into Italy – with drivers driving appallingly (in comparison to Austria & Germany of course; compared to India they were still angels!). We had stopped at a fueling station and I decided to check the tyre pressure. Turned out we had lost pressure so Hari & I went about filling some more air. Half way through we realized that we were actually seeing all readings in the wrong unit, so we had to release some pressure to get it back to where it was, which was normal to begin with!

We reached in the evening and were happy to have dinner at the restaurant in the village. The waitress at our table was in a particularly sprightly mood and danced in with the menu, and our subsequent order. The food was just about alright and we were ready to have a good night’s sleep before we set out to Venice in the morning.

There were regular buses from the village to Venice and we took one around mid-day. The weather was quite warm and our hats and shades were put to good use. The bus dropped us off just outside Venice and we were to take a train, the ‘Tronchetto’, to the other side, into the floating city of Venice. The train went past a port terminal where several luxury cruise ships were docked. As the mini-train rolled into the station at Venice, there were glimpses of a bustling city teeming with tourists. We didn’t really have much of a plan for Venice, apart from just walking around, having gelato & pizzas and getting lost!

And that’s pretty much what we did for the next couple of days… The idea for Day 1 was to go in the general direction of Rialto & then San Marco. There were several instances of us veering off track thanks to a promising looking street, but over the course of the afternoon, we did make it there. The big, expensive restaurants were overpriced and the food wasn’t all that appetizing. It’s the little ones tucked in alleys, that typically don’t have place to sit, that we figured served the best food. You can see a lot of people just streaming in and out of these joints, picking up food (usually pizzas) and leaving in a jiffy. We tried out one such place, with pizzas at just 1 euro a slice! For 10-12 euros, the five of us were a nicely ‘fed up’ bunch!

On the way, we picked up Vodafone connections from a proper Vodafone store that promised some 100 minutes of free calling to India. But over the course of the trip we realized it was a scam as we ran out of minutes with just 20 minutes of talking! Didn’t read the fine print, I suppose!

After walking for over 4 hours, we made it to San Marco, a large open square with a tower and church on one side. It was well worth going on top of the tower to get a glimpse of Venice in the setting sun! The views were to die for and the weather was perfect!

We headed back to the village for the night and cooked ourselves some nice pasta before retiring for the night. The next day, we were back to walk around a lil’ bit more and do the famed Gondola ride in Venice’s waters. 80 euros for a 20 minute ride in rather suspect, dark, smelly water, was a bit steep. It’s a usual bucket-list item, nevertheless, and I was glad I got that out of the way!

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Life seems to slow down when in Venice. Nobody’s in a hurry. Everyone’s just meandering through and has a smile on their face. It’s a place stuck in time, without any large, imposing, shining modern buildings. It’s also a place where everyone’s an equal. The millionaire and the pauper are both on foot. No BMWs, Mercs or Jags. The sounds you hear are the chatter of people, heels on cobblestones, sometimes church bells in the distance, and pretty much nothing else.

Eurotrip 3.0: Kranjska Gora, Slovenia !

(As I look back on the trip and collate my notes & photos, I realize this was one of the highlight places of the entire trip. A place of immense natural beauty, coupled with some incredible food, made it so)

We drove into our hotel (The Korona Casino & Hotel) late in the evening of the 19^th (September), and were quickly led to our rather loud, red rooms. It was, of course, part of a casino, and the décor and upholstery was hardly ‘family’. In fact I thought it was bordering on the nefarious! Nevertheless, we settled quickly, had some of the leftover paranthas (which Vidya brought from London) with pickle. Some Rakija from my Croatian adventure helped keep us warm and served as the perfect drink for the tired lot.

I wandered into the Casino late into the night and parked myself at various game tables for a few minutes each following the games. A ‘guidebook’ helped make sense of it all. I didn’t really intend to play as much as understand. We knew we were going to go to the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo later on in the trip, and I was merely building my knowledge base before we got there! The casino itself looked full of sad, old people, clicking away at slot machines. Some of the younger lots were at roulette tables, but the place was largely empty, given we were bang in mid week.

The forecast was for the rain to clear up the next day and have some blue skies with a light breeze at some 18 °C. And it was pretty much on target, as we awoke to a spotless sky behind the massive green mountains that surrounded us. I was truly spellbound by what I was looking at. Our hotel room overlooked the entire town of Kranjska Gora, which was in a valley surrounded by mountains and with a stream coming down from them into a small lake.

We drove down first up after breakfast to that lake and, boy, was it a sight! Glistening green, with water so clear you could see right through to the bottom. A flock of ducks was pattering around and there was not a sound otherwise! The mountains stared at you from all angles in various hues of green. The dark greens were lower down. A mountain on the left had seemingly another bunch of trees altogether. And suddenly, the whole color scheme changed like an Instagram filter was on it, as a solitary cloud wandered over the sun. It sounded like one of those places meditations gurus ask you to imagine – “think of a beautiful place, clear skies, greenery all around, birds chirping, and silence”. And indeed, I just felt like sitting there, smiling and soaking in the heavenly atmosphere that enveloped me.

Heaven on earth!

We walked around the back of the lake to find its source, a stream of cold, crystal-clear water running down from the mountains. We all took turns at different points in the stream drinking some of it. Although it didn’t augur too well for my already strained throat! The cousins took turns jumping over a deceptively narrow looking stream, and promptly got their shoes wet.

A short 30 minute ride up into the mountains took us to the highest point in Kranjska Gora. It was bright sunshine but with a bone-chilling wind. It must have been about 4-5 degrees, I reckon. The views were majestic. A bunch of heavily haired cows were hanging about, bells around their necks. It looked like one of those images of Switzerland that is so often found in travel brochures. Only there weren’t other tourists around. Calm, serene, and freakishly inexpensive, as we soon found out for lunch.

The cold atop the mountain, combined with rumbling stomachs, ensured we got down in a hurry and headed straight for a restaurant. ‘Gostilna Pri Martinu’ was the #1 ranked Tripadvisor restaurant and was known for its particularly large portions of food. The towering, giant of a man, owner greeted us as we went up a flight of stairs to the restaurant. The interiors and upholstery were simplistic and had an old-world charm about them. The views, of the mountains, were, needless to say, stunning. With our stomachs growling, we began ordering many items from the menu. But I had read the reviews, and advised caution. After some discussion and convincing from my side, we halved our order. The food came. I had NEVER seen such large portions of food. We were lucky. The food was delicious, but we still couldn’t finish it all. By the end, people had stuffed their tummies, and to think we were going to order twice the stuff that we eventually did…!

That, very neatly, rounded up Kranjska Gora for me. Great views, great food and great company.