Exploring Italy

It’s already our sixteenth day in Europe, and you wouldn’t think that we’re tired of all the sightseeing. Physically, yes, we’re tired. But how could our souls and minds be exhausted when we got to know more about others’ culture? That’s the beauty of traveling. That’s why over two weeks in, we headed to Italy. We rode small plane from London to Venice. We arrived in Italy at nine in the evening.

The following day, the whole family decided to ride a gondola in the Grand Canal. Gondolas allow you to see Venice from a completely different perspective and better appreciate how the city functions with canals instead of streets.

They are undeniably overpriced but there is only one Venice, and only one place in the world where you can ride an authentic gondola through the canals of a city that is more than 1200 years old. Riding a Venice gondola was such an unforgettable experience! I must say Venice is my favorite destination in Italy.

After the breathtaking gondola tour, we had dinner at a restaurant in Piazza San Marco where we met a Filipino waiter.

For our second day in Italy, we did some last minute souvenir shopping before going to the Venezia Train Terminal. This was the train ride we took to transfer us to Rome. It took about two hours of our time. At the airport, we met our grandfather, Lolo Lando, and he was the one who took us to one of their vacant apartment. We were to share the place with our cousins Divine and Patrick. Lola Bing cooked for us during our stay in their apartment. The feast made our tummies full!

The next day, we rented a van and went to Florence, Italy to visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Here’s a little trivia: The Construction on the Leaning Tower of Pisa took 176 years! It has began in 1174 but was not completed until around 1350.

The reason for such a lengthy delay may not come as a surprise: several costly wars in which the city-state of Pisa was involved. The delays were probably a blessing in disguise, because the soil compressed over the years of construction, likely keeping the Tower from falling!

We spent almost the whole day traveling and going around Pisa that it was almost at four in the afternoon when we went back to our apartment and rested.

For our fourth day in Italy, Tito Philip and Tita Rexie arrived at Lolo Lando and Lola Bing’s apartment. We all had a hearty breakfast courtesy of Lola Bing of course. Then in the afternoon, we traveled to see the Trevi Fountain and ate lunch for pizza. Of course, we’re in the land where pizza came to life so we couldn’t afford to miss eating one! Then we went to the Colosseum before heading home. One of our last planned travel destinations in Italy was to go to The Pantheon and explore the rest of Rome.

We still have three days before our departure, but we decided to take the days off. We spent our remaining days in Italy by bonding with our family. We celebrated Jojo and Divine’s birthday and went to the Vatican to have some pizza (again) and gelato.

On our twenty-third day in Europe, we finally ended our trip. We went back to Fiumicino airport and headed back home.