Italy (16-24 June 2016)
Visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice and Milan when I was in Italy! Italy was one of the countries that I really wanted to visit before going to Europe. For example, I really wanted to see the Colosseum in Rome and also to visit Venice! :)
Rome
There's really a lot to do in Rome, as it is the capital and largest city in Italy. There's so much history here in Rome, and the main sights and attractions are around the historical city centre, and the Vatican city.
For the first 2 nights, I stayed near the Vatican city with my Couchsurfing host, Mary. Before I went to Rome, I didn't even know that the Vatican City is an independent city state (and the world's smallest state!) ruled by the Pope. Within the Vatican city, there are religious and cultural sights such as the St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. It is free to visit the St. Peter's Square and the St. Peter's Basilica. The queues for the Vatican museums are crazily long (waiting time around 2 hours in the queue), so it's advisable to book/buy tickets online waaaaaaaaaaaaayyy in advance!
For the second 2 nights, I stayed at a hostel near the railway station. I ended up walking to everywhere from there, instead of taking the metro! Haha, I even reached a new highest number of steps for one of the days - 42k steps!!! That's crazily a lot. Haha, my average number of steps per day when I was in Europe is about 30+k steps, and when I hit 40k, I was really shocked. That was the day that I went for for the walking tour in Rome and I ended up having dinner together with 2 other solo Singaporean travelers - David and Teck Loong. Haha, have quite a number of common friends with David. Lol, Singapore is really too small, and the world is small too! We took a after-dinner walk around as well, which explains why I walked so much that day! It's nice meeting people (whether Singaporeans or not) overseas.
As I mentioned earlier, the Colosseum was one of the only REALLY TOURISTY THING IN EUROPE on my must-see list! The reason why I really wanted to see the Colosseum was because of the movie "The Gladiator". I bought the ticket for the Colosseum which comes together with the entrance ticket for The Forum and Palatine Hill. Rome was founded as a small village on the Palatine Hill in 8th century B.C. When you enter The Forum, you see the ruins and all left behind. It's interesting because Rome has so much history that whenever they want to build a new metro line, they sometimes find archaeological evidences and items while digging underground and end up having to halt the construction of the metro line.
Some of the other main sights in Rome includes The Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and Trevi Fountain.The Pantheon has been used as a church since the 7th century. It's amazing to know that the building we're entering into was the same as the one that people used to enter into so many centuries ago.
I also walked randomly around Rome and went to Villa Borghese, which was a really nice park to just sit there and chill. You can even rent one of those paddle boats for a really cheap price and paddle on the lake. Haha, I would do that if I was together with someone.
Florence
Florence was a very important city in medieval times as it was the centre for trade and finance. There was a period of time when Florence was ruled by the Medici Family, and there's even a walking tour to explain the history of some of the buildings and how it was related to the Medici family. In the historical city centre, the most prominent and important building has got to be the Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo di Firenze which is the cathedral. It is free to enter the cathedral, but you've got to pay if you wish to climb the steps up to the top and have a view of the city. The Baptistery is just right beside the cathedral as well.
Florence is home to many museums, with the Uffizi being the most famous. Other sights includes the Ponte Vecchio, which is oldest and most famous bridge, lined with shops (mostly jewellers). One of my favourite places was Piazza Michelangelo, where you get a really really nice view of Florence from there. There's also a garden area with a Rose Garden and Japanese Garden.
Oh yes, one of the must-try things in Florence is the Lampredotto sandwich, which is cow stomach. I think it's something you either love or hate, and there are many many good reviews about it. However, it's really too much for me to digest because I'm not very good at eating "exotic" food! It's just hard for me to eat such stuff. I didn't like it at all! Oh wells, at least I tried and know that I don't like it.
Venice
Venice was absolutely beautiful! It's a really nice place to walk around, as it is the world's only pedestrian city :) I woke up really early (5am) as I wanted to see how Venice would look like without the crowd. I was really surprised to see that there were actually a lot of people already up at about 6am - mostly photographers who wants to get good shots.
Sights on the main island - Doge's Palace, Bell Tower of St. Mark, St. Mark's Basilica, Clock Tower, Rialto Market and Bridge. As I bought the one day transport ticket for 20 euros, I was able to take the vaporetto (water bus) to the different islands. I went to The Lido (known for its beaches), Murano (known for its glassware) and Burano (known for its lace, textiles, and colorful painted houses).
Milan
Milan is the most modern Italian city. I had very low expectations for it as I don't like cities which are super developed - reminds me of Singapore lol... Well, Milan was better than expected, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't so hot!