Toledo, Madrid, Rome and Naples

It's been too long since I've posted, and there's too much to tell. The task is a little daunting, so forgive me if rush along at times.

From Granada we took an overnight bus and arrived in Madrid at 5:30 in the morning. We waited for the metro to open, then went to the train station and bought tickets for the first train to Toledo. While we were waiting for our train, which departed at 9:30 AM, we walked over to a cafe across the street and had some churros and hot chocolate. As we ate we were surrounded by other people our age nursing their last beers of the night, or recovering with a cup of coffee. Whereas in southern California the bars close at 2 and people are home by 3, over here it feels like people don't even really start partying until then! It's definitely not a pace that I could live with.

Our train to Toledo was lovely and fast, and our walk up the hill into the city was just as easy because we only had small bags with a change of clothes. We hadn't booked a place to stay for the night, so we wandered for about 2 hours until we found a place within our budget. Actually, we found plenty of places at first that cost the same amount as the one we finally chose, but we wanted to continue until we found some place cheaper. Miraculously, our budget for the night seemed to increase and increase the longer we trudged around Toledo, so we settled.

Our hotel was just down a narrow street from the magnificent cathedral in Toledo. After dropping our bags off we walked up past the cathedral to find some food. We bought some sandwiches and found a seat on the main square, where we were befriended by a Danish man who had also come to Toledo from Madrid. Scott and he got to talking about China, and travelling in general, and by the end of the meal we had a friend for the day. After lunch the three of us walked to the old Jewish quarter and toured the main synagogue, which has been turned into a museum.

The synagogue is interesting because at one point it was turned from a synagogue into a church, then back into a synagogue. The museum has a lot of information about Judaism and Jews in Spain, and Scott thinks that it is meant to serve as a Judaism 101 course for a lot of tourists.

After the synagogue we walked up to the giant Cathedral, and bought tickets to enter. From the outside it almost blends in with the rest of Toledo because the buildings are so tall and close together. From the inside, however, the Cathedral can be seen for the space that it really contains. The ceilings stretch up higher than any other church I've seen, and there must have been at least 15 chapels in the walls. There is also a museum inside that contains the garments worn by many of the old monarchs, bishops, and cardinals. Overall it was a breathtaking, and exhausting, experience. By the end of it both Scott and I were feeling the effects of only having 5 hours of sleep, so we said goodbye to our new friend and took a nap at the hotel. Well, we were planning on taking a nap. It turns out that we slept through the night (from 6 pm to 7:30 am), and barely woke up in time to make our bus back to Madrid.

The bus back to Madrid from Toledo was as nice as the train had been, and only took 15 minutes longer. When we got into the bus station we hopped onto the metro and picked up our bags from the Consigna at another bus station (where we had left them before going to Granada), then took the metro to our new hostel just of off Plaza del Sol.

As it was Sunday morning, we'd heard from many people that we should check out the flea market in Central Madrid. We walked over and were astounded at how crowded it was! It felt like everyone in Madrid was either at the flea market, or walking from it to Plaza Mayor. We shopped around a little at the rows of vendors, then walked with the crowd to Plaza Mayor. Overwhelmed by the crowds, from there we walked back to our hostel and picked up a pizza which we ate while people watching from a fountain in the middle of Sol.

The next day we continued our leisurely pace in Madrid by waking up late and taking a picnic to Retiro Park. We picked up a loaf of bread, some cheese, and orange juice and settled in on a park bench with our meal. It was a gorgeous day, so we sat there and read for at least 2 hours. We relaxed and walked around the rest of the day, then made plans to meet our friend from Paris in the evening. I got us completely lost walking to El Tigre Bar, where we were meeting, and we ended up being about 45 minutes late with no way to contact him. When we finally got there we couldn't find him, and ended up walking back to our hostel to look for an internet cafe. I called him via Skype, and it turns out he was in the hospital and was apologizing to us for not having shown up! Scott and I are awful people, but after finding out that he was ok we were so relieved not to have made him wait 45 minutes for us!

The next morning we flew from Madrid to Rome mid-morning. Madrid has excellent transportation to the airport, and the airport itself is just gorgeous. It makes a great first and last impression on visitors.

Rome

We arrived in Rome around 4, dropped our bags off at our hostel, and rushed over to Santa Susanna Church to pick up our tickets to see the Pope. Santa Susanna is an English speaking church, so we stayed for 6 pm mass then went to dinner. Our dinner was lovely- Scott ordered a Diavola pizza, which is mozarella and spicy sausage, and I ordered Carbonara pasta, which is pasta with egg and bacon. Both were excellent, and we were stuffed when we walked back to our hostel for the night.

The next morning we woke up early as we told to be at St. Peters by 9 for the Pope's general audience. We rushed onto a bus headed for St. Peters, then waited in the blessedly warm sun for the Pope to arrive. After about an hour and a half, organ music began and the Popemobile drove out! We didn't expect to see much since we were sitting towards the back of the first section of the audience, but the Pope was driven right past us! It was just incredible to be sitting in the crowd as different priests came up and spoke in different languages to the crowd. After every priest, the Pope would also give a blessing. He must have spoken in at least 6 languages. He also gave an extra, unscripted, speech to the Irish in the crowd. News has been breaking lately about church involvement in child abuse scandals in Ireland, and it was clear that he wanted the Irish (and others) in the crowd to know that he cares and hopes to bring about a change.

After the general audience, Scott and I picked up bread, cheese and coke and walked up the hill behind the Vatican to the Garibaldi monument. From the top of the hill we had an incredible view of Rome, and could pick out many of the monuments we hoped to visit.

The next day we took the same bus back to St. Peters, and visited the Vatican Museum. We have been getting incredibly lucky in that we have not had to wait in any lines so far for attractions. The Vatican Museum followed the same pattern. Other than the tour groups, it felt like we were the only ones there. The Vatican Museum was interesting, but to be completely honest both Scott and I were a little disappointed by the Sistene Chapel. It is beautiful, and much larger than I was expecting, but it felt like every tour group was camped out there. It was hot, loud, and filled with tired tourists. Next time I go to Rome I'll have to take a friend's advice and run to the Chapel as soon as the doors to the Museum open.

After walking through the Museum, Scott and I decided to continue our leisurely (some might say lazy) pace and sit and read in St. Peter's Square for a few hours. We've had a wonderful pace so far that's consisted of days filled with 1 sight/attraction/museum/church followed by hours of wandering around and sitting in plazas or parks with our books. And those are our busy days. Other times we skip the attraction, spend the money we saved on some pastries and bread, and find a park bench from which to people watch and read.

Naples

We decided that after the crazy, tourist filled experience we had in Madrid the weekend before, we wanted to get out of Rome for the weekend. After looking up train costs and times, we decided to head down to Naples for a few days. We found a train leaving Rome around noon, so we sauntered into the train station around 11:45 AM expecting to walk onto the train and have a leisurely trip down to Naples. We had our huge backpacks, as we could not afford to use the Consigna (left luggage) at the Rome train station, but we weren't worried because we thought we'd find a seat no problem. Boy were we wrong. Apparently trains on Fridays are awfully popular- we ended up standing for half the trip. Thank goodness it is still spring and the trains don't get HOT like in summer.

I found a place on HostelWorld.com in Naples and it was reviewed as being one of the top hostels in the world. Since it was within our budget, we booked it. We found it located on a narrow street in an older neighborhood of Naples. After being buzzed in, we walked up 5 flights of steep steps and were greeted by a middle aged man who introduced himself as Giovanni and welcomed us to his home. As we say down at the reception, which was really just a computer on a desk filled with books, he brought us two glasses of water. Then, he asked us if wed already eaten lunch. I had eaten fruit on the train, but Scott was hungry, so Giovanni brought out a plate of homemade vegetarian Carbonara pasta that he'd made himself for lunch. It was absolutely delicious. When Scott was done, we paid for our beds and then Giovanni brought out a map and proceeded to give us a short history of the region and then to tell us (and mark on the map) the places to visit and the good restaurants in Naples. He even used a purple marker to cross out the parts that are more controlled by the Mafia and the parts that have higher crime rates. Overall, he made a wonderful first impression which he later did not fail to live up to.

For dinner that night we had the best pizza of our lives. It was at a restaurant just down the street from Giovanni's called Gino Sorbillo's. If you ever get a chance to go to Naples, go there. Every single pizza we tried there (4 pizzas bigger than a plate in 3 days) was fantastic. The restaurant contained a mixture of locals and visitors, and it had a line out the door from 7:30 pm until midnight when it closed. After dinner, we returned to our hostel and hung out with very friendly people until the early morning. I think Giovanni brings out the best and friendliest in people, as he ran one of the most fun hostels I have ever been to.

Saturday we walked around Naples following Giovannis map. We went to the Subterranean Museum, which consisted of a tour of the Roman aqueduct beneath Naples and a tour of the underground excavations of a Roman theater. Both were phenomenal. The aqueduct served as a bomb shelter in WWII, and it was cold, damp, and fascinating.

Sunday we took the train to the ruins at Pompeii. We climbed over everything- it was like a giant playground. The highlights were definitely climbing to the top of the colliseum and seeing Mount Vesuvius in the background and walking through the brothel, which contains some vivid paintings that have been restored for the tourists. That night Giovanni made dinner for the whole hostel and after we ate Giovanni brought out his guitar and led us all in Italian songs!

Before returning to Rome the next afternoon, Scott and I returned to Gino Sorbillo's for one last pizza (each). We were total gluttons the whole time we were in Naples, so we thought we might as well continue for one more meal. It was, once again, incredible.

Tuesday morning we went to the National Gallery and saw a lot of Roman statues that were copies of older Greek statues. Apparently there was a big market among the Roman upper classes for these replicas. After, we took the metro to the Colliseum, and saw Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum while we were there. The Colliseum did not disappoint at all- it is bigger than I had ever imagined, and we had a great time walking around and imagining gladiator fights.

Wednesday we walked to Castel Angelo, where the popes hid out when Rome was under seige. We had a great view of the city, and it was interesting to see the opulence of the popes' apartments there. We walked back to the forum and sat outside reading for a few hours, then we walked to Campo di Fiori where we splurged on a wonderful dinner. There were musicians outside our restaurant, and we enjoyed live music the whole night. Scott ordered a fantastic Gnocchi dish with pesto, clams, and dried tomatoes. I ordered a lighter pasta with spicy tomatoes and cheese- it was also lovely.

Thursday we took the metro to the Spanish Steps, and went book shopping. With all the time we spend reading, we have been going through books much faster than we expected. After, we walked through different piazzas, eventually ending up at the Pantheon. Once again, there were just too many tour groups of European children, so we quickly left and went to Camp di Fiori for drinks and appetizers.

As we were walking back to the hotel we happened across the Pope in St. Peters Square! Well, we were about 2 thousand people away from him, but we did see him! He was celebrating International Youth day with young people from around the world. It was just lovely seeing the square lit up at night.

Now we're in Florence, but more on that later.

Ciao!