My trip to Italia


I love travel and I love, love, love Europe. I'm missing and pining for the place so I was going through the photos of my trip to Italy in 2010.  It was a solo vacation {yes, solo, meaning I went alone. I surprise a lot of people when I say that I went alone which is why I clarified.} and I visited 5 cities- Venice, Florence, Siena, Pisa and Rome. I hate their anglicized names and much prefer them as Venezia, Firenze, Siena, Pisa and Roma. This was my first vacation alone. I had dreamt about going to Italy all my life and once I started working I saved up for it for two years, diligently putting money away every month from my meagre income. For two whole years I looked at pictures of Italy on my work desk. I was so determined to use that money for my trip that even when a beloved aunt fell terribly ill and all of us had to gather money to help toward her treatment, I took a loan rather than break my Italian holiday trust fund.
  Finally when the time came my entire family was against it except for my older brother. Still, I went. And had the most amazing time of my life. 

I thought I'd share the pictures with you because why should I pine for Europe alone? ;)
 {Now please remember I was alone so there are very few pics of me.} 

Venezia
The most amazing, breath-taking city. I took a gondola ride alone and got so many stares it was hilarious. I guess people were expecting me to be sobbing into my hanky over a jilted lover or something, not enjoying a gondola ride by myself!

 Firenze 
I have very few pictures of Firenze as I went there for the museums and you're not allowed to take photos inside the museums. But the statue of David...Mamma Mia! I stood 4 hours in the rain waiting to get inside the Galleria dell'Accademia but when I did, I didn't want to take my eyes off of David.
Note to self: Always book important museum tickets online in advance.

 Siena
Siena is a little town in Tuscany. I decided to go to Siena when I was in Firenze. It was my 'spontaneous decision city'- one city that I wanted to spontaneously pick and visit while I was in Italy. I'm glad I picked Siena because it had the most character and charm than all the others.

 Pisa
I had to visit Pisa and see the leaning tower whilst I was in Italy. And man, does that tower lean!

 Roma
Ah, caput mondi Roma, capital of the world. So much to do, so much to see. The best part of travelling alone is that you can take your time seeing everything. I visited all the famous sights and monuments, and took my time looking at all 53 galleries in the Vatican until finishing with the Sistine Chapel. {I remember studying about the Sisitine Chapel in History class and promising to myself that one day I'd go and see that ceiling for myself.}

I hope I've made you pine to travel to Italy, or anywhere else for that matter. I would highly recommend travelling alone {to at least one place} because it eliminates fear on so many different levels. I'm looking forward to a lot of travel this year, fingers crossed that all the trips I have planned out in my head happen!
QuickEdit
Shabana Feroze
2 Comments

2 comments:

  1. Love the "solo" factor...and ofcourse, love gorgeous Italy...enjoyed your post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. HOlY COW! you went alone?! To Italy!!! Love post, Shabana.
    love the fact that you saved up and made it happen. Can take a lesson or two from your strong will. X

    -Sharon

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