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- Herausgeber: UCCIO
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
I remember over the years your goal of writing a book about all of your experiences in traveling and finally you're doing it!! I'm excited about this for you because you have had the fortunate opportunities to travel and you have made a commitment to seeing and experiencing this beautiful and confusing world we live in. You have a great mind and spirit which allows you to write your experiences in a way that will captivate and engage your readers. We will also understand more about how you've viewed and taken in of what you've seen over the years... the sad, confusing, irritating and humoring things you've experienced....I/we wanna know this! :-))
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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Table of contents
PREFACE
GREECE: SIFNOS
FRANCE: PARIS
PORTUGAL: LISBON
CZECH REPUBLIC: PRAGUE
ITALY: SARDINIA
ITALY: FAVIGNANA
ITALY: CALABRIA
PORTUGAL: PORTO AND COIMBRA
SWEDEN: STOCKHOLM AND UPPSALA
GREECE: RHODES
ITALY: SALENTO
GERMANY AND AUSTRIA: MUNICH, SALZBURG AND INNSBRUCK
SPAIN: SEVILLE
EGYPT: MARSA ALAM
PREFACE
I like traveling, alone or in company, to meet new people, new cultures, new habits. I like to watch others carefully, to learn both from their mistakes and their successes, trying not to judge. And I like writing. This is the extreme synthesis that drove me to write these simple stories of my travels, initially just to not repeat all the adventures to every single friend, they are written so, in one go. You say "but you always do what you like?", Of course! Or rather, I try, not always it can be done, but if I can, why not? And doing the things you like is even better! To travel you need three main requirements, in order of importance: health, time and money, when I finish one of the three I stop! :-) To observe, therefore, a silent and respectful observation, without violating the First Directive of the United Federation of Planets: "never interfere with local cultures"! :-) And my friends often suggested to expand the sharing of these stories by collecting them in a book. Some of their observations were "you write really well" or "when I read your stories, I feel like I'm really there with you and in that moment" or "the story is very smooth and not heavy and I finish to read it in a very short time" or "you summarize all very well in a few words" or "the next trip write another story that I really like!" I must confess that I am usually jealous enough of my writings and I write them in a targeted way for my friends, generally, when writing we should take into account who will read, initially I didn't like too much the idea to extend this communication to the general public (I hope no one gets hurt when I sometimes joke a bit, a "politically correct" narrative that suits everyone is difficult to achieve when it comes to different people and cultures, although in this case it is almost always in a european context). However, after all, thinking about it, it can be an interesting starting point for many people, an occasion of comparison for their own personal experiences, to explore various places with a different point of view, sometimes joking, sometimes seriously, to focus on the nice things to visit or to have a brief mention on the gastronomic culture of the place or on nature or on social relationships or to take a cue for some brief considerations that go beyond the narrative itself. These stories concern only about a small part of the places I visited, just because writing a "book" every time requires some time and especially recently I do not have much more. But, exclusively, I have added here for you my very recent trip to Egypt, to Marsa Alam, on the Red Sea. The information may not be fully updated, especially on prices, the oldest trip described here is from 2009. Things change over time and space but some still remain the same and it is anyway an interesting "picture" of that moment, besides the countless images that I immortalize with my camera. You will see how, on many occasions, reality overcomes the fantasy. In any case, "if you have the patience to follow me", I will guide you through the paths of this exploration of some parts of our little planet! And remember the "BUDDIES" ARE ALWAYS "BUDDIES"! ;-) GOOD TRIP!
In the english version is more difficult to communicate some puns or to translate and render something typically italian, but I tried to do my best not to disappoint my numerous english-speaking readers, please try to appreciate my effort and forgive me when I am not able to do it correctly.
A nice note written to me by a dear friend of mine about this book:
"I remember over the years your goal of writing a book about all of your experiences in traveling and finally you're doing it!! I'm excited about this for you because you have had the fortunate opportunities to travel and you have made a commitment to seeing and experiencing this beautiful and confusing world we live in. You have a great mind and spirit which allows you to write your experiences in a way that will captivate and engage your readers. We will also understand more about how you've viewed and taken in of what you've seen over the years... the sad, confusing, irritating and humoring things you've experienced....I/we wanna know this! :-))" I thank and dedicate this book to all my traveling companions, to the interesting people I met, to my friends and to all those I love.
GREECE: SIFNOS
We went to Bari and there we took the MEGA ship, it was the Ionian King of Agoudimous Lines, it is about 200 meters long, I had never brought the car on the ferry. We had the personal double cabin with the private bathroom, not bad. The sea did not feel at all even if there was a certain vibration that could give a little annoyance. The air conditioning was controllable without problems. It was very elegant, there was the restaurant, the self-service, the casino, the shops, the swimming pool (not working) and other stuff. We also had dinner at the restaurant on board, I thought it was expensive and instead it costed 25 euros in two persons and the portions are very abundant. At night there were various warnings, enough annoying, to announce the stops at Igoumenitsa and Kefalonia. On arrival in Patras at 1:15pm I had to stay focused to go to Piraeus, the port of Athens which was about 250 km and 3 hours of travel, where the second ship was waiting for us (arriving without satellite navigator), it was quite easy, it was enough to follow the signs to the greek capital, it was one of the most precise roads they have, it goes to about 100 km/h, usually it's one lane (but slower vehicles use the emergency lane so can be overtaken easily by those who go faster, it always flows). Approaching Athens, the road becomes much larger, the limit is 120 km/h and you pay two toll gates of 2.80 euro. Upon arrival at Piraeus there is a lot of traffic. Fortunately, I found the port. There they inform us that our ship will have a slight delay, at the end we arrive with 5 hours of delay, fortunately it was the fast ship, the catamaran of Hellenic Seaways Highspeed3 all red, I must remember to sue them. :-) We arrive at Sifnos at 1:30 am and we are waiting for the mother of the young lady from the Studio Eugenia (a sort of home-managed residence) where we lived, she speaks only Greek or MONOGRECO as she says. The next day we meet with Eugenia who speaks English and is the owner of the house, is 30 years old and has three smurfs (for "smurfs" I will always mean the children, she forgot the number of the kids when I asked how many they were), is very kind and promptly answered every question. The house was cleaned once a day, towels changed every two days and sheets every three days. The panorama view from the veranda was amazing and was on the bay, the mountains were very high, arriving at night I saw the lights at the top and I did not understand what it was, I thought an aircraft, then by day I realized that it was the church on top of the mountain, there they have churches white and blue sky (orthodox) everywhere every 20 meters, on top of the mountains and on the tip of the cliffs on the sea. The island is very pretty, there are several villages often on the sea, there are about fifteen beaches, two or three are difficult to access by car, once I ran across a dirty road that scared me for the holes and the terrifying slope, to go back I was afraid that the car would not have made it: if you unbalanced the whole weight back the driving wheels ahead would have no more grip, so it was important to move the weights forward and go at the most constant speed possible without accelerating, everything went smoothly even if I made a few slides, in summary it was better a jeep, in fact, even if it was a beautiful beach I had been only once. I also went another time to the "camel trophy" (bad conditions path, I changed the wheels a little bit later coming back home, anyway), but it was interrupted because the technicians were working to reinforce it with cement, so I had to come back. Under water is excellent, every day I have always had a bath lasting at least two hours, I explored with fins and mask and I do long stretches, there was an infinite number of fish, the little ones are around you, the biggest ones are more timid, perhaps because they know that in general they are more likely to end up in the pan. There was a nearby island but I did not get there because it was not possible to access the sea in front. Swimming along the coast you can see giant rocks that are scary, but also in the water often the coast is a vertical rock wall where the bottom is not transparent, but you can see, there is only blue! Too bad they did not rent motorboats, but outside Italy I do not feel very safe driving into the sea, for example once swimming at sea from the boat one tells me many things in Greek, I tell him that I speak only English or Italian and then he says it's all okay, which leaves me perplexed. Once, at a depth of 15-20 meters, I found a mega shell of 30-40 cm, not very easily for the depth, I managed to take it, water infiltrated in the mask and the ears could "pop" for compensation. In the end I took it up and I examined it, then I thought "I hope it is not inhabited" and I saw in the direction of the hole, it seemed full but it was like a precise plain surface, I did not understand if it was in the structure itself as the shell or if it was "the monster", I tried to touch that surface with a rock doing knocking, and nothing, then I tried to touch it with my finger, and looked like a rock, I was about to conclude that it was uninhabited, then after a bit that surface swells and tends to go out, at the edges was orange, then I concluded it was a form of life, and then I had the dilemma: if I keep with me the souvenir and let it die or leave it there with the whole house, at the end I concluded that the house was more useful for him (the monster) than me and I decided to keep it in place but less in depth to intervene if there were any hitches, in fact I let it slide and landed with the open side on top and some fish already buzzed around it, then I went back down and put it facing the ground, at that point it slowly came out of the edges like a sort of orange hand that anchored itself firmly clinging to the ground, after when the I removed for with trolling, no longer moved apparently the first time I caught him off guard, maybe he was in the kitchen! I understood that he was okay and I went over. Another important note is the museum of folklore and popular culture, where I met the director Mr. Troullos, who was a professor and wrote 43 books and took the award from the European Union, he asked me to translate things from some photos of bulletin boards that left Italian soldiers when they retired in 1943. There was a sentence in Latin, something like NULLA VIRTUTE SECUNDI NULLI, and then there was written type ORDERS - SERVICE - COMMUNICATIONS, logistics stuff. Then I had to ask him if the Italian soldiers were friendly with the people, he said they have had three commanders, the first was very good, he also married a lady from the island but for this reason he was removed from the command. The second was a bit less polite man and the third was quiet but very precise and if you did not do as he said he got angry, for example EVERYONE had to greet him, if they did not, he would come down from his horse and crack them. His father was put in jail by the Carabinieri (italian militar police) for 15 days because he was unjustly accused by another greek of making frauds with oil, but the head of the prison sent him to sleep at home every night. He says that the italians really liked music and dance and they were happy and did not want to think about the war. It seems that the germans have been quite harsher to say.
My mom got caught in the foot by a sea urchin, I took three thorns but there were three others left, so we went to the local first aid, there was a very good young doctor, they were very efficient, and with the european public health insurance card you don't pay not even a penny. They said there was a lot to wait for, I asked her "how much?" and she "15 minutes", what a tender, I was almost touched, in the emergency room in Rome you can wait 48 hours...
In Greece the food is very good, I have eaten too much, at the end of my trip I increased my weight of 2 Kg, despite the water sport, we ate dinner in a restaurant every night. There are restaurants EVERYWHERE, often almost into the sea, with 30-35 euros we ate for two people to burst into two. Once I saw at night that they threw the bread leftovers into the sea and the water began immediately to SWAM of fishes that were fighting to eat it, like the piranhas! Incredible. I wanted to try to do it at sea when I was inside the water too, but I preferred not to try this. :-)
There a typical chickpea soup cooked from saturday morning until sunday, the lamb made in a kind of crock, the chickpea balls and then the classic things of Greece, the tomatoes with rice, the moussaka, the greek salad and then an infinity of fishes, in a restaurant you just go see what you want and then the young lady cooks it! :-) Even the confectionery is exceptional, there are pastries with honey with perfect combinations of tastes, my favorite was one with apples, but also with almonds or hazelnuts, ah, and then balls with almond paste... SUPER.
I was learning enough to read the words using the greek alphabet and I learned several words, on some occasions the road signs are ONLY in greek and to read it can be useful. Many words are THE SAME as in italian, in the medical field almost all. There were many french guests. The beaches were frequented, but to have an idea with just one person every 10-20 meters, often the ladies (almost always not greek) like to sunbathe with the "bowls" outside or change the costume easily, in public, a very rewarding activity especially for those who observes!!! :-) The people seem to understand almost better italian than english, the younger ones know english well, the older ones a bit less so, but they are able, like my mom, to activate very funny gestures for alternative communications! 8-)) The american movies on TV are transmitted in the original language but with the subtitles in greek.
With my mother I got angry only 3-4 times, essentially because for her you cannot leave from the house before 2:00pm for preparing adequately, but this was not always good, so I went to explore the sea alone.
It seems that there are no catholic churches, only orthodox and on sundays my mom was not happy, even though I found out that with the orthodox we are "buddies"!!!
The landscape was picturesque, full of "beasts": roosters, cows, sheep, the goats a couple of times have also arrived into the pebble beach, it seems that the local people do not like and throw cobblestones to them. In a sheltered bay there were the "marine" ducks like at the lake!!!
September 14th I think, I witnessed a strange phenomenon, at Kastro beach in the East, I was into the water and I returned to the base, I suddenly noticed higher waves, but without ridges, long waves and suddenly all the seabed, even far from the coast, is blurred as if the sand had moved, then my mother told me that wild high waves came to the shore and the bathers were frightened running out of the water: the data does not coincide, the only explanation may be an earthquake but no one has reported that the earth has moved, a ship or the wind cannot move the bottom, I will have to investigate on it, nowadays we tend to explain all with the aliens!
On return with the small ship we returned to Piraeus with Aegean Speed Lines, the sea was a bit moving, but bearable, after watching TV for 10 minutes I felt strange, but then it passed. We landed again at Piraeus staying for a night at the hotel, although I had already studied the place in the first visit, I got stuck with the one-way roads and the crazy traffic, a bit too similar to Rome! There is a HUGE port with ships all over Greece, in fact for error I arrived to the trucks deposit, with billions of truck loads that modularly integrate on ships. Ah, the petrol there at Piraeus costs much less, about 0.973 euro per liter, on the island instead it was 1.055, in Italy 1.350, perhaps because there they suck directly from oil tankers! 8-) Then we returned to Patras without a hitch and, from there, again the same MEGA ship, which this time was much less crowded and with much lower vibrations and no bothering for the warnings of intermediate stops that I think was only in Igoumenitsa, again a dinner at the restaurant on board, this time we took less things, cost 15 euros. Before getting into the car, while climbing up the ramp to the ship's entrance, while we were showing the tickets, two soldiers wearing camouflage suits, sunglasses and machine guns tell us some things in greek, I tell them in english that I did not understand and they got upset, then others translated that needed to open the trunk and I say "it's open" and they "you have to open it", I open and they checked touching the corner at the bottom where a heavy object would have slipped and they found a sun umbrella, they became curious and then understood a little amused, then smiled and said it's all right. Arriving in Italy the same scene with custom agents but not with us, before us there was a guy from Naples with a plate Venice and asked him "open" and he said "it is open" and they say "you have to open it by yourself"... 8-)) I was already ready showing the passport opened with the photo and that made me pass immediately without looking at me and ordering the others to let me go right away, who knows? Going to Italy you get double check, going to Greece no control, obviously they want to avoid material traffic to Italy or more likely it is all a randomness. For now I do not remember anything else, if anything I update you. Then from Bari to Rome on the highway and the next day I had the flight to Paris that left at 6:45am! But we will talk about this in the next episode.
FRANCE: PARIS
It's true that canceling the trip I would have lost only the 20 euros of the low cost flight and going alone I would have lost 200 because I still had to pay the hotel for three people (not having had the opportunity to reorganize everything in a hurry in two days especially being still in Greece) but often, for various reasons, the opportunities are not repeated and I went alone anyway, at least there is the advantage that I could do as I want and also force a bit the legs to walk in a fairly intense way for the average of the humans. :-) The tour was not optimized because I did not have the chance to study the itineraries in detail, but I saw a lot of stuff. My father came to pick me up at 5 am, we needed 10 minutes to reach Rome Ciampino airport. From the plane I saw the dawn, a rare event for me that likes to wake up as late as possible! All smooth, get off at Paris-Beauvais, from there, having only hand luggage only, I went out immediately, buying bus tickets to Paris, about an hour and a half journey, there is a lot of countryside around there, it's very nice. Arrival in Paris at Port Melliot under the Congress Palace. In english to I ask the driver where is the subway and he answers me promptly even if in french but I know some words and we understand each other. With only three stops on the subway line 1 arriving at the Esplanade de la Defense, the structure of the subway lines is huge, arriving almost everywhere. Line 1 seems the most elegant, the others are more like Ostia train, even if I have not tried ALL them. La Defense is a business district like Wall Street with mega skyscrapers full of banks and big companies. From the Esplanade I went on foot "home", the hotel of the chain ETAP that was along the Seine, it's 15-20 minutes by walk, the problem is that there the streets for both cars and pedestrians do not develop on a single level but on 2-3 or more levels, similar to the bridges in Rome of the Tiburtina or Laurentino and then the first few times it was a bit difficult to understand which route to take, however I arrived. Upon arrival at the hotel there were other Italians who told me "for heaven's sake ask for a NON-smoking room, we got smoked"... so I asked NON-SMOKING and the receptionist who spoke good english was surprised but he satisfied me. He gave me the room that did not overlook the Seine but maybe it was quieter. There was a double bed and a bunk bed that passed over, but I was alone. There were separate rooms for the toilet, the shower and the sink, so in three you could even operate in parallel... there was the LCD TV with French channels plus the BBC, the Spanish channel, the German channel and italian RAI1. You can enter the room only with the assigned numerical code. There was a misunderstanding with the receptionist (who changed every time), because I told him "do I have to pay immediately?" and he said "as you prefer, even just a day, or 2 or 3 or whatever you like" and I "ok, then I can pay one day right away and the others when I leave? (so if there is any folly I'm in time to escape) and he said "definitely!". Of course, the day after the code to enter did not work anymore and we went back to talking (luckily I was always keeping with me documents and credit cards because I had foreseen some madness) and he said that it happened because it's had been paid only for one day, and when I told him that his colleague told me that I could pay the other days when I left he said that his colleague is an idiot. And I believe it! I tell him "so let's just pay all the other 4 days now, ok?" and that "no possible! You can pay one day only!" and I said "excuse me, will the code change every day?" and that "yes, sir" and I "seems to me madness anyway if there is no alternative we do this way", that prints the sheet with over TWO days and I said "but didn't you say ONE day?", he replied "Yes, one means two" and I said "okay let's do as it happens... I don't want to know anymore... I give up... ". In the afternoon I visited Le Grande Arche which is a new arch made 20 years ago, 110 meters high with inside the computer science museum, there was a hard disk half a meter wide and opened, and several ancient stuff. I have also rushed to La Defense, there is a simple but nice fountain because they make the water flow dynamically and you form shapes like the waves or alternating water. Considering that in Greece I already have filled with food I tried to contain myself and eat something simple, twice from Mc Donald's, one at the Subway, one at home, one at Pizza Hut, for lunch only fruit and carrots. The day after I wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower, before I took a look at the gardens below, the Champs de Mars, there were several gypsy ladies who, after asking you if you speak english, they propose a written sheet saying to be dirt poor and asking for money, needless to say that the next times that they have would ask me if I speak english the answer will be "NO" to them, so they turn off. For the tower there was the terrible line for the elevator saying "SATURATION POSSIBLE", then I went up the stairs to the second level which was also a third and the line lasted 10 minutes. There is a nice view from there and also a certain breeze. And consider that the tower was supposed to be a temporary exhibition and instead it was forever. Nearby there was the Trocadero but I did not go inside, there was an interesting navy museum, but you cannot do everything. Then when I have risen I took the Batobus, that is the boat on the Seine, it is very useful because it makes 8 stops in the most interesting places and you can hop on and off all day as you like from 10am to 7pm, for a day it costs 12 euros, for 2 days 16 euros, for 3 days 19 euros, I did it only for a day but maybe it could be useful for several days, but some stops, like the Louvre, require almost the whole day, or maybe more days. On board there is the lady who explains the stops in french, english and spanish and you can ask her for information, I was impressed with how proudly she explained all the accessible things at the boat stop, you could really see that she likes her own city, I almost laughed but I was happy for her that she "believe it". :-) So I went down to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, very pretty, inside it's a little dark with the light coming all from the stained glass windows. Then I went back for a quick stop to get to the Louvre, just to see timetables and prices, streets seem all giant and from there you see along the straight road the concord square with a golden-tipped obelisk, then the Champs Elysee, the triumphal arch and the new great arch at the Defense all along a line with a very wide road. I resumed the boat and decided to do a complete tour again (it's cool to use the river, they use it much more than us for tourism and commercial traffic with huge barges, there are signs for ships on bridges, it must be to indicate the direction of traffic) and then get off at the Champs Elysee stop, I thought they were gardens, but it is a huge avenue with all the luxury elegant shops, bordered by gardens. Then I took the subway and I came home: the last 20 minutes on foot seemed enough after you have walked for 10 hours ...! The next day I went by subway to the Louvre, acceptable line because there are also automatic machines to do tickets and the price is more than fair, at least compared to other things and the content that offers, 9 euros (when it closes at 5:45pm), wednesday and friday I think you can enter from 6pm to 9:30pm for 6 euros but it is a bit too much of a run, you can do it just if you are interested to see just a few targeted things. Inside is a huge thing, not surprisingly it is the largest museum on our planet, it requires at least 100 days to visit it all right, there are 4 floors, everyone who follows the structure of the U-shaped building, they give you the map, I took half an hour just to understand where I was, although I have a certain orientation. Almost an hour to locate the Monna Lisa (known also as Gioconda) of Leonardo Da Vinci which is, after all, very small compared to what I thought, in contrast, in front of it, there is a painting of Veronese 30 meters wide, it is very crowded, everyone wants to take the picture with Monna Lisa .... every step was to remain open-mouthed, both my feet for walking and my brain burst out due to the amount of data to be processed and stored, then I decided to focus on what I prefer, I saw the departments greek, roman, egyptian, northern Europe painters. The sculptures of the Venus of Milo, the kiss between Love and Psyche (by Canova... many of the coolest stuffs are Italian!!!), the dying slave, remained impressed, an armor of the shimmering King of France, a perfectly preserved mummy of 4,000 years ago, the Egyptian papyrus with the magic formula to transform you into a phoenix! The paintings of dead natures of dutch painters, those with fruit, oh they looked like a high definition photograph, amazing, there were also the ARTICHOKES!!! Then on the tombs of the pharaohs, or the powerful egyptians, there was almost always their own statue together with their "girlfriend", of course the statue has lasted much more than them. Inside the museum I walked about 24 km. Then I went out and I rushed a bit to admire the nearby attractions, the Royal Palace, the Grand Palace, the Petit Palace, and then on the Champs Elysee and then back home, almost arriving with a wheelchair! :-)
The day after I planned the trip to Versailles. I reach the RER line C, the railway, I buy the ticket and the very kind lady tells me in english that I have to change the train and she showed me it on a subway map that gives me. In the train change point there are not many written indications, not all trains are good, in fact the C line forks, but a voice announcement warns indicating the right train, it's also very clear because it will be exploding of tourists inside! The first train that arrived stopped 100 meters farther because there are long and short trains, that was short and it aligns in that way, so I could not take it because it was bursting with people and I waited the next one after a quarter of an hour, that was full too but I was prepared for the assault. Arrived to Versailles I had to do not less than an hour and a half in a line under the sun, but with the hat, for the entrance fee that, including the castle and gardens, was 21.50 euros, not very cheap, (in the line a chinese girl asked one behind me "why are you standing in line?" and he replied "I do not know!" :-) Then she asked me and I replied that, looking at the inscription "TICKETS" at the bottom of the office, I wished I could buy tickets and enter the palace... she got surprised by the the simple but straight logic), there was also the audio guide included but I gave up not to do another mega line. In the queue there were people all over the planet, in fact you could hear all the languages, there was a group of spanish ladies who were doing a great noise and then the unmissable chineses, thinking well I suppose actually was japanese, by the way I saw at least three in Paris of japanese couples who were getting married... In Versailles there was a japanese woman in traditional dress and with flip-flops with socks, a strange effect in an environment that has nothing to do with her, then there they put in the background those classical music of the '700, relaxing, in harmony with the environment. Inside it's very elegant but I was more impressed by the gardens. When they turned on the fountains there was not even a place to sit on the MEGA stairs! To come back, there was always a bit of confusion to get into the right train, above all to figure out which one would depart for first, since it was a terminus and, in doubt, I went up to the last second, so it was full of people again. I got off at a different stop from the departure to the Invalid where there is a huge street with this monument and behind the mega Cathedral with the shining dome that can be seen well from the Eiffel Tower, but I did not stop there much, just passing through as for the National Assembly. Then I continued the tour to the oldest church in Paris, to Saint Germain de Pres, then to Sant Sulpice, the Luxembourg gardens, a sort of Villa Pamphili (in Rome) but smaller and with well-tended gardens, there were many gentlemen with small tables playing chess, many other relaxing on the grass or on the deck chairs to sunbathe. Then I was at the Pantheon, but I did not enter, maybe it could be nice, I think that inside there was the pendulum of Foucault! I could not see the Jardin des Plantes instead because I was tired and it was late, I think it was nice, even with the natural history museum.
The day after another nice ride, I went to an area of dubious morality on the Moulin Rouge street, it says that there are 120 years of sexy shows, a remarkable result! It's my simplification, obviously these ladies are much more, they are great artists! On the street there are all shops of dubious morality, I think that at night it could be very funny... I wanted to take a ride to the nearby museum of eroticism but was closed from the day before for work in progress, it would be reopened at 8.00 pm, but for me it could not be done, it was just out of curiosity: there were 7 floors I do not know of what... Continuing the walk not far away there is Montmartre with the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, in practice it climbs up a mountain, in fact there is also a funicular for those who do not want to climb the stairs. Along the way there are many tanned guys (there are many in Paris in general but also ladies) who want to sell you tons of souvenirs and along the garden to climb there was a remarkable stink of pee I would say, maybe people did not hold up to the climb and he let himself go, but it could happen worse! :-) From the top there is a beautiful view but that day there was haze, on the right I recognized the tower of Montparnasse or rather a skyscraper, another vantage point if one wants to go there to enjoy the panorama view. The basilica is nice, on the left there is another little church of Saint Peter, around it looks like a mountain village, along the way there are also many artists who sell their paintings. Returning down, there were an infinity of those gentlemen who proposed to tourists the famous game of three cards to cheat them. They have copied that too from italian ones! :-) Then I changed area and I returned to the Concorde square with the big obelisk and then I walked a bit to the Jardins des Tulleries, I settled on a recliner near the fountain for a while to relax and then I continued the ride along the Seine. Turning left towards Le Chatelet, there is a pedestrian area, on the left there is a mega church, it is Saint Eustachio, inside there were many chineses who were recording an organ concert, with all their assistants that warned to be quiet with the door because it was required the utmost silence, a lady put the coins in the handle of the offers and made a mess... they wanted to cut her head ...
I was laughing alone...but in silence! 8-)
Continuing in the pedestrian area, I arrived in a place where, despite it was lunch time, along the road or at the doors of the houses there were scattered many ladies of dubious morality, surely showy and pleasant to see and also very sociable, however, I returned the hot greetings and I went straight. Turning back to the Seine I moved to the Center Pompidou, I thought it was like a mall but not really, there is a museum of art and many galleries of paintings but I did not stop and I continued. I crossed the Seine, beyond Notre Dame, and on the left another pretty pedestrian area, and the Presbyterian church of San Severin. At the end I went back to the first pedestrian area and I ate at Pizza Hut, it was quite expensive because, even though it was a double margherita pizza, the thicker one, it costed 18.40 including a 1 liter bottle of water. And then I got back home.
The next day I had less possibility to plan the day because I was with the baggage, I left the hotel around 11 and went to the Arc de Triomphe, there was a wild traffic there and also several police cars that passed super fast. Very slowly, and stopping for a long time on the benches, I walked through the avenue de la Grande Armée, mainly standing still and letting the city move around me, it's full of car shops and banks, at the end I arrive very calmly in Port Melliot and I make a tour of the Congress Palace which instead is a very elegant shopping center inside, a t-shirt, although branded, cost 400 euros. And then, out of there, there was the bus station for Beauvais airport, which on its path passes under the hotel where I lived! And finally I got back to Rome. There were many other things to see but I have seen too much for the time taken, for example it could be nice to visit the D'Orsay Museum, and outside, EuroDisney, the castles from the Loire or Orlean and much more, then one tries to follow and give priority to what he/she prefers. All in all people are better than I thought, they were always nice to me and when they could, they speak english without problems, of course there are many people at least in more touristic places, but all in all it was very nice. Paris is a big city.
PORTUGAL: LISBON
Day 1
This time I will tell you about my last trip to Lisbon. For this stretch I changed airline, however, it proved to be quite reliable, partly leaving always a bit late but then recovering and arriving on time. In this trip there was the variant that I was not alone, but my "padano" friend Gianluca would have joined me from Milan, don't worry he is precise, we have already been in Ireland and Canada together. Actually with "padano" I do not mean a political connotation but only geographic, that is coming from northern Italy and that's it, both of us are not very involved in politics. When we are together, a roman and a milanese, it makes me think that we are like those Christmas funny italian movies with the comical actors Boldi and De Sica! 8-)) I also changed the scheme to reach the Fiumicino airport, actually nobody knows it, but there is a cotral bus from the Eur-Magliana subway stop (which is 2.5 km from my house, 5 minutes in the car and I parked nearby) that takes you to the airport and costs 4 to 6 times less than the train (depending on whether you take it from Ostiense or Termini), it's a bit long (about 45 minutes) because it passes in Fiumicino city but once you're sitting is not a problem. It stops right in front of terminal 2 and, having already printed boarding passes with no embarked baggage, I can go directly to the gate, after the usual inspection. I arrived a lot early because I did not know how reliable the new scheme was to get to the airport, the flight left at 10:35 and took 3 hours of travel (beware that Portugal is an hour back as time zone respect to Italy, so it seems to require 2 hours to go and 4 to get back, but of course it was already all calculated). I start waiting comfortably, there are so many people running around. A worried boy who did not see the seat number of his boarding pass asked me "but here do you sit randomly?" and I "but of course, like on the bus, relax". A young lady, undoubtedly, let's say, rather flashy, asked me for information in portuguese, but honestly I did not understand anything, also because if they speak at the speed of light is unlikely to understand something, perhaps in writing we can grab some word (I attended a very quick portuguese course), but the pronunciation is very complicated, it seems that one feels sick when he/she speaks. However there was another "of them" who understood and replied. For example, they say "good morning" as "Bom dia", we also have "good day", but the word DIA seems almost pronounced as JIA with the accent on the i. Even the word desculpe, that is, excuse, seems to be pronounced almost with g or at least a middle way between d and g, gesculpe. "Boa tarde", good evening, is already easier. There was also a group of 5-6 "boys" of the roman opera pilgrimages, whose average age was 200 years, I assume they were doing a ride in Fatima, another famous destination of religious tourism, I would also add the adjective "commercial" as the organization is a bit scary, but depends on the characters, for example I think that my mother likes it a lot, the important thing is that one feels happy. As usual, I was the last to board the airplane, with all convenience, I found a seat ahead but not near the window, I sat next to a couple, a boy and a girl, he looked a little weird with the mustache and the black hat in the same color, I've seen several people like him recently, I think it's a stereotype proposed on TV, now there are not anymore people thinking with their own head or being themselves and that's it. The crew is composed by 4 members, two guys (one of whom, the blowhard, was the boss of the group) and two young ladies who took care of the people at the back of the plane. The mob (joke). :-)
The city is not very big, it could be a coincidence, but I saw at least 6 people that I noted on board of the airplane, some of them even more times in the city center. And I saw at least three of these with certainty on the return flight! I was very sleepy because I woke up at 6:30 (as you know for me it's a shocking time, I prefer to go to bed at 3 am), even those next to me were in a coma, it was quite cloudy all the way, that is, on the airplane at altitude there is always the sun because you are ON TOP of the clouds but below you can see that it is cloudy. Landing perfectly on time at 12.45 local time, I immediately go to the bus stop, I already knew everything, there is the aerobus, number 91 which connects you to the city center in 20 minutes where we had the hotel, coast 3.70 euros and the ticket is valid all the day long on other public transport. We begin by noting that the number 91 does not make sense because it is not indicated anywhere, there were other Italians who were going crazy to see if it was good or not and if there were other buses that were good, but at least there is a map of the stops and then I could not go wrong. Almost immediately I see to pass the bus 44, that was good for me as well, maybe with a little longer path, but I decided to keep waiting for the "super", the decision did not prove to be successful (as in Rome you must always take the first pass, in the meanwhile you approach, if you keep waiting just on one is over) because, although having to pass every 20 minutes, after 40 still didn't pass anything, I see another 44 and this time I rush into taking it without hesitation!
The driver was a young lady who also sold tickets, 1.40 euros ride if bought on the bus (0.80 if one had made the prepaid card as in Valencia). I sit at the back seats that were available, even if you could see less well outside because it was high up. There was a gentleman with a typical white hat that is used in the countries of central America, it seemed to be in a Bud Spencer movie like Banana Joe. Then comes a group of 4 girls from kindergarten (I think of high school), I did not understand a word of what they said but I think they were really having fun joking among them, about the same way how the girls do in Italy, half of them got out and one was even rolling on the ground for laughing, at first I thought she felt sick because she was on her back, then when she turned around I saw that she was just laughing. For arriving at my stop it's easy because even on the bus there is a display with the name of the next stop, this time "stop" is called "paragem", in Spanish it was "parada", a small variant. The square of the hotel is already known because I had "already been there" with the street view of google maps. Considering the delay accumulated, the alleged unreliability of the time of passage of local buses and that I was very tired, I warned Gianluca to reach me directly from the airport by taking the FIRST bus that passes and I didn't go to the station of Oriente to visit the Oceanarium, the mall and to reach the airport to return with Gianluca as planned. The hotel is 4 stars not bad at all, right in the center, in the restauradores square, very close to the subway, train and bus. Each room also had a well-stocked kitchen with stove, sink, fridge, microwave, toaster, blender, dishwasher, cutlery, dishes, glasses, the view on the square is very pretty. Shortly, after entering the room, someone rings the doorbell, I look through the peephole and it was a very "tanned" cleaning lady, I open the door, she says that she forgot to change the pillowcase that then will be assigned to Gianluca, I leave her do it and then I thank her in the local language, thanks a lot is said "muito obrigado", it seems that she appreciated my adaptive effort. I relaxed a bit, I tried to find if on the TV there was some Italian channel but nothing, only in portuguese, at best in english with the channels of the "Queen", the BBC and some others, there was also Euronews (that I see on the satellite in Rome) but there were also channels of documentaries like National Geographic. Then we had also stereo music, with tape and CD player, the radio stayed tuned on a classical music channel, I kept it, it was nice. I tried to make a phone call to a toll-free number from the hotel landline but, after I made the zero and the number, the receptionist answered, I explained the situation in english, he told me to dial zero before the number but I had already done so, he asked me to wait 5 minutes that he had to untangle the settings. After 5 minutes I try again and the other answered, I explain that I already spoke with his colleague, he suggests to dial the zero first, I assure him that I had done it but if they continue to answer to me it will never change, then he operates again and confirms that he has arranged it, in fact it finally worked: we were able to lunch the "starship". Then I went out for a while, in the next door near the hotel there was the tourist police (in the neighboring gates at night some tramps were going to sleep on the ground, who knows why so close to the police, do they feel more protected? Or do they like to challenge?), I went to the tourist information center, two doors away because I wanted to buy the Lisboa Card, a card that actually provides unlimited access on the entire network of all public transportation in the city, subway, bus, train, trams, lifts, as well free access or with discounts to the main attractions of the place, with a quick calculation I saw that it could be useful, matching our visits plan. We opt for the one that lasts 72 hours, costs 35 euros... I would have activated the next day. There was the boy who explained everything to you in a very good english, even those of the hotel spoke very good english but there was no hope to speak in italian. I also asked him where was a supermarket and he explained it to me well, it was two minutes by walk, the "pingo doce", almost in the Naples way for the word "doce", after all we are not so different for words :-) Indeed, many ways of constructing the sentences seem to the roman style, "vinho da casa" the "da" (from) we read with the elongated sound as "vino daaa casa" (meaning homemade wine) as in Rome! Once again we are BUDDIES!!! ;-) Or in the same way it works with the "do" that would be "del" (of), more to the neapolitan way. Many words have poor correlation with the italian like the word tuna (tonno) that is said "atum" (which for me was an egyptian deity) but maybe I have to search from the Latin, some links are always found at the end, sometimes they seem to use our words in disuse or archaic way (often even in Spanish happens), they are not up to date like us, they are left behind! :-) I went to the supermarket and picked up the small cart, the place is also small but well stocked, I was impressed by the policeman fixed at the entrance. I took a few things, fruit is abundant and cheap, oranges at 0.80 per kilo and they are very good. I do a little stock of fruit and vegetables to alternate a bit to the restaurants where you usually take other things. At the counter the lady asks me if I want "il sacco", it should be the bag, I take two, for the amount to pay is better to read from the display... the numbers quickly pronounced are difficult to understand. The population is very varied and there is a strong link, stemming from history, with Brazil and other parts of south America. Many are tanned, I have not focused so much on guys, as on the ladies, they have very generous shapes, we would say that they are rather noticeable, even those not tanned usually tend to have dark hair, although many women dye them blond creating a strange effect that I also noticed in Greece: the eyebrows remain super black, while the hair is blond and the anomaly is too obvious, but I think this is appreciated in such places. In my opinion they would be better to stay more natural. :-) The way to talk of the girls is funny, it makes me think to Juliana (Moreira, the brazilian show girl who works on TV). Then I make a nice trip around, there are several pedestrian areas, I arrive to the sea in 10 minutes (so I understand that it is feasible to reach almost everything on foot in the center, the only problem may be the wild climbs), to be precise it's not the sea, it's the Tagus estuary, which they call Tejo, the weather was not good (every day we have been there it was always cloudy and cool, but maybe it's better, otherwise with heat who could walk?). And there was a wild wind that did not make me walk, I went a little back more inside where it was much more sheltered, because the city stands on 7 hills, like in Rome! There are wild climbs, and hard rock on the ground, not ideal for the bike, and that's why there are all these "elevadores", lifts or trams that go on huge slopes, only the first night I tried to make one of these on foot, but not all the other times.
I also analyzed the Barrio Alto (high quarter), a pedestrian area with narrow streets full of small restaurants (such as in Trastevere quarter in Rome), the most genuine are the so-called "tascas" where the food is very fresh and the price is very low. Often there are also the "catchers", those who declaim the qualities of a certain place to convince you to come to them, but the best and less touristic tascas do not need them. I go back to the hotel from another part where there are stairs to arrive, obviously it's full of little clubs, some even of dubious morality, but nothing exaggerated, in comparison to Paris they express tenderness. I wait for Gianluca in the hotel lobby. We meet, he tells me that he also did not find the direct bus and took the number 44, we arrive to the scientific conclusion that the aerobus does not exist at all and that it is just an urban legend (almost at the end of our trip we have seen one instead!) I show him the "house" and then we go to eat at the barrio alto, the problem is the choice, we compare some menu and prices trying to dodge the catchers (there were also in Greece on the islands more famous and I also know in some restaurant in Rome). One tells us that with Italy they are "friendly" because we are always "latin" and spoke quite Italian. I understood that "fried frango" is not fried fango (the italian word for mud), but just fried chicken. We tell him that we want to see around and that says that others cheat... another one claimed that he was good because he was full, but in itself this aspect alone does not mean anything: it could mean that he has a good chatter the catcher and it could be full of americans and britishmen who are not always very expert on food. In the end we return to the first one, the one of the frango. The quality is quite good, I take a gazpatcho (a kind of cold vegetable soup) and a grilled bacalhau, the cod that there is cooked in 400 different ways, in fact indeed it is not bad at all. Gianluca was a bit distracted by the girl who served at the tables... :-)
We also took a taste of "tinto" Porto wine, that is red, resembled quite the Marsala, excellent. The only little trick, is that on a total cost of two of 36 euros, 15 were only for the two glasses of wine (which we had taken in reduced portion) and two nice appetizers, never requested by us, based on salami and cheese (which they call QUEIJO similarly to us, pronounced CHEGIO with the sweet g, the cacio (cheese)!), which had been erroneously considered by us to be a kind gift. Looking around the place is also full of patisseries with high quality products but we sincerely managed to resist the temptation of drowning in there, in this sweet sea, wouldn't you want us to become all flab and pimples? :-) A quick stroll around the city at night and then to sleep.
Day 2
