Finally, after about a month and a half into my stay in italy, I've finally had the chance to visit the capital of the country. This time, it was a 3 day trip over the weekend, leaving on a friday afternoon and I believe, getting back on a monday morning flight. Another one of the crazy, didn't-quite-plan-everything-out trips with a couple of my good friends/roommates in italy. It was a total of four guys, and just me and you'd think, oh crap travelling with a bunch of guys is going to be an experience... and it was. I can't complain when you're the only girl in the group and you're well taken care of and guys are simple, simple people. I can't say how happy I was to be far away from any girl drama whatsoever. It was just all relaxed fun and games all the way. Maybe almost a little too relaxed at times because I remember the afternoon of our departure, we were catching an afternoon train and we barely made the train, since we got to the platform with just 2 minutes to spare. Not one of the funnest of times when we were literally rushing to get to the metro station and the horror on our faces when the trains were delayed. Just the bunch of us standing at the platform, trying to work out how long it'd take for the train to reach each stop and how long it'd take in total, and then, how much time we'd have left to make the connection to the train to Roma. Oh those good, good, not great, times.

Roma at night.

It was about a 3 hour journey on the train but funny thing is, I didn't even realise we were taking one of them fancy, more expensive trains till later. One of my guy friends, typical italian, definitely loved travelling and living like a king so we all ended up on a business class of the frecciarosa train. Not the old, hobo looking, cheap ones I take on a budget trip but a proper, new, fancy, super fast comfy train. You could even tell from the seats and all, great legroom, great leather seats compared to the tiny, cramped, old seats I had to endure on the cheap train to Como. (I mean, they were that cramped that even me, a 5'1 midget, when I sat down, my knees were touching the other seats!) And obviously, we got all the fancy, snacks and refreshments along the way of the journey with it too. Can't lie, that was fucking amazing. It's been awhile since I've travelled in such comfort on a train. And when we got there, our italian friend's parents were even kind enough to let my boyfriend and I have a small apartment that they usually rent out, for the nights we were there. It was such a lovely cozy little place with a small kitchen, bathroom, a small lounge area and a nice, comfy, massive bed. Thinking about it now, I do miss that little apartment.

I can't quite recall which night it was where we had the crazy food feast at the sicilian restaurant (which I've mentioned earlier in my posts) but that was, amazing. It was like, sickly amazing, the kind where you're so full and you can't eat anymore but you have to because the food is that amazing. I do believe it was on the night of arrival, our italian friend took all of us on a tour around the city, going to all the touristy places... at night. As tiring as it may sound, it's definitely something new and cool, to see the city by night because all these places, are suddenly just empty at night and that's when you can really appreciate the beauty of the place, minus the tourists.

It was dead quiet, just us five, wondering in the streets of Roma. And it's crazy because till then, I've probably just known all of them for about a good 2 weeks but from the way we were getting on and all, you'd think we've all been great friends for the longest time ever. And i have to say, it was much, much better seeing the city at night. There was something so mysterious but amazing at the same time. We even took a trip to the Fontana di Trevi where it's said if you toss a coin into that fountain, you'd return to Roma.

Piazza di Spagna

So far, it hasn't happened yet but I don't see why I wouldn't be going back. It's a wonderful, wonderful city filled with so much history. So that's what we did pretty much for the rest of the night till I believe 3 in the morning, just wondering around, occasionally driving to the places that we can't walk to... And by the time we got back, we were all so tired we just crashed right into bed and didn't wake up till probably about, 12 the next day. And that was one of the best things about travelling with people that are exactly like you, we could stay out as long as we wanted every night and not have to worry about getting up the next morning with a whole list of things to check off the plans. We just did everything spontaneously, depending on the group and how we felt that day. 

Really for the most part, it was just lots of walking around the city, relaxing, enjoying a coffee, best gelato at Fassi's and the best tiramisu at Pompi (all mentioned before in my earlier post here if you scroll down to the entry from 3 June (boy does that sound like it's been a long while since then!)

Stadio Olympico - AC Roma VS Juventus

And of course while we were there, with four guys, all who love football, naturally, we had to watch a match at the stadium. And I'd say that probably was my first ever, football match live with that kind of a crowd. The atmosphere in the stadium was just, like wow. I'm not the biggest football fan myself but watching it there, live, standing from the podium and when you're just 25m away from the pitch, it definitely changes things. 90 minutes of football on the tv would bore me to death but at that match, time went by so quick because it actually was pretty amazing I'd have to say. Even if you aren't a fan yourself, all the excitement and cheering from the crowds just kinda gets you going anyway.

The monday morning when we had to leave... oh that was absolutely, evil. We had gotten back at about 3 from the night before because we were hanging around some park having some beer and some fun in the night and the horrible thing that we probably forgot to consider was, we had to catch a 7am flight back to Milano Malpensa. Which meant, we had to get up and leave at about 5:30 in the morning. And obviously because we were all having that much fun, it just sort of slipped our minds that we all had work and university the next day, at 9. I think it's quite easy to guess, we all felt like death, beyond a shit and upon landing, we had to fight with the morning rush crowds onto the bus to get back to the city. The guys headed off to work (don't even ask me how they did that because that's just insane) but I decided nothing wasn't going to happen that day and headed back into bed. Needless to say, when everyone was back at the apartment that night, we were all just destroyed.

And you'd think I'd learn from my past crazy clubbing nights, it's never wise to get back at 5 in the morning, sleep for 2 hours and show up to class. But you know when you're 20, and out abroad in a new foreign place, you just think you're invincible and can do anything. I guess I've realised on a couple of rough occasions, this isn't quite the case. 

By far, definitely one of the favourite places I've been to in Italy. As you can probably tell from the opening photo, it's one of those perfect, holiday vacation spots. It was about mid May, 16th to 18th just for another quick, short weekend. Flights were about 80 euros return from Malpensa directly to Alghero, Sardegna and it was only about forty five minutes long. Once there, it was a quick 10 minute taxi ride to the accommodation. 

One of the best accommodations I've booked on airbnb to date. There were five of us in a four storey house, lots of room and it was always a lovely start to the morning just sitting outside in the backyard, having breakfast, enjoying the sun. I'd say the time we went probably was still a little too early, it was just starting to get warm but give it another two weeks or so and it'd be perfect weather. There were times when it did get quite cold at the beach, particularly the waters. I couldn't bring myself to even place a foot in there because it was ice, cold. 

It's a great place to go to if you're just thinking of a relaxing holiday of doing practically nothing. The entire vibe of the place is nothing but a slow, quiet sunday on repeat. There are many great places to go in Sardegna but I was recommended to try out Alghero as it's a little more quiet though I've also been told the demographics are slightly older in age. 

It's possible to walk though it's much better to catch the bus to get to the beaches or the town centre. Each ride just costs 1 euro if you were to purchase the tickets from the newsstands or 1.50 euro if you got them directly on the bus. The town centre is absolutely beautiful. You definitely feel like you're on holiday, no doubt. There are lots of bars at night where you can have a nice drink and in the day, it's great to explore around town or have a gelato on the way. 

As lovely as the town centre is, it's when you walk to the edge of the town centre, just by the sea where you really see the true beauty of Alghero. You can hear the light waves crashing against the 16th century catalan city walls, with a light breeze and the warm sun on your skin. Along this path are also tons of great restaurants, all which offer wonderful views of the sea. We did end up dining at one of them that night because we simply couldn't resist. It was a table just outside on the terrace where we got a wonderful view of the sunset.

16th Century Catalan City Walls

I wouldn't lie, it was quite an amount to spend on dinner but given the amazing food, atmosphere and service, if you're just about to afford it, I'd definitely say give one of the restaurants a go. And of course, since you're near the sea, definitely go for a seafood dish as they are amazing. Even after dinner, you could just sit at the table, have a glass of wine, sit back and relax. There was no rush to anything there, everything moves at a slow, laid back speed.

What I loved was just the entire vibe of the place. It was so, refreshing and relaxing, like you could just stay there for forever. I remember walking around in just some worn out tank top, shorts, flip flops and the typical tourist hat I picked up from a street vendor on the beach. Though I have to say, I remember seeing some ladies all dressed up in full on, stiletto heels while walking past the restaurants as we were eating, kudos to them cos I don't know how they do that. Trotting along on those stone pebble cob paths, I would have face planted a billion times along the way.

The beaches are absolutely stunning. And what's even more amazing was the fact that it was pretty much empty because it was still low peak season. So, really, it kind of felt like you had the entire beach to yourself. On the first day, we went to a smaller beach nearer to our house. It was perfect, soft warm sand, crystal clear blue waters (though freezing!) and heck, they've even got a couple palm trees! There even was a nearby pizza, seafood restaurant just a 2 minute walk away by the beach so you could dine at the beach and the best part was, you didn't even have to put all your clothes back on, simply because technically, you're still at the beach. So I just strolled in with my tie top over my bikini and my bikini bottoms. 

The second beach we went to on the next two days was much bigger but similarly, the waters were freezing cold. There were much more restaurants to pick from and with the sun and lovely weather, it's a great (romantic) stroll down the coast with your feet just lightly touching the waves as they wash up on the shore. Likewise, restaurants were all on the beach so we literally sat at a table with our feet buried in the sand while having some mussel soup and calamari. Everything was just great, we just spent three whole days lying on the beach for a good 6, 7 hours a day, doing absolutely nothing. It probably is best to pack some sunscreen because I remember going home and having a shower only to realise it felt like acid on my skin because I clearly was, quite sunburnt. Like two shades of pale and pink skin burnt. But if you're looking to get a great tan, all you have to do is just lie there, like a beached whale. You'll get a lovely tan, guaranteed. I turned so brown after just 2.5 days of tanning. I couldn't even take it the last day as I didn't want to risk my skin falling off. It still did a week later anyway...

The only thing that was slightly disappointing while I was there was that I could not find a single gelato store/stall in sight! Shocker, I was planning on having some nice italian gelato while chilling on the beach with my music but there were none. Speaking of food, us few moneysaving budget travellers decided to bring some packed sandwich lunches to the beach too (they have a supermarket in town where you can buy groceries) and honestly it wasn't too bad. Kind of added to the whole, backpacking, travelling, hobo kinda lifestyle kinda vibe really. 

Up till today, I still miss that place so much I'd love to go back there and just spend a week doing nothing all over again. 

... to be continued.

second stop, bardonecchia.

45.0833°N, 6.7000°E

A three an a half hour journey, two hours to Turin and then a change to Bardonecchia. Probably one of the most spontaneous trips I've ever made with two of my other good friends. It was actually a thursday night decision and a sudden friday morning wake up call for me, and a five minute packing job before running to the station to catch the quickest train to Milano Centrale. It wasn't as bad as I thought because really, the train was quite empty so you could stretch out as much as you wanted. The three of us looked like a bunch of homeless hitch hikers stretched out across two seats, leaning up against the window, sleeping with our socks on. 

But the time goes by fairly quick, and you get to see the towns you past by along the way too and funny enough, you know when you're reaching your final stop because it starts to get colder, you feel the snow breeze through the vents and you start to see patches of snow, then more, and more and finally, the mountains. It's one of those places, that's almost a little random really because there really wasn't too many people. And whenever I say "bardonecchia", I often get the clueless look, followed by, "where?" We were there for supposedly, two days but we ended up extending it by a day (and missing a monday's class) because we just weren't ready to leave just yet. The accommodation wasn't bad at all, we had a whole room to us three with a double bed and two bunk beds so it could sleep a total of 5. There was even a little kitchen we could cook in, a nice bathroom and a small TV so we wouldn't be bored out of our minds.