Rome Wasn't Built in a Day, But We Tried to See it in One (And Other Terrible Italy-Related Puns)

I have returned to grey sunny (!) London after two completely amazing weeks in Italy and Greece (where it didn't rain once!--quite a shock for a Londoner). It was my first time in Italy (where I was with my mum) and my second time in Greece (where I met my lovely friend from back home). I'll just aim to cover Italy in this post because I have far too much to say. I'll attempt to do this highlight reel style since there is just so much fabulous-ness and I can't possibly cover everything. (Also, I'm drinking ouzo brought back from Greece while doing this, so I apologize if I lose the plot at all towards the end.)

So, Italy. The trip started out in Venice, which is somewhere I've been dreaming of going to and which lived up to my expectations in a lot of respects. For one, the city itself is absolutely gorgeous. The architecture, the blue-green canals, the windy labyrinth of alleyways and bridges, the piazzas...the allure of Venice becomes clear very quickly. My favorite part of the trip was probably just wandering the alleys, stumbling upon little piazzas, and sitting and eating or having coffee or a drink while watching the light change. Or sitting on the edge of the Grand Canal while drinking spumante. Or wandering through Piazza San Marco at night listening to the live classical music and eating gelato...basically it was all pretty much unbelievable.

The food was also pretty fabulous and I really loved the Venetian-style cuttlefish in ink. I also had the best tiramisu of my life (accompanied by fantastic limoncello). I'm not even a huge tiramisu fan, but this stuff was life-changing. Then there was the chicchetti, which is basically the Italian version of tapas. Squid, eel, shrimp, arancini, and of course lots of wine.

After Venice it was off to Taormina/Giardini-Naxos, two little towns on the east coast of Sicily, or, in other words, paradise. The hostel where we stayed had a rooftop terrace with views of the ocean, the hills, and Mt. Etna. This alone was worth the journey. We were staying in Giardini-Naxos, which was the first Greek settlement in Sicily, but we took trips daily over to Taormina which is situated up on a hill (amazing views) and has a really cool ancient Greek amphitheatre. I loved the drive up the windy roads but they may pose issues for those individuals with a fear of heights (aka, my mom). The towns also offer some awesome beaches, including Isola Bella, a little island that's connected to the mainland at low tide.

Again, the food was a huge highlight (when isn't food a highlight for me?). I'm pretty sure I overdosed on seafood, gelato, and cannoli. The best meal of the trip was a four-course meal at a beachside restaurant which was really more like seven courses. Steamed mussels, three types of smoked fish, shrimp cocktail, seafood salad with octopus (these were just the appetizers), pasta with swordfish, shrimp and squid kebabs, panna cotta. And of course on other days I ate even more seafood, and perfect cannoli, and all-natural gelato (pistachio and melon anyone?). It's a wonder I didn't gain twenty pounds.

So Sicily made an excellent first impression and it was so relaxing to sit on the beach, drink cocktails in the sun, and wander the towns looking at ancient ruins.

Speaking of ancient ruins, Rome was the last place on the agenda and it was a whirlwind tour. We had one day and two nights so we zipped around to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps, and Trevi Fountain. All very impressive/pretty, but I was not a fan of all the people. It's quite the paradox, I'm a tourist, but I also hate tourists. I think my favorite thing was the Roman Forum which was just massive and had so much cool old stuff (I'm a fan of cool old stuff). I don't know about you but I think it's pretty awesome to walk on the oldest road in Rome which has been walked on for thousands of years and to see what was the heart of the Roman Empire. I won't go on and on about food again because it's getting a little ridiculous, but I will just say this: pasta. Pasta (gnocchi in particular), Roman-style artichokes, and lamb organs (YES).

So even just keeping with the highlights this post is getting quite long so I will wrap it up with two final points. One, when I was in Rome I actually started to say the phrase 'When in Rome...' in reference to something and, having such a sophisticated sense of humour, thought this was hilarious. My mom did not find it nearly as amusing, but I can't understand why because it's not like it's the most obvious joke possible to make in Rome. (Now I've definitely lost the plot, sorry about that. I blame the ouzo. And the fact that this post has become longer than the ending of the last Lord of the Rings movie.)

And secondly (and far more relevantly and practically), I just want to note that all the places we stayed were excellent and come highly recommended, particularly because of how nice the owners and employees were at all of them. So, for your future travelling adventures, if you go to Venice: Ca' Contarini Guesthouse, Taormina: Gianni House Hostel, and Rome: La Stella di Roma B&B. You're welcome.

Northern Ireland Part II: Legen-derry

Continuing from where the last post left off...On Sunday, we hopped in our super cool rental mini-bus and headed along the Coastal Road to Derry/Londonderry. We took the entire day for what is usually a three-hour drive because we stopped at a bunch of fantastic places. First, we went on a tour of Carrickfergus Castle, which, for all you history buffs, was built in the 1100s I believe. The tour guide this time was great; she was clearly really into the history of the place and even mentioned her hobby of jousting, swordfighting, and archery. There's someone who takes her job seriously. The castle itself was pretty amazing, right on the ocean with stunning views.

We continued our drive through a number of little villages, up into the still snow-covered hills, and along cliffs over the green ocean. Picturesque doesn't begin to describe it. We stopped in a small village on the water for lunch. Fish and chips were in order and they were pretty damn good (as well they should be considering the proximity of the ocean). The long drive continued. We tried (unsuccessfully) to find the castle in Ballycastle, which, apparently, doesn't exist. But we did find some other pretty amazing castle ruins right on a cliff. There was a brief stop at the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge, which we unfortunately didn't have time to go over but we walked the nearby cliffs and took an excessive number of photos of the unbelievable views. Our last stop was at Giant's Causeway. It doesn't sound all that exciting--a bunch of oddly shaped rocks--but it is quite an impressive spot and the rocks are, shockingly, kind of interesting. Plus, I'm a sucker for anything directly on the ocean.

By the time we actually arrived in Derry it was rather late so we checked into our bohemian-esque hostel, scarfed down some dinner at a Wetherspoon's, and popped into a local pub for the night. We met some interesting characters and had a few drinks. Irish whiskey for me of course, and I am extremely proud to report that my propensity for whiskey on the rocks successfully impressed a couple of Irish blokes. Life goal achieved. After the drinks a few of us took a stroll down to see the Peace Bridge which was quite pretty at night.

For our final day in Northern Ireland we had a whirlwind tour of Derry/Londonderry. Bright and early, a few of us trekked over to the 'Protestant side' of the city to see some unionist murals which were really interesting. Then we went back over the bridge to see the ancient city walls around what is historically the city's Catholic community. We also got a very interesting tour of the nationalist murals around the area where Bloody Sunday occurred. Again, really fascinating stuff (for conflict or history buffs anyway). After this it was back in the mini-bus, back to Belfast briefly, and back to London.

Even after such a short trip, I can enthusiastically say that the people in Northern Ireland overall are so helpful and friendly that despite the country's history of conflict, it really is a wonderful place to visit. It's so fascinating to go to a place that has experienced so many problems and tragedies but is still so welcoming and engaging. Hopefully I'll be back again soon.

Northern Ireland Part I: Paramilitaries, Politicians, and Pub Parleys

Yesterday I got back to London after a five-day trip to Northern Ireland. And even though it was a short one, it was definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on. Much of it was focused on my academic and intellectual interests as I'm writing my dissertation on Northern Ireland and I've always had an interest in the conflict there, but other than being informative and intellectually-stimulating, the trip was also enormously fun and refreshing in itself. Plus, the group I was with was fantastic--we had some excellent political discussions but also a lot of really fun moments. Since there was a lot that happened, I'll split it in two posts. This one will cover our time in Belfast and the next post will talk about our drive to and our time in Derry/Londonderry.

We were in Belfast for three days and in that time we visited a number of museums/historical attractions, met with Unionist politicians at Stormont, took tours with ex-paramilitary and military members, walked around the city, and had a lot of political discussions, mostly over a pint or two in the local pubs. I really enjoyed seeing the history of the city and hearing firsthand from people who were involved in or affected by the Troubles. The visit to Stormont was extremely interesting and we were able to speak with three Unionist politicians and ask them whatever we wanted for over an hour. Definitely a unique experience. We also had a great reception at the City Hall by a city council member who greeted us with fresh scones, tea, and biscuits and gave us some fascinating info about the current political climate and flag protests. While there, we also took a tour of the City Hall, but this was pretty terrible; so bad, in fact, that it was actually quite funny. That poor tour guide was trying so hard, but hearing how long it takes to hoover the carpet in the great hall is not exactly riveting.

The tours we took the next day were far more engaging--one was with an ex-IRA paramilitary through the Catholic neighbourhoods and the other was with an ex-British Army soldier through the Protestant areas. They definitely had opposing viewpoints on many things, but hearing both sides of the story, so to speak, was invaluable. Seeing the 'peace walls' separating the two communities in person was somewhat shocking because of the size and span of them and the murals detailing events from each side's history was also fascinating. If anyone out there goes to Northern Ireland, even if you don't necessarily have a vested interest in the conflict, I would recommend one of these tours.

The rest of our time in Belfast was spent walking the city (sometimes getting a bit lost) and eating and drinking (always a highlight). We had pints a few nights in the Duke of York pub, which was pretty popular, and we were able to have some great political discussions with locals. (And have our fill of Guinness.) We also became regulars at Maggie May's Cafe where they have delicious cheap food (such as milkshakes with espresso and Irish whiskey as well as Bailey's cheesecake--priorities). All in all, Belfast is interesting on a lot of different levels. Next post I'll cover the fantastic drive we took along the northern coast and our very brief stay in Derry/Londonderry.