Day 5–Florence

A casual start to the day with breakfast and then check out followed by a short taxi ride back to Siena railway station.

Check the board for my train and spent the rest of the time reading and talking to some other tourists also waiting on the train.

As departure time approached my fellow travellers informed me that that train to Florence had changed tracks and I’d need to make haste to another platform.

I jump aboard with plenty of time to spare and with plenty of time to spare and was pleasantly surprised to find that this regional train was air-conditioned! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. No complimentary sauna today folks.

The train was much more crowded than the one I caught a few days ago to Siena but there was still plenty of room. So I grabbed a seat and settled in for the trip.

The trip was uneventful, with even the conductor making no fuss about my pre-booed ticket. Achievement unlocked!

Having been to Florence station previously I knew where to exit and headed from the station into the blazing Italian sun for the very short walk to my hotel.

I checked in and then settled in for my regular afternoon snooze to avoid the heat.

First stop was check out the Duomo or as it is clearly also known ‘tourist central’. Florence reminds me of an earlier trip I made to Venice in that fact that the place is just overwhelmed by tourists.

Now I know this is the height of the tourist season and Florence is high on everyone’s must see list but honestly for me, the sheer number of tourists ruins the experience for me totally.

 

Not only is the place full of tourists but all the shops are upmarket boutiques catering to this market. The place is also full of street vendors hocking all kinds of wares to these same tourists who think they are getting a bargain.Sigh.

I continued on through the throng and the heat trying to tick off as many sites as I could this afternoon.

From the Uffuzi to the

To the Ponte Vecchio was just wall to wall tourists.

I continued walking the streets snapping shots until it all got too hot for me and I headed back to the hotel for a break.

Around 7pm I ventured out once again to enjoy another great Italian dinner and then I called it a night.

I’m glad I’m not going to be here long because with the heat and the sheer number of people I’m pretty sure I’d go crazy. Given that tomorrow is Sunday and the Duomo is closed for half the day I think I’ll head to the Galleria dell’Academia where the status of David is, mainly because it opens early. From there I might do a ‘jump-on-jump-off’ bus tour to catch the main sights before heading to the Duomo in the afternoon and no doubt standing in a queue for hours.

Let’s see what pans out tomorrow.

 

 

Day 3–Siena

After falling asleep while only ‘resting my eyes’ I didn’t get the uninterrupted sleep that I needed for my early start this morning from Malta.

I met my driver in the reception of the hotel at about 5.45am and we headed to the airport. The interesting thing is that even at this hour in Malta things are getting warm and there is a surprising amount of traffic on the road.

After tipping my driver for this trip (even though I really feel I shouldn’t have to but it does help the local economy after all) I headed into the terminal to book for my flight.

Bags checked, I headed through security and then through the duty free before emerging at the departures terminal. Since I had missed breakfast at the hotel, I grabbed a snack and come coffee before settling in for the two hour or so wait for my flight.

After passing through the gate I boarded the shuttle bus across the tarmac to the flight and took my seat on the short Air Malta to Rome flight.

About 90 minutes later we arrived in Rome and where once again shuttled by bus across the tarmac to the terminal.

The bags from the flight seem to take an inordinate amount of time to appear. Many others from the flight who were also standing around were getting pretty agitated by the delay but eventually they finally appeared and I was out the arrivals gate looking for my transfer.

 

You feel like such an idiot going up to each person holding a name board and checking whether it has your name. The secret I’ve found is that you need to be systematic in working through the vast array of people holding a sign and looking for someone.

 

Luckily, this time I found my name on a long list someone was holding up and soon had a driver and a ride to Rome Termini for my train trip to Siena via Florence.

 

One really hasn’t experienced ‘civilisation’ fully until you’ve experienced Rome traffic and it is something I’ve never experienced anywhere else on earth. Rome residents probably consider it normal but the concept of actual road rules has a very, very loose definition from what I can determine. However, it is a wonder of the modern world you need to experience at least once so it’ll make you appreciate how ‘good’ your home town traffic is!

I arrived at Rome Termini and took up position with my back to the wall and where I could see the departures board and any pick pockets. The weather was quite hot and there had just been a burst of rain so Rome was quickly becoming a sauna.

 

After about a 30 minute wait my designated train was finally displaying a departure track so I headed off in that direction. Problem was that the entrance to my track was undergoing work so I needed to enter from an adjacent track, which meant getting my paper train ticket out to show at the barrier. Painful.

 

I located my car and climbed aboard. I had booked a business coach which meant more space and easier access. After a brief battle to find my seat I deposited my luggage in the overhead rack and settled in for the trip.

 

Today was a day with a lot of moving parts. Airport transfer, flight, airport transfer, train, change, another train, taxi and so on. I was happy that things were working out.

 

The next challenge was going to be convincing the conductor that I had a valid train ticket, which I did have. When you pre-book from overseas it never seems to go smoothly with conductors. In this case I initially tried to show him a PDF copy on my iPad but that seemed to flummox him so had to revert back to the trusty print out, which I had kept handy as a backup.

 

After some extra attention to the ticket he finally handed it back to me while not throwing off the train. Achievement unlocked!

The weather had heated up and the sun was out as we sped through the Italian country side, next stop Florence.

The train from Rome had departed a little late which meant the arrival into Florence was also a little late. This left about 10 minutes or so to get off the arrival platform and find the departing train to Siena.

Seems easy enough eh? But this is Italy mind you. My train was scheduled to depart from platform 3. I checked the platforms behind me. 8, 7, 6, 5 but nothing lower. So I followed past platform 5 and found a laneway through to platforms 1 and 2 but where the hell is platform 3?? I could hear the clock ticking away and my stress levels increasing. I did another sweep of the platform but could find no mention of platforms 3 and 4! They have to be here somewhere.

Admitting defeat, I headed to the ticket office and asked a station employee who rolled their eyes at me and said platform 3 was at the end of platform 5. Ah ha! That laneway I had walked through basically had platforms 3 and 4 at the end.

I raced up platform 5 and discovered a training waiting there ready for departure. I still wasn’t sure this was the right train so I asked some inside whether the train went to Siena. I received an ‘I have no idea’ in an American accent which didn’t help much, so I continued a little further up and jumped on board. I really need to speak to a local not some foreigner I thought.

I still had a feeling this was not the right train as the automatic doors closed behind me. I opened the doors again and looked at the timetable board for the current train I was on and saw that it was in fact the incorrect train number. Damm, wrong train I thought as I hopped off. This train must be on platform 4.

That mean through a process of elimination (d’oh) the train on the very next platform must be the right one. I saw a conductor waiting on the platform so I asked whether this train went to Siena. I received exactly the same eye rolling as before but confirmed it was indeed the right train. Phew. All aboard.

This train to Siena is a regional train and very downmarket from the high speed one I caught from Rome. In these trains you basically sit anywhere and you don’t the luxury of air-conditioning and in this case, even windows that opened. All aboard the sweat box to Siena. 

I sat back and watched the countryside roll past while enjoying a complimentary sauna.

Luckily, I didn’t have to battle any conductors about my legitimacy to be on this train by justifying my paperwork.

After about an hour or so we arrived in Siena and I grabbed a taxi to my hotel. This proved an interesting experience as the driver manoeuvred through the the tight streets of the city centre while dodging the constant throng of tourists. In the sweaty mood I was now in I don’t think I would have been as patient if I was behind the wheel.

Finally, bathed in a pool of sweat, I arrived at my hotel and booked in. I enjoyed a refreshing shower and then caught up on some rest, knowing that the twilight extended well into the evening.

After a refreshing nap, I headed back onto the humid streets towards the centre to take in a few sights before finding some where to eat.

First stop was the Campo, where I checked out the climbing of the clock tower (tomorrow’s assignment) as well as taking a full walk around.

They are beginning to prepare the square for the famous horse race held here (Palio de Siena).

Next stop, on the return journey to the hotel, was the Duomo, where I was just in time to hear the tower chime for the top of the hour.

Unfortunately, on the short walk back to the hotel I didn’t find anywhere to eat that really took my fancy so I headed to the hotel restaurant which overlooks the picturesque valley.

I am the first one to admit that food for me is purely functional but I gotta say the food here is spectacular. Dinner was magnificent and really makes me appreciate being in Italy. It really makes an impact how different the cuisine tastes here.

As the twilight finally began to recede (at about 10pm) and still sweating thanks to the temperature, I put another day under my belt and headed to my room for some well earned air-conditioning and rest. Most sites don’t open till after 10am tomorrow so a day finally to relax and get some sleep. Apart from the heat, I’m looking forward to exploring Siena in more depth tomorrow.

Valetta–Day 1

The trip commenced with an evening flight from Sydney to Dubai via Emarites for a change.

For me, any international flights are always long as as I don’t tend to sleep on flights much. Emarites do seem to have more leg and, importantly for me, more shoulder room which was good. I was also in luck that I had a window seat but the seat next to me was unoccupied during the whole flight. They also seem to have lots of little food knick knacks at meal time (biscuits, bread, etc) which can be a little hard to manage in the limited space on your table, however there certainly wasn’t a lack of food.

 

First stop, Dubai, which meant a change to a connecting flight. This meant finding the Connection Flight point, passing through a security check and then making my way to the designated gate. I’ll be back here later on with this trip but Dubai airport is roomy, clean and efficient. It is easy to navigate even though it is quite large, however it is well signed but in my case it did require a lot of walking and transferring by shuttle train to the designated gate for my next flight.

 

Now, my connecting flight to Malta was via Tunis. Interestingly, Tunis comes with government travel warnings highlighting the current dangers of the region. I had been assured that all that would happen in Tunis was offloading of passengers and picking up new ones on their way to Malta. This meant that I wouldn’t even need to leave the plane but would spend an hour or so on the ground during this stop over.

After about another 7 hours of flying time we landed in Tunis and the majority of people disembarked. The only view I really got of Tunis was from the plane as you see above.

 

As promised, after about an hour on the ground we were off for the very short 45 minute flight to Malta. Touch down was on time and we were provided a shuttle bus from the plane to the terminal. The whole airport is small a very quite compared to other international airports,but given the size of Malta this makes sense. I will also report that getting through customs and immigration was a breeze. Basically all you need is a smile and a valid passport (for me anyway) and you’re in.

Now travelling, like anything, has its good and bad points as well as its challenges and to expect anything else is being un-realistic. In my case, I was just about to be faced with some of the challenges and bad points.

First, the challenges, I had arranged a transfer by car from the airport to my hotel, however upon arrival I saw no sign with my name on it as expected. So after wandering around a bit and not finding anything that made sense I called the number given on my instructions. I was then directed to a location where all the transfer companies reside, the driver was then located and I was off to my hotel. The positive here was that I now knew my pre-paid phone SIM worked internationally, so there is always a silver lining!

Now the bad. My driver was pretty much totally solemn while at the same time managing to almost have an accident at every intersection. Cornering was completed in a rather vigorous and violent manner, making me in fact more motion sick than I have ever been on a plane!

 

Upon arrival, I departed the car, grabbed my bags and said ‘thanks’. At first, I didn’t digest the reply I received from the driver. However, upon repetition he was basically saying that my ‘thanks’ meant nothing to him and all he wanted was a tip! Welcome to the joys of international travel.

 

I’ll pause here just a moment to make a comment in this. The American concept of ‘tipping’ has really made travel somewhat complex now, with so many places expecting something ‘extra’ no matter how bad the service. In this case, Mr Grumpy, hadn’t even tried to be nice. Hadn’t even tried to welcome me to his country. Hadn’t even played a bit of a tour guide. Hadn’t even driven in ‘reserved’ manner but instead given me the full ‘European’ traffic experience after almost 24 hours of constant flying.

All of that, and the fact that, to mind, a tip is a reward for better than expected customer service, which honestly wasn’t forthcoming! All Mr Grumpy needed to do was be a little bit communicative, welcoming and so on and things might have been different. You know what mate? It ain’t my fault you don’t like your job and your fault if you don’t do something about it. You are doing yourself and your country no favours by denting my initial travel experience coming to a wonderful place like Malta. May be you were having a bad day and I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt as it wouldn’t be nice to have that attitude every day. As the Americans say ‘Thank you and have a NICE day’.

Bad experiences happen when you travel. Hopefully, they don’t occur that regularly. Hopefully, I’ve had my full allocation for this trip now up front and I can get on with the enjoyment part.

My next few days would be at the Fortina Hotel, Tigne Seafront, SLM 15 Sliema Malta, just across the water from Valetta proper.

After trying to checking into the wrong hotel and being directed to the ‘non-five star’

The room was nice and modern with a rather grand bathroom. This style of bathroom doesn’t make sense to me really but you want to know the best part? The bathroom comes with a bathrobe and slippers. Now that’s luxury!

After winding down a bit, I took a shower to refresh and hit the streets.

Luckily, my hotel has some pretty spectacular views of Valetta, across the water as you can see.

I decided I’d take the long walk along the water front to Valetta, how dinner and return via ferry.

The views across to the city are pretty spectacular as you can see.

Another interesting aspect of Malta is the architecture as seen above. These buildings are along ‘embassy row’ and give some idea of the ‘solidity’ that surrounds Malta.

The other thing about Malta, obviously, is its links to the sea. There were certainly no end to the boats in the harbour as you can see above.

Taking a long walk to town gives you a better ideas about what this place is all about I think, as well as some exercise.

After hiking up the hill into Valetta proper you start to get a better idea of the history of this place as you approach the city center.

You can see the main tourist drag that runs through the city center. It is quite picturesque and maintains that ‘old world’ charm.

There is also plenty of history here like the church of St John above.

This part of the city is lined with narrow laneways with buildings on either side as you can see above.

As you move away from the city centre these streets descend quite quickly to sea level making some very pretty pictures.

After walking around for a bit in Valetta, I grabbed a quick bite from one of the many side walk cafes and decided to head for the ferry back towards my hotel.

There are simply so many places to eat in town it ain’t funny. if you want more choice then head towards the eastern end of the main city square.

 

I headed down the hill to the ferry terminal only to discovered that I had just missed the last ferry and the next one wasn’t for another two hours or so. I therefore decided to hike back up the hill for some more wandering around Valetta.

Walking the streets you get a real sense of the history of this place, which is what has drawn me to it. Even through the modern veneer you can appreciate the centuries of history that have walked these same streets.

With fatigue starting to catch up with me I headed back to the Ferry terminal for the final treat of the night, a spectacular cruise across Valetta harbour for the grand sum of Euro 1.75.

Tomorrow’s a full day here and the next I depart for the next stage of my trip. Clearly, there is going to be far more to see that I can hope to cover in a day but hopefully I can report back on the sights that I did manage to experience.

The good from the day, apart from the sites and experiences of Valetta, where that all my technology is working as expected. Using a mobile device when travelling makes life SO MUCH easier! The hotel is great and more that I expected. The bad? Mr Grumpy but that’s history now.