This past three week trip with my family included a lot of surprises. One of which was how little I remember the sights seen in my earlier travels. This time around we were more focused on traveling and seeing the major sights in a three week period, but my focus in the past was to reach my must see and then let nature take its course. That could involve taking on more sights or hanging out with random people as they showed me what it means to live in their respective countries, the latter happened more often than the former.
We had an ambitious itinerary. First stop, 2 hours in
London as part of our 8 hour layover. I showed my parents' as much as I could, a walk through Green Park to arrive at Buckingham Palace, a visit in St. James' Park on our way to Westminster. Trafalgar Square was covered in construction so our stop was short before catching a scenic bus ride towards the Tower of London.
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On Top In A Double Decker Up Front With My Commentary (Route 15) |
We had plenty of time to enjoy the waterfront and walk across the Tower Bridge before we needed to head back to the airport. The essentials of London in 2 hours, it can be done! I've been to London now four times and I honestly can't understand the appeal. Yes, it is a big city, yes I love the British Museum and wish we had more time to make a stop there, love cream tea (though that is more of a Devon thing), but as much as I enjoy England, I feel like London does its best to be everything but English. You can argue the Royal family in London is very British, but how often are you really having afternoon tea with the Queen? Give me hiking along the northern or southern coast and stopping for a chat with pensioners any day. Point is, you can get a really good sense of the major sights in London on a layover. Of course the more time you have the more you can delve into the details.
, beautiful but disappointing with all the scaffolding (nothing compared with the renovations being performed at Pompeii and at the Garden of Versailles). We lived right next to the Ponte Vecchio and across the water from the Uffizi, what lovely nights reflected in black along the Arno.
Venice was a highlight, but while planning I was reminded of the crowds and expense of Venice so planned for only one night and just under two days, what a mistake! I could have stayed a week and I believe my family felt the same. I did my homework and we did everything right, which equaled the best stay on this floating city. Even with limited time we spent much time being lazy and wandering, fit in trips to Murano and Burano and visited St. Mark's Square three times. All because we avoided the crowds and therefore had much less time spent waiting or feeling rushed. More unbelievable than an almost empty St. Mark's Square... we found Venice to be extremely affordable, if not cheap.
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Yes, Venice, You Are Still Ridiculously Good Looking |
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Bridge Of Sighs, Empty |
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St. Mark's Square After Sunset, Virtually Empty |
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Rialto Bridge, Empty |
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St. Mark's Square In The Morning, Empty |
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Burano, Colorful AND Empty |
Sorrento and the
Amalfi Coast were a bit of a disappointment for me, but a highlight for the family. My first time was in the off season and I was lucky to hitchhike with the chief engineer for the waterways. This time around the beauty of the coast still existed, but during high season it becomes a bit too British for me. We never saw so many retired people, and I couldn't help but laugh at the lamentations of the American boys in their twenties complaining about the lack of a party scene. The same British pensioners that I adore in England have turned Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast into a British colony. So much so that I've yet to meet an Italian (this including ones from Campania) who actually vacation in the Amalfi Coast. The best way to describe the scene at Sorrento is comparing it with
Dirty Dancing. Alright, there wasn't Patrick Swayze saving Baby from the corner with his pelvic thrusts, but it had the same country club feel with pearls, sunburned alabaster skin, and too many sweaters tied around necks.
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The View From Villa Cimbrone, Not Overrated |
Paris was both lovely and bleh. The city is beautiful, the weather nothing to write home about. We had light rain one day and sunshine the next, but if I didn't know better the whole city was dressed for mourning in a uniform of skinny jeans, motorcycle jackets, a colorless scarf, and hair with one layer chopped like a bob and the rest left to grow long. If this is Parisian chic, I'll pass and take my lessons from the more fun loving vibe I found in Italy and the sophisticated elegance in Istanbul. The tourist half of the population found many a girl dressed in a strip shirt and wearing red lipstick, perhaps one too many tourist read "How To Dress Like a Parisian" one too many times. Add the excessive smoking and it was almost enough to kill the beauty that naturally emitted from the city itself. On the brightside, the people were mostly friendly and helpful.
The Eiffel Tower was a surprise. I remember my first time seeing it six years ago and I found it to be lovely, but this time I couldn't help but find it a bit of an eyesore. Often times I would like into the skyline and see what I thought was scaffolding or a cell tower only to realize it was the tip of the tower. I admit, the tower as a symbol cannot be beat, but it's a bit like a Monet painting, the closer you get to the details the worse the image is. Now all five of my blog readers hate me for writing that.
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Nothing More Romantic Than Taking A Selfie At The Eiffel Tower Surrounded By Strangers |
Oh, but the highlight of my trip, what reignited my obsession with traveling the Silk Road, was
Turkey.
Cappadocia was interesting and fun to explore in our rented car. The remainders of the Silk Road are still noticeable today, mostly in the form of the numerous Caravanserias
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Sarihan Caravanserai Outside Of Avanos |
where it was easy to imagine pulling up with your camels and staying the night with other traders. The cities in the tourist circuit couldn't have been further from actual Turkey. Daniele and I felt it all too sterile, like a movie set of a Spaghetti Western. The further we got away from the massive amounts of tourists the better we felt. We were relieved to avoid the popular Red, Green, Blue tours and drive off from destination to destination with our rental. For the underground city we visited we arrived early enough to almost have the city to ourselves and as we left to go back to our car we found tour bus after tour bus parking to unload crowds that seemed impossible to fit within some of the narrower passageways. The same with Selime Monestary, we were alone for the most part and it was heaven to climb ever higher and explore what felt like our own kingdom, but towards the end the packaged tours started arriving to clog each passage. It wasn't until we traveled off the tourist circuit to Gulsehir did we feel like we found Cappadocians not jaded by the endless buses full of packaged tourist.
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Dawn, Too Early For The Packaged Tourist, Too Pretty To Not Wake Up For |
Istanbul is still a stand out city to me, even though it rained two of our four days there, we all enjoyed the city. This time around I learned to take the long cruise on the Bosphorus only one way, getting off a stop earlier, then taking the local bus along the coast and stopping occasionally to visit a sight. What a difference from getting drunk at Anadolu Kavagi to pass the three hour time between arrival and return. I'm still convinced that I want to live in Istanbul next, even if beer is more expensive (water and beer cost the same in most Italian markets).
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Why Is This Gorgeous Train Station Overlooked, Are There No Orient Express Fans? |
It was a good first trip to Europe (and slightly into Asia) for my family and I'm glad to say even with a handful of rainy days, we made it through my entire ambitious itinerary unscathed. My parents enjoyed the trip so much they've been bragging to friends about how well put together it was. I've already started getting request from Chinese American family friends who always wanted to visit Europe but hated the idea of going on a packaged tour. Maybe one or two less packaged tourists won't demolish the bane of my travel existence (avoiding tour groups is the biggest obstacles for independent travel), but at least it may one day diminish their numbers.
I will point out one thing, tourism has changed since the almost decade ago when I started traveling, I know it's growing with the demands of more and more people traveling, but it does get frustrating. That's partly due to the larger number of packaged tourist. I don't know if it's only because I traveled at the beginning of high season versus my usual off season, but sometimes the crowds were so unbearable, most noticeably at Paris' other Disneyland, Versailles. But that is life, no? Either adjust or don't travel.
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