Castles and Cathedrals

Written on Tuesday, May 26th 2009: Day 7 from Ferrara, Italy at 3:30pm

The past couple days in Ferrara have been fairly slow-paced; with temperatures still sweltering in the mid-90s, keeping it slow is really the only thing you can do. On Sunday, Andrew, Seth and I went to mass in the city’s beautiful Cathedral (built in 1135), then spent the last remaining pre-noon moments wandering around the castle Estense. It is cute that such a small city has such an impressive cathedral as well as its own castle (with moat and drawbridge!), which provides a small indication of how powerful and culturally important the city once was. We spent the next couple hours lounging over coffee and pizza then saw Andrew off to the train station so he could head back to Rome. It was great Andrew was able to come up to visit—he was the first friend from Australia we have met since leaving Canberra exactly a year ago.

Corso Ercole I D'Este. The main road between our hostel and downtown/the castle. The parade went through here.

Castle Estense and its moat

Just within the city's walls

The cemetery

Coffee with Andrew

The restroom (left door) and the laboratory (right door) at the cafe. Apparently, the laboratory is where they make their pasta. However, this does not explain the microscope symbol (enlarge the photo).

Pizza!

Most of the rest of the day was spent trying to keep cool, which meant staying in the hostel. In the evening we cooked our own pasta dinner--probably the most satisfying (and filling) meal so far--then took a walk downtown. We were surprised to find that the streets were filled with people walking and biking and meeting with friends. It was Sunday night and it seemed like the whole city was out. It didn't appear that there was any special function going on, that that was just what folks do on a warm summer night. It was really quite fantastic to see, especially when compared with walking around home at night and all you can see is people's televisions flickering through their window shades.

Dinner in the hostel courtyard

Sleeping that night was just terrible--not only was it really hot, but there was a horrible mosquito that kept buzzing in my ear and waking me up. (Seth slept across the room where he thought it might be cooler). In the places where we have been so far, it seems that ceiling fans are nonexistent, air conditioning is rare (except for some shops and restaurants), and window screens have not yet been invented. You either sleep burning up with the windows closed but with few mosquitoes, or you sleep nearly as hot with the windows open but with lots of mosquitoes. We chose the mosquitoes but still woke up yesterday (Monday) morning already sweaty. To top that off, I chose the wrong pair of shoes to run in and my legs were not very appreciative.

The city is safeguarded and surrounded by a really cool wall, about 9km long--most of it is intact and offers a wide path down the middle. In the mornings lots of people jog, walk, bike, or take their dogs along it. In fact, the city as a whole seems extremely fit, slender, and active. Seth read somewhere that half the population of Ferarra jogs. To me, this doesn't seem possible, but it does seem like every one (and I do mean every one) bikes: students, old ladies, old men in suits on their way to work, people with children (some with two on one bike!), and some with a couple dogs on leashes running alongside. Most of the city center is closed to traffic and everyone takes advantage of the wide cobblestone roads to bike and stroll. The main part of the city (the area that is enclosed by the wall) is not very big and its main boulevards lead in the direction of the castle, so in addition to minimal automotive traffic, this makes Ferrara extremely biker-friendly. What makes it even more charming is that most bikes are of the simple 'old school' design with only one gear, topped off with a basket on the handle bars. There are certainly no true mountain bikes or expensive road bikes, and people leave them propped up with a kick-stand on any available patch of ground.

Running on top of Ferrara's ancient wall

Chiesa di San Giorgio (from 800AD), just outside the city walls

Everyone rides bikes!

Seth spent the early part of yesterday at the Bibleoteca Ariostea taking notes on his manuscripts. During this time I wandered around a large outdoor market we noticed being set up during our run several hours earlier; most of the stalls sold inexpensive women's clothing, and one section was full of fresh produce and cheese. Though the language issue was difficult, the vendors were generally very nice and didn't hassle me one bit, which I wasn't quite used to and left a positive impression.

The outdoor market

Just outside the market

The library closed early and we weren't sure where to go to read, so after walking around in the hot sun for a good hour or so we were both fed up and spent the rest of the afternoon at the hostel. We wasted a few hours trying to book accommodation in Bologna only decide (after booking a room at a hotel) that it would just be easier to make Bologna into a day trip (or two) from Ferrara since it is only 30min away by train. We cancelled our booking and were instantly relieved of certain difficulties associated with checking in in a new city.

The eating area at the hostel (possibly the coolest room in the building)

Today has been similar to yesterday--after another hot night and waken by mosquitoes (only one this time, thankfully), we went for a run around the city on top of the intact portion of the wall. This morning was a little different in that there was thick, muggy fog, but it was quickly burned away by the late morning sun (until this point the sky had been totally free and clear of any sort of cloud). After breakfast we headed back to the library. Seth was planning to finish his work in Ferrara today so we could spend tomorrow in Bologna, but the manuscript room unexpectedly closed early for an exhibition. We will have to spend another day in Ferrara, which neither of us minds, especially since the city seems so charming and modest and we have a good daily routine worked out, but it just means we can't spend more time somewhere else.

Outside the library

One of the reading rooms at the Biblioteca Ariostea. I don't know why we decided to sit in here since there were many other much more attractive studies. The manuscript room, which was closed (and I wasn't allowed into anyway), was absolutely beautiful, not to mention airconditioned!

From boats to bikes

Written on Sunday, 24 May 2009: Day 5 from Ferrara, Italy at 5:10pm

Yesterday (Saturday), our last morning in Venice, Seth woke up a few minutes earlier to beat the heat and get an early start to the day. I ran to the supermarket again (since we didn’t have a refrigerator, of course), worked on the journal entry, then realized I forgot the lap-top’s power converter at the library yesterday (we would later have to grab it on our way out of the city). We checked out of the hostel then spent a little while unsuccessfully trying to call Andrew, our friend from Johns (Australia) who was spending 3 months in Rome for graduate studies. From the pay phones we faced the heat and took the much dreaded hike, bags and all, against the tourist flow several miles back to Santa Lucia Train Station to catch the next regional train to Ferrara (pop. about 130,000).

A little nicer view of the hotel room (and the smashed mozzies)

I'm still trying to figure out how the latrine is used. Note the soap dish.

The city of Venice; our hostel is circled with pencil on the middle left. (The image is actually rotated so west is facing up -- not that it would make too much of a difference in terms of navigating the city.)

Gondoliers are a surprisinlgy burley crowd. They must be trying to overcompensate for that hat they wear.

We left the city feeling like it was time to go—Venice, about 1400 years old, is remarkably beautiful and intriguing. The vast majority of the buildings are soaked in history, and for any individual structure it is amazing to think what took place there at any point in time during the past (at least) several hundred years. It takes a little imagination to see the city before tourists took over, but during our morning runs and our late night walks, it isn’t too hard. This aside, we both felt as though the city didn’t have much to offer—besides the library, there was no place where we felt we could relax and spend a few minutes reading or working without feeling obliged to fork over money or break loose from the gobs of travelers. Even the hostel didn’t provide an escape from the heat and mosquitoes. So much revolved around tourists that it was hard to get a strong sense of the true culture, and not just the culture that the city was trying to sell, like the Venetian masks, the Murano glass, Burano lace, or the Menu Turistico offered at many restaurants. This is not helped by the fact that the population of Venice Proper (about 61,000 and shrinking) is dwarfed by the hoards of tourists. There is little incentive, it seems, for the continuation of local hangouts. Of course, Seth and I could have been looking in the wrong places, but we did look hard.

We took a nice slow train to Ferrara (about 120km southwest of Venice). We walked to the Student’s Hostel Estense and checked into our private triple room (with five beds). The hostel is in a very old building, of course, but was renovated and turned into a hostel about a year ago—like a brand new model home, it is extremely clean, open and airy, and well-run with all the conveniences, which is the opposite of the place where we stayed in Venice (called Ca Venezia but actually owned by Hotel Linger). Our large room, however, is in the top floor, below the thin roof and with three skylights, and the heat pours in, making it absolutely unbearable between 10am and 6pm. It also lets in many mosquitoes at night, but not nearly as bad as in Venice. The temperature has been in the mid 90s (about 35 degrees Celsius), which is actually about 15 degrees above ‘average’ for this time of year. I can't imagine how warm it is in our "attic" dorm room.

We took a walk to the nearby supermarket, which is always a wonderful experience (for some reason I enjoy supermarkets in general, but I LOVE foreign supermarkets). Since now we have a kitchen, we stocked up on pasta, breads (including a Tuscan bread and a special Ferrarese bread, which is twisty, crunchy, and shaped like a four-point star), asiago cheese, kiwis (less than €2 per kilo!), cheap boxed wine (€1 per liter!) and some interesting looking vegetables (apparently one was chicory). We headed back to the hostel for a pre-dinner snack, then tried again to get in contact with Andrew. While we were being helped by the receptionist, Andrew walked in! It was great he made it, especially since we never designated a time or place to meet, besides letting him know we booked a place to stay.

A piece of that Ferrarese bread

The three of us walked to the city center for a much improved Italian dinner—pizza and the local specialty of cappellacci di zucca (fantastic and particularly unique sweet pumpkin-stuffed ravioli with Bolognese sauce). From here we rushed over to watch an annual parade through the city. We are fortunate to be in Ferrara during this time, because next week in Ferrara is Il palio, a 750 year old horse race, claimed to be the oldest race of its kind. The city was traditionally divided into 8 districts and each one competes against each other. During the weeks leading up to the race there are different events, and in each one the participants wear Renaissance style clothing. This week is the parade and involves over a thousand costumed drummers, trumpeters, flag throwers, maidens, noblemen and women, and miscellaneous ‘extras’ such as jesters, fire-breathers, philosophers, archers, and knights to represent the 8 districts. It was very, very cool, and lasted well into the night. The neatest part of the event is that people of all types seemed to participate—little children, old folks, youths—and everyone takes it very seriously. Interestingly, it didn’t appear to be a huge tourist event and as far as we could tell it was mostly locals putting on this parade for themselves. There weren’t those typical tourist vendors trying to sell crap, no food stalls or t-shirt booths, etc. It just seemed like the thing they do, and have done, for over 750 years.

The Piazza Cattedrale (Ferrara)

The Basilica Cattedrale di San Giorgio

The Italian dinner we were hoping for. The pasta is cappellacci di zucca.

The annual Il Palio parade to the castle Estense

Everyone has a role

Basilica Cattedrale di San Giorgio

The archer's after-party in the piazza

The city with no cars

Written on Saturday, 23 May 2009: Day 4 from Venice, Italy at 7:40am

Milan's Central Station

We made it to Venice (due east of Milan) along with thousands of other tourists. Despite the crowds, heat, confusion, and narrow twisting streets, we passed colorful vendors, irresistible shops, and stunning Venetian waterways and eventually lugged our bags—bumping into other lost travelers—for over an hour towards our hostel in Castello (located on the main islands of Venice Proper). Though we packed fairly light, we realized right away we made the mistake of not bringing a suitcase with wheels and so had to carry by hand a duffle bag (along with two backpacks, a canvas bag, and guitar) for 4 or so kilometers. We wandered the streets trying to pin-point the hostel, only to realize our map was mislabeled (which was the last thing we needed considering how crazy the streets are—think spaghetti), but eventually made it to our hostel. Our room was a unit above some sort of laundromat and we were happy to find we had a room with four beds to ourselves, as well as a bathroom and balconies—like a little apartment. However, there was no kitchen of any sorts, which was a huge annoyance. Venice is known for having not only extremely expensive, but also really bad food, so we planned in advance to do our own cooking.

We visited a supermarket and bought a few small staples, like yogurt and muesli, then had dinner at a modest eatery, only to leave feeling hungry, taken advantage of, and €16.5 (about $20) poorer. Seth’s spaghetti Bolognese was like a can of Chef Boyardee and my two cannellonis were not much better, and the portion was even smaller. Not the best first impression of ‘real’ Italian food, but at least the wine was cheap.

Pre-dinner snack

Post-dinner snack

After ‘dinner’ we topped off our appetite with gelato. We wandered away from the main tourist drag and stumbled upon a drab looking shop with just a few flavors to choose from. We were happy to find we essentially got four scoops for the price of two. After this we were feeling a bit better about our situation and spent the rest of the evening exploring the decongested campi, fondamente, and ruge. Venice is funny because most of its visitors are day-trippers so there is hardly any nightlife, and the city clears out and calms down by 9pm or so. Normally packed shoulder to shoulder, we had the famous Piazza San Marco practically to ourselves, besides an orchestra playing at one of the historic cafes, and a multitude of entwined couples on the steps of the piazza, looking as though each were re-enacting a scene from some Hollywood romance just meters from their neighboring couple.

Typical Venetian mask shop

Our second day in Venice (Thursday) began with a nice slow run through some of the neighborhoods. It was wonderful that the streets were so quiet, besides street cleaners, people walking to work, and the occasional runner. We ran back to Piazza San Marco, then headed east towards Arsenale which led to a surprising stretch of parkland. I had no idea this was here, but after running on very hard stone walkways, the occasional dirt path was very refreshing.

Piazza San Marco

Canal

Unexpected park

Riva degli Schiavoni (the main artery that runs between the piazza and our hostel)

After this, we left the hostel, stopped to buy some food for the day at the supermarket (yogurt, a couple apples, bread, mini jars of pasta sauce and processed cheese) and Seth embarked on his first research in a foreign country at the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in the Piazza San Marco. He never got a confirmation email from the library and he wasn’t sure if they would let him view their manuscripts (or if they were even open). Luckily everything worked out well and he spent the rest of the day going through the original manuscript of Il Pastor Fido, written by the author’s hand. I wasn’t allowed to come in, so I joined the sea of tourists and read on the steps of the Piazza, listening to a different orchestra this time at the other historic café. Once I was nice and sore from sitting there, I went for a walk to look for a nice place to have coffee and read for a bit. Of course I spent an hour wandering around bumping into people, trying to get out of the San Marco area, only to keep ending up at San Marco. I eventually found a café and ordered my €1.50 cappuccino, and after paying the €0.50 service charge to sit at a table, I was charged €0.50 more to use the bathroom. I don’t know if this happens everywhere, but it definitely made me feel a bit taken advantage of.

Waiting at the piazza next to the outdoor seating for the famous Cafe Florian

I met up again with Seth when he was finished for the day, and we walked across the Grand Canal to the Rialto. We bought a calzone and ham wrap, and had those with our bread and sauce sitting on a pier while watching the day’s last tourist boats pass

On the bridge to the Rialto (the Grand Canal)

Seth with his box of long-life milk, pretending to be one of the young wine and beer drinkers at some trendy bar

Dinner on the pier

Yesterday (Friday), our third day in Venice, started off with another jog around the park on the eastern end of Venice Proper, followed by a trip to the church on the Isla de San Pietro. When we returned, I grabbed a few things at the supermarket and Seth went back to work at the library. During this time I ventured back to the Rialto (where we ate dinner the night before), which during the day is a lively produce and fish market. Because of the twisting, disorienting streets, it took an hour to get there , but I passed by many churches, opera houses, and a peeked inside a museum of old instruments; there was one bizarre instrument that was like a violin with a trumpet (or at least the horn) attached. I have never seen anything like it before…

En route to the Isla de San Pietro

Morning delivery (On the way to the supermarket)

Besides fruit and sea food, the Rialto also had a fantastic cheese shop, cafes, and butchers—one even specializing in horse meat! I loaded up on some much desired produce and ‘real’ cheese (but no horse), then met back up with Seth at the library. At 4:30 he finished up and we rushed out to try to make it into Basilica di San Marco before it closed. This worked great because by this time the queue to enter was very short and the sun was going down. We had a good 30min to gush over the gorgeous, golden interior. From here we went back to the hostel, grabbed our food, then meandered down and around to the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute (the big impressive building visible across the Grand Canal from the piazza), where we ate our somewhat more elaborated dinner of bread, Gorgonzola, sauce, and fruit. We topped off the evening with a cappuccino at the funky black-light-lit Cuban café next-door to the hostel (we were invited to a birthday party there the following night).

Why eat cow when you've got horse?

The Rialto's produce and fish market

Yes, that is a McDonald's amongst all those fancy tourist-traps (I don't know which is worse...).

...the better option!

San Marco, up-close

Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute

The Cuban bar downstairs

Last night we had a mother and daughter (who came to Italy from Germany for only one night) to share our room—luckily they also shared the mosquitoes which had done a terrible number on Seth and me the past few days.

Our room (pre-roommates)--not exactly what you'd call 'posh' (notice the smashed mosquitoes on the walls)