Oasis Holidays: Italy

Italy

Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts

My last day in Genoa was the simplest. No Christopher Columbus theme, no giant aquarium. I woke up and, after two days of rainy and gloomy weather, there was this sun glowing smack above the sea kissing the shores beneath the apartment where I was staying. And after two days of a malfunctioning camera, miraculously, on the third day, it started to work again. I texted my friend that it was a perfect day to take photos before leaving for Florence.

My last day in Genoa was the simplest. But it was on this day that I tasted for the first time grandma’s home cooked “cima,” classic Ligurian stuffed breast of veal. It was all of a sudden Christmas in November at lunch with my Genoese friend’s family. Grandma’s cima, which literally means “peak” in Italian, had brought my short journey in this part of the Mediterranean to its rightful culmination. I realized that all throughout my travels, I have gained enough friends and family that home is wherever I was having lunch at any moment.

Photo by Roger469 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (License)], via Wikimedia Commons

In that little weekend trip, my senses were re-opened to the real meaning of traveling, of going beyond the comforts we built around ourselves, and of discovering and re-discovering the world not only through the cities we conquer, but especially through the people we meet. On that sunny morning of my last day in Genoa, I reflected on my life as a traveler and felt the push to write about it again.

It started to get gloomy though when my friend fetched me for that Sunday lunch. But it didn’t stop him from taking a moment by the Garibaldi monument, the very same spot where the Italian national hero gathered a thousand volunteers (i Mille) on May 5 in 1860, and left Genoa to unite the north of Italy with the south. Right after, my friend told me he wanted to show me something else.

We walked through the sea wall, quite a long walk, but with the sea beside me and the silence my friend allowed me to cherish, I was in my element. Then, we entered a park, which at first glance seemed to have been misplaced in the middle of the mountain view and the seascape. This park is famous for squirrels, my friend said. Lots of them. When I told my friend that I thought he was just exaggerating when he said the park was full of squirrels, he said he too was surprised that they were that many and just as friendly that day.

Watching my friend having what we jokingly called a "dialogue" with the squirrels made me see a different side of him. There is this Genoese proud of his city's history, and yet sincere enough to share its defects. And then there is this person having a great time dialoguing with squirrels.

They say you get to see a person in yet a different light when he is with his family. On our way back, we had to hurry because lunch was waiting. We had pesto, prosciutto and some sweets. But as said earlier, what was really memorable was grandma’s cima. It reminded me of morcon and embutido back home. It also reminded me of my grandmothers, and how they kept our family intact when they were alive. Even up to this day, when they are already somewhere else, the memory of their home cooking keep us together. It's also our grandmothers that make "little boys" out of us even if we are already 30 or 60 and beyond. And my friend, no matter how proud and strong a Genoese he could be, he will always be a grandson to his grandma.

An African proverb teaches us that it takes a village to raise a child. I believe that to get to know a person deeper, it takes a country, a city, a community, a family and even a dialogue with squirrels. And so, after meeting new friends and families and squirrels, I got to know more about the world, my friend and myself. I also have learned a different way of looking at things and other people. And how we find ourselves in our relationship with the world, with others will always be home. // Unshod Rover for Oasis Holidays

For guided tours as well as other tour and travel packages in Italy and Europe, you may contact our subsidiary Volando Tours.

For Tour and Travels India as well as International packages from India, please contact us at Oasis Holidays.

Unshod Rover is a worldwide-eyed wanderer currently based in Bangalore, India. You may follow his musings and journeys on this blog. "All Rover the World" chronicles his continuing travels wandering about the world and stumbling upon strangers.

(Part 2 of 3 of the Genoa Series)

When I visit a city for the first time, I allow myself to be the tourist stereotype: curious, trigger-happy, always lost. The second time though takes on a different battle plan altogether. This time, I don't just look at things and take photos of them; I actually try to really “see” the city, its beautiful, even seemingly minute details and flawed features. I'd like to be its friend, reflecting on its stories and breathing in its distinct smell.

Technically, I already have passed by the city. But it was just a quick stop for gas and some lunch. I felt guilty, to be sincere, upon seeing “again” the Duomo, realizing that I've already photographed it and gotten lost right within the “old town”, and remembering nothing more, but an image of another Italian postcard-ready city.

And so, when my Genoese friend dropped me by the same spot where we left off the night before: by the house of Christopher Columbus, I resolved to make it up to the city. On a drizzling Saturday morning, with the two columns of the Porta Soprana as my giant witnesses, I promised to spend the day befriending the city, and listening more attentively to the stories it would tell me.

After a few slow strides, a stall selling secondhand books was just opening and I did not waste the chance to be the first to run my fingers along the spines and smell the pages of the many old books that tackle various subjects from “How to learn German” or chinese calligraphy to the works of Warhol and Basquiat. I could stay the whole day in a place like this. Content with my great find – a book by a lesser known French poet – I stumbled upon a makeshift market selling “native” products from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I even found some bags from the Philippines made of recycled materials.

But something caught my attention as I came out of the market, a slogan that goes “camminando per il mondo” (literally, walking across the world). And it dawned on me that I was actually, in some sense, traveling across the world through the books I scanned and the native products I just checked out right at the heart of Genoa's old town, by the Palazzo Ducale to be exact.

Palazzo Ducale was built during a period when Genoa gradually gained economic power over the whole Mediterranean, right after its victories against Pisa in 1284, and against Venice in 1298. The slogan welcomed visitors to the 2010 exhibit of the “Premio Chatwin”, the ninth edition of the prize dedicated to traveler and writer Bruce Chatwin. This edition involved journals, photography and videos of travels done in various parts of Africa. But what really captured my interest was the big panels of illustrations sprawled across the entrance hall of the Palazzo.

“Unchildren, infanzia negata (childhood denied),” by graphic illustrator and author Stefania Spanò with Francesca de Lena who provided the text for the exhibit, features 17 illustrations depicting the many tragedies affecting children all over the world. The pain and horror of the various forms of violence committed against children, from child prostitution in Cambodia to forced labor in Pakistan and children with AIDS in Ethiopia, oozed through the “seemingly friendly cartoon” images.

The images were disturbing, but I could not stare away from them. I believe that most of who I am now is an accumulation of those crucial episodes I experienced as a child. I thought: hey, mine was not that easy either, but seeing “Unchildren” made me realize that I am still among the luckier ones.

When my friend texted me asking if I was able to find a place where I could have lunch, I replied: No, but I did find the world. When he came to pick me up, he asked if there was some place else that I would like to visit. I said I was fine. And so we drove up the elevated part of Genoa and in what seemed forever, I joked: “'Are we lost?” Yes, we were. We took the wrong road and so we had to go back.

When we indeed reached perhaps the highest part of the mountain overlooking the city and the sea, my friend told me that here in this part of the city take place drug trafficking and many other negotiations of the shady kind. As we stood there in silence, the temptation of Christ came to mind. I wanted to joke about it, but I saw my friend pissed about the fact that we could not see the city clearly because of the fog.

On our way down, I asked him if he grew up in Genoa. Yes. And if he wanted to stay forever in Genoa. He said forever was not exactly the right term. As we got nearer to the city proper, the fog started to clear up and the city became visible again. But it no longer mattered. The beauty of the Genoa that I got to know better that day blossomed through the fog because I was already a friend and I've been to its heart. // Unshod Rover for Oasis Holidays

For guided tours as well as other tour and travel packages in Italy and Europe, you may contact our subsidiary Volando Tours.

For Tour and Travels India as well as International packages from India, please contact us at Oasis Holidays.

(Part 1 of the Genoa Series)

Christopher Columbus discovered America when he was seeking a westward route to India. To his dying day, the master mariner and navigator believed he had achieved his quest, and denied discovering a new continent. While Columbus was not the first European to encounter America, he did achieve what no known previous explorer had: he sailed directly across the uncharted sea, without staying in sight of land, navigating by the stars. - Melissa Snell, “Christopher Columbus”

I. Getting out of bed

As the train zoomed through one of the many Ligurian tunnels tracing the western border of this region north of Italy, a burst of sea and sun startled my sleepy senses. I realized then that I was already far from my cold, lazy bed at our student residence in the middle of the Tuscan hills south of Florence. I was on my way to Genoa.

I wanted to jump into the water, breaking through the glass window that gave the view a slightly blurry effect, it being riddled by scratches and whatnot that is characteristic of many “regionali” trains. Or at least, breathe in the smell of salt. It had been a long while since the last time I saw the sea.

Nothing much had prepared me for my short, surprise weekend trip to this part of the Mediterranean where Christopher Columbus grew up and, I could just imagine, dreamed of braving the oceans and going places. In fact, I was a bit confused about finding myself traveling with a Genoese classmate and newfound friend. At first sight, he seemed to be at the opposite end of the spectrum as far as a lot of things were concerned, world views and sports choices including. He, being at home in Italy, and I, being a stranger. I, being comfortable with fellow foreigners, and he, feeling “foreign” among strangers. But after a quick visit to McDonald's and enough Coca-Cola, I sensed some semblance of kinship. A few more minutes and we were already people-watching, sharing our opinions on the “youth of today” and the everyday Genoese passing by as we waited for our ride.

What greater splash into Columbus' town than an “extraordinary voyage of discovery across the seas” at the Acquario di Genova. Built in 1992, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World, the aquarium is among the biggest in the world. “Anchored in the heart of the city and stretching out towards the open sea,” the aquarium by the old port of Genoa definitely brings to mind Columbus' great, even ruthless, thirst for what is beyond.

And there we were, my friend and I, two kids exploring the world by marveling at around 600 species of fish, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, birds and invertebrates from the forests of Madagascar to the jungles of the Amazon and the coastal waters of tropical seas. Around two hours of reminding ourselves that there remains a lot of beauty and serenity in the world, and that there's much more to discover and rediscover.

After the aquarium, we walked through the port and passed by an area of the city where, according to my friend, “no Italian was being spoken.” And he was right, there among the stalls of seafood and stores selling winter clothes, a “foreign” atmosphere popped up like a neon post-it with the variety of people speaking not in Italian. Again, a note on how a universe of differences finds a home in every corner of the globe.

Going home for the night and staying faithful to our Columbian theme for the weekend trip, my friend brought me to the house of Columbus, a very small structure, almost insignificant compared to the explorer's fame and achievements. As I sat there by the doorstep, just a few steps away, the Porta Soprana, that used to be Genoa's main entrance during medieval times, towered over me and Columbus' house like two eager giants.

I sat there, as the stars started to come out after a day of rain, and thought of all the trips I've made in my whole life and how they have all led me to that very moment by the doorstep of Columbus' house. What if Columbus did not discover America. What if he never had the faintest desire to come out of his bed and take the first step to a journey of a thousand miles? What if I did not leave Florence, or my country, or my island, or my house, or my room?

I continued pondering on these questions as my friend dozed off aboard the tram. We missed our stop. And while my friend started to lament as we tried to compensate for the few meters we had to recover to reach his house, I thought that missing a bus stop, going out of route, or even getting totally lost, is not necessarily a bad thing. // Unshod Rover for Oasis Holidays

For guided tours as well as other tour and travel packages in Italy and Europe, you may contact our subsidiary Volando Tours.

For Tour and Travels India as well as International packages from India, please contact us at Oasis Holidays.

Getting lost in Venice is not only, no longer about losing one's way enmeshed in the city’s labyrinthine canals, and in a mess of constant corners that lead to more, well, corners. But all in a sense of marvel, of awe. Venice is not only physically beautiful and intriguing, it is also riddled with myths and legends, and a treasure hunt of culture and history.

Definitely, if you want to be all organized about it, go ahead research, take a map, make some choices and good luck following them through. Now, if instead you want to be surprised by Venice’s amazing mazes, stumble upon strange serendipities, and plainly just get lost, listen to what Rover Recommends.

1. Walk around without a map. Just walk. Let the corners lead you to more corners. For sure, your senses would betray you, but when it’s time to eat or quench your thirst, there will always be a café or food shop around the, yes, corner. For sure, it will train your tracking abilities as well as your sign language skills. Get lost in translation and direction.

2. Follow the narrowest canals. Not only it will be almost possible as there will be houses or shops or other tourists blocking your view or route of the canals, Venice has lots of it, from the Grand Canal to the narrowest ones, and they all look the same. Don’t worry. As the saying goes, follow the river and it will lead you to the sea. Which sea? We’ll see. A sea of tourists, perhaps.

3. Come during the Carnevale. At night time. Alone.

4. Look for the Libreria Acqua Alta. Half of the time you’ll get lost looking for it. The other half, you can get lost among the books in its coffers. Philosophers, explorers, scientists, they all turn to books for guidance. Who knows you might find a secondhand copy of Lonely Planet’s or Rick Steve’s Pocket Venice, along with the many other titles and authors you can look to for courage and stamina to continue wandering.

5. Go to the nearest ferry terminal and take any ferry at any schedule. Pick the next stop or the one after that. Then explore. Repeat steps one, two, three.

6. Take a gondola ride. Tell the gondolier to surprise you or to take you somewhere. Something to that effect. And together, enter a time and space beyond the sinking kingdom of Venice. Who knows you might end up on a beach around Venice’s mainland neighbors or in the surrounding isles.

Are where there yet? Exactly! Nowhere or now here? But as the great Unshod Rover would say: “I don’t really mind getting lost though if it means sporadic, spontaneous collisions with different versions of oneself. Come to think of it, all this time that I have been lost, inch by inch I have been scratching the surface of the unknown, getting closer, deeper each time into finally a pure knowledge of the universe outside of and within me. So, come unprepared. Just as you are. // Unshod Rover for Oasis Holidays

For guided tours as well as other tour and travel packages in Venice and other cities in Italy and Europe, you may contact our subsidiary Volando Tours.

For Tour and Travels India as well as International packages from India, please contact us at Oasis Holidays.