A busy city-hopping week it has been. In a way this was our first taste of what most people probably pictured when we originally handed our notices in and announced we were travelling Europe. We’ve hardly slummed it, but perhaps this week has more closely resembled the traditional gap-year backpacker type of travel, as we’ve carried all our belongings on our backs through 5 destinations in as many days. It has been fun, served as a nice change and also reminded us that our usual means of travel really is the ideal way for us to experience Europe.
Florence is a beautiful city, we could see that even in our short walk from the train station to our hotel. And that’s not a typo - we found for most cities in Italy that a basic hotel room was cheaper than two beds in a hostel, so never assume that hostels are the most economical option! Highlights of the city for us were the artisan sandwich shops on Via dei Cimatori, and of course the Uffizi gallery housing Da Vincis and Carravaggios. We didn’t see Michelangelo’s David (which lives in Galleria dell'Accademia), but did see the replica standing in the main square in the position of the original. La Ménagere was a nice bar recommended by Anna’s hosts in Italy, and the Central Market proved a good, reasonably priced spot for a pasta lunch. This market opens out onto long lines of outdoor stalls, selling (mostly all the same stock of) touristy Italian leather goods. Florence is not the most travel-budget friendly of places, especially considering tap-water in restaurants isn’t a thing (we accidentally ordered a €7 bottle of water once, ouch!), but it is a gorgeous and historic place to be. We found simple pleasure in just sitting on a wall enjoying a supermarket beer and gazing down the river.
Florence is a beautiful city, we could see that even in our short walk from the train station to our hotel. And that’s not a typo - we found for most cities in Italy that a basic hotel room was cheaper than two beds in a hostel, so never assume that hostels are the most economical option! Highlights of the city for us were the artisan sandwich shops on Via dei Cimatori, and of course the Uffizi gallery housing Da Vincis and Carravaggios. We didn’t see Michelangelo’s David (which lives in Galleria dell'Accademia), but did see the replica standing in the main square in the position of the original. La Ménagere was a nice bar recommended by Anna’s hosts in Italy, and the Central Market proved a good, reasonably priced spot for a pasta lunch. This market opens out onto long lines of outdoor stalls, selling (mostly all the same stock of) touristy Italian leather goods. Florence is not the most travel-budget friendly of places, especially considering tap-water in restaurants isn’t a thing (we accidentally ordered a €7 bottle of water once, ouch!), but it is a gorgeous and historic place to be. We found simple pleasure in just sitting on a wall enjoying a supermarket beer and gazing down the river.
Our Italian tour continued with one night in Bologna. We saw the Palace of Archiginnasio, the first unified seat of the University of Bologna, which is the oldest university in the western world. The interior is unbelievably ornate, decorated with thousands of coats of arms of the students and staff of the University, and contains the 17th century Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio. There are some gems of cafes and bars in Bologna’s romantic streets, we enjoyed wandering and stumbling across a place for a piadina or a drink.
A short train-ride and we were in the Floating City. This was an interesting one; Venice’s reputation precedes it so it is difficult not to have preconceptions on visiting. We would recommend staying on the cheaper mainland (Mestre) close to the train station, and taking one of the very regular and quick trains back and forth to the island as needed. We also opted out of getting the 24 hour water taxi pass (saving around €40) and spent our time wandering the narrow streets and walkways of Venice instead. We saw the Rialto Bridge, the main square, and the Bridge of Sighs, however, we didn’t fall for Venice in the same way as other Italian destinations. Perhaps it was always going to be difficult to live up to the hype, but (at the risk of sounding pretentious!) we found it difficult to overlook the touristy atmosphere. Also, there are very few benches/places to sit in Venice so you are more reliant on the pricey cafes to take the weight off your feet after a days exploring, which is less budget friendly. We also slightly resented having to spend €2 to spend a penny!
Next stop was Prague, which for us earned the accolade of most flying visit. This was just a short (<24h) stopover for us because it served as the pickup point for the next leg of our journey, a week-long English language immersion course (Angloville) in Slovakia. A tour of Prague organised by Angloville helped make the most of our short time there. The Jewish history of the city is very interesting, we were told that a theory of why the Jewish monuments of the city weren’t destroyed by the Germans is that the city may have been intended to be preserved by the Nazis as a sort of Jewish museum following victory in the war. We’d have loved to have spent more time in Prague, we were too tired (after a 12 hour night bus to get there) and pressed for time to really make the most of it, so we intend to go back in the future. We certainly didn’t miss out on the great Czech beer though, we sampled a fair few following the city tour and with dinner.
After being cheated out of 60 Koruna change at Prague train station (sadly some people take advantage of tourists in a hurry for the train), we boarded a train bound for Slovakia with about 30 other native English speakers. This week has been a lot of fun, and we’ve got to add a few more names to our tally of visited places, but it has re-affirmed our belief that Workaway is one of the best ways to travel. We haven’t got to know each place and its customs like we have through conversation and days out with hosts, and this week alone has cost way more than the average Workaway week. Out of interest we added this up and our week travelling around Italy and to Prague cost us €1085 between us, and our average spend across the 12 weeks we have been workawaying, including transport, is €60 a week.
We are looking forward to having a full week in one place in Slovakia and not moving around every couple of days!
Things we’ve discovered:
- Good luggage storage is important in hostels/hotels, if like us you like to make the most of that last chance to explore the city between check-out and actually leaving.
- Public toilets are hard to come by in Italy!
- Don’t use the yellow ‘GPS’ stamps for postcards in Italy. Slow. Expensive. Unreliable. My postcards are yet to arrive 3 weeks after posting them.
- We recommend Osteria del Sole- the oldest pub in Bologna. Full of locals and friendly staff, cheap drinks, and you can take your own food in for dinner (we opted for a piadina).
- On the whole, we love Italy!
Total spend so far between two: €1456
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