Italy

"We must continue to go, and just continue, so long as the sky is blue."
The fact is that the Earth is like a book, and those who never travel read only one page. Fortunately, today the traveling has become so easy and often inexpensive, so there are solutions for every budget. In this case, we took advantage of our age and the relatively cheap price and went with InterRail. It is a good choice if you travel with trains. However, some links are resolved alternatively (eg ship Ancona (Italy) - Igumenitsa (Greece)). These are fragments from our neighbor, quite a bit distant, so intriguing, different, and culturally and historically rich country of Italy.

I think that most people have experienced the train to Venice that starts from Zagreb's main station around midnight. It is unbelievable that I experienced worse night transportation, stinking, filthy enclosures, were you never know if they even have a driving permission. However, as I had the privilege to be on this train for several times, this route has remained in my memory as one of the worst. The reason is the 100 000 lux of light in your face that never goes out. I put three pairs of boxer shorts on my head and sank into sleep.

If someone wants to eat the best Godoni alla Carbonara ever, I suggest one of the "Ristorante" in the main square near the Verona Arena. Verona is an interesting city, perhaps one of the few cities where there are more pigeons than ants on the street, who do not dodge cars, so you can listen pigeon exploding when a car passes over them, which reminds of spilled spaghetti alla bolognese.

Verona, the man, the gladiator, one of the few contemporary examples from ancient Rome that guard the area around the Arena. When he heard that we talk Croatian, he asked in Croatian whether we are partisans or fascists (ustashi). In fact, the guy is from a mediterranean Croatian city Pula and is spending some time in Italy to earn some money.

Supposedly, Juliet, form the well known tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet" lived here. So some people leave love notes and poems on the wall in the passage.

Padua, The Basilica of St. Anthony, a great, wonderful masterpiece of the 12th century. Inside they keep the teeth, jaw and tongue from St. Anthony, so if anyone is interested… Padova also has beautiful parks, so we slept a little bit in one on the list. We were surprised when we noticed that on almost every bench is a female hairdresser, and loads of people waiting in the line. So, from bench to bench groups of people. And in the end they all finish up with the same hairstyle by each of the hairdressers. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but if I noticed well, you pick the hairdressers according to the hairstyle they do.

The Vatican, St. Peter Square, in the company of Rachel from the U.S., Toshy from Japan and Fernando form Ecuador.
As it usually happens, we met masses of new people, but we can only count on two hands those who were not robbed in Rome. Beware of pickpockets.

We arrived in Rome with the night train from Padua. The train was so packed that people slept in all sorts of passages, including the toilet. We found a hole with some smelly "hippie peoples" while we were awakened every hour when the waiter in the train wants to bring us coffee.

In almost any church or basilica you can’t enter if you're not properly dressed. This applies especially to the members of the gentler sex. So it is always good to have a regular scarf to cover bare shoulders, which are certainly not strange in the summer season. If you do not have a scarf, you can buy it at the stands beside these cultural monuments that are "specialized" for scarves, so you can buy a scarf worth 1 EUR for 10 EUR.

One thing that I remember is that we had to go back to the beginning of the entrance to the church of St. Peter in Vatican because of bare shoulders, but despite the body check and backpack check, and the "X-ray airport machine" check, I managed to get inside with a rather large knife and two tear gas cans, twice.

Rome, one of the best sights, Fontana di Trevi.

On almost every corner in any European city you can find a Sphinx, an Angel or something similar. I'm talking about "street performers" or better said "unperformers" because they literally don’t do anything and beg for money. This guy also stands still, but he caught our attention. Through his complete clothing he has wire so he can adjust the clothing and look like he’s in a hurry.

Ponte Vecchio, the most interesting medieval bridge ever. Through the middle of the bridge there are souvenir shops and jewelry shops. Interesting are these little homes attached to the bridge, supported with these old planks. You wonder how this whole thing doesn’t fall of. However, people live inside.

Florence, a city of statues. This is Michelangelo's David, finished in 1504, a masterpiece of Renaissance sculptures, one of Michelangelo's greatest works of sculpture, one of the smallest… :)

Home is were you make it. It is incredible that all cities have their own camps and excellent transportation options to downtown. That's why, along with camps and sleeping on trains and train stations, we didn’t had to stay in hostels.

Florence, a view from our tent.

Best of all, socializing in a multicultural environment, stories, booze and some shit.