Viagreggio

Well for awhile now I have been hoping to make it back to the Italian beaches! After all I thought by May the weather would be perfect every day here in Italy! Well it turns out that there seems to be a lot of clouds and rain in the spring here in Italy and the hot Italian summer has not yet descended on us (this I guess is also a good thing as my apartment does not have AC).

Beach in Viagreggio

At any rate the weather on Sunday was decent and I decided to make a trip to the beach town of Viagreggio! What made this extra cool was that one of my roommates, Connor, from my senior year at Wartburg was in Italy on a May Term trip. So early in the morning I met up with him and a number of other Wartburg students in Florence and then we grabbed a train towards the beach. Along the way we stopped in Pisa as none of them had seen it before, and it is of course one of the great Italian staples. Finally a bit after mid-day we arrived in the town of Viagreegio. The weather was decent and we even were brave enough to get in the water for a while before getting cold and retreating to the beach to relax. As the day moved on the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped and we took it as our hint to start heading back. All in all it was a fun trip and good to see some of my former Wartburg friends!

Siena

Well after my botched bike trip to Siena a couple weeks ago I decided yesterday to take a day trip to Siena and acutlly see the town. I went with two other friends from SAIS, and the traveling was not all smooth sailing this time around either. This was due to the fact that it was May 1st yesterday, which is a big holiday here in Europe. So being oblivious Americans we had not really thought about this and had to deal with some strange train schedules, canceled buses, and closed shops. Still despite all this we managed to make it to Siena and have a great time.

We left Bologna for Florence at 6:45 (cheap trains leave early!), but when we got into Florence we found out that none of the buses that normally go inbetween Florence and Siena were not going due to it being a holiday. Not dettered we checked the train schedule and while it was reduced we still managed to get a train to Siena later in the day. We ended up having several hours though in Florence (what a rough thing to have happen to someone) and wandered the streets checking out some of the more famous churches, sculptures, and bridges. Finally when it was time to go we ended up on a train that was literally overflowing with people, which made for a less than comfortable journey to Siena.

Me in front of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Once in Siena we made our way to the main square Piazza del Campo, which is probably what the city is best known for. The square is a huge open space with really cool buildings all around it. Twice a year they actually turn the square into a horse racing arena and race horses around the square! If you have seen the newest James Bond film (Quantum of Solace), this is the square where James Bond early in the movie was chasing the bad guys through a tourist filled square where there was a horse race going on. So needless to say it was a really cool square! Thus we decided to eat lunch at a restaurant right on the square and enjoy some of the local food and wine (Chianti!), both of which were very good. After lunch we did as the locals (or maybe just all the tourists) and lounged in the square soaking up all the sun (we had a beautiful day). The rest of the day we spent wandering the town (which is all still medieval looking) and admiring the different buildings and the rolling hills of Tuscany all around the city. We also ran into several other SAIS students as a good number of students made their way down to Siena or were in Tuscany for the weekend as well.

Piazza del Campo in Siena

Duomo

Medieval Streets (you can see the tower from the main square in the picture too)

Another cool building in Siena with an assortment of different medieval flags

Tuscan Country side

Finally around eight in the evening we boarded the train and made our way back to Bologna. All in all it proved to be a great trip, both to Florence and particularity Siena.

كارله سفر بلوق في العربية

السلام عليكم. هذا العام سافرت الى مغرب و ذهبت الى فاس رباط مراكش وزاكورة. احب مغرب كثيرا. هذا الصيف اسافر الى مغرب و ادرس اللغة العربية في فاس. ادرس الغة العربية في مغرب لمدة ستة اسبوع. انا متحمس السكن في بلد العربية واريد السكن مع اسرة عربية

So if you did not run to google translate to figure out what I just said here are the basics. (Title reads: Carl's Travel Blog in Arabic) After traveling to Morocco over spring break I am officially headed back! I plan to study Arabic in a six week intensive course at the Arabic Language Institute in Fez, Morocco. I am excited to spend more time living in an Arabic country and I also have signed up to live with an Arabic host family during my six week stay (space willing). My course starts June 1st (so right away) and ends on the 12th of July. Within a week of that time I will probably make my way home to Minnesota where I will spend several weeks this summer before heading to the East Coast in the fall.

As a final note I would just like to apologize to any native Arabic speakers who read my Arabic paragraph above as I imagine my grammar is atrocious....but even they should get the basic idea of what I am trying to say!

Biking Italy: Florence to Siena (or at least that was the plan)

So today a friend and I decided to do a one day bike trip here in Italy. A lot of our friends from SAIS have biked from Florence to Siena or Siena to Florence and raved about it! As the ride is all through Tuscany it is absolutely gorgeous with rolling hills covered in vineyards and wine towns! In addition the route goes through the Chianti region of Tuscany which needs no introduction for its world famous wine.


So early this morning at 6:45 am my friend and I caught the regional train from Bologna to Florence (the early trains are way cheaper!). The early morning was not all the encouraging as it was raining quite a bit on the way to the train station and the weather did not improve much at first while we were on the train. Yet by the time we got to Florence it was only partly cloudy and getting quite sunny and warm out! So we hopped on our bikes and slowly made our way through the tourist packed streets of Florence and past the world famous Duomo before finally getting out of the town and into the country side of Tuscany.

Tuscan Countryside

It really was just like all our friends had told us as it is an absolutely beautiful ride! The entire ride is around 70 km (43.5 miles), and most people did it in two days, but we decided this was easily do able in one day. Considering my past biking adventures, trips, and tours this distance did not worry me at all. Early on it was going wonderfully as we quickly completed around 35 km and made it into the town of Greve in Chianti. There we stopped to spend some time exploring the city, getting some lunch, and of course tasting the regions famous wine!

Greve

Unfortunately while we were eating exquisite pastas and drinking our fabulous wine the bad weather caught up with us and the rain started. We waited for a while hoping it would not last long, but eventually decided to get on with our bike ride as we still had a decent ways to go. So we trudged on into the poor weather, not enjoying our ride quite the same as we had before lunch. After about a 5 km climb up another huge hill out of Greve the rain had finally stopped and we were looking forward to a big easy downhill portion of the ride, but only just after we had started the down hill our trip came to a grinding halt. As I was going down I heard a loud BANG, and my heart sunk and I knew that my back tire had just blown out. Investigating the damage it was clear that the tire was completely shot and there was no chance of riding on it. Being in Italy and not back home with my normal biking equipment I did not have a spare tube and tools to change a flat on the fly. So my friend and I walked back up the hill we had just started to go down to where there was a small town. We hopped to find a bike shop where we might be able to fix the tire and continue. These hopes were soon dashed as there was no such shop. Luckily there is a bus service along the road we were biking and we were able to catch a bus about 40 mins later back to Florence, from where we caught take the train back to Bologna.

So after about 40 km of biking in Tuscany I must admit that we were defeated and forced to turn around. Still overall I would encourage others to go to Tuscany as it is a really popular place to bike and absolutely gorgeous! I am disappointed that I did not make it to Siena as it is a town that I would of liked to see and I am not sure I see myself making it back in that direction before my time is up here in Italy (just over a month left!).

The final lesson I guess I learned is even when you are a cheap student living abroad and biking a second rate bike, it is still worth investing some money in the basics of spare tubs, tire levers, and other basic bike tools! Still my experience for today did make for another fun adventure!

Biking Italy: Lake Garda

So I know what you are thinking....this guy needs a vacation after a week long vacation?!? Well.....Yes! Most students here at SAIS actually skipped Thursday and Friday in loo of a longer spring break. I at least showed up to class, but with a beautiful weekend weather forecast, a low load of homework, and the foreboding end to my year in Italy drawing close (only alittle over a month left!) I decided to get out of Bologna for the weekend.

I decided to go to a spot I had wanted to go all year Lake Garda! After traveling to other places in the fall and then the winter not being a good time to visit (too cold & most things are closed), I decided the time was prime for a visit. I decided though not to take the ferries, buses, or a car to get around though. Instead I brought along my bike and spent the weekend biking around the entire lake!

So early Saturday morning I got up and caught a train to the lake and began my ride! The weather Saturday was absolutely beautiful with temperatures between 65-70 and almost no clouds in the sky. The cool thing about biking lake Garda is that you get to bike next to huge mountains but never do much climbing as the road stays next to the lake where the altitude is generally constant! On saturday I did the eastern half of the lake from Peschiera del Garda to Riva del Garda which was 65 kilometers (about 40 miles). Overall it was not too hard of a ride. Despite my frequent stops to take photos and take in the beautiful views, I still made it into town by midday. In town I enjoyed eating at a local pizzeria and relaxing on the beach and reading a book (water was much too cold to swim!). In the evening I stayed at a local hostel and went to bed early so I could get an early start to the next day as the weather forecast was not as optimistic.

Path along the lake early on Saturday

As I get further North the Mountains continue to grow larger and more beautiful!

I stopped to watch people parachuting (probably a more specific name, as this was not normal parachuting), the girl pictured was doing flips and all sorts of tricks high above the lake! Lake Garda is a huge place for adventure sports such as Rock Climbing, Hiking, Windsurfing, and many others!

Riva del Garda (far north end of Lake Garda)

View from the beach

Sunday I was up reasonably early (at least for me) and biking before nine. I saw far fewer bikes on the western side of the lake and after biking I can tell why. Most of the first half of the ride is in tunnels which while normally well lit are quite boring to bike it and often do not have as much space for biking. Once I finally emerged from the tunnels I met many more bikers. I also noticed that the road on the western side of the lake is significantly more hilly. Still despite all this the western road has its moments as the road curves along the cliffs and looks like it was made for a James Bond car racing scene! The weather Sunday was a bit schizophrenic as at times it was beautiful and clear, cloudy and cold, and occasionally drizzling. One constant no matter which direction I went was the wind. I thought I was going into the wind on Saturday, but it was nothing compared to the headwind I encountered on Sunday. This was particularly unfortunate as I had a longer ride on Sunday (I did 85 kilometers or about 50 miles). All the same I finally made it and by then I was very happy to be done!

Road along the cliffs (and a small tunnel)

Road curving along the cliffs and lake

Mountains, still snow capped!

Town along my route

While the ride was definately not the fastest of my life (due to a small, old, italian bike and having to carry my overnight stuff in a backpack) I can say it was my favorite in Italy thus far! The sights were absolutely gorgeous and I would love to do it again some time. Some bikers even do the whole thing in one day (150 kilometers or about 90 miles), which while I have done that distance before I would need to be in a lot better shape to do it now (especially considering my bike!). If anyone is interested in splitting it up or just doing half, I highly recommend the eastern half of the lake as it is much more scenic as the road stays along the lake more and rarely has tunnels. Overall though the entire lake is a great ride that I would highly recommend to any biker!