"Stendhal Syndrome" or such a different Italy.
Before this trip in Italy was only in Venice. Were, as for Venice, long-3 days. Impressions are unforgettable! But, as my companion says, Venice is not Italy, it is VENICE! And here is an opportunity to look at Italy a little. Good road through beautiful Slovenia. You can't apply other epithets to what flickers outside the bus window. The end of April, everything blooms and smells sweet. I just wanted to take a bottle of air and call it Blooming Slovenia. Unfortunately, the closer to Italy, the worse the weather becomes. And here is Padua and, unfortunately, a small drizzle of spring rain. But does that scare us? Meet the guide and go. I will not hide that before preparing for the trip, I only knew about Padua about the Basilica of St. Anthony (because I am a Catholic) and the Scrovegni Chapel (because I love painting in general). The guide told enough about the history of the city and went to the Basilica of St. Anthony. Either a drizzle, or he loves this place, but we were lucky. He showed us so much! And it was worth it. The place, I tell you, is simply extraordinary. . We looked at the Chapel of the Dark Mother of God (because the brunette), looked at the Chapel of St. Luke. In St. Anthony's Chapel, there was time to stand by the sarcophagus. I was struck by the number of photos with thanks and requests to St. Anthony. There was enough time for the Chapel of the Relics. A very interesting place. In architectural terms, it is somewhat similar in appearance to San Marco in Venice (with round domes), but inside it is a mixture of styles. An amazing thing, but it seemed to me that inside it is simply endless. In the magnolia yard, unfortunately, the magnolias have not yet bloomed. Then we continued our tour of the city. Near the monument to Gattamelata, the work of Donatello, did not impress. Prato della Valle is very beautiful, even in the rain. Piazza delle Erbe, Palazzo della Ragione - all this is beautiful, and near the University, it's also fun. There, those who have graduated, gather friends and celebrate. They are painted with paint, well, in general, the pioneer camp of the social. times. In general, we walk around the city on Monday, there are few local residents. We buy souvenirs. We take a photo at the famous cafe Pedrocchi (cafe without doors). The summer playground is not open yet, but there is no time to visit inside. We buy omarone wine (12 euros, but we really want to) and then the escort offers to walk around the city for an hour, but later come to Rome, so what? Didn't guess! Ladies "in an interesting position" and ladies "over 70" against. And the rain is over and the weather is just a miracle, but we are going to Rome. The road to Rome passed already in the dark, but outside the window flashed tempting hills covered with garlands of lights. I liked Padua, but there was a feeling of understatement and some mystery, despite the apparent simplicity of the university town. Rome! Rome! ! Rome!! ! All roads lead to it. The weather is normal, cloudy, warm, no rain, but everyone with umbrellas. A kind of guide starts the tour from the square. Spain. Tells quite interestingly, with humor. Square of Venice, pl. Navona, Via Corso, Pantheon, and of course the Trevi Fountain. Of all the replicated, I was struck by the Trevi Fountain. Well, not something that would have struck, but simply turned out to be more interesting than expected. The rest is beautiful, ugly, I will not say. I forgot to write that the ancient Roman part of Rome (sorry for the tautology) was of little interest to me. We looked at all the possible ruins in the pictures, but agreed live, if it works out, then along the way (time is short). Having finished the review, we moved towards the Vatican. It took a long time to walk to him. It is strange that we did not meet anything interesting along the way, and we entered the Vatican, as it seemed to me, from some kind of back entrance. I really liked the Vatican and its museums, well, what we managed to see. It is very good that the guide has audio guides. It sounds great, the story is interesting. We pass several corridors of the Pinakothek. I was fascinated by Pieta Michelangelo (I liked him all and everywhere) and the gallery of Geographical maps. In general, already at this stage, the names of the Great Ones began to "ripple in the brain", yes, yes, not in the eyes, but in the brains. We went out into the courtyard with a Cone and a sculpture Ball in a ball. For some reason, no grass at all. The guide led me to the plan of the Sistine Chapel and explained everything in detail. And here is SHE - the ultimate goal of my entire trip - the Sistine Chapel. Personally, she just blew me away. . I have long studied each of her drawings, read about how it was created, all the stories and gossip, but now I am writing and involuntarily a chill runs down my back. She is majestically beautiful and much larger than I imagined. Then we had to go back along the entire route to see the Stanzas of Raphael. These few rooms are not as advertised as the Sistine Chapel, but are still interesting. My companion said that his neck already hurts, but then he got carried away. It's beautiful! And here's a bonus! To leave the Vatican Museums, we again passed through the Sistine Chapel. St. Peter's Cathedral has already visited themselves. Grandiose! And at the same time, some kind of lightness, combined with rigor. But, let's just say, the knees did not tremble. From the Vatican we went to the castle of the Holy Angel, crossed the bridge over the Tiber. The target was Pitza del Popolo. From there they walked along Via Corso. Shops are interesting, prices too. Unable to resist, I bought another watch (at home, in the online store, it turned out to be 10 euros cheaper). We walked again past the Plaza de Españ a. I used to love Italian fashion shows "Woman under the Starry Sky". They were always held in this square. We walked along the square. Venice and on past a number of ruins to the Colosseum. We walked around the Arch of Constantine, waited for sunset and went almost out of town to the hotel. Maybe time is short and you still need to wander the streets of Rome, I don’t know, but the city, as they say, “didn’t hook me”. Interesting? Yes! Beautiful? Yes! What then? I was not upset because I already know that there are "my" cities (Prague, Amsterdam, Budapest and Paris), and there are "not mine" (Vienna, Berlin). Of course, if the opportunity presents itself, I will probably not refuse to visit this city again. Tired, looking at the photos taken, we had no idea what awaits us tomorrow. Morning. The weather is fine and we leave Rome. Florence ahead! Outside the bus window Paradise! Well, that's how I imagined it. Hills covered with vineyards, houses, blue sky and all this is bathed in golden sun. This is Tuscany. And here is a city in a hollow between the hills. No, this is not a city, but a jewelry box. Florence! Here any epithet will not be enough. There are not many such wonderful, bewitching places. . The impressions of this city were not spoiled either by the guide (he told about the city, in fragments not connected), nor by the crowd of tourists stunned by the beauty. All in all not a bad 1.5 hour sightseeing and we go to the Uffizi Gallery. This is where the tour guide came in handy. She told and showed a lot (although we would have looked even more with the guidebook). Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli! Venus and Primavera. The beauty! We then returned to them ourselves. Me, well, almost by force, my companion led away from them. When we left the gallery, from the impressions, I just didn’t want to go anywhere, but just sit down and freeze. Here, unfortunately, I had to refuse to visit the Brancaci Chapel. The tour of the gallery lasted about 2 hours. For a while we walked along it ourselves. The total time is 16.30. The guide said that it was too far to go and it would already be closed. Then we went for a walk back to the Duomo. I really wanted to climb the Bruneleschi dome, but my companion dissuaded me. We sat and admired the Ponto Vecchio, that is. because he was not included in the sightseeing tour. On the way we looked into the shops (bags and gloves, gentlemen). Jewelry on the bridge. Nice, not cheap. To the left of the bridge is a supermarket. We bought chianti, prosciutto, gorgonzola. We arrived at Palazzo Piti. We sat. And then to Piazzale Michelangelo. The sunset was approaching, but there was no strength to rise. Who was, he will understand me. But I got up there. Trust me, it was worth it. The view of Florence is just amazing. Enjoyed the sunset. Then the backlight turned on. The feeling of magic and some chaos of thoughts from what he saw lasted for some time. And yet, an acute sense of loss, something beautiful that flashed by and never fell into hands. Tears welled up. My companion was also silent. Then he said that it was a really interesting city and if I wanted, we could return here. Perhaps Stendhal was right. Three beautiful cities of Italy - Padua, Rome and Florence and how different they are.