Travel Log
Apart from Venice, the next Italian city that I found myself falling for is the art, historical and cultural capital of Italy, Florence. One of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, Florence is the capital city of Tuscany region in the central Italy, and it is much adorable than and a far cry from the rest of Italian cities with its rich historical and cultural heritage. Florence is known as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance with its strong influence in ancient Italian art and architecture. Two of the greatest sculptors in Renaissance era, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vince, were born in here.
Florence is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world with River Arno splits Florence into new and historic sections of the city. Spending at least a few days and staying in one of the luxury villa in Florence is surely a great idea to enjoy your vacation here. When we first arrived at its main rail station of Santa Maria Novella (SMN), and walked out from the station, we were already in the heart of historic Florence. All within walking distance, city attractions could be easily explored one after another. Among them, the Duomo Cathedral is definitely the dominant icon, being the highest building in Florence. Climbing up its 460 steps of spiral staircase to the tower top, we had the best panoramic view of the Florence cityscape. Next up would be the Accademia Gallery. I was more than willing to queue up for 45 minute just to get in there. Why? Because the original David, the greatest sculpture done by my favorite sculptor Michelangelo, was housed inside there! 
By sitting at one of the many open air cafes at Piazza Della Signoria, not far from the Duomo, travelers not only could see many of those famous sculptures around the square, they can also do some people watching (which was in fact a local culture). A replica statue of David could also be found here.
For my wife who loves leather bags and wallets, San Lorenzo open market is a ‘must-go’ market. We spent hours in there to buy some of those high quality local leather products such as shoes, bags, wallet that preciously made in Firenze.
In the evening, we walked along the River Arno, the main river of florence and Tuscany. We came to the Vecchio Bridge, the oldest and most famous bridge that spanning across the River Arno. There are shops selling jewelries, arts and souvenirs. In the evening under the setting sun, it just looked marvelous in yellow colour.
When the night fell, we took a bus up to the hill top at Piazzale Michelangelo. It is the best viewpoint to Florence city skyline. I set up my DSLR onto a tripod and shot endlessly! Another replica of the David statue could also be found at the Piazzale. Check out other the frugal ways to explore Florence during weekend.
Florence is also the starting location for visiting other highland cities of Tuscany, such as Sienna and wine producing area such as Chianti for the Chianti Classico wine. If you are a wine lover like me, staying in one of the Tuscany villa and hopping the vineyard after vineyard for some wine tasting can surely let your hair down.
In fact, Florence offers much more than that. The local foods always make my mouth water! I couldn’t help but to try the local cow stripes, gelato, as well as the local Florence steak dinner, with a glass of Italian Chianti Classico wine as well as some breads with local Extra Virgin Olive Oil. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel guide to Italy
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Happy New Year 2012! Towards the end of year 2011, it would be great for me to recap some of my exciting travel experiences that happened during the year. This year is a fantastic year for me, not only was I able to realise my 2 travel plans set early this year to visit Europe again and Beijing for the first time, but I also managed to add a new photo collection album for Hong Kong Christmas travel and revisited 3 popular travel destinations in Malaysia. Let’s see what are those exciting experiences I have had during the year.
- February 2011 – We went to Penang again after our previous visit 4 years ago. This time I brought my new Nikon D7000 that I bought in November 2010, and captured some exciting travel photos in various attractions in Penang such as the Kek Lok Si temple. Jean and I also tried some of the top Penang local foods that we always fancy about;
- May, 2011 – Jean and I flew to Europe for and second time in 12 months. We visited some other top travel destinations in Western, Central and Northern Europe, namely Barcelona, Switzerland, Berlin, Copenhagen, Brussel and London. It was also my first ever visit to Switzerland and Copenhagen, where both have the freshest air and the cleanest water in Europe;
- August, 2011 – We visited another 2 hot tourist spots in Malaysia, Cameron Highland and Pangkor Island. From cool mountain environment up on Cameron down to the sea level with hot climate on Pangkor Island;
- September, 2011 – A short trip to Ipoh again, mainly for those authentic and delicious local foods in Ipoh;
- October – November, 2011 – My first ever visit to Beijing and second ever travel to China, after my Shanghai trip 3 years ago. A bit of the disappointment, being late of Autumn, Great Wall of China was covered with thick fog that hindered me from capturing its magnificent Autumn view. However, we still managed to explore the greatest accent Chinese architecture of the Forbidden City and tried most of the mouth watering Beijing local foods especially the Beijing Roast Duck;
- 25th December, 2011 – Jean and Chloe went for their Christmas holiday in Hong Kong. With my old Lumix FZ28, Jean managed to take many great travel photos of those hot spots in Hong Kong, included Hong Kong Disneyland and the panoramic view of Hong Kong from the TaiPingShanDing mountain top.
A fruitful year in terms of travel for us. Having said that, I had also realised some of my photography wishes over the past year, including the acquire of my new Nikkor 10-24mm Ultra Wide Angle lens. I wish my coming year 2012 would also be another great year of travel and photography. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog
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Finally here is my story on Venice, which I traveled to during my Europe tour a year ago. One of the city that I love most in Italy is definitely Venice. Venice is an island compo consisting of 118 small islands separating each other by canals. It is sited along Adriatic Sea in Northeast Italy. Not unexpectedly, it is also the most valuable island in Italy, as researches has revealed that Venice is sinking by 5mm each year and by the Year 2050, most parts of Venice would be underwater! In fact, many parts of the city are already sunken into water and long been vacant. When I was there last summer, St. Marco Square, the most tourists frequented landmarks in Venice, was partly flooded in the morning during high tide.
After our trip to Amsterdam, we took the budget Transavia flight to Treviso Airport near Venice. From there, one of the many coaches waiting in front of the airport took us to the Venice Island. We arrived at Piazzale Roma, the only bus station on the island and also the last stop for all road vehicles. After which the whole island is pedestrians only.
How should I describe Venice? Being one of the UNESCO World Heritage city, I was stunned and amazed by the beautiful scenic view of the city when I first visited the island. The whole city is surrounded by sea and splitted by canals. It is a pedestrian only city with the main mean of transportation being all by water way. It is also an old city with most of the great architectures being constructed centuries ago!
We then walked for 15 minutes through the alleys from Santa Croce to the Campo San Polo to meet our hotel agent, and from there she brought us to the apartment I booked in San Polo district. Of course, travelers can also catch a vaporetti (water bus) at the station next to the bus stand and travel by canal to Rialto Bridge water station then walk to the Campo San Polo, which costs €6.50 per trip.
After checking in and settled down, we started our tour around the island, visited the 5 places to visit in Venice. Tourist attractions are mainly concentrated along the main waterway, Grand Canal of Venice.
We first flocked to Rialto Bridge, then to St. Marco Square, San Marco Basilica and Bridge of Sigh in San Marco district. Make sure you bring enough memory SD cards and snap, snap and snap as many photos as you can in Venice. The sky is so blue and clear, the sunlight is so bright and beautiful and your photos would all turn out fantastic and wall paper alike! Though the sun was hot, I could always cool me down by eating Gelato after Gelato!! Each scoop of gelato costs only €1!
We had coffee at outdoor seating of the famous “Florian coffee bar” in the square, listening to live violin music and witnessing the sunset lighting in front of the historical St. Marco Basilica is a real enchanting experience.
At the same time, pigeons were gathering in the square and pigeon feeding is another fun activities going on there.
At night, we had our pizza dinner at one of the restaurant before we hit the road again at night for some fascinating night photo shots.
On the next morning, we decided to walk off the beaten track and explore the residential area of Venice in Cannaregio district. From Rialto Bridge, we walked towards the Santa Lucia train station, admiring the other significant canal of Venice, the Cannaregio Canal.
But I like to explore further into the local lifestyle, by walking further in, away from the tourists spots without the worry of getting lost. There are always signboard showing me the direction back to Rialto Bridge or St. Marco square. Drinking coffee and eating home made pizza with Venetians in any of the local cafe definitely exciting and rewarding.
From the station, we walked back to Santa Croce and San Polo, with another purpose. We clocked the time needed to walk from station to our apartment, so we could assume the same time as needed for us to walk to the train station on next morning to catch our Trenitalia train to Florence!
At night, we cooked ourselves a simple but authentic Italian pizza and pasta which bought frozen from the nearby minimarket.
Click to view full resolution travel photos that I took in Venice via Flickr.
Travel tips1: Venice island is a small but complicated city in layout. Make sure you buy a copy of the beautifully printed map from the Tourism Info Centre for €2 to tour around the island without getting lost in the way.
Travel tips2: Venice island is made up of uneven, not always leveled cobble stoned alleys and bridges, which are slippery when raining. Be extra careful when walking around to avoid accidents happened. You should consider buying a travel insurance, such as the InsureandGo travel insurance so you can travel with total peace of mind.
I love the romantic setting all over Venice especially the Gondola ride along the Grand Canal which definitely will make your stay in Venice a memorable honeymoon trip! The environment there will make you fall in love with whoever travel partner you brought along! So, be careful who your are going to Venice with!
Whoever been there before would definitely go back for more. I’m certainly one of them… – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel guide to Europe
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