It’s hard to get a taste for a city, let alone a culture, when you are only living in it for 48 hours.
That being said, I have spent (and will spend) about 48 hours in every city starting from Galway to Dublin, Ireland, then into Italy for free travel. Quite a lot of moving every 2 days!
Thankfully though, I got as good a taste as anyone ever could have with that short amount of time. I spent really the only full day I had in Galway, Ireland, by seeing as much of Ireland as I could. That meant hopping on a touristy bus trip throughout the countryside – always a gamble for worthiness. This one paid off. We had some of the best weather in months, according to the tour guide. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and you could see for miles. Our destination today was the Cliffs of Moher and the Barren region of Ireland; it was to be an all day affair.
Once we got to the cliffs and I could look all around for miles and see the ocean, the sheer faces of the edges of the green cliffs and the countryside around us, I knew I was in Ireland. Top it off with a bowl of Irish stew for lunch, then a huge full rainbow on the way home, and a visit to a pub later to make it a complete experience. What was so special about my pub visit was the people. My two friends from Bethel studying in Galway, Johan and Annie, picked me up at my hostel and took me to a local pub they had found a week ago with live music. Tonight though, it was all about a soccer match on the TV. After the game though, the giant TV was wheeled away, tables were cleared, and all of a sudden, the room is full of couples doing Irish jigs. Traditional music, courtesy of a live band, set everyone’s toes a tapping. We all sat for nearly an hour watching the athleticism and community shown by these Irish men and women. Dancing seemed to be such an integral part of their culture. It was a reason to get together and have fun.
The second 48 hour installment: Milan, Italy. This is the gateway city for our Free Travel week. Note: It is anything but “Free” as we actually have to pay for some of it on our own, but we received a little money to cover modest meals and hotels. Milan is also anything but modest. It is most definitely the fashion capital of the world. Nowhere else are you able to purchase items that literally come right off the runway and into a store. Not just Penney’s or Target, but the designers themselves. Gucci, Prada, Armani, Dolce & Gabanna, just to name a few. These stores let you browse for free, but is a t-shirt really worth 300 Euros? (roughly $450 US) It wasn’t in my ballpark. But, we still had fun being astonished by prices and I ended up getting a pretty cool sweater and jacket.
I also saw the third largest cathedral in the world: The Duomo. It is visible for several blocks as it towers in the center of the city as a giant white stone structure. Inside is even more lavish, with giant canvas paintings hanging from the ceiling and marvelous stained glass windows depicting biblical stories. Google the Duomo in Milan to get an idea of its size and beauty. The rest of the day was spent wandering the city, before going out to get a taste at the American Embassy, aka McDonalds. McDonalds is great because 1) it’s cheap, in comparison to everything else, 2) it tastes the same everywhere and 3) you can get by with little or no local language skills because “Cheeseburger” is universal. We had burgers and fries and milkshakes for a little taste of home.
I have had a few brief—but friendly— encounters from the local Italians. First, our hotel manager is a saint. Not only did he personally come to our room and welcome us, he got us maps and showed us how to get around and he told us about daylight savings time (which we totally forgot). Second, I washed my clothes in a nearby self service Laundromat and there was an older Italian man there ( I assume he was the owner). A man was getting his load out of the dryer, mostly collared shirts and dress slacks. He began to hastily stuff and roll them into his small bag. The Italian owner came over, slapped his wrist away and began neatly and methodically folding the dress shirts and pants to prevent them from wrinkling. It was obvious that clothes were his work, his passion. He cared for them more than anything.
Almost forgot. I had heard from a friend I had met at the Goethe Institut from Italy that all the small bars and restaurants have this thing called “Apertivo”. Basically, during the early evening, massive and varied amounts of food are put on a buffet table for a fixed price. A buffet in Europe, unheard of! They sell it this way: You order one beverage at a fixed price (8 or 9 Euro) and then you may have unlimited trips to the buffet to take food. For us, this was a very inexpensive way to eat dinner, as the name ‘’apertivo” is semi deceiving. Last night, I sampled pasta, fresh mozzarella and tomato, bruscetta , pizza, meatballs and sausages, French fries, chicken and cucumber, and shish kabobs. We filled up and watched the soccer game for a while. No hidden service charge, no swindling and plenty of pretty good food. Definitely “on code” for us Americans.
Next installment: Part 3 will be from Bologna, Part 4 from Florence, and Part 5 from Rome (from our free travel week)
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