First trip to Italy alone!

by Dinara Polatova (Russia)

A leap into the unknown Italy

My name is Dinara but my mom calls me Magellan, after Ferdinand Magellan, famous Portuguese explorer. Even my profile page on Instagram says everything about me: travelfreak.di. I am so passionate about traveling that I'd rather save money for that than for new pair of shoes or brand clothes or whatever other girls dream about. Well, I will tell you about my first travel experience alone. In 2018 I went to visit Italy. I was really scared at first, to be honest, but the more I traveled the more I loved it. I met a lot of new people who were really good to me. I flew to Milan first and spent there only a few hours cause I had an evening train to Genoa (the second city I've visited in Italy and the favorite one of mine). I came to Genoa in the evening and decided to walk to my hotel so I could explore more of the city. But then my phone died and I couldn't check the location however I had the hotel address on the piece of paper. I asked some girls but they didn't speak much English and one of them called a friend who explained me in English which direction I should take. That was actually funny. Next morning I went to the beach where I met Italian guy who showed me best spots which not every tourist knew about. We had so much fun swimming, jumping from the cliff, getting tanned, riding a bike, eating Italian food and drinking wine. We talked about life in Italy, Italian people, politics between two countries. This was kinda adventure I enjoyed. The next day I went to the second largest aquarium in Europe on my way to the train station. I didn’t know this fact before. Anyway it was cool to be a kid again: watching different fish, dolphins, skats and cute penguins over there. After Genoa aquarium I had a night train to Florence. Since there was a stop in Pisa for a few hours I decided to visit the famous tower of Pisa. That was really dangerous and stupid of me but the desire to visit Pisa tower was stronger. So imagine me walking in Pisa streets at night (3 a.m. the exact time lol), thank God there was this Italian guy who helped me out. He asked me: "why are you walking alone in the streets? It is very dangerous here at night, Pisa is a small city and there is no police". I think he was worried about me more than I was. I even think he was terrified. So I replied: "I must see the famous tower." He drove me there and even more showed other sights I had no idea like the famous river Arno which also flows in Florence. Florence met me with beautiful sunrise and deserted streets. Few people were jogging so it wasn’t completely empty. To be honest I was bored the first day maybe because I couldn’t share all emotions I felt with close people I have so traveling alone is not always fun. I visited all famous sights like Duomo, central square, these lovely tiny streets and I remember Florence as a romantic city that’s why I felt lonely. The second day was much more fun. I decided to go to Boboli gardens, the weather was so hot and I wished it was raining, "be careful what you wish for" they say. And guess what? It started to rain so hard thus everybody run to hide. That's how I met a lovely British girl. So I was not completely alone. When rain stopped we enjoyed the beauty of architectures, museums, cathedrals and everything Florence was offering that day. The next morning I had an early train to Rome. Rome was very crowded, of course, it’s the capital. I saw main sights such as Spanish steps, coliseum, Rome forum and columns, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn't visit Vatican City. I would definitely go back and have more adventures. I forgot to mention the most important thing. Food! Honestly, I don't like eating pizza nor pasta. Yep there is one person in the world who doesn't enjoy it. Although salads were really delicious. And l miss having coffee with croissants for breakfast. P. S. From Rome I took a bus to Belgium but it’s another story to tell.