Arezzo

Yesterday (and I would have written about it then, but there were technical difficulties) we went to Arezzo [Ah-ret-so]. It's less than 15 minutes by train, and its a really awesome town.

We came out of the train station into a large plaza with a big traffic circle that forms one of the largest intersections in town. There was a big old statue in the middle of the plaza, and all together it formed a pretty amazing central hub for the city. We went down the stradas and up past a ton of really fancy boutiques on our way up the mountainside to il Duomo at the top of the city.

Us entering the Castiglion Train Station.

Apparently Katheryn wasn't as excited to be in Arezzo as I was...

Our first view of Arezzo leaving the train station.

The central hub with a statue in the middle.

One of the cooler buildings on the main strada.

This is basically what the streets of Arezzo look like. This is the strada leading up to il Duomo.

One thing I've learned about Italy is that the cities are very very vertical. So far the oldest churches and cathedrals form the top of most cities, with the shops filling out the lower portions and the residential areas forming the bottom of the city. This is the case in Castiglion Fiorentino, and also Arezzo and Cortona (see the next post for Cortona).

Our next stop was a late gothic church, built between 1300 and 1400 AD, in the middle portion of the town. There was a big sign at the front which read "Vietato Fotografia" [Photography Prohibited] but since I'm the only one who can read Italian everyone walked in and started taking pictures which really upset one of the nuns/stewards inside. She nearly took away some cameras before the "Professore" Paulo Biuccieri (one of the teachers from the center) was able to convince her it was his fault and that the students would stop.

A late gothic church built about 1400 AD.

On our way up the city we passed one very old Romanesque Church (about 1000 years old!!!) which was HUGE, but it was closed and we couldn't visit the inside.

An ancient Romanesque Church (1000 years old!)

Next we went to the very top of the town (500 feet or so up from the central hub) to il Duomo [Italian for "The Big Church"] di Arezzo. This cathedral is the largest I've been in yet, and was one of the most impressive. This one allowed photos, and I managed to get a few good ones.

Ara in front of il Duomo.

The baptistry inside il Duomo di Arezzo.

After visiting il Duomo we had Pizza at a local Pizzeria, and once again I was the only one who was able to ask the waiter any questions or anything (grazzie Sr. Cangelose for the Italian lessons) but we managed to get a couple pepperoni pizzas (their pepperonis are really different from ours) and some lemon/orange sodas.

Its been pretty strange, but the food here is really cheap and the drinks are incredibly expensive. As a result I've been pretty full but pretty thirsty the entire trip. You can't even get free water in Italy, and usually the beer is cheaper or the same price as the water.

After lunch we went up to the Duomo again and visited the park on top of the mountain of Arezzo. The view from the top was amazing, and I filmed some panoramic movies of it to show people when I get back. I've found there have been many places along the way where taking a picture doesn't really explain very much and the movie mode on my camera is much better for capturing the full breadth and depth of the views we have experienced.

The statue in the middle of the park on top of the city of Arezzo.

Ara posing with the statue in front of il Duomo on our way back down to the station.

On the way back we went down main street and found a Blockbuster Video store which was just about the only thing open, since the Italians take a siesta from about 12:30 until around 4:00 every afternoon, then reopen their shops from about 4:00 until 7 or 8 in the evening. We went inside to get away from the cold for a bit. It's been about 25-30 degrees with strong winds the entire time we've been here, so it feels even worse, like 10-15 degrees.

I can tell you, we're getting a major workout every day in this country. The hills are so steep, its like mountain climbing more than just walking. In the evenings dinner never comes fast enough because we're all tired from our major hiking we've been doing during the day.

The night after Arezzo we went to "Pub Velvet Underground" which is a pretty cool bar here in town. Everything is really expensive, so nobody wanted to buy any drinks. For purposes of comparison a 12 ounce beer was 5 euro (about 8 bucks) whereas at school they sell them for 1 euro. For 4 euro at school we can buy a big bottle of wine, the same would be about 20 euro at a bar. Kind of ironic that the cheap booze is at school.

For the first Saturday it was pretty awesome. Again pictures will be coming as soon as I can get a computer to let me upload, but that's a long story for another day. Ciao!