Day Tripping in Italy - Rapallo

Although the school year is only half way through, my 2 yrs in Italy will be coming to a close quicker than I will anticipate.  Therefore, I've decided to make the most of the time I still have and try to get in a few day trips around the Ligurian area, and surrounding provinces, in Italy and see as much as I can (in between my larger planned trips to other countries).

In the last couple of weekends I've made a couple of Saturday day trips just outside of Genova.  The great thing about travelling sans vehicle here is that public transportation is very good.  So I hopped a Regionale train and 40 minutes later was in the seaside town of Rapallo.

A quaint, quiet place it was which was evident as soon as I exited the train station.  Walking down towards the water I entered an area of only foot traffic streets bordered with stores, markets and individual shops to purchase wares of many kinds.

After I meandered the streets for a while, going left then right then left then right but not having to worry about evading rogue drivers, I found myself at the sea.  There is a beautiful little promenade in Rapallo that winds its way beside the lapping water so I decided to stretch my sea legs and take it.  One way took me away from the hubbub and into a quieter area of the town.  The other way had me returning to the restaurant and more populated spots.  It was then when I found a nice little restaurant across the street but still facing the sea and enjoyed a Miami salad with a view of the sun glinting off the relatively calm waters.

After I'd relaxed and enjoyed feeling the sun on my face, I proceeded to continue to amble through the streets of Rapallo, stopping to do a little shopping along the way.  Thankfully the area I was in was close to the train station so it was easy to find my way back and head home to Genova later that afternoon.  The great thing about day tripping via train is that there is usually a Regionale every half an hour so you can hop on quite frequently, sit back, read a good book or listen to music and watch the scenery (con tunnels) go by while you let someone else do the driving.

On the way to Rapallo

Let the adventuring begin!

Some beautiful architecture situated throughout

Fresh fruit and veggie stalls

Street along the promenade; adorned by palm trees

Castello di Mare

Beautiful view of the coast

Love when you find something little squished in between two buildings

Mediterranean weather today

Dashing Through the Alps

A European Christmas time tradition is for one to attend a Christmas market.  These are widely popular events throughout the continent and can be found in most cities in almost every country.  Canada even has a few of their own, mostly in Ontario and BC should one be interested in partaking in this event.

Last year my roommates had attended one in Germany but I had only visited the ones in Genoa here. But this year, we all decided to head to one nearby to do a little Christmas shopping, and it added another country to my list.  So on December 4th, we bundled up, packed our suitcases, boarded a train and headed to Zurich, Switzerland for the weekend.

We left Genoa via train and as our train dashed through the Alps, we quickly found ourselves in chilly Zurich a mere 6 hrs later.

Were seated in the first train car RIGHT by the driver.

Could watch the tracks (if we wanted).

Chairs are bolted down in the ristorante car.

Good reason too - the track was VERY windy.

Swiss Francs

The signs to show our seats were reserved.

On Saturday we woke up ready to take on the day and explore the many Christmas markets Zurich had to offer.  After talking with our friendly, super helpful front desk clerk we quickly changed our plans and decided to take the train to a small town nearby, Bremgarten.  According to the lady who helped us, it was to be the biggest Christmas market in Switzerland.

So tickets bought, we hopped on the train and swiftly found ourselves in this quaint little town.  After a brief walk from the station we found ourselves in a small town of Christmas markets.  They wound through the streets, across the train tracks (thankfully there were workers manning the crossings), down and up hills, into the smallest of little piazzas and had a good flow about them so you wouldn't miss anything along the way.  We had a great time walking, eating, keeping warm, and I got to enjoy my first out of Italy Christmas market experience.

Zurich

Train station

Christmas markets in Bremgarten

One of many glasses of Gluhwein enjoyed

A whole stand of fannypacks!

Enjoying some good sausage fresh from the market.

After we'd spent the morning and a good portion of our afternoon in Bremgarten, we boarded the train again and headed back into Zurich.

Once there we walked to Wiehnachtsmart to see the Singing Christmas Tree.  Infamous in Zurich, this is a wooden structure in the format of a tree with members of a gospel choir donning the branches.  They sang some beautiful gospel songs, in english to boot, and with mulled wine in our hands we really started having the Christmas spirit don our spirits. ;)

Cheers!

After the performance, we walked along the Limmat River to the Christmas market in front of the Opera House, Wienachstdorf.  The city has multiple markets throughout and they were easily accessible both by public transportation and walking.  It was at this market where we saw ice skating and Bavarian curling, as well as perused some very busy stalls.

Thankful to the person who took this photo.

This and the other 15 I found on my phone after.

Skating

Bavarian curling

Snow pile (obviously imported as there 

wasn't any other snow in Zurich).

Opera House

Santa tram

With it being Saturday night, the market started to get very busy and super packed so we headed back to our hotel room to prepare, and warm up, for supper.

After talking with the desk clerk, and learning that most of Zurich's restaurants are booked through December, we headed to the Old Town section of the city to hunt for a restaurant.  We walked into Mexikan, a lovely Mexican restaurant that although we sat by the drafty door, had terrific fajitas and an authentic atmosphere.  After supper we walked through the markets in Old Town, part of the Niederdorf Quarter .  With time on our hands after, we also headed to Zurich's main train station Haptbahnhoff, to see the infamous Swarovski Christmas tree (decorated with thousands of Swarovski crystal ornaments) at the Christkindlimarkt.  We also spent some time perusing the various stalls there which had many handmade wares from around the country and others.

A travel book shop.  Just like in Notting Hill.

train station at night

Swarovski Christmas tree

Sunday morning found us checking out of our hotel, but luckily being able to store our luggage there until later - what a great hotel feature, and heading back to Wienachtsdorf market.  Due to it not being as busy as last night we had more time to effectively peruse the stalls and enjoy in some of the delicious, multi cultural foods that were available.  Chicken curry, raclette cheese over potatoes & salumi (not for the lactose intolerant one though), dessert, gluhwein..... Yum!! However, we did not get on skates liked we'd hoped.  :(  Maybe next time.

You know it's cold when there's seat covers and blankets provided.

Skating rink

Fondue restaurant (reservations needed)

Made the poor guy blush ;)

Squirrel and turkey market apparently

These are actually the seats in the children's area.

After we'd meandered and shopped at the market, it was back to the hotel to grab our gear and head to the train station.  We had a few minutes once we got there so we headed to the lower levels of the train station where there were numerous stores to our delight.  Time was spent grabbing necessities for our train ride and purchasing some infamous swiss chocolate.

Yes, there were llamas in the train station.

Train station bathrooms.  For the men's there were two amounts for usage:

1) just for the standing up part (Pissoir I believe it was called)

2) another payment if you needed a sit-down style environment

Our train ride through the Alps once more was very surreal.  We had a little more daylight to start our trip so when our train was tunnelling through the mountains of rock we had a beautiful view of the Alps.  At one point we could see that our train was extremely high above the road and the train line was literally build right on the side of the mountain.  Scary, but exhilarating at the same time.  

Switzerland is definitely a place I want to return to, both in winter and in summer.  The people were great, the air crisp and clean, and the views spectacular.  Being able to immerse in the Christmas spirit in this community was great and although there wasn't any snow, it was beginning to feel a lot more like Christmas at this point.