Beware of Gypsies

I have expressed my distaste for gypsies already on this blog.  I spoke of them before in Milan.  In fact, Milan is where I witnessed a gypsy trying to give a tourist a crappy thread bracelet, and when she refused, he slapped her.  But I digress.

The gypsies in Rome are the worst.

 

The gypsies at the major tourist attractions are always trying to sell you, well, crap.  That guy was selling this thing that when you threw it, made a piercing, crying noise.  Why would I want that?!?!

The gypsies in Rome are especially thick near all of the free tourist attractions.  Like, the Spanish steps.

 

And the Trevi Fountain.  There, a gypsy was nice enough to take our picture.

 

When he was finished, he asked for money.  No prob, we gave him a euro.  He wanted more.  Alright, another euro.  He wanted even more!  Greedy gypsy, you took a Polaroid, you aren’t Ansel Adams!  Plus, I took a better self-portrait myself!

It takes years of practice to get this good at taking a picture of yourself!

 

But the gypsies at the train station are the worst.  They are all women holding children and it rips your heart out.  And they may rip your wallet out, so please be aware and just don’t talk to anyone out of the ordinary, especially at the Roma Termini station.  I actually ignored legitimate people out of fear, which is why Americans probably get a bad rap (sorry!).

If you are traveling for a long distance on a train, take shifts with your travel mate because even though you may have left the gypsies in Rome, it’s a common place for crooks to strike.  Both my cousin and aunt had their bags stolen while traveling in Italy (they were on different trips).

In terms of buses, there are also thieves on certain lines, like Line 64, which crosses the city and is the one we took the most. 

That's what a bus stop looks like in case you're wondering!

Here, you should watch for pickpockets, and I don’t blame them for seizing the opportunity, because the tourists here were totally unaware while taking pictures with their lovely cameras.  I hate when people do that.  You know you are taking a picture through a window, right?

Total Cost: €2 for a Polaroid from a gypsy that we didn't ask for (that's $2.50)

Best Deal: Not getting anything stolen

Pisa = Yuck

Alright, I apologize right now to Giovanni di Simone, who shares my last name and also has a role in the construction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (check this out for proof, I wouldn’t lie to you!).

You all did a terrible job.

So unstable even I can hold it up!

But I really don’t blame the architects, as much as I blame the person who decided to make this a tourist attraction (maybe I should blame myself for being a tourist).  This Leaning Tower is incredibly underwhelming.

I could push this thing over with just one flick!

In related news, the actual church on the grounds, and most importantly, the baptistery, is much more awe-inspiring.

The baptistery is on the left, the church is on the right.
Frank is in the middle.

On the bright side, it’s free to walk around the grounds, but it does cost money to go in the tower or church.  On a closing note, Frank especially did not think much of the Tower and tried to poke it over.

So we didn’t go inside the Tower or the church.  Maybe that's where the awesome-ness lies, but we'll never know because we were in a hurry to a) leave and b) go to a cool beach town that some other travelers told us about (too bad we ended up on a train to nowhere, serves us right for knowing the Leaning Tower so badly!)

I did get a wonderful piece of travel advice from a Rick Steves book though.  If you’re taking the train here, get off at Pisa S. Rossore versus Pisa Centrale, if you can.  Pisa S. Rossore is actually quite the walk, but Pisa Centrale is even worse.  And I was not paying for a taxi to drive me to a piece of architecture gone terribly awry.

Total Cost: Free

Best Deal: Not having to pay for a taxi because I got off at Pisa S. Rossore (all trains do not stop here)

Corniglia (or why you need to buy a train ticket even though no one is checking)

I skipped this town in my posts "Five Ways to Save in Cinque Terre" because we didn't stay there very long.  It’s the third town, whether you’re coming from the north or the south.  It’s also the only town where you have to walk up crazy steps just to get to it.  We were more interested in walking down the steps to leave.

Totally caught off guard by this mountain of steps!

Don’t get me wrong, this town is lovely, just as lovely as the rest, but minus the water.  The town is on a giant hill, although there is a beach below.  It’s called Guvano Beach and it used to be a nude beach.  I was disappointed to find not much swimming, and no nudes.  Luckily, my sister-in-law had been there a few years earlier and she caught some twigs and berries on camera.

Courtesy of my sister-in-law. Thankfully the action
is in the distance becuase this site is not X-rated.

However, I did learn a very important lesson on the way to Corniglia.  We took the train.  This was about the fifth train ride we had taken in the Cinque Terre and NO one had checked our tickets.  So, even though we had bought the tickets, we didn’t validate them.  We were trying to be economical by breaking the law…

Of course, we were the very first people the conductor checked when we sat down.  Luckily, we only got a ticket and a fine of €10 for both of us (I read some tourists are fined upwards of €50 each).

Looking on the bright side, we are now international
law-breakers!

So, word to the wise:

1.      Buy your ticket either from the live person or the green kiosks (the one in Riomaggiore was broken when we were there)

2.      Don’t lie about your final destination

3.      STAMP YOUR TICKET AT THE YELLOW OR GREEN BOXES AT THE TRAIN STATION.  There are usually several boxes around, and they are usually either right by the ticket booth or on the platform.

Total Cost: €10 for two people

Best Deal: Actually buying a train ticket, which would have been only €2 ($2.47ish)