Thanks to the Philippine Consulate in Milan, I was given a passport to continue my journey.  Here’s a big shout out to you guys there.

We boarded the 330PM train from Milan and got to our next destination – the South of France.  The French Riviera, Nice was the first stop in France.  As it is described, before anything else, there was the Mediterranean magnetism along the beaches and no wonder, no place in France compares with Nice.  The simple joys of a balmy beach day and people watching along the Promenade de Anglais, Nice is a perfect hybrid of both Italian and French Culture. One must not miss Vieux Nice and the Cours Saleya Markets.

Arriving nearly past 11PM, our home for the next couple of days (but the pitstop for this journey) was the Hyatt Regency Palais de la Mediteranee.

The sight to the Mediterranean Sea from the hotel was the kind that would make you forget your troubles.  Paradise, after all, was made for the weary souls.

The Côte de Azur has always amazed tourists with its beauty and opulence.  Henri Matisse was said to have been so smitten with Nice that he made it his home for 37 years.  And so did the artists Chagall, Picasso and Renoir. And the food here is excellent! Dining is at its outstanding best and I could never forget the Boullabaise at Le Bistro des Viviers.

From Nice, it was a one hour trip by train to Cannes – home to the red carpet best movies and of course, it’s glamorous harbourside. The glitz and spectacle of this area does not fail to impress, not only the locals but the tourists at heart as well. We were there during the Cannes Film Festival! What luck!!

People watching on a balmy day, amidst all the opulence, chic beaches, and jaw-dropping yachts moored at the port truly made the trip to the South of France make me not regret moving on with this trip, rather than sulking on a plane back to Manila, worth it all.

Life, after all, is how we catch the balls thrown our way.

We had been to Milan, Italy as part of our Greek vacation.

We had stayed at Campeiro Suites where a few steps away was Via Dante.

And the highlight of this short stop was the Duomo (which I don’t think will ever get finished in many of our life time.  Food was good.  Shopping was fantastic! But we were extra careful with those low life gypsies who made a living, off other people!

We would bump into several “kabayans” who would gather around the square on Via Dante after work hours.

The second time was not a visit to Milan. It was a stopover.

On this European trip from Rome to Florence, the next stop was Nice, France.

We actually pondered on whether we would travel by train or by air. I thought that perhaps we could get to see the countryside en route to our next destination.

After all, we would just have a single train change from Firenze, Italy to Nice, France. This would be in Milan.

And so the unthinkable happened.

Nothing makes a hard earned vacation feel as defiled as when you are robbed in broad daylight.

We got off the Milan station and just crossed one platform to take the train to Nice.

It was unusual that when we boarded our train, there were 2 women on our seats! And while we were busy arguing on who were the rightful occupants to those seats, there were two men that suddenly came from out of nowhere pushing and shoving my bag.

I felt a push. The a slight shove. And when I looked at my carry on bag, the zipper was open. I felt a lump on my next swallow of my saliva. I dropped my bag, looked for my wallet and passport. I couldn’t believe it. They were gone.

Gone in 60 seconds.

The men on the train were alighting. I told my partner that I think I was robbed. The women disappeared. The other passengers didn’t seem to care. And everything turned red.

Yes I was angry. For good reasons.

1. The police station was right in front of the train station
2. They allow non-passengers into the trains!
3. The queue at the police station was filled with foreigners who were robbed at the train or the train station!
4. The police was not much help.  They hardly spoke English.  And when I reported the crime, all they could tell me was to go to my embassy to seek help.
5. When I informed the personnel at the train station my dilemma, all they could say was that I should just report my miserable situation at the police station.

In short, you cannot expect any help from the Italian police.

I was lucky.

It was a Monday.  The embassy was open.  The consulate was more than helpful.  They gave me a passport issued in Milan (good for 1 year).  And our “kabayans” had helped me get to the embassy and from the embassy, get back to the train station where my partner was waiting for the verdict – to discontinue our trip and fly back to Manila or finish this European vacation.

I didn’t want the thieves destroying our planned vacation.

We took the 3pm train to Nice and arrived after 6 1/2 hours.

On the train, all I could do was break down.  I felt defiled.  Everything that this trip was supposed to be felt me stripped of my humanity.  I was angry at the Italian government because the thieves were just lurking at the train station right in front of the police station!

They may have broken my wallet, but I resolved that my spirit would not be broken.

The tears I shed were those of frustration.

I pray that no other tourist had to endure the inefficient and indifferent police force in Milan.

That day I grieved my material loss.

Tomorrow, would be another day.  And another story to be told. Resilience in times of adversity will always be my resolve.

After a few days in Rome, we took the train to Firenze (Florence).  The little less than 1 1/2 hours travel by high speed train went considerably smooth.

Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance. This urban chic city while small, is packed in history and arts at every turn.  The narrow cobbled-stone streets, marble basilicas, world-class art and museums as well as the quaint shops that pack the super tight roads of Firenze is as charming and adventurous as it gets.  It may not have the pomp of Rome, but it has the class, autocracy and grace of the Renaissance period embellished in its city.

Hotel Brunelleschi, right at the heart (or should I say centre) of Florence, was home for the next few days.  The hotel is equidistant from every place – from the Duomo to the Palazzo Vecchio.  While it is an old refurbished hotel, you’d be surprised at its interiors and what the hotel has to offer.  (The breakfast was standard all throughout the stay.)

As you make your steps out of the hotel, the history of Firenze unfolds before your very eyes.  The Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio (with the exhausting climb to the tower), Ponte Vecchio, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Piazza Santa Croce and the basilica where Michaelangelo is buried, to the Piazza della Repubblica for shopping…so many places, so little time (we should have stayed a day more)!

And yes, the gelato stores were right in front of our hotel. That alone was worth the stay!

On the third day we decided to hie off to Pisa.  From Firenze S.M. Novella station, make sure you take the direct train trip (and while there are several trains that go to Pisa almost every 30 minutes, you wouldn’t want to board the one that has to stop at several stations), and it should take you there in a little under an hour (the 11am train took us 50 minutes). It’s a touristy area (but we are, tourists after all).

Pisa and the Baptiste, the Cathedral and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  The latter has an odd but interesting story which you will learn during the trip.  The tower was started in 1174 for the campanile cathedral and the baptistry. The engineer (Bonnano Pisano) had laid a marble foundation for this. It took them 176 years to complete this, but it was embarrassingly crooked. This was because the land where the marble foundation was soft because it had a lot of water. The foundation was only 10 feet deep. When the first floor of the tower was completed, it began to sink. The builders tried to save the tower by building the columns and arches on the south side one inch taller than the north side. By the time they got to the fourth floor, they were making the south side columns 2 inches higher than the north. Several decades (up to centuries) and several floors later, no matter what the engineers did, the tower still kept leaning.  And when it was finally completed two centuries later (1372), the tower was still leaning.

On our return from Pisa back to Florence, we decided to take a secondary trip from Florence to the Barberino Designer Outlets. There are multiple shuttle buses outside the Firenze station that leave almost every 2 hours.  Getting back from Pisa we were able to make it to the 4PM shuttle (with return at 8PM – and you know the sun is still shining here at that time).

After all, a true vacation should always involve some retail therapy!

But Florence isn’t all about sights and shops.  A gourmet Tuscan cuisine is worth the trip alone.

Two places I would highly recommend for Florentine dining.

The first is at Dei Frescobaldi Ristorante & Wine Bar.  It’s not a high end restaurant but great food as we dined on scallops for hors d’oeuvres, fettuccini in truffle for the first course and pigeon for the second course.

We splurged on the second restaurant.  I highly recommend the Michelin starred restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in Florence, called Il Palagio.  The food was the star of the show! While this may set you back a few bucks, the culinary delight was a vacation in itself!

As the Italians would say, buon appettito!

La Dolce Vita is best experienced in Florence (Firenze), where even standing on a bridge in Arno will make you appreciate the beauty and dazzling spectacle of every shade of orange, pink, and amber.  The lifestyle here is laid back and is like the gradual turn of the clock, placing time in slow motion…to appreciate life and living it…

I wish we were crazy rich.  But Kevin Kwan has touched the tip of the socioeconomic class in Singapore.

An island city-state off southern Malaysia, Singapore has risen to be a global economic powerhouse to reckon with.  In this highly urbanised and cosmopolitan city, transportation is highly efficient.  And moving from A to Z is a breeze!

Under all that economic boom and development, this country has the resilience to withstand what other nations has to offer.  And show the world that with sheer determination, it can be done.  It’s architecture alone is a sight to behold.  Even when the world had just began to realise that remodeling a city to be a “green” one is one way to save Mother Earth, Singapore had started its redevelopment urbanisation plans way ahead of all its Asian neighbours.

With several nature preserves (Bukit Timah and the Central Catchment Areas where you find the Singapore Zoological Gardens), this country combines western development with eastern culture perfectly.  Amidst all the lush of nature, stands the most interesting modern and ancient architectural structures.

Almost 1/4 of the people living in Singapore are expatriates or foreign workers from all over the world.  Many of the domestic helpers are Filipinas. Frontline work force in many hotels and restaurants are Filipinos.  There will always be a “kabayan” (countryman), at every nook and cranny.  Even the healthcare industry in Singapore is highly competitive with those of the western world, making the University of Singapore, a postgraduate destination for many Filipino doctors who would like to pursue fellowships and further training in their medical profession.

Rich in culture and history, Singapore has its own story of life, liberty and sacrifice to share.  This tiny island literally rose from nothing.  Take a trip to Sentosa and find out the heartbreaking courage of the people in this tiny nation.  To say that worked to be where they are today, is an understatement.  If only many countries could learn from their sheer determination, discipline, and unabashed love of country – every country would be as successful as them.

Singapore is notably known to be a “fine” country.  Every violation of minor laws require a “fine”.  And can range from a hefty cash just merely spitting or chewing gum, to caning when caught defaming their pristine walls.  The drug trade is practically unheard of in this country.  On all flights to Singapore, prior to landing, the flight attendant will announce that drug trafficking is a criminal act punishable by death.  And for the record, Singapore has never missed putting to death any criminal found guilty for this.

But beyond the immaculate laws of the country, Singapore stands out to be a beacon of tolerance in other matters.  There is an active gay community, an efficient tourism industry, a hub for technology (they have the most rapid digital system and is the most wired country in the world), a spotlessly clean and green environment, and yes, the cuisine is to literally die for!

There are several hotels and hostels one can stay in when in Singapore.  Our favorite is the Naumi Hotel, which was a great find on TabletHotels.com.  Naumi Hotel is located at 41 Seah Street (right at the back of the Raffles Hotel) and a stone’s throw from many shops and food stalls.  Since our stay, they have renovated this hotel’s interiors (I loved the older version because the rooms were bigger) in order to accommodate more guests. If you have the urge to splurge, this oasis is simply the best luxury boutique hotel in Singapore.

And while you’re splurging at your vacation spot, you can also pig out at the restaurant a few doors down…cheap and authentic Singaporean cuisine.  And you don’t have to speak Mandarin.  Just do what the Singaporeans do.  Look at the other table and order what they have.  The Singaporean milk iced tea shouldn’t be missed.

Singapore may be a small country, but this is one country that’s definitely NOT going to bore you.  There are so many things to do, and so little time.  I wouldn’t really bother with recommending a trip to Universal Studios (sorry, it was a yawn).  There’s also the cheap-hawker fare Michelin starred restaurant – Hawker Chan – that has quite a queue. Binging with food in Singapore is a must and every corner (from China Town to Little India) has something to whet your appetite.

If there is one thing that one must do in Singapore, aside from eating, is to shop till you drop.  Orchard Road alone should have you shopping to death for a day or two. From local finds to uber luxe items, swinging in Singapore makes it mandatory for you to wear your shopping shoes!  And these malls are filled with fabulous dining delights in the basements or the upper floors, depending on which mall your tired feet land you at. If you’re closer to the Marina area, there are added malls there and a trip to Vivo City is mandatory as well.

It’s a 3 hrs plane ride from Manila, Philippines and there are multiple flights on Singapore Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia.  Even when you’re in Singapore for business, you will surely find the time to mix a little pleasure in between.

And Kevin Kwan was spot on for making this country the backdrop of his novel (and the movie), Crazy Rich Asians.

This is one country that can proudly boast – it has ARRIVED!

p.s.  Now if only for the weather…it’s really hot and humid and rains on most days in Singapore.

It’s the other China. The one that has a 300 years history that blends a bit of other Southeast Asian countries and Japan.

It’s known history dates back to 1709 with the Han Chinese settling in the Taipei Basin.  When China loss the Sino-Japanese war, it ceded the entire island of Taiwan to Japan in 1895.  The occupation of the Japanese on Taiwan is the reason why much of the architecture of Taipei dates back to the Japanese era.  When the Japanese were defeated in the Pacific war and eventually surrendered in August 1945, Taiwan was taken over by National troops.  In 1947, the Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-Shek declared martial law in Taiwan.  On December 7, 1948, the Kuomintang government under Chiang Kai-Shek established Taipei as the provisional capital of the Republic of China after the communists forced them to flee mainland China.

And it’s a compact city where food tripping is a must! It’s top souvenir item is their pineapple shaped sponge cake!

Food here is cheap, tasty and, well…a lot of fun. Where else can you find a country where eating is the best way to understand being a native?

The National Museum in Taipei is home to the world’s largest and finest collection of Chinese art.  The various floors/levels of the museum is divided into:

1. Level 1 – rare books, Qing and Ming dynasty furnitures and gallery orientation for the overview of dynasties
2. Level 2 – paintings, calligraphy, history of Chinese ceramics and famous paintings
3. Level 3 – bronzes, weapons, carvings, stunning Jade collections and the Jade Cabbage
4. Level 4 – Sanxitang teahouse (dim sum and tea).  There are several other restaurants in the museum (Silks Palace on the ground level and a food court in the basement

Of course, there is Taipei 101, once held the title as the world’s tallest building for a few years.  Standing at 508 meters (until 2011), it held the title of the world’s tallest green building. Get off at the 5th floor of the shopping mall and take the pressure-controlled lift that takes you up to the observation deck on the 89th floor at 1,010 meters/minute (or a mere 40 seconds from ground to top).  If you’re lucky, with weather permitting, there’s an outdoor deck on the 91st floor that is open to the public as well.

But a trip to Taipei will never be complete without a visit to the Tonghua Night Market and the Ningxia Night Market.  They are a few of Taipei’s liveliest night markets and are an experience all to itself for shopping, street food, and binging on rows and rows of food.  To get the the Ningxia Night Market, take the MRT stop at Shuanglian Station and you’ll find hundreds of street stalls tempting you with local delights.

Then there’s the restaurants.  And South Beauty should be mandatory on your list for gastronomic delight.

We stayed at a boutique hotel, Hotel Eclat.  It may be a few blocks off some of the more commercial areas but is accessible by a short stroll and is highly recommended, if even experiencing the bone china wares for your meals!

The week long vacation had just begun.  At the break of dawn, we were off to the port of Piraeus for our travel from Athens to Santorini.  This is the second part of our Greek vacation.

There are two options to the island of Santorini.  By plane, the flight would just take less than 50 minutes.  But traveling to the airport, getting baggage checked, waiting for boarding and repeating the cycle when you get to Santorini was less a thrill than taking a superfast ferry (which will take you 4 1/2 hours with one stop at Ios Island).  It also was much cheaper taking the ferry than flying (150 Euros for a one way flight from Athens to Santorini vs. 58 Euros by ferry).  The ferry was super comfy and breakfast could be purchased on board. You’d also get to appreciate the other beautiful islands of Greece.

The brief stop at Ios Island featured a typical laid back fishing village. Restful and calm.

Santorini is divided into various cities within the city.  Fira, Firostefina, Oia, and Imerovigli. Fira is the capital of Santorini.  It is also where the major nightlife is. It’s the most touristy area.  Just imagine a larger scale Boracay marketplace!

We stayed at the Dreams Luxury Suites (at Imerovigli) for the next 6 nights.  The lodging alone deserves a story in itself. It had its own jacuzzi and breakfast was served at our suite at whatever time of the day we wanted. Overlooking each of the suites is the caldera.  According to our hostess, the island of Santorini was born out of lava during the eruption in 1660 BC.  The middle part of the volcano sank into the sea, leading to what is now left to what is known as Santorini. The massive rock formation surrounding the caldera was actually from the lava over the past several centuries.

The sunset from the room between 930-10PM was the most stunning sunset I have ever appreciated in my lifetime.  How beautiful it was to just watch the glory the world God created sipping a glass of wine or champagne from any balcony facing the caldera.

The best way to get around Santorini – is to rent a car! At 60 euros a day, that in itself was worth the price.  Walking around will just take you around between Fira and Oia.  But to those who wish to venture a bit more, here are two other places that would make your stay in Santorini worth it all.

Ammoudi

Going around Santorini (which is 35 km from the north tip Oia to the south tip Akrotiri) by public transportation – bus or taxi.  Or renting a car.  The latter is the best option. Parking is free everywhere. And with 10 Euros worth of gas, the Nissan Micra should make your trip in the island worth every minute.

On the far end of the north is the fishing village at the bottom of Oia – Ammoudi. And stunning is a word that would not do justice to describing the village – from the view to the food! At Katina, the freshest lobsters and greek salad were to die for.  Katina is highly recommended by the New York Times as a must place to eat.  And nothing gets more authentic than having the freshest seafood caught and served right after the catch.

Perivolos and Oia

What else is there to do in an island surrounded by sun and sea? Go to the beach, of course!

Amazing water, cosmopolitan shops, home to the “elite” in the island of Santorini is Perivolos. It’s a short 20 minutes drive along winding roads from Imerovigli to the beaches on Perivolos.

Anemos Bar (situated in a yard of an old tomato factory) was where we stayed for our “picnic” on the beach. Drinks were brought into the cabana and lunch served on a beach basket. The huts of course were not free.  You had to dish out 10 Euros on top of the meals and drinks (which you had to order from there). It was life at its finest.  It even had a service button on the hut, which had the waiters/butlers at your beck and call.

Oia was a perfect getaway from the party life in Fira.

Oia is one of the more picturesque villages on the rim of the cliff side which takes you all the way to a village of 79 churches.  Oia is considered the cultural heart of the island as it plays host to a cultural centre and art galleries as well the most beautiful resorts in the island right at the caldera. Oia is practically the highest peak at the north of the island, and thus has the best sunset view in all of Santorini.  Unlike Fira and Imerovigli, many of the walk ways in Oia are not made of cobblestones but of marble!

Dining at 1800 (and yes, that is the name of the restaurant) would speak a million languages on the excellent quality of the food in Santorini.  Highly recommended and reviewed by the New York Times, gourmet dining at 1800 takes food to a different level.  And why not for almost 150 Euros per person?

Unforgettably stunning vacations is what life is all about.

The spectacular? Well, it’s up to us!