26-Day Western Europe Backpacking Trip PART 3: Germany & Italy

Welcome back to the grand Dana & Alicia Adventure backpacking across Western Europe in May 2005!

So far on this trip we’ve gone to Ireland and couldn’t find green, went to London and couldn’t find Big Ben, went to Paris and couldn’t find the Eiffel Tower, went to Brussels and couldn’t find chocolate, went to Amsterdam and couldn’t find weed. Who let us do this again??

We are now off to finish our tour of Germany and then enjoy several days exploring Italy. 

(Catch up with part 1 backpacking to Dublin, London, and Paris, and part 2 continuing our trip to Brussels and Amsterdam)

Day 12: Heidelberg, Germany

We woke up early to catch our 7 am train to Heidelberg. By this point in the trip, we had mastered train travel. We arrived in Heidelberg at 12:30 pm with no problems and quickly hopped on the bus to our hostel. The hostel was huge, and it was by far the nicest one we had stayed in so far. We only had two roommates, and our room came complete with a table, cabinets, and a bathroom! It reminded us a lot of our dorm back at UCF. The only downside was a tricky lock and key, which made it a bit difficult to get the door opened. We would manage, though!

The beautiful Heidelberg Castle in Heidelberg, Germany

We dropped off our stuff and ate lunch in the cafe that was attached to the hostel and headed out into town. Heidelberg is the cutest little village with shops, cafes, and antique houses. On one side of town was an extension of the Rhine River and on the other was a tree-covered mountain with the gorgeous Heidelberg Castle. 

We hiked uphill for about 15 minutes on a cobblestone path to reach the castle. The castle itself, as well as the view from top, was breathtaking. We snacked on some ice cream while taking in the beautiful vista, and then we went inside the castle to visit the winery. We each sampled the Riesling and purchased a souvenir shot glass before heading back into town. We did a little shopping and ate a nice dinner before heading back to our hostel. Check out Viator if you are looking for a more structured tour of Heidelberg (it would be fun to see Heidelberg by bicycle!)

Like I mentioned earlier, our hostel was huge. Our room was at the end of the hallway, and we had to walk through 3 glass doors before arriving. Somehow I missed the 3rd one and walked smack into it and bounced back on impact. Alicia and I fell to the floor hysterically laughing. This is definitely something only I would do! When we made it back to our room we continued with our door troubles. We couldn’t get the door unlocked (I told you it was tricky)! We waited for about 10 minutes until some random guys walked down the hall and helped us open the door. Just a typical encounter in a Dana & Alicia adventure!

Day 12: Munich, Germany

In the morning, we ate a quick breakfast and headed back to the train station. We made it on time to catch the 10:06 train to Munich, which had us arriving at 1:30 pm. When we arrived, we headed to Euro Youth Hostel, which luckily was within walking distance of the train station. We ate a quick lunch and took a long nap to prepare for the night’s festivities - a Munich Pub Crawl!

We got ready and went downstairs to grab a pre-party beer at the bar attached to our hostel and then headed out for the night. It was rainy and cold outside (Germany weather had not been good to us), but luckily it was not a far walk to the meeting point at an internet cafe. We were the first ones there, so we went inside to grab a drink while we waited. There was an old German man at the bar who continued to talk to us, even after we continuously tried to tell him we didn’t understand. Eventually we just humored him by saying “Ja” and “Nein”. 

Eventually our tour guides showed up, but no one else did, so the tour was cancelled. Boo! The tour guides told us of a cool beer garden we could check out, so we headed there. When we arrived we quickly realized we were the only people there under the age of 60 (maybe it was seniors night?). We settled at another cafe where we had another bratwurst dinner and Spaten beer. Then we headed back to the hostel bar where we enjoyed a few more beers and made new friends in our own age bracket. Once we were both feeling a little tipsy, we called it a night. 

Day 13: Munich, Germany

The famous Glockenspiel in Munich, Germany

We were woken up early by some noisy roommates talking loudly at 6 am (one of the many downsides of hostel life). We lingered in bed until our alarms went off at 9 and then headed out to the Marianplatz to meet up with our New Munich Free Tour. First stop was the Glockenspiel, which is a big tower with plastic people moving really slowly to the off-beat chiming of a clock. This is supposed to be a big tourist attraction, but we found it significantly underwhelming. We continued the tour of the city in the cold rain, which was pretty miserable, but we learned a lot! We stopped at several churches and a beer garden where Alicia and I got bratwurst sandwiches. We found Munich to be an interesting city, but we didn’t enjoy it as much as Berlin. (Note from Alicia: I visited Munich again years later and absolutely loved it the second time around!)

After the tour ended, we decided to go shopping with the money we didn’t have. We both bought bags that would serve as souvenir holders for the remainder of the trip. Then we headed back to the internet cafe, where we aptly avoided our drunk friend from the night before, and spent a little time catching up with the world back home. When we were done, it was still raining outside and freezing, so we decided to head to the train station early. That seemed like a good plan until we got there at 7:30 and realized the next train out wasn’t until 11:30. So we are now officially train station people. At least we had some time to relax. We ate dinner and organized our bags. When we finally boarded, we were ready to pass out (we booked a sleeper car for the overnight trip) and head to Italy! 

Day 14: Florence, Italy

When we woke up the next morning, we were in Florence! The first thing we noticed is that Italy is HOT in May. It was a drastic change in weather from freezing our butts off in Germany. Us Florida girls definitely preferred the warmer weather. We took a 20-minute walk to our hostel (which of course took us 2 hours since we got lost) and got to see a lot of the city. It was very pretty and very different from other cities we had visited so far. The buildings were all shades of orange with green shutters. Our first official stop was the Palazzo Pitti, or the Pitti Palace, which we admired from the courtyard since we were broke college kids and didn’t want to buy tickets to enter. Instead, we spent our money on gelato (priorities). 

Michelangelo’s David

We continued walking across Ponte Vecchio, a medieval stone closed-spandrel arch bridge, which was lined with shops on both sides. On the other side of the bridge we arrived at the Palazzo Degli Uffizi, an art museum, but decided not to go in again. This time it was because we didn’t want to wait in the 2 hour line. It’s enough culture just to walk past the museums, right? 

Next stop was the Duomo Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. We went inside here since it was both free and there was no wait. The massive church in its entirety was beautiful, but we especially enjoyed the ceiling from inside the dome. Our final cultural stop of the day was the Galleria dell Accademia, the museum that houses Michelangelo’s David. We waited in line for 90 minutes and paid 8 Euros for this, but we felt it was a must see in Florence. When we got inside, we cruised directly to David. The statue was huge! It was way bigger than we thought it would be. It was well worth the price and the wait. We headed back out of the museum after that. 

For the second half of our day, we decided to go shopping with all the money we saved by not entering the majority of the museums and other cultural sites we visited that morning. We’re smart like that. Then we had lunch at a little restaurant where we shared bruschetta and each ordered a plate of gnocchi. We love Italian food! When we finished eating, it was back to the hostel. We are in another 4-person room with two roommates and a shared bathroom. We took turns showering and then did our laundry for the first time on the trip. Mind you, this is day 14, and if you’ve been with us since Day 1, you know we were packing light in our tiny little backpacks (this is Alicia’s favorite travel backpack). It was nice to get everything cleaned up. 

For dinner, we decided to save some money and went across the street to a little grocery shop where we got fixings to make salami sandwiches. We ate our sandwiches in the common area with our roomies while we waited for our laundry to finish up. It was a quiet night after an eventful day!

Day 15: Rome, Italy

When we woke up, we got ready and went straight to the train station. It was a short ride to Rome, and when we got there, for the first time in a long time, we didn’t already have a place booked to stay. We walked out of the train station and started walking door to door looking for a hostel or a cheap hotel. Most hotels were 80-145 Euros a night, which was way out of our price range! Finally, we wandered by the M & J Hostel and booked an 8-person co-ed room. 

Now that our lodging was settled, it was time to attack the day. First stop: the Colosseum. Well, first stop: lunch, then the Colosseum. We took the subway to a little cafe with a great view of our next destination. We headed across the street to buy tickets to the Colosseum and got stopped by multiple tour agencies. We weren’t planning on taking a guided tour, but found one that was a good deal - 8 Euros for the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill (link to similar but not exact tour), so we decided to go for it. 

I guess you get what you pay for, because our tour guide was a dud. We did enjoy exploring the Colosseum and admiring the ancient architecture; however, it would have been nice to learn some history from our guide. Next stop was Palatine Hill, which was the site of the first Roman palace. It was amazing to see the ancient ruins that withstood the tests of time. Our tour guide did a little better here, pointing out what different structures were. To an untrained eye, a lot of it looked like rubble. We hiked all the way to the top of the hill to see the Roman Forum, which was the site of public meetings and gladiatorial combats in ancient times, and a nice view of the city. 

After our 3-hour tour, we were tired and hungry again. We headed back to the hostel to freshen up (and take a quick nap) before heading out to dinner. Our hostel recommended a place with a great deal: bread, wine, salad, pasta & chicken all for 10 Euros! We were in for another low-key night and planning for the days ahead. 

Day 16: Rome, Italy

One of the biggest problems with our flash backpacking tour: so much to see and do with so little time. Then you add in young Dana & Alicia planning to that (not always thinking ahead about how long things take - we’ve learned as we’ve traveled more), and it can be quite a scheduling nightmare. Today we had planned to go to the Vatican, but it is closed on Sundays (you’d think we would have thought of that, but no). We already scheduled a tour for the next day, and we were worried we wouldn’t get to see the Vatican at all. 

St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

After breakfast we headed to St. Peter’s Square, which was gorgeous and packed with people. We went to the tourist office there to see if it would be possible to make it into the Vatican tour to see the Sistine Chapel (our main priority) after our other tour was done. She wouldn’t give us a definite answer, but she seemed optimistic so we decided we would keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best!

We walked a little way off from the main square to try and get away from the touristy area to find an authentic place for lunch. I’d say we succeeded! We ended up at a restaurant where the prices were way cheaper and they didn’t speak any English. We managed to each order a pasta dish and an appetizer to share. When we finished our meals our server tried to offer us dessert, but there was not an official dessert menu. After a couple failed attempts of communicating on both ends, he brought us back into the kitchen so they could show us the options. We got a yummy cheesecake. 

After lunch, we headed back to the hostel where we took a nap before our evening plans. When we woke up, we walked over to the grocery store to buy a bottle of wine to take with us to drink on the Spanish Steps. We stopped by a bakery and grabbed 2 cannolis to go with our wine and then went to dinner at the same restaurant as the night before. 

Now we were learning throughout this trip that depending on what country we were in, Americans were more or less welcomed. Well, in Italy we were very popular. Especially with the men. That night we had our server, 2 young guys at the table next to us, and two older guys at the table behind us chatting us up, trying to convince us to do something with them later. On our walk back to the hostel, two more guys tried to stop us to talk to us. Alicia and I found it all rather amusing, or at times slightly concerning, but it also ended up being very helpful, as we would learn later the following day. 

When we got back to the hostel to get ready for our night out, we learned that the subways don’t run late at night. We didn’t feel safe walking the city in the dark, which meant we were staying close to home again that evening. Not very adventurous, but still drinking wine and eating cannoli in Italy!

Day 17: Rome, Italy to Pisa, Italy

Before taking this trip, Alicia and I had both read Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, which takes place in Rome. We really enjoyed the book and found the details about the art and architecture to be really interesting, so when we saw a flyer for an Angels and Demons tour we thought it would be a great way to see more of the city while making a book we loved come alive. So that is the plan for today. We met our tour guide at Piazza del Popolo. Our group consisted of 6 women from various cultures and a male tour guide. We followed the Path of Illumination through Earth, Air, Fire and Water and were fascinated by the symbology. Along our tour we went to the Pantheon, which we learned was originally a Pagan temple but was later changed to Christian symbology. We ended the tour at Castle St. Angelo, which had a great view of the city. 

The tour ended at around 2 pm and from there we made a beeline to the Vatican Museums and got in the very long line. While Alicia waited in line, I walked down to the end of the road to see how far we were. At the turn in the road, you could see the line continued another looong way down another road. When we got to the end of the first road, I walked down again to see how much farther. This time, I went all the way to the end. I came to the entrance doors and tried to ask the security guard if there was more of a line inside. I don’t think he really understood what I was asking. Probably because he spoke Italian and I spoke English, but who can say? He offered to let me go inside, but I told him I couldn’t because I was with someone else. He spoke to another guard in Italian and then came back to me and said we could come in. I ran back to grab Alicia, and sure enough, they let us right in, cutting the whole line! Now this is where it paid off being two young, American girls in Italy. And that is the story about the time I had and “in” with bouncers at the Vatican. 

When we got inside, the museum was packed with wall-to-wall people. It was hard to even walk through the halls with giant tour groups stopping right in the middle, blocking the ability for anyone to pass. We made our way through, doing our best to enjoy the artwork and architecture amid the crowds, until we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel, which was our priority viewing. It was majestic and worth fighting through crowds of people to see, but once we got our fill, we were ready to get out of the congested building as soon as possible. We made our way outside and back to our hostel to gather our things before heading to the train station, where we were catching a train to Pisa. 

After a short train ride, we arrived in Pisa a little after 10 pm. Since we knew we would be getting in late, we booked a hostel in advance and already knew the bus route we’d need to take to get there (we’re getting better at this, right?!). The only problem was when we got to the bus stop, we realized that the bus we needed didn’t run at night (wrong!). There was only one bus still running that late in the evening, so we hopped on and hoped for the best. 

We knew the name of the street the hostel was on, so we were hoping that there would be a bus stop on that street (writing this now, I realize just how naive that assumption was), but as our bus continued on, we didn’t hear the street name called. When the bus was almost empty, we went up to try to explain to the bus driver our predicament. He didn’t speak English (and we spoke no Italian), but we think he understood what we were asking. He said, “Hostel, I take you there”. Great! 

We drove a little further, and then the bus stopped and the driver yelled “Hostel” and we got off. The bus drove away, leaving us in pitch black darkness seemingly in the middle of the woods. Big Problem. When our eyes adjusted, we saw a sign that read “Hostel” just a few yards away. We headed that direction and a building materialized that looked like an old, abandoned church. We stood there frozen because it was so dark and we were scared to walk up to the door or around the building. After a few minutes (that felt like hours), two boys came around the corner and must have seen us standing there with terrified looks on our faces because one of them said, “Do not be afraid” (which is the least comforting thing someone can say in this scenario). Alicia worked up the courage to ask where the hostel was, and he pointed around the corner of the church. 

We willed our feet to walk in that direction, and luckily, there was a little bit of light as we turned the corner. There, we found two ladies who directed us to the front desk, where we explained to the man on duty that we had a reservation. He had no idea what we were talking about (likely this was not the actual hostel we booked in advance), but he said it wasn’t a problem and showed us to our beds. We had one roommate, an older Irish woman. We were exhausted, so we got in bed right away, but we both had a hard time falling asleep. Partially because we were still a little uneasy about our hostel location, and partially because we started to get very itchy…

Day 18: Pisa, Italy to Venice, Italy

Sure enough, we both woke up the next morning covered in small, red, itchy bumps. It is undetermined whether they were from bed bugs or flea bites from all the cats running around our hostel in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, they all cleared up within a day or two. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We left our hostel and headed down the road (toting our backpacks since it was too far to go back to the hostel) in the direction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After we walked about 20 minutes down a mostly empty country road, we came to a bus stop, and we decided to take the bus the rest of the way. Shockingly, this decision came with no unexpected side adventures, and we arrived quickly at our destination. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was centered in a cute little plaza away from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city. Instead it was surrounded by tourists taking the obligatory photos and purchasing souvenirs. We did the same and then headed on our way. While the Leaning Tower was a stunning site, what we will always remember about Pisa was our sketchy hostel experience that looked like it could have been the opening scene of a horror movie. 

The last stop on our Italian tour was Venice. The travel time there took most of the day since we had to catch two trains, and they were both running late. We finally arrived just before 5 PM and when we exited the train station we saw not a street before us, but a canal. Our hostel was located on the other side of the Grand Canal from the train station, so we got in line for the water bus. After we checked into our hostel (which had an 11:30 PM curfew), we ate a quick dinner and purchased a bottle of wine, and then went to sit along the water. It was a beautiful view, and there were lots of other travelers out enjoying the night. We headed in around 11 to shower and get a good night’s rest. 

Day 19: Venice, Italy

The next morning, we woke up and set out for a “chill” day (quote from my 2005 self). Our only goal was to wander and get lost…which was something we were already very good at. We took the water bus back to the other side of the Grand Canal for a little shopping with the money we didn’t have. Venice is known for its blown glass, so we stopped in many small shops admiring the handiwork (and of course, both purchasing some souvenirs). Once we had our fill of shopping, we ate a quick lunch and continued wandering around. 

We were now on the hunt for a Venice gondola ride, which felt like a must-do activity in Venice. We definitely overpaid (60 Euros) for a short ride, but we enjoyed the experience nonetheless. It was very relaxing to ride through the smaller canals and see more parts of the city from a different perspective. 

We finished our lowkey day with a last delicious Italian meal, and then it was time to say Ciao Italia! In the morning, we would be on our way to Nice. 

Check back soon for more of this crazy Dana & Alicia adventure through Western Europe! Next stops: Nice, Barcelona & Madrid

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Read More About This Trip

26-Day Western Europe Backpacking Trip PART 1: Dublin, London & Paris

26-Day Western Europe Backpacking Trip PART 2: Berlin, Brussels, & Amsterdam

Catch up on all of out international travels