Not Really How to : Portofino, Italian Riviera, Italy

Portofino, 28 July 2022 | Summer

Actually I kind a feels like I want to write down everything because I realize that without this blog everything will just faded into memory, which maybe I will forget couple years later. So I will keep writing this travel series as I prefer. 

This blog for sure, not the best travel blog, because this blog is not a travel blog in the first place. Its just a platform to write down what I like. So while I am refreshing to the Spanish Government website to get the TIE appointment, let's get down to the real deal. 

What is Portofino?

Portofino is a commune in Genova, it is one of the very famous Italian Riviera, known for small luxurious harbor and colorful building in the shore. Based on my experience, Portofino in my opinion is very cute and beautiful. There is not a lot of things to do except you own a private boat. This place is a jet set, expensive place, but this place is worth for one day visit (maybe if you visit Genoa or Cinque Terre, or even do a day trip from Novara which is possible, you should definitely check Portofino).

How to get there?

1. Take the train to Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino Station (from Novara it will take 3,5 hours, you can go at 06:00 and arrived at 10:00).

2. From here take the 7385 bus to Portofino.

In order to go to the "real Portofino" you can walk for around 1,5 hours or you can take the 30 minutes bus. You can to take the bus directly from the stop near train station. 

Bus stop to real Portofino in front of the Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino train station

The bus schedule

How do you buy the bus ticket? When you arrived in the Santa Margherita Ligure-Portofino station, there is a tabaccheria on the left side of the building. There you can buy a return ticket for the bus to Portofino (it will cost you 5Euro back and forth) in this tabaccheria. Remember this tabaccheria accept cash only. 

There bus ticket will look like this and there will be 2 sides (Andata means going -> validate it when you are going to Portofino, and Ritorno means back --> validate it when you are going back to Santa Margherita Ligure).

Another way to buy the bus ticket is by taping your debit card directly to the device on the bus. But this will cost you 3Euro one way, so it will be 1 Euro more expensive. 

There is this device, and some of passengers also use this device by tapping their visa/mastercard debit/credit card, it will cost you 3 Euro. 

Remember to validate the ticket. There are 2 ways to validate it : 1) On the bus 2) On the device near the bus stop. There will be random checking, so never get on the bus without buying ticket. 

 

You can also buy the ticket in the machine, that machine also works to validate the ticket before boarding to the bus. Once the ticket is validated it will active for 60 minutes if I am not mistaken. The bus stop will look like this.

What to do in Portofino?

You will need cute outfit, but you will hike a lot. For me I went here to take a good photos, so I really need to get to the best spot, and the best spot is uphill. 

1. Strolling around the port and the city. The city is cute and full of authentic Italian restaurants and it also have spots to do luxury shopping. But if you just broke student like me, strolling around is nice. 

 

2. Walking up to the church and cemetery. For me this is definitely highlight of the trip, you can see the whole Portofino with the cute iconic houses, boats from this side. You need to go up a little bit. The view from the road leads to the church is amazing and it has a lot of shades, and there are chairs as well if you want to sit down a bit to enjoy your snacks and cola to see the view is possible. 

3. Walking up to the castle brown. You need to hike up again, a little bit and pay 5 Euro to enter the castle, you can pay by card or cash. For me, this one is also worthed. There is a La Dolce Vita movie shooting location in this castle and the view from the castle is breathtaking. 

I think that's it about Portofino. Here.. everything for me is expensive, so I bring my own coca cola, water, snack and lunch to eat (I just went there to take photos). I did not pay for anything here except paying for the castle entrance and transportation, because I know Portofino is a jet set, luxurious place which is packed with wealthy tourist that come by their private boat. 

But this place is worth one day visit. There are other activities as well like cruising around and swimming, but I didn't try because at that time when I went it was freakin hot, but for sure you can try! Let me know if you visit Portofino and you like it. 

Not Really How to : Travelling on a budget from Novara / Buying your ticket

I always travel, people think either I'm rich, broke or irresponsible. But I couldn't fit myself into those categories. 

I'm not rich yet, I'm not broke and I'm super responsible especially about money. Since 5 years ago, my parents financially free from me, I never ask them for money. Even when I moved to Europe, I payed everything with my own money, because we need to pay everything with our own money before getting scholarship (but my dad was kind enough to gave me pocket money, but if he didn't I can still afford my expenses). 

Yes, despite all the instagram posts portrayed me as someone that is irresponsible in life by always traveling, I work very hard (shame on me saying this but I have to say it otherwise people think I have money from blackmagic), I know getting money is hard so I am trying to be very responsible when it comes to spending. 

I like to see stuff, and travel in general. But, who like to be broke? Not me.  

So if you feel like spending is easy for you, you don't need to worry about tomorrow, this post is not for you. Soleil ask me to write down things that can be tips to travel less especially around Europe. I actually have been writing one but in bahasa, so I will try to breakdown a bit more details in English. 

1) Travel in Shoulder Season 

Remember in Europe, summer is the most expensive season. If you are going to Italy its kind a hard to find a not-so touristy places in summer (because everyone is going around Italy in the summer), if you are going to super touristy place like: Cinque Terre, Santorini, try to go in shoulder season (like April or September/October), if you can manage the cold, going in winter is the cheapest. I went to Paris in December and the hotel cost 17Euro per night, in April nothing is less than 30Euro. The time will define the price. If you want to experience a lot of stuff in budget, try to deal with the season.

I think September and October, and February to April are very good for travelling on budget. But remember in April there is Easter Break, so if you want to go around Easter holiday in April, start booking in February or early March at least, otherwise the places will rip you off. 

If I can give you some visualization, this is the one bunkbed cost in Paris:

December -> 17 Euro, April -> 30 Euro, 

To be honest I also prefer to have less people when I see stuff during traveling, so summer is my least favorite because it was super packed. It was hard to just get one nice photo because there were just too many tourist. You need to go very early or ask people to leave from the frame otherwise it was impossible. 

2) Find Cheap Tickets

When you go around, you can choose between: 

1. Airplane

For the airplane, you can find the cheap ticket using skyscanner (but don't buy from their website, always use the official website). The Low Cost Career like ryan air, Vueling, jetstar and wizzair will save you a lot of money. 

Remember: 

1) Always pick the nearest airport from you (for example from Novara the nearest is Milano Malpensa and it cost 7Euro to go to Malpensa by train). If you pick Milan Bergamo it will cost you 17,6 Euro just to get there (train from Novara to Milano Centrale 5,6 + 12 Euro from Milano Centrale to Bergamo).

So going flying and landing from Bergamo is not very smart except you don't have any other options. Always use public transport and never use taxi to go and leave the airport. I have been to more than 12 countries in Europe, I never use taxi not even moving my life to Elche, its possible, we just need to do research and ask. Use taxi only if you travel maybe in large group and taxi is way cheaper options.

2) Overnight in the airport is possible. Sometimes the cheapest flight will fly at 06.00 in the morning. So how are you gonna do that? I usually take the last train and just sleep in the airport. Its actually not very bad. At midnight you can actually enter the gate and they have a good place to sleep (at least for me, if you never do this - train yourself, because Israa never do this but she is going with me all the time, now she is an expert at sleeping anywhere.. and she is very happy about it).

3) Use Backpack only. What? Yes. This is not only me that saying this. Rick Steve the legend traveler that have been travelling to Europe for more than 30 years said the best way to travel Europe is by backpack only. You can save money because you did not need to pay extra when flying, but beside that it will save you from a lot of stuff (for example you don't need to worry where to store the bag all the time, and if you have limited time to travel you can just go with a backpack and its all good). My principle is: just bring what you can carry, never bring anything that you can't carry because its gonna drag you down. 

4) Don't buy unnecessary add on while flying (the seat, etc.), just stick to the basic one.  

5) ESN card have 10% discount and also free luggage for ryan air. So if you are EMJMD student, get ESN card, it will be very useful.

6) Buy the ticket ahead of travel. Its no brainer to postponing buying for your ticket if you already know there is some holidays coming up and you also want to travel etc. If its a huge holiday like Easter, buy your ticket 1,5 months before especially if you want to go to super touristy area. That was how we find 10Euro ticket from Santorini to Milan. But buying 2 weeks before and cheap its also possible, but the price is moving as the time goes by, so just be aware of that. 

2) Bus

Going around with bus is very convenient. I like to use overnight bus to save some money that I need to spend on a hostel because I have no problem to sleep on the bus. Some of the bus has incredibly cheap price. I will show you how.

If you go around Italy, Itabus is definitely the best and the cheapest most of the time. They have promotion (30% discount) if you go both ways with the bus. How cheap is Itabus? From Milan to Bologna sometimes its as cheap as 2Euro 0__0. I just checked in September-October they are around 7-4 Euro (which is also very cheap).

From Milan to Rome is 9-10 Euro in September-October (Which is very cheap), so you can go Milan-Rome back and forth for 20 Euro. I personally will take the overnight one so I can sleep (the one that leave midnight and arrive in the morning), otherwise you will be very tired. 

Another bus to take is Flixbus (which is now not very cheap), Blablabus and Alsa bus. For Flixbus, ALSA, Itabus they also have ESN Student discount (10%), and they will give you like 100 vouchers. I personally always use the discount code. 

How to use the voucher? You need to login to https://esncard.org/, and click on the travel section --> choose the bus operator (flixbus/alsa/itabus). Follow on how you can get the discount.

For Flixbus, click Claim voucher and paste the code on the flixbus app when you buy the ticket. 

Its crazy that flixbus will give you 100 vouchers with one ESN card, 

I mean, whos is gonna travel 100 times in 6 months?

*Bonus

Traveling by Bus from Novara

My suggestion is always take the bus from Milan, its easier, cheaper, safer. Because Novara Bus Stop is in the middle of nowhere. Unless you have someone that will pick you up by car, or you arrive in the middle of the day (because the public bus is stop operating at 20:00, remember). Its actually located in Casello Autostradale Ovest (its like near the toll with very bad public connection to the city https://goo.gl/maps/vaqQwL38UQqVVJD17) or Novara Veveri A4 Westbound in Torino-Trieste toll road (https://goo.gl/maps/EJZnUtgEriD44tCr6).

If you take the bus from Milan, its usually started from Milan Lampugnano Bus Station. How do you get there?

a) From Novara take the train to Rho-Fiera Milano (it will cost 4Euro)

b) From Rho-Fiera Milano take the Metro (underground train) to Lampugnano (if you follow google, google will tell you to stop in a Metro stop called Uruguay, but this is not correct, you need to go all the way to Lampugnano). There is no need to buy physical ticket on Milan Metro, you can use your debit card to enter the gate and get out from the gate (find the orange box with card sign near the gate when you want to enter the platform and just tap your debit card). 

the metro

c) From Lampugnano you just need to find the sticker board that shows which platform, and wait for the bus. Picture: Sticker board sign and the platform + Inside the Itabus.

 

It takes around 40-50 minutes to get to Lampugnano from Novara, and the train departs very early, like 6am, so if you have bus to catch at 07:30 its possible. 

3. Train

I use trainline app all the time to find the cheapest train. Sometimes I use it as well to buy the ticket, sometimes not. We found the "Novara Nord" station from this app. 

Trainline is the third party app that very smart because you can find all connection in the whole Europe. They also shows you the bus options. Is the ticket I bought on this app valid? Yes, they are valid. 

If you buy ticket for Italian train, there is no charge/fee. But sometimes they will charge you when you buy the ticket (for example for Switzerland or France). If they charge you don't panic and just go to the official website of each train and just buy the ticket there, its the same and without fee.

But you can't rely on this app to all of the train in Europe, in fact I think this app only have connected to the Schengen Area, because on the more traditional side like Slovenia, or Zagreb you can't use this app to find the train. They will show "There is no train available".

For example like this:

It shows from Ljubljana (Capital of Slovenia) to Zagreb (Capital of Croatia) there is no train available, only bus. But this is totally wrong. In fact there is 4 trains available everyday between 2 cities and its only cost you 9Euro, you need to buy one from the ticketing office. 

So how do I find one? You can look at this website and check : https://www.seat61.com/

Travelling by train might not be the cheapest, but there are a lot of promotion you have to check. There is interrail where you can take train across Europe for couple days. I knew some of friends that buy that one with the summer discount it cost 300 Euro but you can travel for 30 days (the normal one will cost 670 Euro). But to get this you need to have the resident permit (Permesso di Soggiorno), because this one is only valid if you are the EU resident. 

 

In Italy there are a lot of Promotions as well by Trenitalia. In summer there is a promotion called "Estate insieme" where you can travel for 4 consecutive weeks for only 39Euro (From Friday to Monday) using regional train. I bought this one for this summer and I can say its very good pass T__T.

I want to say thank you Intan from telling me this. Using this pass I went to: Venice, Trieste, Bologna, Parma, Bolzano, Brixen, Turin, Milan, Aosta, Verona, Ventimiglia, San Remo, Genoa, etc I think if I count it will cost me 200 Euro or more without that pass. If you come around this summer, the pass still active until 26th of September. 

 

The train in Italy is very good and well connected! And the regional train is always fixed cost and no seating plan so there is no worry you will not get the train. We can always buy last minute without any worry. I just realized that not every EU country was like that XD. Kind a sad, but its okay. 

Each country has different promotion you need to check. In Germany they have 9 Euro ticket and in Spain the local train is free. 

Another thing to save the budget while the promotion is not there, in Italy there is Train Pass. The Regional 3 days pass will cost you 29Euro, unlimited ride for regional train. 

Maybe you will think this is a bit expensive, but trust me this one is worthed (and cheaper), you just need to plan some trips with you and go. If I can give you an example, day trip from Novara can be like this :

Day 1: Novara-Aosta (Train both ways: 22 Euro)

Day 2: Novara-Turin (Train both ways: 19,2 Euro)

Day 3: Novara: Genoa (Train both ways: 24,5 Euro)

Total without pass : 65,7 Euro

With pass: 29 Euro. You will save 36,7 Euro.  

The pass have advantages because its flexible, once you have it you can go to any train with Regional code on it: RV, R, RE and Metropolitani (this is regional in Campania), Tper (this is the regional train in Emilia Romagna) if Im not mistaken.

*Bonus

One day trip from Novara with Regional Train + small tips

1) Milan - you will find it boring, so try to do the walking tour (type "Free walking tour Milan)

2) Turin - try to go the first week of the month, the entire palace is free + some museum but you need a reservation, check on the website.

3) Genova - if you have ESN card there is discount on Genova Aquarium. You have to try the pesto and focaccia, here is the best. 

4) Portofino - Landing to Santa Margherita station go to the nearest Tobacco shop and take the bus to Portofino (5 Euro back and forth), try to go back early like around 3 to the station otherwise you cant get the bus (its too packed).

5) Aosta - its a very cheap and cute place to shop. Go to Pila using cable car (7 Euro back and forth)

6) Parma - Very authentic Italian city, there is a mission to find 13 statues if Im not wrong, you can try that. 

7) Bologna - They have good food and flee market every saturday that sell clothes for very cheap (like 2 Euro), some of them is brand new with tag from famous brand. Go to Bologna!

8) Lake Maggiore - Stop in Arona and walk and cruise in the lake, super beautiful.

9) Lake Orta - Stop in Orta-Miasino, the ambience is the best, very beautiful.

10) Ivrea and Domodossola, surrounded by mountain, very cute and beautiful city. 

11) Verona - If you want to skip Trenord (because from Milan to verona is trenord not trenitalia), you can go to Bologna and take the regional train to Verona, its possible, just takes a lot of time. 

12) Rimini - its possible to go until Rimini, and chill in the beach. 

13) Modena - if you are a ferrari fan, you should go. They have Ferrari museum here. 

14) The Italian Riviera is also very beautiful (from Savona until Ventimiglia), and one day trip is possible. 

actually there are a lot of one day trip you can do from Novara XD. Novara is very cute and strategic city. You can reach Switzerland, France and go home in the same day. You can go to Venice and go home in the same day (but its just a bit hectic and I recommend to stay in Venice at least one night of course), but if you are really really on budget I mean its still possible. 

In most of my one day trip I bring my own lunch and eat it on the park or near the lake, so it will cost me 0, except some cities that over specialties like Bologna and I want to try them, I will buy. 

Novara - A Complete Halal Guide

Assalamualaikum! 

Hi guys, my name is Kai. and I am a muslim, as you might notice from one piece of clothing called veil on top my head which I'm very proud of.

Coming from Indonesia, the third world largest growing population nation with massively 80% of Muslim population, living there as muslim is very easy. We have halal food, halal cosmetics, we have mosque everywhere, we can pray everywhere. But, moving across Europe where I am minority, is a bit challenging. 

But, wait. Is it hard? I tell you absolutely not. Challenging but not hard. 

I have been travelling across country where Muslim is minority since 2014, and with my travel skills and a bit of courage, I will break down in this Novara halal guide *insert cheesy music*.

By this blog post, I want to credit my knowledge and courage to my dad, because when I first started traveling abroad, my dad was always with me giving me clue what to do. And  he build knowledge, endurance, confidence in me. Thank you abi! And I want to thank Profetik Study Club, which I learn a lot about halal in the college and also the halal certification process and training back then in my office job which makes me know a lot about the halal stuff. 

First thing first, before started, I want to remind you something my brother and sister fillah. 

Allah knew the best for us, and believe me the practice itself is not gonna make you suffer, dont worry. 

Novara for Muslim

In general, Novara is a welcoming city with 100,000 population and 8,000 immigrants. It has quite a lot of muslim populations, you can see a lot of people wearing hijab basically anywhere so if you think you will be alien, you won't don't worry. Another thing about Italy.. Italy is one of the biggest Catholics country with 79% of  its populations, when I am going around Europe, the country that is more religious (not mentioning any religion they are ties to) they are more tolerant when we practice our beliefs. But if you are in the huge populations of atheist like Prague or Budapest, some of people might shows different tolerant. But you just need to get a grip of it, and let it go. 

A Complete Halal Guide

#1 Food

I have been travel quite a bit before going to Europe where muslim is minority. You need to remember that people did not really know what does halal means. And halal means nothing to do with them at all. So if you are asking for halal logo on your food, your meat, your cosmetics, you will fine none.

So how do we ask people is it really halal or not? Should we set up the whole interview?

For me, the easiest way to find one is asking is it vegetarian / vegan or not (actually vegan is the safest) and contain alcohol or not. By asking those 2 questions, you can assure that particular food is halal.

Why? Because vegan means there is no any animal derivatives in the product at all, but in vegan world its still possible to contain alcohol, so we ask the 2nd question.  

Actually when I was in bachelor degree I was in a club where I studied the halal-ness of product and I also involved in halal certification in my last company. So I have a bit of knowledge about this stuff. There is something called halal criticality on the product we consumed, its actually more complicated than you think in this modern society. A lot of levitating agents derived from pig, etc. So when you learn a bit more about the criticality, you can actually asked more specific question and inspect more specific things, but in case you feel like its not a cup of your tea, then its okay as well (for no brainer, vegan/vegetarian side + non-alcohol will always works).

I can give an example, in biscuits they will use emulsifier and levitating agents, these 2 agents can use pig derivates, so when you buy biscuits you can inspect what kind emulsifier and levitating agent they use, etc. In pre-made Tiramisu they usually use alcohol in the product, you can ask if they use alcohol or not. By understanding the criticality of each product it will be very easy to live in foreign country, and of course you will not feel isolated because you feel like there is nothing you can't eat. Remember being muslim is easy, you just need a couple of weapon called knowledge.

a) Halal Meat in Novara

Halal meat (chicken, cow meat, turkey, halal sausage) can be bought in Halal Macelleria around the school or Pakistani Store near the school, sometimes they are also avaiable in Carrefour or Penny Express (with halal logo on it), but my favorite is Macelleria Hasan near university: https://g.page/islamic-mini-market-alementari-n?share. They sell very good and fresh meat and they sell halal german sausage and home made bread as well if you are interested. 

There are actually some places as well, you can just type in google maps "Halal Macelleria" and some of them will pop up. Macelleria in English means "Butcher's shop". 

 

b) Vegetarian / Vegan Stuff

Actually I barely buy meat, I more into vegetarian/vegan stuff. If you are like me, you are most likely love the supermarket named "ALDI" the most. They have the most amazing vegan/vegetarian stuff started from meat ball, fake meat, etc. They also have very affordable mushroom which is my favorite thing ever.

ALDI location: https://goo.gl/maps/XNvYmHCvCh7zV5XE7

ALDI is our favorite place to buy groceries, they are affordable, well located, good quality and have a lot of vegetarian/vegan substitution to complete your meal.

My vegetarian groceries from ALDI!

Another groceries store :

1. Conad City (https://goo.gl/maps/41rQU2D8G7o5aiCS6)

2. Carrefour (https://goo.gl/maps/YcPtqNBptHQf1vv16)

3. MD (https://goo.gl/maps/SGXBkLt5rdmEvRdt5)

4. Penny Market (https://goo.gl/maps/Um41L4VSv6eiaWHE9)

5. Esselunga (https://goo.gl/maps/Ropf9m2qeVqQRQt58)

Pre-made stuff which is halal

In Italy its quite easy to find pre-made instant food which is not made intentionally halal, but it is halal. My favorite is Gnocchi (made from starch), mozzarella ball (this one is so good, you just need to oven them), or stuffed pasta or (Pasta Ripiena). My favorite is stuffed pasta with mushroom or spinach and ricotta, they are very-very good. 

this one is very good, they are affordable as well. 

 

I just realized that I am very lucky to be in Novara where I can always find a place where halal food is available, when I went to Slovenia - their food is heavily meat-ed. The only vegan place that I can found is the one that is owned by an Italian which is closed on sunday. On the sunday, I can actually eat beef because I have no options but they serve it with pork on the side which my heart say "no" to that particular options I have. Then I decide to just buy fruits from market, and to just eat in Zagreb, Croatia. It was very crazy because I am actually starving but I realized that I am not gonna die to just skip a day meal because we use to fast. 

When I went to Prague, there are a lot of Asian food so I have more options, in Budhapest, they have Kosher options because there are a lot of Jews which on the Kosher (Jews rules on eating) pig is also haram, I feel way better to eat there. But in Slovenia with limited food options makes me realize that living in Italy as a muslim is a blessing. 

c) Eating in Mensa (Canteen)

"Mensa" means Canteen! If you received your mensa card or matricola number, congratulations now you can eat in the mensa (canteen) with reduction price. It only cost 1,8 Euro for the full meal in the canteen. 

But, can we eat in the mensa? Yes, sure. Mensa will always have non-meat options. So, don't worry! Actually Northern Italy food is not heavily meat-ed. Actually there are 2 mensa (canteen) in Novara:

--> The big mensa (lunch and dinner), which is located here: https://goo.gl/maps/pjhcET1jMfnYNJfQA

--> The small mensa (lunch only) which is located here: https://g.page/novarasviluppo?share

Everyday they serve different foods, but there are some different between small and big mensa.

In the big mensa, you have more options: 

1) Regular meal (which is consist of Tris: first plate (primi), second plate, vegetables, dessert) --> in this regular meal you can see the ingredient from the list and you can check. 

If Im not sure I will ask them, 

the simplest - elementary school way is by doing this --> Pointing out to the meal and ask, "Questo (this one), con carne o senza carne? (with meat or without meat) its usually always works and they will explain Con means with, senza means without. If it contains meat, just drop it of by saying no when they ask you if you want it.

  

Regular meal in the big mensa (Tris or three menu). They have vegan burger which is my favorite.
The canteen lady can not speak English. If you are very not sure, just ask "Vegetariano?" or "Vegano?"

 + pointing out the menu served. The water is free flowing. 

2) Pizza. Remember in some of the pizzas they have prosciutto in the pizza (and prosciutto is from pig, so its haram ^^). But you can always take : 1) Margherita Pizza (with cheese and tomato) 2) Pizza con Verdure (Pizza with vegetables on top and cheese) 3) Pizza con Tonno (with tuna which is my favorite). The canteen lady will ask what kind of Pizza you would like to have, so you have that 3 options. 

2 slices of Pizza with vegetables and tuna (with soft drink and yogurt for 1,8 Euro)

By the way the pizza in the mensa is so good, you have to try!

3) They have Pokebowl and Salad with Tuna, just in case you don't feel like having regular meal and pizza.

d) Gelato and Sweets

Gelato most of them is halal, except the one with alcohol. But sweets! Be careful since a lot of the pre-made one like tiramisu or panna cota (the cheap one from supermarket) they are not halal (they have alcohol inside), always inspect them before trying. 

Alcohol in Italian is Alcool, if you find the ingredients with alcool inside you can drop it.

But most of tiramisu from the restaurant, they are actually without alcohol. You can always ask, so don't worry.

                                         

Tiramisu without Alcohol - Fra Diavolo (https://goo.gl/maps/11UZrRqCTXTWECex9)

e) Halal Aperitivo

When you go to Italy, you will see they have sweet cultures called aperitivo. Usually people going out and having like drink (usually wine) and small side dish, it is happening aroung 17:00 to 20:00, that one is called aperitivo and its usually pretty affordable like 5 Euro.

How to enjoy aperitivo since we did not drink alcohol? Dont worry they usually also have non-alcoholic drink and also vegetarian side dish, the non-alcoholic drink usually mixed of different fruit juice. Or if you like you can ask for cola, but try the non-alcoholic aperitivo, its super nice.

The place where you can find "Non-Alcoholic + Vegetarian Aperitivo"

'Halal Aperitivo' Non-alcoholic drink + Vegetarian food - Il Broletto (https://goo.gl/maps/WPzUPgCVmCJxELJt8)

f) Halal Restaurant in Novara

Italy actually very muslim friendly country in terms of food. When you go to any pizzeria you will always have options. They will always have food without meat, and most of the time they write down the ingredients. 

Unlike when you are in South Korea or Japan while they always mixed their ingredients with some pig derivatives XD LOL sorry, but that was my experience.. here in Italy they are very muslim friendly. Sometimes they dont even use butter to cook. Only salt, olive oil, pasta and tomato, very halal.. isn't it? 

Everything is fresh, basic, good quality raw materials, artisan, home made so you can ask for the ingredients (well most of the time its already written down). The thing that might be a bit tricky is alcohol, but you can always ask. If you say, is there restaurant that have halal options in Novara? Yes, most of them have one. 

But, lets talk about places that might sell meat that you are craving for: chicken or kebab. 

If you are craving for some fried chicken there is a place that I always goes to called "Tasty Food" they sell halal fried chicken and other stuff (https://goo.gl/maps/VYF7bXecLqLSnANU8). 

Fried Chicken in "Tasty Food" you can buy only chicken (Solo Chicken) or Tutto Menu (whole menu with Soda and fries).

The Kebab Places that I recommended, the best one is actually near university "Marakech" (https://goo.gl/maps/kxq9zW3imfgYEkmFA). You have to try the roasted chicken in this place, which is very-very good. 

the Okay place that I keep coming back is the one near the station called "4 Brothers" (https://goo.gl/maps/HpVjwA2nuoymCyLP9).

My friend said Istanbul have the best kebab but I never tried "Istanbul" (https://goo.gl/maps/m35X78u8frahKdL67). 

The price range from 7 Euro - 8 Euro for full menu (dont be shock as Novara is not as cheap as you might think xD). 

g) Asian African Store

If you are a big fan of halal certificate logo, you can always find product in the Asian store. There are quite few Asian store in Novara, and you can find products from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia or South Korea from Asian Store.

As you know that Asian food use a lot of vegetables and also use more spices, make sense because we grew spices. you can actually find spices, tasty vegetarian stuff which is halal like affordable tofu, rice noodles, nori and halal stuff in the shops.

There are few stores near the station :

Asian African store #1 Haiyi (https://goo.gl/maps/1EVVLM2xJcAwwAv36)

This is the most frequently visited store because they are very complete, they have everything, and as usual chinese place is always the cheapest. It is located across the train station. The downside is sometimes there were bunch of guys standing infront of the store door and look a bit shady, you might be hesitant to look inside, but you just need a bit of courage and enter the store.

Shin Ramyun (Produced in South Korea) with halal logo. I think this is the one they exported to Indonesia and Malaysia.

 

Asian African  store #2 Tuttotuo Minimarket (https://goo.gl/maps/7yjxcT2Jfqb2KNz9A)

They have slightly more expensive prices but they look way cleaner, in line, the owner is very nice and they also sell meat in the market. It is located next to Haiyi. 

Asian African store #3 Atlas (https://goo.gl/maps/t654bV8SWCfcyjm86)

This one located near university, they have some stuff that the #1 and #2 market did not have.

h) Partying

As you might be like me with no "Partying cultures" at all, you might find it difficult to in corporates to the partying cultures. Well, yup, you can always come and bring your own food and drink (the non-alcoholic one), I usually bring peach tea and lemon tea from carrefour which is nice and white potato chips. Remember, no one will force you to drink alcohol, not a single drop, so relax and enjoy the party. 

#2 Praying

Where to pray? Actually we pray anywhere. There is actually a mosque behind university, during autumn its possible to pray there because the schedule is possible, but during the winter it is a bit hard because the day is getting shorter.

a) Mosque Behind University called "Centro Islamico di Novara"

Located here : https://goo.gl/maps/WdVGDQ56EHuCAKmDA

But this mosque will be open only during the prayer time. Remember to bring your own prayer set, and ask the mosque member to open the "Woman prayer place" since it is located in the left side of the building (it is located separated from the man prayer place and not always open all the time). You can have wudhu here, they also have heater and AC, its actually very-very nice place to pray. 

I was deep inside my heart a bit crying because they do adzan and I never heard it for 3 months, it felt nice to be 'home'.

As you might know because of the schedule and winter time the day is shorter, so its harder to go to the mosque on time during the prayer times because of the lecture and everything. So, we pray where?

b) EMOTION Common Room

EMOTION Common room is actually a safe place for you to pray. Bring your prayer matt with you have wudhu so anytime it comes to prayer time, you can always pray there. 

c) Empty Classroom. 

In many occasion we pray in the empty classroom, since EMOTION class room is the dedicated classroom no one will abruptly coming to this class except the class member. Thanks for the best classmate ever they dont mind for us to pray in the classroom. 

d) In the park (yes we do). 

If we study in the mensa we have no place to pray, except the park, yes. This is what I always do when traveling back then in Japan, and I always encourage my friend "Its okay to pray in the park", "Come on, people can get naked why we can't pray for one minute," Yes I do say stupid but make sense thing so I do not care to pray in the park, in fact nobody care about you. People might stare at you but actually Italian is very acceptance, never single episode in my life they kick me out or say anything. Bring your prayer matt, nothing will happen, it will always works. 

me and Israa taking turn to pray in the corner of the school (its an open space). 

e) In the Vehicle (Bus, train, etc)

If you go to a place that feels like its not clean enough or you hesitant about the cleanliness, my advice is just pray in the vehicle.. do not pray in the open space (this is what I experienced back then in China, Paris and some cities in Italy), if you dont have time to go back to place where you stay, or constantly moving, you dont have much other choices.. Because sometimes people didnt really care about their dog poo and its just everywhere, you can smell that the road stink with pee. I didnt trust places like this. Hop on the tram/bus/train and pray there where you are on it its way better than missing it out. 

One most important rule is, you are a traveler in non-muslim country. So always have yourself ready for praying because the opportunity sometimes did not come twice (have your wudhu, bring your prayer matt). When I went to Lugano, there is an empty spaces near the lake my instinct says this is the perfect time and place to pray, so I asked the girls would it be okay for me to pray there and they say okay...  

f) Finding Qibla

To find Qibla, I usually use this app called "Qibla finder" https://qiblafinder.withgoogle.com/intl/en/desktop

g) Praying Mat

I recommend you to bring one the water resistant praying mat with you as Italy is 4 season country and as you might pray in the park, the praying matt will be your savior. 

#3 Fasting and Celebrating "Ied" in Novara. 

Italy has its own ulama organization centered in Rome, so timing / started of the fasting time will be announced by the Grand Mosque of Rome (Centro Islamico Culturale d'Italia - Grande Moschea di Roma), where you can find the information? Using facebook group. Unfortunately most of these mosque information you can only find in facebook. So joined one!

Any announcement regarding --> Fasting --> Ied --> anything else will be announced in this facebook group (The facebookgroup: https://www.facebook.com/centroislamicoculturale). 

They recently also open the instagram pages : https://www.instagram.com/grande_moschea_roma/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Example of the facebook announcement in the Grand Mosque Rome

But, you need to remember in case of the prayer time, Rome and Novara will have different timing because they are more to the mid-south of Italy, we are on the North. To have better information on that you need to joined the Milano Moschea (https://www.facebook.com/moscheamilanosesto) and Torino Moschea facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/CentroTaiba). 

If you want to know how much is the different, I will give you the comparison:

1) This one is in Turin

2) This one is in Rome

As you might notice that in Turin maghrib is 20:57 in the first of August, but in Rome 20:30, so its like 27 minutes different, so make sure you pick the right timing XD. When you are fasting if you put "Rome" time you will have shorther day, welp, dont do that XD.

Celebrating ied is possible in Novara! Yess!  Where?

If you think Novara have small muslim populations, you are wrong XD, when we gather together, we are actually a lot. Usually the prayer held in the yard near MCDonalds near university (you hear me right, MCD), you need to come at 07:00-08:00 before the prayer started and bring your own prayer mat. 

Praying location : https://goo.gl/maps/rmN4QHsoKEQaDJdy8 

Walk to the field behind MCD and you will see policeman (polizia) and people preparing the prayer there. There is a line to separate man and woman. Btw,  The police is always there but dont worry they dont do anything. 

In case of ied adha, the community will provide you with cold water and snacks which is very nice. My advice is dont go to McDonalds afterwards because its super crowded. Everytime Ied is celebrated that MCD has 1000% of revenue XD.

If you want to have more "mosque" praying experience you can always go to Milan or Turin because they have grand mosque there but you need to come early in the morning, which possible for Milan but a bit hard for Turin since Turin is a bit far.

#4 Clothing

I want to say something about clothing, especially for summer. Welp, I dont find a  good quality hijab friendly clothing that will makes you survive in very hot conditon  for summer. I think since Indonesia is very hot, we have a lot of innovation in our fabrics. We can have long sleeves and stay cool. Its about the fabrics XD.

Actually I bought one clothes for summer which is not cheap like 30 Euro, but to be honest, it was bad. It was easily crumbled (I feel like using not ironed shirt), It was hot when I was using it, the size is too big for me, the cut was not suits me, its just makes me feel unhappy and I feel like to just drop this 30 euro shirt.

I wonder maybe that's why people here like less clothing because they dont have a very good fabrics that suits for summer. Actually I thought it was only me but no, there was a Vietnamese tiktoker complaining the same thing about European fabrics which is not very good for summer. I think all the SEA people can relate. But well, I have an options to buy Aerism Series in The Uniqlo its just The Uniqlo in Europe not affordable at all. 

But luckily, I have one week sets of clothing for summer (no actually its my daily clothes back home) which is suitable for this weather. So if want to bring clothes from your home country, I recommend to bring summer clothing than winter clothing because we have that "summer technology" way better than here.

Another thing I will mention is hard to find hijab, you can find one in the bazaar by pakistani or Indian seller, but in the normal store you can use scarf as alternative.

As, again Indonesia is very innovative in clothing, also in hijab I owned a lot of instant hijab, that I can use it without any hardship for 2 second! Very stylish, very cool, you dont need to iron them its always ready. And ofc here you will find none. The hijab materials here is also not for summer for sure, so bring your hijab that suits for summer from your home country. and bring some instant hijab as you will always need it :

a) bring the light one to use at home, in case you are travelling or there is a guy coming your house (because everything is quite mix, you might live in a girl only house but you might have guy visitor).

b) bring the formal instant hijab for daily use is very useful. 

I personally bring 6 instant hijab. 4 for formal, and 2 for daily use. I have one which I always bring during travel, because its super cool, super light, very nice. 

Another I can mention as Indonesian is very windy place, very crowded we always use pin and broches to secure our hijab. Unfortunately its very rare to find people that sell both. I bought my pin in Padova's market, and I found none of the broches that I like, because they barely sell any.

So if you always see me using the same stuff, not only because I was a minimalist, but I also find none. 

Okay, that's all the small stuff that I can write down to you as a halal guide

Everyone have different way of processing and doing stuff and this is what I do. I was not a saint so I might type something wrong but Allah knows for sure I have tried. I hope this is helpful because figuring out by yourself is maybe hard. 

So have a pleasant journey as minority group in Novara, always be kind, be respectful, remember to be respected you have to be respectful. 

Remember we are not doing any harm to practice what we believe, and so does others. You just need to put a mindset that other people did not know what you are practicing, believing, so do not feel disrespected when they ask something about Islam ^^ (feel happy about it and do not let yourself down).

I wrote this down, because I want you to hold a faith because being a muslim is in fact very easy. If anyone have anymore question just DM me on instagram.

Assalamualaikum!