Geo: 47.5573, 13.647Today was one of our longest drives, travelling from Venice to Hallstatt, a trip of roughly four hours. At 130kms per hour on the Austrian and Italian Autobahns, the journey goes quick though.It was beautiful driving through the valleys with high mountain ranges towering overhead. The grass is very green. All of the houses are made of timber and render and all look like Swiss Chalets, having bright coloured flowers on their balconies. All houses and gardens are really well maintained, unlike some of the houses in the cities we have visited (particularly Italy). Halstatt surprisingly, has the oldest history of any of the cities we have visited. The Salt Mines in Halstatt go back to the 7th Century B.C. Salt was a highly sought after commodity in early history, with the original miners ... read more

Geo: 45.442, 10.9955We again had a hearty breakfast at the Hotel David in Florence. Highly recommended as a place to stay. Headed off to Verona for a short one day stopover on the way to Venice. We arrived in Verona around 12.30pm. The history of Verona goes back to at least 550 B.C. The city was originally inhabited by the Etruscans, and became a Roman colony in 89 B.C. Verona was ruled by a series of monarchs, military rulers and wealthy families down through the centuries, including Napoleon. Verona was one of the most heavily bombed of the Italian cities in WWII, with the Germans destroying all of the city's bridges as they departed in August 1945. Verona is a very clean city, with the River Erbe winding it's way through the city in a series ... read more

Geo: 43.7687, 11.2569It's time to move on again, this time to Florence, which is located inland away from the coast. No more swims at the end of the day to cool off in the hot weather we have been experiencing. As the highway that we need to travel on passes reasonably close to Pisa, we stopped off to have a look at the iconic landmark. The building really does have a significant lean. I remember in recent years the tower was closed to underpin the foundations to stop it actually falling over. You will see from the photo that Kim actually stopped the tower from falling over. After our quick detour to Pisa, we headed for Florence. The Hotel David where we are staying is a former luxury multi storey residence with marble flooring, very high ... read more

Geo: 43.6731, 10.6753After a sumptuous continental breakfast at our Hotel in Santo Stefano, we packed up and headed for the Cinque Terre. We had been warned about the narrow roads around the area, but it still came as a bit of a shock to be winding your way down steep mountain cliffs, with barely any railings, the road only wide enough for one vehicle in many places. Each time we met a vehicle or a truck, one of us had to back up to a place where a vehicle could pass. Our hire vehicle has sensors front, back and side and was constantly beeping when another vehicle had to pass. The Cinque Terre is a World Heritage Listed area, with five unique small villages hugging the cliffs, and being linked by a walking trail. Just as ... read more

Geo: 43.5167, 4.56667The Camargue is a huge delta plain that surrounds the Rhone River where it meets the Mediterranean Ocean. It is a National Park covering some 85,000 hectares. Although many types of crops are grown in the Carmargue, the area is particularly known for it's rice. The Camargue is famous for it's wildlife, being a habitat for racoons, otters, beavers and many different types of birds. After walking around the town of Saintes Maries de la Mer and having some lunch, we visited an Ornithological Park set in many hectares of marshland. The park is known for it's pink flamingos, which you can get close to in several areas of the park. The Camargue is also known for it's wild horses and wild bulls. The Camargue horses are renowned, being white in colour and no ... read more