9th October 2007 - Avignon I printed out the words to the song “Sur le Pont d’Avignon” so we could be childish and sing it when we found the bridge. Avignon was a lot bigger than I expected. Found the bridge and ran through a rendition of the song. We found out in the museum that people did not actually dance on the bridge in times long past, but they often held fetes and danced and drank on the banks of the river on the opposite side. So the song really should be “Sous le Pont d’Avignon” or even "a côte [View Full Entry]

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7th October We found our way to Arles, via the outskirts of Marseille without too much trouble. We had received an SMS the day before from Florence. Lorenza and I were really looking forward to meeting her in person. We had originally made contact with her via Hospitality Club sometime in 2006. We had exchanged lots of emails as she had been planning to visit Australia, but circumstances changed and instead we were on our way to meet her in Arles. The hotel that Florence had suggested to us was lovely, a very comfortable room overlooking a peaceful garden, right in [View Full Entry]

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6th October 2007 - Farewell Positano We said our farewells to Positano, definitely one of the more magical places I have visited. I hope to return to one day. Melissa entrusted her box of belongings to the Italian Postal service. We made the trek back to the ferry wharf with our luggage, and it just started lightly raining. Positano was obviously sad to see us leave. Did the trip back to Rome, via Naples as before, except that Melissa wanted to skip the tram ride in favor of a taxi. Back in Rome we stayed at the Holiday Inn near the [View Full Entry]

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We took a boat ride along the coast on board a fishing boat with the skipper Salvatoro. Helping out on the cruise was a funny old chook, Gloria, who was in her 70’s and originally from some where in the mid-west of the USA. Also joining us was a local photographer, Cindy, a newly married Canadian couple and an Aussie couple. The cruise took us along the coast to Ravello, stopping along the way for swimming and sight seeing. In one of the grottos we swam in the water was so clear, when you splashed it in front of you it [View Full Entry]

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1st October 2007 After rushing around in Rome it was good to know we had plenty of time to relax here. Weather is stunning, sunny, warm and a gentle breeze in the evening. A lot of locals told us we were lucky because it was normally a bit cooler at this time of year. Wandered about the town and found some interesting shops and galleries. Got talking with a women who was expecting her first baby, she was working in a gallery with a cat called “Phillipo”. We bought a few souvenirs and gifts, slowly making our way further up the [View Full Entry]

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Rome, Naples then Positano We definitely did not have enough time to appreciate Rome, but without unlimited time it is hard to do justice to each destination. We took the train from Rome to Naples, and then a tram to the ferry port headed for Positano. This leg of the trip proved to be a bit of a challenge for our companions, Al and Melissa. Their luggage is not as compact as ours and they had crammed a lot more weight into them which made the on and off trains and trams difficult. Lorenza and I had just scrambled onto the [View Full Entry]

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Up early to pack in as much as we can in the few days we are here. Walked to the nearest bus stop and figured out how to get to the Vatican. Took us forever to work out how to get a ticket for the bus, the drivers accept no money so you have to purchase the ticket from a machine, the machine is not located at the bus stop it was 500 metres down the road. So, it was a day of huge crowds, lots of hawkers and scammers, plus you have never seen so many Nuns, Priests, Bishops and [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Rome about two hours later than expected. Al and I got very uneasy waiting for our bags. They took forever to appear on the carousel. I tried to call the number I had for the apartment we had booked and got a very nice women who could not speak a word of English. Somehow we managed to understand each other and let her know we were running late but would be there soon. We had organised a van to take us from the airport and he was great. Our first taste of Roman driving was interesting, but we [View Full Entry]

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27th September 2007 Our late arrival back to Nerja (or early morning) took it’s toll on us and we had a very late start to the day. We had planned to visit some caves in the area but that got shelved because we cold not get ourselves up and running. Instead we spent the day lazing by the pool, drinking more beers and relaxing. Lorenza and I took another spin through the town looking in a few shops. We came across one which sold some lovely Flamenco dresses, very expensive but absolutely beautiful fabric and design. Even though they realised we [View Full Entry]

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We visited the Moorish fortress and palace “the Ahlambra” near Granada. This was an absolutely huge and amazing site. We toured the Moorish gardens, bath houses, palaces and a very imposing fortress, with views across Granada. After a full day at the Ahlambra we took a drink at a nearby hotel and met Jake and his wife. He had spent some years living in Brisbane, was originally from England and had now settled with his wife in a small village in the mountains near Granada. He gave us some tips on what we could do that night which turned out to [View Full Entry]

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