I actually arrived in Barcelona yesterday. By the time I got here, it was already mid-afternoon. I am staying in a serviced apartment so the room has a small kitchenette. The thought of actually cooking for myself was quite appealing. So I headed out to find a grocery store and just relaxed in for the rest of the day. It also gave me time to read up on Barcelona and figure out what I was going to do in the next couple of days. The first thing on the list was of course the Sagrada Familia. This spectacular church was designed by Antoni Gaudi. He died in 1926 after being run over by a tram at the age of 74. The construction was not complete then nor is it now. They estimate that there is still ... read more

I started the day with taking the metro to the Spagna station to go see those famous Spanish Steps. I have said it before but there are some things that just leave me wondering why they are so popular. This is literally a set of stairs that lead to a church and at the bottom there is a fountain that is shaped like a small boat. I guess the attraction is the same as any piazza ... it is just a great meeting place to generally hang out and do some great people watching. It was relatively early so the crowds had not gathered yet but there were still some tourists looking at maps and guidebooks, locals reading books and newspapers and people climbing up the stairs to make their way to wherever they were going. ... read more

Today the focus was on those Roman ruins! I walked down Via Cavour and made my way towards the Colloseum. The tour groups were definitely out in full force early in the morning! So I continued on down to the Palatine ticket office. The entrance ticket gives you access to the Palatine, the Roman Forum and the Colloseum. You definitely cut down on the waiting time if you buy your ticket at the Palatine ticket office and then do the Colloseum later. I also invested in an audioguide which comes with a handy dandy map. So ticket and audioguide in hand, I set off to see some ruins. My visit started at the Roman Forum. It is really hard to fathom when looking at these ruins what the buildings must have actually looked like. You get ... read more

I had an amazing night of sleep (something like 10 hours) so I was more than ready to attack visiting Pompeii. This is something that I have wanted to do for a few years now … actually since visiting Rome three years ago and getting my first taste of these types of archeological sites. I took the subway to the train station and bought my ticket for the Circumvesuviana train (that name doesn’t really roll off my tongue if you must know …which is not practical when having to ask about it!). It was about a 40 minute ride but it essentially drops you off just a stone’s throw from the entrance of the archeological site. There were quite a number of people in line when I arrived but the line was moving swiftly. I also ... read more

Getting to Naples was a train journey that took about 5 hours in all so needless to say that once I got here, I only managed to walk around a little. I had had a couple of people tell me that Naples wasn’t that pretty or that great of a city to visit. I had that in the back of my head when I came in but I didn’t want it to taint my perception of the city. I wanted to make my own opinion. Before I go on with the story of my arrival into Naples, let me say that one of the things when I travel (and especially because photography is a such a big part of my travelling) is that for me, I always try to find the city’s personality. There is always ... read more