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Felicity scott
Tell us a bit about yourself: this information will appear on your page and can be edited later. tim and I are heading off on an 'OE'. It's been thirty years since we have ventured to the other side of the world. Ver are very excited as we are going to spend some time with our eldest daughter who lives in London. It's been well over a year since we have seen her. We are leaving behind two other children, but they are all old enough to look after themselves. We are looking forward to NOT having to think about when the next earthquake is going to strike - to some hot weather!! tnftravels
Travel Blog Posts
July 21st 2011
We arrived in La Spezia just as the sun was setting. It was pretty easy place to find. Out hotel was a very small place tucked up amongst some rather rough looking housing blocks. It was right next to a school and it had a restaurant, which is great as they were a little hard to find in La Spezia. The railway station was only a 15 minute walk and the first of the Cinque Terra villages were only a 10 minute train ride through a tunnel. We bought a two day pass which was great as we didn't need to queue up for tickets. The ticket covered unlimited use of the trains and the walking tracks. Well worth while if you want to make the most of your time here. We got a train ... read more
June 9th 2011
From Spoleto to Florence We felt sad about leaving Spoleto as we had had such a wonderful time. Our host Ludovico was a delight as he was good company and enjoyed sharing his knowledge of the area, places to go, places to eat. We headed off towards Florence and for the first time since Venice it rained. We did a detour into Siena on the way. Apparently there is great rivalry between Florence and Siena and it is easy to see why. The are both quite similar in the style of their buildings especially their cathedrals. They had a very similar history as well. Siena is on top of a hill, well the main part of the city and it has a wall around it, and florence is has a river running through it. To get ... read more
June 3rd 2011
Rome in a Day! It was an early start for our big day in Rome. We needed to be up early to catch the 6.50 train to Rome. It takes about 2 hours by train. The train station is right in the middle of Rome, just a 10 minute walk from St Peter's Square. Rome is very, very big, not only in size but in its buildings, the number of people, cars and scooters. There are people everywhere! After a quick breakfast and coffee at the railway station we head off in the direction of St Peters Square. We can tell we are going in the right direction because we can see the dome looming overhead. Word on the street from those trying to sell guided tours that St Peters basilica was closed as every Wednesday ... read more
June 1st 2011
Spoleto is quite a large town by our standards, about the size of Timaru, though its hard to see where everyone lives. Its incredibly with Roman remains in the form of a Roman amphitheatre. It is built on the side of a hill and is dominated by a huge fort. It was used to imprison the would be assassin of Pop Paul. We didn't go inside as being a Monday everything is closed. We are staying in a little place just 10 minutes from the centre of the town. It is up on a hill surrounded by olive groves. The whole place is incredibly old dating back to the mid 15 century. The main house has been restored by its owners and it is just beautiful. It is on about 4 levels including a wine cellar ... read more
May 26th 2011
Dubrovnik What an amazing little place. It really is the jewel in the crown for Croatia. Nestled right in the the bottom cornier of Croatia it sits on a tiny peninsula looking out over the Adriatic. It is just like it looks in all the pictures. On arrival it was soon very apparent that parking was going to be an issue. Most visitors either come by plane or boat. As we were staying inside the wall of the city we needed to be close as we didn't want to be dragging our bags for miles. After going round the one way streets about 4 times we did mange to find a park. We then had to race off to the main entrance and then follow the instructions on the map to find the apartment. It proved ... read more
May 19th 2011
We set off early as we were not really sure how long it would take us. Once again we avoided the toll roads and went up the coast road to Trieste. What a lovely trip. Northern Italy is packed with industry and farms. Not an inch of land is left uncultivated. Once more you could see our all the little family farms had gone to be taken over by industry or larger farming operations. The place is littered with abandoned farm buildings. The Italian farmers no longer keep animals. In fact apart from one small housed diary farmed I didn't see a single animal anywhere. And for that matter no cats. The Italian, like that French are mad on their dogs. I think dogs come before children. That has been one of the hardest things to ... read more
May 18th 2011
We took the slow road to Venice. One of the joys of traveling by care is that you come across gems like the castle in a little place called Soave and the castles of Romeo and Juliet. One of the many towns that has its centre inside a wall with a castle on top of a hill. We headed up the path to check out the castle. We were the only ones at the castle. However it was 11.30 close to closing time. We bought our tickets from a lady who lived up at the castle. She wasn't all that happy to hand over a couple of tickets. The other lady at the inside the castle was even more reluctant to let us wander around. She trailed after us jangling a very large bunch of keys. ... read more
May 15th 2011
After spending 2 wonderful days in Milan it was time to head somewhere quieter. We decided to head to Verona vera Lake Como and Lake Garuda. Once again the air pollution was very high. The sky was grey and you couldn't see very far. It is a short trip to Lake Como from Milan. We arrived and immediately remarked how it reminded us of Queenstown only 20 toes bigger. It was very quiet with very few people about. Looking at the large number of boats that ply the waters of the lake it gets extremely busy in summer. We only drove to one end of the lake and sadly didn't see George Cluney's sumptuous manor on the shores of the lake. We continued on to Lake Garuda. The lake is twice as big as Como. The ... read more
May 13th 2011
Where do I start! What an amazing chaotic place.After resting up in the little village of Neive we were reading to tackle Milan. Driving into Milan was to say the least very, very scary. No one and I repeat no one indicates. Once you get into the heart of the city none of the roads have markings on them plus you have to contend with scooters of every description and push bikes. They all just weave in and out of the cars. The push bikes are quite old fashion in style with your basket on the front and carriers and mudguards on the back. Plus everyone drives at a million miles an hour. So with negotiating all this we managed to get ourselves into the heart of Milan AND find a car park. We then spent ... read more
May 12th 2011
After a very long drive on the toll from Provence where we must have gone through 60 tunnels and over the same number of viaducts. It really was the most amazing road. As it was a Saturday there were very few trucks on it so that made driving a lot easier. We arrived in the most charming little village of Neive right in the middle of the wine growing area. Neive is situated right on the top of a hill (as most small old towns are) overlooking the vineyards. It is a very wealthy area with large houses and well kept vines. Our hotel was right at the top of the hill in a very old house. Our room occupied 2 floors. It also had a balcony that overlooked the valley. It was one of those ... read more
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