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Published: August 23rd 2010
After only a 2hr flight we were in Holland. We caught a train straight down to
Den Haag. Why? Well DJ Shadow was playing there so we decided to catch the gig! There wasn’t much to do or see really in Den Haag so we visited a Coffee Shop and went to the park for a hit of beach ball. Needless to say that was a pretty amusing game. So after a lazy day and a bite to eat we went to the gig. Venue was a nice size, probably held about 500 or so people. Shadow was solid as usual and mixed it up with some new and classic tunes. For those who have seen his gigs he is big on mixing video visuals with his music, for something new he played the gig in a sphere onto which visuals were projected. It looked as though the dj booth was spinning in 3D. Pretty nice stuff.
From Den Haag we trained it back to
Amsterdam for 2 nights. We booked our hotel through lastminute.com it was a mystery hotel at a discounted rate so we thought why not. It ended up being a new 4 star hotel only 15mins
out of town. Was nice to have a little luxury for the price of a 1 or 2 star. We walked into town on Friday via a huge park, there were people out everywhere enjoying picnics, music and the sunshine, oh and their bicycles!!! We checked out the Red Light district. So many people of all walks of life, great people watching. The window shopping was a good bit of fun too, with the lovely ladies ‘promoting’ their wares behind glass windows for all to see. So many bucks and hens nights happening, so many sex shops, bars, coffee shops and the smell of something ‘funny’ in the air. The next day we wandered back into town and strolled the streets. Despite the rain, quite beautiful. Lovely old buildings (at odd angles, sinking) and canals. Again, tourists and locals alike were out having a good time. We really liked Amsterdam, the place is beautiful and the people seemed like really fun loving people. Oh we also had the customary chips and mayo in a cone and even found and ate our first sausage rolls in about 7 months. Yum.
After our very brief visit we were off to
Venice,
north east Italy for 3 nights. A labyrinth of a city built on a lagoon, its narrow cobblestoned streets on 117 small islands, 150 canals, criss-crossed by 400 bridges make it one of the most amazingly beautiful cities. Palaces line gondola and boat filled canals. We spent our time adventuring through the backstreets to enjoy the city. We also got stuck right into some of Italy most iconic cuisine, pizza, pasta and gelato. Now it would have been nice and romantic and all to take a gondola ride through Venice, but, it’s ridiculously expensive, something like 100Euro or $140AUD for 1hr. Hahaha. We opted for the next best and cheapest option, the ferry, cost only $6AUD each, bargain.
Next, the old medieval city of
Bologna for 2 nights. Red brick and terracotta medieval buildings and palaces, dotted with old towers and so many churches. Pretty nice place easy to get around on foot and a couple of days is all we needed here. We checked out some old palaces and went and saw a pretty cool and interesting medieval museum, with old sculptures, tombs, weapons and armour. Obviously Bologna is the home of Bolognaise (Ragu) sauce so we sampled
and it was delicious. Having a big University population we stumbled upon a beer garden in an old piazza (plaza) and gig one night and listened to a local cover band whilst drinking the night away.
On the move again it is now apparent a car would be really handy and the way to do the trip we want, but, we just can’t afford it. So another train and we were in
Reggio Emilia. Here we stayed 2 nights with a day trip to
Parma thrown in. Why these places well, Ham, Cheese and Balsamic vinegar. Parma Ham, Parmigiano Reggiano and Balsamic vinegar from Modena all originate in this area and of course we sampled the real deal and it was worth it, real nice (we both think the Jamon Iberico in Spain was better though). There were no sights to mention, just the food. One day however we went to the Parma Ham museum which was pretty ordinary. Not recommended, its small and all in Italian with no free tasting.
We should mention at this point that our funds are rapidly drying up and eating and drinking out is now only a once in a while. It’s
alcohol and lunch supplies from the supermarket, and a takeaway pizza or pasta to share for dinner or maybe our own anti-pasto from the supermarket. Most places add 30%!e(MISSING)xtra onto prices for eating in!
Another train and we were in
La Spezia for a night before 2 great nights on the
Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre (5 Lands) is on the north western coast of Italy and one of the most beautiful places. It is made up of 5 crazily built villages that date back to early medieval times spreading 12 kms along the picture perfect coastline. We caught a boat out to the village of Vernazza, giving us a great view of the villages from the sea. From Vernazza we hiked to Monterosso. Pretty descent hike too, about 1 and half hours in 35 degree heat walking along steeply terraced cliffs that are covered with vineyards, olive groves, fields and gardens. Oh, and an awesome view of the coastline. Once we arrived in Monterosso we checked in, bought some beers and hit the beach until the sun went down. The next day we caught a train to another village called Corniglia. From there we walked again. 2
villages this time. First Manarola, where we had some lunch and dodged the local kids water bombs. There was a water war happening in town, where during certain hours of the day it was a free for all and water bombs would rain down on those below. Our last stop for the day was Riomaggiore. A great village where its pastel coloured buildings cascade down the cliffs to a small sheltered harbour. Picture perfect. We grabbed some beers and watched the sunset set overlooking the harbour. Some locals even put on a rock/cliff diving show for us. The Cinque Terre is highly recommended for travellers to Italy. A truly beautiful place. Oh didn’t mention the water - perfectly crystal clear, just no sand beaches.
Next stop was a couples of hours inland to the small city of
Lucca in Tuscany. The reason for our stop was that Lucca’s 12m high town walls (built in the 16th Century) are still perfectly intact and you can ride around the top of them. It was pretty cool, the top of the walls are tree-lined so give good shade and the patch is nice and smooth and provides a great view into the
old city. We did a couple of laps of the 4.5km wall and then went back to our room and cooked up a huge steak. Yum. We had a kitchen so went to the supermarket - we can’t afford steak at a restaurant!
We only spent 1 night in Lucca then it was off to
Florence, capital of Tuscany where we stayed for 3 nights. The weather turned on us and it rained for most of the days but cleared in the afternoons allowing us to take in some of the many sights to see in Florence. Home of Machiavelli, Michelangelo and the Medici, Florence is chock full of Renaissance art and medieval architecture. Making it a nice place to wander. It also has its fair share of designer shops and old school trattoria and bars. Of the many sights to see we checked out the Duomo built in the 13th century, with its iconic red tiled dome and full on pink, white and green marble facade. Quite impressive. With our limited budget we decided this was our thing to spend on and paid to go and scale the 463 steps to the top of the dome for great
views of the city. We also saw Piazza Signoria where Michelangelo’s replica ‘David’ is (the similarities with ‘David’s’ body and Jay’s was quite uncanny), amongst plenty of other statues.
An hour south of Florence and we arrived in
Greve in Chianti, where we rented a self contained apartment and spent 4 nights. Just what we needed after being on the move so much, Chianti was great. Our own place with kitchen, bathroom, TV, Internet and washing machine. It is just what you imagine when you think of Tuscany, rolling hills, villas and farm houses and lots of vineyards. The region of Chianti is famous for its wine and we of course drank our fair share. Most of the wines shops in town offered free wine tastings but the one we enjoyed most was Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti where the shop stocks more than 1200 types of wine and has available over 100 to taste. All you do is buy a pre-paid tasting card and go around to dispensers and spend your money. Starting at 60euro cent for a quarter glass we found it to be pretty good value and a lot of fun pretending we knew what
we were doing. We also hired bikes and went on a ride through the hills (some of which felt like mountains) to Castello Vicchiomaggio. A hill top castle and winery. Here we went on a tour and had a tasting also before responsibly riding home.
2 hrs south from Greve, in central Italy’s Umbria region we then went to
Perugia. Here we stayed for just 2 nights with one thing on our minds.... CHOCOLATE. Perugia is home of Perugina Chocolate factory the makers of ‘Baci’, delicious hazelnut chocolate topped with a whole hazelnut then covered in dark chocolate. The purpose of our visit was to tour the factory. Unfortunately the factory tour was not happening due to the summer holidays but the museum was open and free chocolate tasting. We were happy and so was everyone else. The looting that went on was incredible, we ate and loaded up our bag and so did everyone else. There were even ladies filling their bags, taking them out to the car emptying then back in for more. The trip was worth it for the chocolate alone, however Perugia itself is a pretty cool town. Set high up on a hill, it
has awesome looking old medieval town with crumbling rooftops and fantastic views for miles around.
Another 3hrs further south and we arrived in our final Italian destination, the nation’s capital
Rome where we stayed 3 nights. Again there is plenty to see here and we saw quite a bit in our brief time including; the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vatican, Trivi Fountain, the Pantheon and a cool little church Santa Maria della Concezione where the cemetery below was decorated by the monks between 1528-1870 with the bones of 4000 of their dead brothers. Arches crafted from skulls and vertebrae used as fleur-de-lis, bones decorate the walls of the graves within. Cool and a bit weird at the same time.
We have been on the move quite a bit in Italy and now our time here has come to an end. Europe has been great fun, so much culture (probably too much for us), so many churches, but one thing has been missing.... beaches.
Next and final stop
Thailand!
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KYLIE
non-member comment
hi guys
great to read your travel strories guys, cant believe its almost time to come home. have fun in thailand soaking up the sun. I have a friend who lives on koh samui ...she owns a few bikini shops. Her name is cassie, but everyone there calls her cat. look fwd to catching up when you get home. All good in our world. Jay you probably heard blue balls won the granny. un freakin believeable eh? Er...ummmmm I mean well done guys.....