I arrived in Trieste before the sun went down. It was so wierd as I was sat next to some lads I knew from my home city who were going to the Outlook festival in Croatia! There were some other people from my home town behind me too! Small world!! The bus journey from the airport took longer than I thought it would. I was panicking before I arrived as I didn't have any Euros with me and hadn't topped up my Caxton card (waiting for a more favouable exchange rate), and was relying on being able to pay by credit card. Luckily I was able to pay for my bus ticket by card, so I would think about getting currency later. It dawned on me that I had forgotten to bring an electrical adaptor. Shit. ... read more

Didn't have long in Catania - the first day I got here I went straight to Taormini and spent the day there, and I only had that evening and the following morning to see this volcanic city. Went to see Piazza Duomo in the night which has the Fontana dell'Elefante made of lava in its centre, and surrounded by the Duomo and other nice buildings. I then went in the morning to try and get a view of Mount Etna as I didn't get to see it yesterday.... read more

The first thing I did when I got up was go to the suburbs, to the catacombs which I was really excited about. You see I have a morbid fascination with the dead and stuff like that, and these catacombs have around 8000 mummified corpses of Palermo citizens from between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was fascinating. Mostly skeletons but some of them still had skin and hair! Apparently the higher class corpses are better preserved than the paupers. There was a section for child corpses and a separate corridor for males and females/higher and lower classes/virgins. Then I walked back down Via Vittorio Emanuele where I picked up a few cheap outfits :), past the beautiful cathedral and to the Palazzo dei Normanni. From here I decided to take the city in quarters, starting ... read more

On arrival in Naples after the 2 hour train journey from Rome I was feeling particularly grumpy. Confused by the stupid ticketing system at the train station and being paranoid about getting fined after my experience in Florence I was getting more and more pissed off, but eventually got a metro ticket and validated the bugger. I soon realised I didn't even need a metro ticket because my interrail pass covered it for that day! Grrr always the way eh! And the ticket was now useless because I had validated it for that day so it would be no good for tomorrow or the day after. Oh well never mind. Had a bit of trouble finding the hostel but thanks to a Korean guy I found it eventually! Me and the hostel manager had words because ... read more

Left Florence and got the train to Siena, which is a medievel town. Getting here was easy enough - direct train from Florence, but got into a bit of a fluster getting from the train station into historical Siena. Relatively expensive luggage storage (5.40 euros for half an hour, well one day but I only needed half an hour!) and the bus stop being wierdly placed in some shopping centre over the road from the train station. Literally only spent about half an hour there. Went to the Piazza Del Campo which is a large square in the shape of a bathroom sink, with plug and everything. It's a well preserved medievel city with its original city walls. Also saw the Municipal Palace in the main square but didn't really want to queue to go up ... read more