Day 21 - Friday 3rd March Hurray this time the promise of a lift was true (unlike Varese). However it was a slow journey as my driver stopped at several chemists along the route - maybe a sales representative ! The scenery along the route was fairly pretty but not devasting - it was also noticeable where the main tourist beaches were situated. I arrived at Ancona at 11am. Plenty of time to exchange some travellers cheques ( a good rate for Lira) and to buy some food for the next couple of days journey before reaching the next main destination of Dubrovnik. I found a nice looking supermarket with friendly staff and just about managed to avoid knocking over one of their displays. As the ferry was due to leave in the late afternoon, there ... read more

Day 19 - Wednesday 1st March Another day just for sightseeing. I decided that it was probably best to look around by myself so that I could concentrate on my own preferences and after waiting 20 minutes in the foyer, there was still no sign of Michael and Heather and so I left the Hostel and headed into Rome to St Peters Square. The Vatican is awe inspiring and simply amazing with its pillars, the overall superstructure and the statues. Inside the building is so very beautifully decorated especially its primary altars. The work of Bernini, the statue of St Peter, Michelangelo's Deity and the prayer chapel with St Peter kneeling before an altar. Just amazing architecture and paintings. Next stop the Vatican Museum for 500 Lira but unfortunately it closes at 2pm whereas you could ... read more

Day 17 - Tuesday 28th February Left the Youth Hostel at 10am to start the 175 mile journey to Rome. The local bus route took us close to the autostrade but surprisingly charged us extra for our rucksacks. Today was a "hitch alone" day. After an hour, a brilliant piece of luck as I was picked up by a 30 ish year old very smart looking lady in a sports car and as an added bonus she was travelling to Rome. She was secretary to the American ambassador but surprisingly we conversed in French (in my case simple schoolboy French). She kindly helped me improve my Italian concentrating wisely on the key areas of days, numbers and food - at least I would now have a better level of pronunciation! The scenery for the journey was ... read more

Day 15 - Sunday 26th February As we should have arrived in Florence by now, we only have a short time to look around Pisa. It is a beautiful city and fortunately we are already in the centre by the Leaning Tower. The Cathedral is especially stunning and inside you cannot help but be inspired by its paintings, its ceiling and the wood carvings. We ate our lunch by the very picturesque River Arno and then at noon decided to start our hitching. Pisa looked very special and clearly we did not do justice to its charm (must add to list of cities to visit later in life). The first lift in a Fiat drove us to the autostrade. Good fortune followed as the next lift was going all the way to Florence - not such ... read more

Day 13 - Thursday 24th February Unfortunately the Youth Hostel did not have a cafeteria and so Heather and I had to find someway local to eat - no problem though only the language. We started hitching at 10am and the first lift drove us 16 miles to Roverto and after a two hour wait, the next lift drove us 7Km further down the road but left us away from the town. Only one car stopped but it was too small to cope with our rucksacks. Eventually a lift to Verona and it was 3pm - 5 hours for 60 miles was not what you call very good progress. Unfortunately we were left on the wrong side of Verona and all of the cars which stopped were going to either Milan or Brescia - west of ... read more