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Published: June 16th 2007
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Lover's Lane Only three weeks for Italy, Croatia, Austria and Germany was never going to be enough. Traversing the landscape of Central Europe (its mountains, art, customs, food, lakes, people, coastline, buildings, drinks...) we found ourselves wanting more.
ITALY - From the mystical labyrinth of Venice's flooded streets to the frantic pace of Rome, we loved almost every minute of Italy. We followed the masses into Juliet's ivy-clad courtyard in Verona and escaped the throng with a peaceful bike ride and swim at Lago di Garda. The detour continued further west to the Ligurian coast and Cinque Terre where our plans to hike the Via dell'Amore were temporarily dashed by the over abundance of heat-relieving rain. After a day and a half of close-quarters confinement in our heavily inundated tent the heavens parted and we emerged for the much anticipated hike along the aptly named Lover's Lane. We joyously hiked between the 5 cliff-hugging harbour villages, occasionally pausing to sample the local fare or to embrace the title of the walk.
Florence and the Uffizi Gallery - home to Botticelli's inspired masterpieces, Birth of Venus and Spring and works by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo
- was an all-too-short stop before venturing to Rome. Top of the list was to join the masses once again, this time queing in the kilometre long line, for our first border crossing on foot - into country 19,
The Vatican.
This tiny epicentre of opulence is a facinating place with chamber after chamber and corridor after corridor of frescoes and sculptures and ancient artifacts and jewellery. Just when it was beginning to get too much we found ourselves in the Sistine Chapel... WOW! Words cannot describe the magnificence of this place - every surface intricately adorned with the most famous of frescoes, Michelangelo's
Last Judgment and
Creation of Adam. Never before (and probably never again) have we ever sat for so long, staring at the walls and ceiling of a church in such reverent silence - although others in the chapel couldn't control themselves and earned the monotonous protestations of the Vatican guards...
Quiet pleeeeazzzzzzzzz - No photos pleeeeeeazzzzzzzzzz.
Most of our remaining time in Rome was spent chaotically racing from one ancient Roman ruin to another or between wonderful, but terribly over-crowded piazzas. All this did not, however, stop us from seeking out and
finding at the last minute a very highly recommended gelati shop (a local treat we enjoyed sampling almost every day in Italy.). It's probably a good thing we already had our tickets to leave, or this one shop could have been soley responsible for creating a couple of fat and broke (but wonderfully content) little Aussies.
CROATIA - Dubrovnik - Definitely our vote for most romantic town so far. This is a big call coming from Italy, but other than the initial hassle of aquiring lodgings from one of the myriad of options being forced on us by the over-enthusiastic and vicious touts at the harbour, and a slight (EXCRUTIATING) incident with a sea urchin, this place was close to perfect. We stayed, as is the fashion, with a lovely local family in a wonderful private room which opened onto a verandah with great views. From there we could wander down the maze of stairs and find ourselves on the beach or take a short bus ride into the old town to explore glowering white marble alleyways or to observe the world from the towering city walls. We also ventured out on to one of the quiet surrounding
islands for some glorious swimming, sunbaking and sleeping.
Even the bus ride out of Dubrovnik was possibly the most spectacular we have taken. Winding around the coast, and in and out of Bosnia and Herzegovina we managed to avoid our usual comatose public transport state and sat for hours with our noses plastered to the windows. We seemed to traverse every kind of landscape, from plunging cliffs to soaring grey mountains and from plains of dry stones to flooded fields of the lushest green. We found ourselves saying "That looks like China...or Turkey...or home." Our destination was Split, which we enjoyed (partly thanks to our elderly hosts who welcomed us with a potent braincellicidal homegrown tonic) for a couple of days before once again heading north.
AUSTRIA (via Slovenia) - Arriving in a city at 4.30am gives you a chance to see a side of the city not often experienced by the tourist crowd. But we loved strolling the empty streets of Salzburg and watching the city and all its cyclists wake up. We had a lovely moment involving heavenly choirs of nuns and golden morning light in the convent of Fraulein Maria. From this "Sound
of Music" town, we moved to the real "hills" on the outskirts of Innsbruck. By this point we were tired of typical old European towns so we barely did any exploring before opting for a free guided hike through the Austrian Alps.
GERMANY - Destination: Eichstatt
We arrived at Luisa's (buddy from Mongolian stint) in Eichstatt and were hailed as the bringers of good weather and as a result celebrated with a trip to the local pool. Within the hour the clouds had rolled in, thunder was all around and the first drops were beginning to fall. The foul weather persisted for most of our stay in Germany. We took the hour-or-so train ride down to Munich for a water-logged stroll around the city's rebuilt centre and drinking establishments. Then we enjoyed more time on Luisa's cosy futon before going north to Nuremberg and the eye-opening Documentation Centre and Nazi Party Rally Grounds.
We thoroughly enjoyed this part of Europe and have already begun making plans for return trips...
well, it's nice to dream, right?
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