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Published: September 14th 2008
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We know its probably too late to apologise for the huge gap between entries, but we've been too busy holidaying ; ).
Italy definitely lived up to its reputation of amazing places, food wine, love and mafia.
Venice, we arrived into the maze of canals, alley ways and bridges. The map was never far from our hands but we still didn't know where we were on it. By the end we just followed the crowds, working on the theory that not that many people could be lost. A friendly local lady helped us find our hostel whose address was so nonspecific that it merely included the name of the canal it was on.
We took in the Rialto Bridge strolling into the San Marco Square and had one of many pasta and pizza meals and red wine. Next morning we again attempted to orientate ourselves by taking a Vaporetto, water bus all the way down the Grand Canal. The scene of controlled carnage, private river taxis, rubbish removal boats, grocery transporters, rubber dingy and gondola's somehow navigating the tiny chopped up canal. Little did we know that driving around the cliffs of the Amafli coast would be more
intense. Back down at the San Marco Square we climbed up the Campanile, which gave us an awesome view over the city. We stopped at the Bridge of Sighs and picked up a Gondola at the Academia bridge, our traditionally dressed greasy Italian took us down even narrower canals, past Marco Polos house and back along the Grand Canal. After more pasta and pizza we chanced across 4 fun female violinists doing cheesy remixes of modern songs with a thunderstorm in the background. Very cool.
Florence, we arrived in the town and settled into our campsite next to Piazzo Michelangelo overlooking the old city across the river Arno and enjoyed our first glowing sunset from our vantage point. We had a pleasant walk down the hill across the Ponte Vecchio (and no we did not stop at one of the many jewelleries lining the bridge) on to the queue that had formed outside the Uffizi Gallery. We almost spent as much time in the Gallery as we did in the queue, inside we saw as many Adoration of the Magi's, Madonna and Child as we could. We climbed more stairs up to the top of the Duomo and on
our last day we woke up early to see the David, all 5 meters of him. The detail of veins and form in the white marble was as impressive as it is famous.
We had a couple of mornings when our days started more like the amazing race, running half way across town to catch our Chianti wine tour around Tuscany. The Italian characters and big personalities kept appearing as Pierre-Luigi taught us how to taste the local Chianti wine and aphrodisiac truffle olive oil. We had the most picturesque traditional meal under olive groves adjacent to a landscape of vineyards and the towers of the medieval San Gimignano looming above us, which we later strolled through armed with a gelato ice cream to help cope with the sweltering heat.
Our day trip to Pisa again started with a mad dash across the Florence station dodging the morning commuters searching for platform 1, which was conveniently located on the far side of the station. Once in Pisa we took in the town and the impressive field of miracles. Caroline had to cover up in the church, wearing a green hospital gown type garment...apparently not everything Italian is fashionable.
Once our time slot arrived we headed up the tower, looking down to the green grass below from the top of the slippery marble tower was weird and disorientating. I am glad that superman straightened it up a bit.
Rome was just a refresher for us and we meandered past the Colosseum, Capitaline Hill, watched a wedding couple throw coins into the Trevi Fountain and after dinner we sat on the Spanish stairs enjoying a local beer and the free opera show greeted with warm applause from the crowds. We completed the ultimate stair master challenge and dripping with sweat admired the keyhole shaped square below the St. Peters Basilica.
Now it was time for the Beach and it would be hard to find a more beautiful coast line than the Amalfi, although their definition of a beach is somewhat liberal. Sorrento hanging on the cliffs above the clear blue water was our first stop and we had another pizza in a beautiful square with Frank Sinatra being played on a piano hidden in the corner.
We took a day trip out to Capri, circumnavigating the island. Paying our €10 for 2 minutes in the Blue Grotto,
the beauty matching the price as our boat oarsman skillfully arched backwards and pulled us in and out of the luminescent coloured cave. The colour was unbelievably rich. We whiled away the day catching buses around the island and finally hiding in defeat from the sun. Cruising back we drove through the arched Faraglioni which rose out the sea like the spike of an ancient sea monster.
If we thought Sorrento had prepared us for the cliffs we were wrong. Our bus to Atrani (Amalfi coast) wound round cliff hanging edges, honking at every blind corner, tunnel, hairpin and dare devil scooter, of which there were a few. Passing terraced orchards and hotels on every rock protruding out of the sea, past beaches with perfectly aligned and colour co-ordinated umbrella's with hypnotic patterns and loungers set out meticulously. The drive was so breathtaking that we did it again the next day, enjoying the morning on Positano's beach, the cave tour of the Grotta des Smeraldo and the awesome hazy views from the gardens of Ravello. A truly stunning place.
Our next train all the way down to the tip of the boot had to split in half to
park inside the ferry and reattach itself in Sicily. We were happy that we spent most of the next day getting sun burnt on the beach rather than taking in the town as once off the main streets Palermo was very edgy. Leaving the city in our rental car we had to brave some of the craziest driving on the wrong side of the road. The island countryside was beautiful and we stopped for lunch near Sant Vito la Capo. Our drive through the agricultural fields continued up to the views from Erice. A medieval city sitting atop a crag with patterned cobbled streets, walled fort and Duomo (there have been many of these ; )
The next day we maximised our time at the temples, all of which seem to be from B.C. Segesta had a very well preserved incomplete temple and an amphitheatre which looked out across the farm lands and distant valley covered in morning mist. Onto the valley of temples in Agrigento, which tested the mercury as we tried to see all the ruins on the ridge in the midday heat. By the end it was just a route march as we raced around and
back to the AC of our rental car and then drove on to Giarre, a town near Taormina. We had a traditional dinner of various rice balls and pastries all served in tin-foil while looking up at the red glow of the latest open eruption on Mt Etna. Driving up the hairpin bends the next day, past the forest and up into the black crater full mountain Caroline questioned why we were driving into the largest active volcano in Europe. We continued up the volcano by cable car and then 4x4 before walking through the sulphur smoke that was still rising out of the 2001 eruption of the lunar type landscape. Back down to the coast that spread out below we spent the rest of the afternoon on Isola Bella a picturesque pebbled beach with a nature reserve island dividing the bay and overhanging cliffs in half. Idyllic! As was the views high above from the penis decorated bar in Castelmola. You have to see it for yourself.
Our time in Italy was coming to an end and it was simply getting ourselves to Brindisi to catch our ferry. Eventually we made it 2 days later climbed on our
ferry to enjoy our 2nd year anniversary. Our cruise liner's departure from the port was nothing like the opening of Titanic but then there weren't any icebergs in the med either. Turkish breakfasts were now on the menu but this still includes bread and lots of it.
PS. Shep We'll forgive you if you don't read it all
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