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Published: October 9th 2008
Italians: Lovely people face to face but put them behind the wheel of a car and they become wanna-be F1 drivers with the temperament of a Doberman in a used car yard at night. We encountered some of the worst drivers in Italy, passing on double lines making their own centre lanes only to brake suddenly in front of you and turn off 50m ahead!! In fairness they weren't as bad as we had heard they could be...only got beeped and flashed a handful of times when we couldn't go any faster.
We entered Italy via the Dolomite mountain range. A spectacular rocky range in the North of Italy. Spent a night near Sesto at a camp ground with the most amazing ammenities we had ever seen. All marble with huge shower rooms and heated floors....something you would expect in a five star hotel.
Headed down to Lake Garda after Sesto and stayed a night before heading towards the coast. A stop off in Parma to buy some Parma Ham and Parmegianno cheese was made before heading to the Cinque Terre coastal area. We stayed in a car park that night and made friends with two local Italian men
who were on a road trip up north. They enjoyed practising their English with us and sharing many wines. Next day we set off on the Cinque Terre pathway between the five small towns on the coast. This little pathway, whilst packed with tourists, was very pretty and the towns very cute.
Next stop after Cinque Terre was Pisa and the famous tower. Stayed a night here and tried to beat the crowds in the morning at the tower but no luck....headed off late morning for Florence with a suspect diesel leak geting worse from the back of the van....
Florence was a city which lived up to its reputation of big sights and beauty. We visited several museums here and were amazed at the size of Michelangelo's 'David'. Spent only one night here but managed to pack a lot in. Our campsite was about 5km out of town and the ride home up a big hill proved to be a good sobering up mechanism after a night out in town!
From Florence we headed down to Rome. At this stage we had a leaking fuel pump and our oil light/alarm was coming on every few hundred
Doing the Pisa Dance
Joining in with tour groups in Pisakilometres. Decided to ignore the oil light and drive her as long as the fuel pump would allow. Thankfully we got to Rome (late) but were able to check in to the campsite as it was 24hr. Spent the next day trying to find a mechanic to repair the fuel pump but no luck. "Too old" was what most of the mechanics said! Still, we did manage to get an oil change and fit a new filter to be able to rule out oil pressure issues.
Spent a few days exploring Rome which was AMAZING. It is really one of those places that you go to and everything seems so familiar despite never having been there before. We met the lovely Nicki and Brent from NZ in the campground who had been waiting for over a week for parts for their transit van....things could always be worse for us...at least our van was still driving (for the moment anyway).
After Rome we were headed towards Slovenia and Eastern Europe. Stopped off in medieval Sienna and spent a night in Bologna to sample some fine local dishes and wines at a conveniently timed and nearby food festival. Visted another
mechanic here to plead for repairs, this time we rang our RAC helpline for assistance with finding a local mechanic who could help us. True to their form of being the most disorganised and least competent company in Europe they sent us to a petrol mechanic in stead of diesel (twice)...by this stage the van was driving ever slower and seemed to be almost coming to a stop on hills as she struggled to keep up with the fuel demands and air leaking in from her failing pump. We decided though that the Italians were obvisouly too proud of their new cars to want to spend time on old ones and thought that Slovenian mechanics might prove different.
We spent two nights near Venice and did a day trip over to the city of islands.....yet another Italian sight which lived up to expectations and didn't dissappoint. Next stop, Slovenia........
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valda mason
non-member comment
Rome/Venice/Florence
Hi Guys, It was great seeing and hearing about the above, Jules and I had a fun time going to these places, we especially loved Florence and walked to everything we could. Venice I had fun for three days while Jules was at a conference, Rome it rained but still spent our days roaming around the sights. We flew into Venice, then trained to Florence and Rome, I flew to UK and Jules went to USA to see Wayne. The memories just come flooding back and I am so glad you are having fun visiting these sights. The problem with Clancy fixed you should now have a great time without the worry of dials and quages going crazy. Our world is so varied it great to see. Have fun and hope to see you both soon. Auntie Val.