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Europe » Italy » Emilia-Romagna » Rimini February 13th 2023

Dear All Greetings, or saluti! I have just returned from my final mini-trip of this winter period of travel, having seen my last one of Europe's micro-states. My theme for these last couple of months has been to visit my three remaining European micro-states, out of six in total. I had already been to the Vatican, Andorra and Malta, and this February half-term after having visited Monaco and Liechtenstein over the Christmas holidays, I was heading to San Marino! Well, in actual fact, I was heading to Bologna, to first take a train to Rimini for a couple of nights, then on to San Marino for two more, before my final night in Bologna. This is my first of two blog entries relating my time there, and will recount my adventures in Rimini at the beginning ... read more
Rimini Port
The Two Towers
Me, Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca

Europe » Italy » Friuli-Venezia Giulia » Trieste December 2nd 2022

29 nov (Toujours à Piran, Slovénie) Le seul autocar qui rejoint l'Italie à partir de Piran demande aux voyageurs de se lever bien bonne heure: départ vers Trieste à 6h45AM. Les quatre places de stationnement réservées pour les grands bus à la ville portuaire se font balayer par le vent noir du large. Toutes les lumières sont éteintes au Café Neptune d'à côté, là où j'avais prit l'habitude de commander des Cappuccinos que je buvotais silencieusement en observant la mer. Je ne suis pas le seul dans la navette ce matin, mais peu iront jusqu'à l'Italie. Inaperçue, la frontière passera sans rien dire, quoique les rebords de la grande Trieste (+ ou - 235 000 habitants) me laisseront tout de même présumer ma sortie de Slovénie (il n'y a que 25 kilomètres qui séparent Piran de ... read more
Port Trieste
Ciel à Trieste
Pizza 1

Europe » Italy November 28th 2022

Packed up we set off inland and towards one of the oldest republics in the world San Marino. More culture coming up……founded by a stonemason monk who left Rimini to set up a church on mount Titano back in the 10thcentury the country carries his name Saint Marinus. I’ve visited before but it was Mel’s first time and a new country for her list as we try to visit every country in Europe over the coming years in our van. The town of San Marino is atop of the mountain and the small streets and interesting buildings are all stepped on the side of the mountain with some amazing views. There are 3 towers that were built as defences along with fortified walls and the more recent government buildings, it’s nice and picturesque but there is ... read more
Arezzo
Lake Trasimeno
Sienna

Europe » Italy November 28th 2022

Heading east from Lake Garda we passed the towns of Verona, Viacenza and Padova on the E70 and we drove through endless vineyards and saw some stunning villages and buildings. After a fairly long drive of 90 minutes we arrived at Camping Fusina on the shores of the Venezian lagoon. We got parked up right on the waterfront where we could easily see Venice just a short boat trip away. Another warm sunny day so we had a chilled afternoon watching the boats on the water and even massive cruise ships went right passed the shoreline. Up early and on the boat and across to Venice, the boat is only 25 minutes and drops you off in Zattere a good starting place to explore from. The campsite gave us a map with a good walking route ... read more
Venice
Verona the view from the hilltop
Veronas pink colesseum

Europe » Italy November 28th 2022

Joining the A8 toll road from Antibes and crossing the Italian border into Liguria we drove over numerous viaducts and through as many tunnels which is the very scenic Italian riviera motorway. First stop in Italy was Pietra Ligure and camping Dei Fiori. We checked in and got set up and chilled for the afternoon. We walked into town that evening and into Piazza San Nicolo di Bari which is a very busy place with bars and restaurants, we ate in a pizzeria and had a few beers in the square. That night I woke at 3am with a really bad headache and by 9am I was being violently sick and the other end was equally as bad, nurse Mel diagnosed sunstroke. Feeling a little better by 11am we left Liguria and headed for Lombardy and ... read more
Milan
Milans arcade
Campsite Baveno

Europe » Italy » Campania » Sorrento October 29th 2022

Reminder: the panoramic photos at the start of the blog change every 7/8 seconds and there are more photos below the text if you want to skip the diary details; and if you double click on any of the photos you will get an enlarged, clearer image. You can return to the text anytime. Day 5 Friday 28th October: having become disenchanted with local travel following our experiences on the Amalfi Coast and Herculaneum we decided that the best thing to do would be to stay overnight in Sorrento town rather than being beholden to the hotel shuttle bus timings. So Jane booked a "luxury sea view room" in the rather opulent Imperial Hotel Tramontano, one of the grand hotels which line the cliffs above Sorrento's beaches and harbours. The hotel wasn't as grand as we'd ... read more
Imperial Hotel Tramontano Room 407
 Morning view from hotel room
Hotel Imperial dining room

Europe » Italy » Apulia » Alberobello October 9th 2022

I have to tell you how excited we are to be in Alberobello, what a great feel Alberobello has about it, a quaint little town up in the hills off the east coast of Italy! I have wanted to visit here for ages because of the Trullis, these white washed, coned shaped rock roof homes are just so extraordinary! We left Lecce at 11.15am for a Rome bound train with only about 4 stops to Rome, but Bari was one of them so disembarked in Bari and caught a local bus to Alberobello as no country trains run on a Sunday, arrived in Alberobello at about 2.15pm so it wasn't too bad! We have fallen in love with it already! These homes are very unique to the Puglia area and it appears they were originally built ... read more
ALBEROBELLO
ALBEROBELLO
ALBEROBELLO

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome October 6th 2022

“There‘s something about arriving in new cities, wandering empty streets with no destination. I will never lose the love for the arriving, but I’m born to leave.” - Charlotte Eriksson Well, we only had a short time in Rome, but we have loved it. Tomorrow we fly back home (that is, hopefully we fly back, provided we make our flight, more on that later). We had another full day today, roaming around this vibrant, beautiful, exasperating, and amazing city. We headed out this morning about 8:30, stopping for cappuccinos and croissants at a nearby coffee shop, before hopping on a bus to take us to St. Peter’s Basilica. We could have taken the metro, but the bus would get us closer to St. Peter’s than the metro. We waited in the security line for about 1/2 ... read more
St. Peter’s Square
St. Peter’s Square
St. Peter’s Square

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome October 5th 2022

Greetings from Rome! Monday (Oct 3) was a pretty chill last day in Lecce. We had a leisurely morning, with a breakfast of scrambled eggs and mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes, and toast, made by Susan. Delicious! I found another tailor on google, in the continuing quest to get my pantsuit hemmed, and success! The little tailor shop was just a short walk away, and we were helped along the way by really nice locals, one of whom took us right to the shop. While I was in getting my pants pinned, Susan and Beth were chatting with her (I believe there was a recommendation of various restaurant for dinner). I tried out my new purse today and I was really happy with it. We popped into several other shops (Susan got a purse and I got ... read more
Ross and I in our new Italian outfits!
Me with last Aperol Spritz in Lecce
Beth, Susan and I on the way to dinner

Europe » Italy » Tuscany October 5th 2022

Ever since I read the book "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Frances Mayes in 2003, I have wanted to visit there. Tuscany is in central Italy and is well known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy and was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Of course most tourists visited Tuscany because their famous wine and olive oil. We rented a car so we could spent time at smaller villages and ancient hill towns. We used both Florence and Siena as our bases. Thank goodness for Google Map, it gave clear instructions (in English) and re-route us quickly when we made mistakes. Without it, we would never have made it with the Italian road systems and their hundreds of roundabouts. We headed to Pisa (88 km west of Florence) on a gorgeous sunny day. The tower was ... read more
Ray came pretty close to place his hands on the tower
Gelato, of course!
In front of Puccini's picture




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