Blogs from Italy, Europe

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

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

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

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

“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

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