The tourist trail of Italy

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Firstly, yes, we are still alive and traipsing around Europe, despite all indications to the contrary. What can I say? There is just too much to do, and for the past few weeks, too much pizza and pasta to eat to find the time to blog 😊

But we have now arrived for our first week of "holidays" in the Italian alps so the pace has slowed considerably!

I think I left off last blog on our way to Budapest to meet with Mum? Needless to say we had a great time. We all decided to give our feet a rest in the 36 degree heat and got hop on hop off bus tickets that took us all around the city of Pest, and then up to the castle on the hill in Buda. We also were able to take a sunset cruise down the Danube, beautiful. And of course, after all that touring we needed to find a way to relax which the thermal hot springs and roman baths in Budapest provided the perfect solution.

And then like all good things, it was over and we were on our way to Italy... It started with our second overnight train from Vienna to Rome. Leaving at 7pm we got about 2hours of day light to see the spectacular mountain scenery, thinking everything was so lovely and romantic and vowing to find more overnight trains to travel on during our trip. Hmmm... that was until the next morning when we woke up from our bunk beds having gotten no sleep from the noisy train, feeling stiff and achy and then having the airconditioning turn off because (according to the conductor) the Austrian trains can't access the electricity from the lines in Italy. Grrr!!!

But we made it to Rome, and the scorching heat there. While we were expecting the heat, perhaps we werent expecting so much of it... thank goodness for all of the water fountains just on the side of the road every block or so to fill up water bottles, wet your hat and shirt and generally cool off. While we did all of the obligatory Roman sites, the one that we were most impressed with was off the beaten track. It was the crpyt of the Capuchin Monks (not sure I spelt it right...). Under the church there was soil brought from Jerusalem and so they had many many monks wanting to be buried there. Eventually they ran out of space. So consider what you would do in that situation... of course you would dig up the remains, clean off the bones and create creepily beautiful works of art with bits of bones all throughout the crypt. Oh, and jusst down the road, I almost forgot, was Via Marguta... where Gregory Peck hosted a run away princess of Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday - oh, and apprently Puccini, Picasso and some big Italian movie director also lived/s there.

And then it was off to the coast for what we hoped was a cool down with lemons in Sorrento. We were very lucky with our accommodation (well, lucky to have booked about 10 months ago 😊 as we stayeed in a little citrus orchard in a farm house with high ceiling and big windows. Beautiful. We also made some new friends and spent our whole time in Sorrento sightseeing with Bill and Barb from America. Lots of fun, and definitely lots of laughs to be had. After meeting at the train station in Naples we met by chance again at a lovely restaurant overlooking the bay and Mt Vesuvius that night. After a few drinks we decided that we would all head towards the Amalfi coast the next morning to see the scenery and beaches. Sounds lovely, right?

Well, that was until about 5 minutes into the bus ride when it became clear the airconditioning wasnt working to its potential, that the ride was up and down the mountains past sheer drops and the original estimate of a half hour ride turned into an hour... we were all starting to regret that last drink and wished we'd stayed in Sorrento.

Finally the bus stopped and as a gleaming beacon, there was another water fountain at the bus stop where we all cooled down and steadied ourselves before heading further down the cliffs to the spectacular beach below. I can honestly say I have never swam in a more stunning beach ever than there in Possitano, and doubt I ever will. Crystal clear water and at the base of huge cliffs covered precariously with houses and hotels.

Our adventures in Sorrento also took us for a morning trip to see Pompeii, the city that was buried by Vesuvius. It was absolutely amazing. The streets and many of the houses were still in tact, so we were able to get a very good idea of life around 2000 years ago. Everything was well ordered and had its own function. Stepping stones across the road so you didnt have to dirty your shoes in the drains (that look very similar to our zebra crossings today), the bath houses, the supermarkets and of course the brothels (complete with picture catalogues).

After Sorrento, it was off to Florence. By this time we were starting to get a little tired of running around and being on the tourist trail and were greeted by a "lovely" man at our hotel that said "of course you have heard about our tourist tax that was introduced last month? It will be an extra 3 euro per person per night". Grrr!!! Luckily the next night was the free museum night, so we saw the statue of David, teh Medici church and the Uffizi museum for free... a saving of about 52 euros to make up for the extra 30 we were paying.

So during our 5 days in Florence we saw the city, and saw Pisa and its leaning tower, a little walled town called Lucca, and also a day trip to Venice. All of which were very pretty and worthwhile, but too many tourists for our liking. So we took the advice of Bill adn Barb and checked out Fiesole, a town on a hill about Florence. Barely a tourist in sight and the most spectacular views of Florence and the Tuscan countryside you could imagine! We also climed to the point of what we were told was the point of da Vinici's flight experiment... but there is some scepticism from GPJ (Joel's grandfather) as to whether we were conned by that, so we need to google it! But the day finished with dinner in a gorgeous restaurant overlooking Florence with the sun setting. And 3 hours later we were feeling a little more human and less like part of the eternal herd of tourists (albeit eating dinner in a fancy restaurant in shorts and sneakers doesnt do much for feeling elegant, but oh well).

And now it is midday and we are sitting on the balcony of our studio apartment having just finished breakfast. We have a week here in a little town called Cermes in the alps, just south of the Austrian border. It is raining a little bit so we think that (like yesterday) we are just going to spend the day sitting here soaking in the view of the mountains which are covered in apple orchards and vineyards and maybe go for a swim later in the aftenoon. It is a tough life but someone has to do it 😊

But, to be fair, it is not all relaxing here... I had to do a load of washing yesterday when I got very excited to see a huge clothes airer here... with the bathroom sink being too small and tedious, I filled the bath with soapy water and washed and rinsed and washed and rinsed and got Joel to wring... OMG!!! I will never (maybe not never) complain about having to do laundry in a washing machine ever again!!!

Perhaps tomorrow when the weather clears up we will take a set of cable cars to the top of the alps, of go and see the 5000 year old ice man in Bolzano (an hour away by train).

Love to all.

Steph and Joel xxoo

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Photos

Capuchin monks - look closely
A message from the monks: What you are now, we used to be. What we are now, you will be.

Comments

[Roslyn]

After seeing these photos I definitely have no sympathy for your travel-weary feet!