Italia

Rome: Nick and I spent 3 days in beautiful Roma and it blew our minds. Having heard so much about Rome we were expecting the ancient city to be ruined and overrun by tourism but we were surprised at how taken back we were with its beauty, history and relevance.

We stayed at a camping ground approximately 30 minutes outside the city which was a nice retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Our days were spent walking for hours to fit in all the sites, only stopping for some of the worlds tastiest pizzas and pastas. We spent hours inside the Vatican city and was blown away by St Peter’s Basilica. The church stands 120 metres high and no words can describe its architectural brilliance so I won’t go on. The colosseum, the Vatican museum, and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel are just a few of the things we can cross off our “things we must see before we die” list.

We spent hours wondering in and out of Piazza’s and ended up eating gelato’s on the Spanish steps. Many gelato’s were consumed at the Trevi Fountain (our favourite people watching spot in Rome). We jumped on the band wagon and threw a coin over our shoulder to ensure we would make it back to Rome some day. At this very point Nick and I came to the conclusion that Italians produce some of the finest looking men and women in the world.

Amalfi coast: Sorrento: From Roma we caught a train to the Godfather’s playground Napolia and jumped straight on a boat to Sorrento. We left gloomy, sad looking Naples and floated into Sorrento’s beautiful harbour with the sun shining and everything looking up. We made our way to our hostel, a little B&B and settled in. It was a great little spot because we were outside of the touristy area and in amongst the locals – so we were able to sample real Italian food and real Italian culture – bellisimo.

We made our way on the bus to the most famous town of the Amalfi Coast – Positano. A beautiful town on the side of a mountain stretching down to the beach below. We wandered down through the winding pathways admiring the sights and smells. Eventually when we hit the beach, the view was spectacular. Pastel buildings perched on the mountain overlooking crystal clear blue water. The price of everything and the designer labels surrounding us, ensured we couldn’t get to comfortable and sadly had to return to Sorrento but we enjoyed Positano for a short while.

We’d originally planned to make it to Capri, but our laziness mixed with disorganisation meant that we weren’t ready in time. So instead we decided to head to Pompeii.

Pompeii was a bit of a letdown for me. Nick was only slightly more interested than I was but he pushed on while I waited for him in a beautiful garden with a great book. Unless you’re interested in archaeology or a huge history buff Pompeii can look like a huge rock pile. I understand the significance of the site but it didn’t tickle my fancy. The site itself didn’t offer any information that described what was being looked at and the boring audio guide needed a massive update, so to us it looked all the same. I did end up finishing my book so it wasn’t such a waste of time.

Florence: From Sorrento we caught a train to Naples and from Naples another train to Florence. We spent three days in Florence wandering around the city and leather markets, taking in the architecture and admiring the culture and cuisine. We stayed at a very social hostel so we got to met some great people. Another “thing to see before we die” was crossed off our list when we went to see the western world’s most famous sculpture, Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria Dell’Accademia. The marble sculpture was flawless to our eyes, once again we were taken back by it’s beauty.

The next day in Florence we indulged in a wine and food tasting tour where we got to sample some of Tuscany’s finest drops and devour delicious cold meats, olive oils, jams and cheeses. We got to see some of the beautiful Tuscan country side and visit gorgeous chateaus.

Pisa: From Florence we hopped on a train with another couple (John and Amy) we met in Florence. We were here only for a few hours as Pisa doesn’t have a whole lot to offer besides the leaning tower and it was on our way to our next destination. We had seen numerous photographs of the tower and wasn’t at all expected to be surprised at the sight of it. Once we came closer the building looked more and more out of place. Construction of the building began in 1173 and was never complete because of the layer of shifting soil beneath the tower. The tower continued to shift at a rate of 1mm per year, in 1990 it had reached 5.5 degrees beyond critical point. In 1998, 8 years later, the Italian’s decided to do something about it so today it is stable at almost 4.1m off the perpendicular.

We spent a good hour trying to take ridiculous photos in all sorts of positions. It’s quite an amusing scene watching hundreds of other people doing the same.

Cinque Terre: A train ride later on the same day we ended up in Cinque Terre. The most picturesque dramatic stretch of coast line Nick and I have seen in Europe. We spent most of our time in the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre a national park that contains five towns (hence the name... Cinque meaning five, Terre meaning town) all linked together by a mildly challenging trail that allows you to hike between the towns (takes approx 5 hours). In between the towns to cool off we stopped for a swim and sunbaked and took in the beautiful surroundings and blue water. Words can’t describe the beauty of this place, so again, I’ll stop here.

Venice: We arrived in Venice via train and stayed at a camping site on the outskirts of the main city. Venice is a beautiful, surreal city catered mainly for tourists. When Venice was built it wasn’t designed for the 20 million visitors that come every year so flooding is a common problem and we could see why. The architecture and grand canal were gorgeous, we opted against the 70 euro 15 minute gondola ride but watched in ore from the bridges as the gondola drivers manoeuvred around missing each other by millimetres. Most of Venice was sightseeing and walking around trying to avoid the copious amounts of hustlers, tourists and dirty pigeons which was impossible.

Canyoning: In the middle of our Venice trip we hired a car for the day and headed two hours east to Slovenia for the day. A fellow traveller had recommended that we give canyoning a try. We arrived in small little town called Kobarid, had a small bite to eat, was handed a steamer wetsuit, a pair of booties and a helmet. We drove a little out of town and ended up at the bottom of a mountain. After a half hour trek up the mountain with all our gear we made it to the top, looked down and saw a beautiful canyon. The only way to go from here was down but not the same way we came. After suiting up and a little instruction that went something like this... step carefully and slowly some of the rocks are deceiving you could slip and break your leg or worse you could fall over a ledge and die.... we were off sliding down waterfalls and jumping off rocks. We were definitely pushed to our limits when we jumped 12 metres from a cliff edge into what seemed like a small pond. It would have been less threatening if we were in a diving pool and we knew we probably wouldn’t die if we stuff up the jump, but in this case we were told if we landed an inch too far one way or the other we would seriously hurt ourselves, oh, and make sure you take a big enough jump over the edge because there’s a bit that protrudes and you can’t see it from here. All in all we had a great day, probably one of the most memorable days of our trip so far.

Milan: From Venice we ended up in Milan for a night for a flight the next day to Croatia. Not a very exciting place unless you had thousands of euros to spend on designer clothes. We did wander around the expensive shops and window shop and took some photos outside the famous Milan Cathedral. Within an hour we had seen all that Milan had to offer. The next morning we said goodbye to Italy and the beautiful people and was excited for our next destination.