The narrow streets of Venice!
St Peters Basillica, Rome. some extra holy pope!
A Raphael Room in the Vatican museum
Vatican museum
Coloseum
Gothic church in Orvieto
Rome
Sweet ride!!
Grape thief!!!
Caught in the act!
Wine in Tuscany
Florence
Florence
FlorenceVenice, a city that is sinking lower while the sea is rising, a really unique city that is totally packed with mosquito’s, people and ridiculously over priced Gondole’s.
We were staying at a camp ground 30minutes out of the city that was situated right beside the airport, like if you climbed the fence out of camp you were on the runway. But we had a tent to ourselves and the camp had a swimming pool and two Jacuzzis, very nice when it is so hot!
We spent two days here wandering around the narrow streets and along the many canals doing what all the tourists do; that is getting hopelessly lost. We invested 2.50 on a map but it was of little use due to the fact that when a street is only just over a metre wide they don’t bother putting its name on the map, and these streets comprise 50% of Venice! The first day we wandered around a part that seemed to be a haven for local artist and we checked out some amazing little galleries where you can see the artist working away in the corner, it was really neat and after being through so many markets where vendors are selling the same pieces of copied art it was refreshing to see so much genuine stuff. To combat getting lost we decided just to walk and head for nowhere in particular but end up everywhere. It worked fairly well till we tried to get back to the Piazza that the bus dropped us off at. The second day we wandered around the rest of Venice, avoiding the masses of tourists who seemed to be condensed all into a few main streets and one square. Oh yes and we must mention that we also had a few gelatos, mmmm the Italians really know how to make ice cream!
On a side note, before Venice we spent the night in Munich and as most hostels in Italy France and Spain don’t seem to have kitchens we bought a gas cooker and a saucepan. I can tell you now that after 12 meals cooked we are amazing at one-pot-wonders!!! (If your lucky we will cook some for ya when we come back). Once the meal is cooked we eat it out of the pot with for the first week our one fork and now with our one fork and one spoon. Breakfast in the first week was cornflakes in our tupperware container eaten with a fork… all good fun!
After three nights in Venice we got back on the bus and travelled all day to Rome, watching the movie Gladiator along the way, a very good movie to amp you up for Rome.
Because Rome is Rome and it has an amazing history we decided to spend some money on a walking tour. So the first day we followed a passionate Canadian Roman history graduate around the ruinous part of the city for four hours. The tour was well worth the 18 euro ticket and taught us a lot about the city and Roman history. They were some pretty crazy people, our guide stressed that Romans didn’t do anything unless it was way over the top and totally unnecessary (and also that Margarita Pizza is the best Pizza)! But they did build a huge empire that lasted a thousand years and buildings that have lasted two. Rome sits over a huge aquifer and so as you go around the city there are clean drinking fountains every second corner, great as it is prone to being a little warm. Mussolini did a lot of work in excavating the ruins of Rome and trying to get back a piece of what Rome used to be, he also passed legislation that made all cats of Rome Roman citizens, this means that they are even allowed to vote!?! Rome is the centre of Catholicism and has 900 churches with most of them being ornate marble master pieces, but the Pope went a bit crazy consecrating things so now apparently the Coliseum is consecrated as a catholic church!?!
The third day we made our way to Vatican city the smallest sovereign country in the world about 1 square km. We finally relented to standing in a queue and waited to get in to the Vatican Museums that hold a lot of pillaged Egyptian art pieces and the paintings of Raphael and many other significant Renaissance artists. The art works were amazing and the museum had a great progression leading finally to the grand finale, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. It is definitely a must see! The pieces from it that we see all the time are actually really small and look very different amongst all of the other works, it was amazing and really indescribable. Leaving the chapel and the museum we were a bit numb and brain tired from all the art but still had to go and visit St Peters Basilica. This is the church that has been built over the tomb of the Apostle Peter “You are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) It has the largest interior of any church in the world and also was amazing!
After Rome we headed off to Florence, stopping along the way to visit a little township called Orvieto situated on top of a sheer cliff face only accessible by a cable car. This cute little village along with its good views, cute local art and cobbled streets also had the most impressive Gothic style church we had seen to date, a very nice stop!
We were told that after the busyness of Rome it was nice to be in Florence for a slower pace of life, appealing to hear but as we were soon to find out this was not the case….
To describe Florence I would like to quote Lonely Planet which we found very truthful of our experience; ‘Florence has a strange effect on visitors. Travellers who normally loathe art galleries queue for hours to get into them, and people with no interest in Renaissance architecture start raving about tiered facades and frescoed apses. But break the spell and you’ll find that Florence can be disheartening. Much of the centre has been surrendered to tourism and in the summer heat, pollution and crowds can be stifling’… That said, looking at all the old buildings whilst trying to forget the rest you could see that it was a very pretty city. Another saving grace of Florence ended up being our little hostel, and by little I mean only 20 beds in the whole place! The girls who worked there were so lovely you felt that you wanted to do something for them and all the other guests were helpful and loved to chat…sometimes a little too much, but mostly this was nice. Only having two days in Florence we spent our first checking out the city and the second we splashed out for a wine tour in the surrounding Tuscany area. The wine tour was great we first went to a little farm and the owners brought us out all homemade food and wine for a huge brunch (reminded me a little of Nikau cave before the café) then we walked a little way to look at their goats (cheese) olives (oil) and grapes (wine). We headed off very, very full further into the country side with our bus driver having the tricky task of navigating a huge bus full of people up little country roads, we were all very impressed! We arrived at a very expensive winery and were guided through the wine making process and at the end we were able to drink three different kinds of their wine, one of which was called ‘holy wine’ as this is what the priests drink at Christmas, WOW ha! Very sleepy we all headed off to our last stop which was an old fortress to wander through the little town and eat Gelato Ice Cream, and then back home… a very good day with good company and good food and wine! Andrew and I finished off our day with a trip up a hill over looking the city to watch the beautiful sunset and a stroll back to the hostel for a light dinner as still full from the brunch!
We were staying at a camp ground 30minutes out of the city that was situated right beside the airport, like if you climbed the fence out of camp you were on the runway. But we had a tent to ourselves and the camp had a swimming pool and two Jacuzzis, very nice when it is so hot!
We spent two days here wandering around the narrow streets and along the many canals doing what all the tourists do; that is getting hopelessly lost. We invested 2.50 on a map but it was of little use due to the fact that when a street is only just over a metre wide they don’t bother putting its name on the map, and these streets comprise 50% of Venice! The first day we wandered around a part that seemed to be a haven for local artist and we checked out some amazing little galleries where you can see the artist working away in the corner, it was really neat and after being through so many markets where vendors are selling the same pieces of copied art it was refreshing to see so much genuine stuff. To combat getting lost we decided just to walk and head for nowhere in particular but end up everywhere. It worked fairly well till we tried to get back to the Piazza that the bus dropped us off at. The second day we wandered around the rest of Venice, avoiding the masses of tourists who seemed to be condensed all into a few main streets and one square. Oh yes and we must mention that we also had a few gelatos, mmmm the Italians really know how to make ice cream!
On a side note, before Venice we spent the night in Munich and as most hostels in Italy France and Spain don’t seem to have kitchens we bought a gas cooker and a saucepan. I can tell you now that after 12 meals cooked we are amazing at one-pot-wonders!!! (If your lucky we will cook some for ya when we come back). Once the meal is cooked we eat it out of the pot with for the first week our one fork and now with our one fork and one spoon. Breakfast in the first week was cornflakes in our tupperware container eaten with a fork… all good fun!
After three nights in Venice we got back on the bus and travelled all day to Rome, watching the movie Gladiator along the way, a very good movie to amp you up for Rome.
Because Rome is Rome and it has an amazing history we decided to spend some money on a walking tour. So the first day we followed a passionate Canadian Roman history graduate around the ruinous part of the city for four hours. The tour was well worth the 18 euro ticket and taught us a lot about the city and Roman history. They were some pretty crazy people, our guide stressed that Romans didn’t do anything unless it was way over the top and totally unnecessary (and also that Margarita Pizza is the best Pizza)! But they did build a huge empire that lasted a thousand years and buildings that have lasted two. Rome sits over a huge aquifer and so as you go around the city there are clean drinking fountains every second corner, great as it is prone to being a little warm. Mussolini did a lot of work in excavating the ruins of Rome and trying to get back a piece of what Rome used to be, he also passed legislation that made all cats of Rome Roman citizens, this means that they are even allowed to vote!?! Rome is the centre of Catholicism and has 900 churches with most of them being ornate marble master pieces, but the Pope went a bit crazy consecrating things so now apparently the Coliseum is consecrated as a catholic church!?!
The third day we made our way to Vatican city the smallest sovereign country in the world about 1 square km. We finally relented to standing in a queue and waited to get in to the Vatican Museums that hold a lot of pillaged Egyptian art pieces and the paintings of Raphael and many other significant Renaissance artists. The art works were amazing and the museum had a great progression leading finally to the grand finale, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. It is definitely a must see! The pieces from it that we see all the time are actually really small and look very different amongst all of the other works, it was amazing and really indescribable. Leaving the chapel and the museum we were a bit numb and brain tired from all the art but still had to go and visit St Peters Basilica. This is the church that has been built over the tomb of the Apostle Peter “You are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18) It has the largest interior of any church in the world and also was amazing!
After Rome we headed off to Florence, stopping along the way to visit a little township called Orvieto situated on top of a sheer cliff face only accessible by a cable car. This cute little village along with its good views, cute local art and cobbled streets also had the most impressive Gothic style church we had seen to date, a very nice stop!
We were told that after the busyness of Rome it was nice to be in Florence for a slower pace of life, appealing to hear but as we were soon to find out this was not the case….
To describe Florence I would like to quote Lonely Planet which we found very truthful of our experience; ‘Florence has a strange effect on visitors. Travellers who normally loathe art galleries queue for hours to get into them, and people with no interest in Renaissance architecture start raving about tiered facades and frescoed apses. But break the spell and you’ll find that Florence can be disheartening. Much of the centre has been surrendered to tourism and in the summer heat, pollution and crowds can be stifling’… That said, looking at all the old buildings whilst trying to forget the rest you could see that it was a very pretty city. Another saving grace of Florence ended up being our little hostel, and by little I mean only 20 beds in the whole place! The girls who worked there were so lovely you felt that you wanted to do something for them and all the other guests were helpful and loved to chat…sometimes a little too much, but mostly this was nice. Only having two days in Florence we spent our first checking out the city and the second we splashed out for a wine tour in the surrounding Tuscany area. The wine tour was great we first went to a little farm and the owners brought us out all homemade food and wine for a huge brunch (reminded me a little of Nikau cave before the café) then we walked a little way to look at their goats (cheese) olives (oil) and grapes (wine). We headed off very, very full further into the country side with our bus driver having the tricky task of navigating a huge bus full of people up little country roads, we were all very impressed! We arrived at a very expensive winery and were guided through the wine making process and at the end we were able to drink three different kinds of their wine, one of which was called ‘holy wine’ as this is what the priests drink at Christmas, WOW ha! Very sleepy we all headed off to our last stop which was an old fortress to wander through the little town and eat Gelato Ice Cream, and then back home… a very good day with good company and good food and wine! Andrew and I finished off our day with a trip up a hill over looking the city to watch the beautiful sunset and a stroll back to the hostel for a light dinner as still full from the brunch!
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