We were SO excited for Venice. It took most of the day to get there from Munich.
We stayed on a campsite which unfortunately was a little way out of Venice but we got our own little caravan which was fun but had Topdeck (another travelling company, mostly annoying 16yr old Aussie kids) camping right outside our door.
We had a fun first evening with everyone from the bus with a massive thunder storm slowly making it's way over to us until it pissed it down!
We headed into Venice the next day- we got involved in a Gondola ride with a bunch of others (way cheaper!)
We spent the rest of the day just us two wandering the streets, getting a little lost and eating our first gelatto of the trip! YUM!
We decided to have dinner there so needed a few hours to waste because we had been recommended a great restaurant by two of the girls which wasn't open until about 7pm.
Sitting on the edge of the canal watching some gondolas and boats going past- getting our flirt on with the Italian men we suddenly struck gold!. . . . . A little speed boat came round the corner with two guys on, pumping some casual Sunday evening house music and eyeing us up.
Me: "Ciao!"
Them: "Ciao!"
Me: "Oh god have they stopped? Are they reversing? They're reversing!"
Them: "We have room for two more. You want to get in?"
Us: "Ummmmm. Yeah!"
Us: "Oh shit. Wait. Do we? Do we actually? Oh god. Ok. Yes! Fuck it. Let's go!"
Them: "You ok?"
Us: "Ummmm. Yeah!?!"
They took us out through the canals into the main canal/sea area, past St Mark's Square, past all the sucker tourists who aren't in a boat with two strange men and out to one of the small islands for some beers!
They sped us away super fast, with the music pumping and we couldn't stop laughing! It was the greatest, most random fun I've had travelling for a long time! It just made me fall in love with travelling so much more.
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| I didn't get any photographic face action unfortunately |
Spontaneous fun with new people, not worrying about what is gonna happen next and just living in the moment. I wish I felt that free everyday!
So we had a few beers on the island, we chatted and corrected their broken English, we tried to mutually speak in French and worried a little that they'd want us to 'repay' them somehow!
But they took us back with the music blaring, our hair getting whipped in the wind. . . . and that was it.
A kiss on each cheek later and we were gone.
An hour and a half of spontaneous fun that just made our trip so far!
So we went off to dinner at the restaurant which just made our evening even better. We flirted our way through free food and drink! Only in Italy can you flirt with the waiter for wine, tirimasu and aperitifs- then get offered a ride back to our campsite!
The ride we turned down. . . . . but the wine and tirimasu was bloody good!
It was the best welcome to a city I've ever had!
Our next stop was to Rome! We were beyond excited, staying at another campsite a little way out of the centre.
We headed out with a few others and got our first experience of Rome by night- eating gelatto as we turned the corner to be greeted by the Trevi fountain- it was amazing!
Throwing our coins into the fountain for good luck-
1 coin- You'll return to Rome
2 coins- You'll fall in love
3 coins- You'll get married
We also got our Gladiator poses on in front of the Colosseum. Oh yeah!
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| POW! |
We took a couple of the free guided tours around during the day which weren't amazing but they taught us a little at least!
We did however take a 4hour tour around the Vatican which was REALLY good. Our guide was a hot young Canadian called Justin who talks you through everything in a way that was really easy to understand (!!)
He called the Pope "BADASS" on way more than one occasion- enough said!
So we walked a lot, we saw a lot, we ate a lot of gelatto, we sweated a lot (nearly 40 degrees!) and we loved it!
Florence was next- we only stayed here for one night as we've been here before. We got in late afternoon and wandered to everywhere we could remember from a family trip two years ago.
It was a really beautiful evening with the sun out. We had some great pasta followed by more gelatto and sat in the central plaza near the Uffizi watching some crazy mime artists do their thang!
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| Sneaky illegal shot of the actual statue of David |
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| Duomo |
Early morning bus to La Spezia with a quick stop off in Pisa for the classic photos!
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| Quite a poor effort- not gonna win any competitions with that one! |
Arrived in La Spezia and got on a train to Cinque Terre (5 lands)- a group of 5 coastal towns- Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso.
We stayed at the second town Manarola in a hostel up the main street which was super steep and one hell of a bitch to drag our bags up! We got to the top with an amazing view over the sea so it was worth the effort.
We wanted to have a little explore of the town and go get our feet in the sea for the first time the whole trip- We didn't however expect what was going on.
You know how I said that in Venice we had the best welcome to any city- this was a definite rival!
Walking down the the sea front we saw a load of kids running around with water balloons and super soakers.
Suddenly we were in the middle of a GIANT water fight! Everyone had ammo and we were screwed! But it wasn't just the kids playing all these old folks on their balconies had buckets, saucepans and balloons full of water. We got soaked- it was amazing!
I'd say that it was a pretty awesome welcome to a new town- getting soaked in a giant water fight. Why not. I might introduce it to my town. . . . . .!
So the whole point of visiting Cinque Terre is to do the 'coastal walk' from town to town. We were staying at the second town so went from there to the 5th.
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| See the furthest town? That's where we were headed. |
It does have views of the coast but it's no walk on the beach (see what I did there) It takes you up into the forest and up mountains and across vineyards and olive groves, over rocks and down dusty tracks. We did it wearing flip flops and gladiator sandals- not ideal, but we did it!
It took us. . . . wait for it. . . . . 7.5 hours! Epic.
There was a fair amount of sweat especially going up and a lot of jelly legs going down. You kind of go up through the forest then down to each town (stopping for water and gelatto at each) then up through the forest and down again.
It was so good to reach the final town and get into the sea!
The walk was long but the views were some of the best I've ever seen and it was 110% worth it.
Get jealous. . . . . .
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| All the vineyards and olive groves |
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| The furthest town right in the back corner was where we ended up 7.5 hours later! |
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| Walking through the vineyards |
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| Our town- you can see how high up we were hiking! |
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| These markers appeared along the walk so you didn't get lost in the woods and start living the Blair Witch project |
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| Jelly legs on the way down! |
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| All the towns are SO pretty |
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| Getting closer into town means getting closer to a massive gelatto! |
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| SO pretty!! |
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| This guy is a bit of a legend on the Cinque Terre circuit! He has set up a little camp from his garden as you head into the last town where he supplies his own made limoncello shots and glasses of lemonade. Amazing! |
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| Our town- Manarola |
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| Our town- Manarola in the evening |
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| Sister Bee holding the sun! |
We were next off to Nice- sad to leave Italy but excited that we still had a lot more of the trip left!!
Our first night in Nice was really good fun ending up in Wayne's bar a real traveller bar with a great vibe, live music and dancing on tables- I LOVE to dance on tables!!
We took a day trip over to Monaco which was only about 30mins away by train. Spent most of the day lusting after the super yachts and super cars and dreaming of the day we win the lottery so we can come back and play in style!
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| Beautiful weather |
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| Doll actually has 2 L's, but that's fine, it's fine. Whatever |
In the evening we headed off to Cannes to watch the annual firework competition on the beach with some friends from home. It's a pretty cool competition where everyone watches from the beach and all the fireworks are set to music- we celebrated with some nice cheap champers!
Was SO good to see them all and hang out for a little bit.
Next morning we headed back to see them and stay at one of the girl's super dooper houses in the mountains!
Just being somewhere with home comforts was so nice. Lounging by the pool, listening to music then out in the evening for a round of karaoke!
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| Sister Bee karaoke-ing like a pro! |
Our hostel was horrible. There was no aircon anywhere so at night we had to leave all the windows open which allowed every mosquito in the whole world to feast on my flesh.
Our first sighting of Milan was a paedo down an alley have a wank- true story and our next was of junkies and tramps at the train station shooting up and heating their drugs on spoons.
We were not happy!
(Don't think I took a single photo!)
The next day we got out and went to Lake Como for the day instead which was ok but we wanted to find some shore where we could sunbathe and relax- all we got was a bit of dog pooped grass.
And not a single sighting of George Clooney. Dammit!
But Italy. . . . . . we love you!
Get ready for chapter 3 of the great European adventure. . . .
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