Sail Away With Me

Monday was our first sailing day. We took the yachts out into the sea which was so clear and blue it seemed as though the sea floor must have been painted! In fact we stopped for a swim in one spot which was 67 metres deep.



The water was very warm and extremely salty, making everyone's bodies extra buoyant which seemed quite strange. I loved swimming in the ocean and sailing with the group. Although the sleeping conditions were not very nice (and don't get me started on the loo!) it was such a wonderful experience sailing on the Ionian Sea and swimming in the water. I even took the tiller a few times and steered the boat, and so did David!


In the evening we moored at the island of Corfu. It was gorgeous.


We had cocktails by the water at a pool bar, and enjoyed a provided dinner at a fish taverna.



We had calamari, whole snapper and the strongest tatzhiki dip we have ever come across! Then there was Greek dancing but David and I were so exhausted that we just watched it from the yacht.

On Tuesday morning we made the trip back to Plataria with a few more welcome swim stops and a lovely break at a tiny isolated beach on the mainland with deckchairs and palm umbrellas. It was very picturesque.


We made it back to the little town of Plataria for one last night on the boat and a shower at a restaurant that cost 2 euro but was worth every cent. It was nice to get clean and be able to dress up a bit for dinner which was another great Greek meal - dolmades, Greek salad, swordfish and prawns!

Exchanging Comfort for Adventure

On the Friday in Rome we enjoyed a last wander around our area, visiting Santa Maria Basilica again and picnicking in the park.


We made our way in the afternoon to the outskirts of Rome where our tour group was waiting at a very cool campsite with its own pool, restaurant, bar and 'discoteque'! We were split into multishare rooms (this is the roughing it part of our trip!) and taken for an excellent walking tour of Rome. We thought we had seen everything but it was great to catch some of the areas we had missed - several monuments, the Spanish Steps and the Piazza Nouvella among others.


We also finally had a really good gelato at a place recommended by our guide who was especially knowledgable about Rome's history, including myths and legends as well as politics and archaeology. In the evening we had a provided pasta meal and enjoyed a few drinks with the group. They are a bit more outgoing and relaxed than our last group and fascinated by the fact that we chose to do something like this for our honeymoon. Although the romantic parts are essential, it is also great to be doing something a bit more 'out there'.

On Saturday the coach took us to Ancona rather than Bari as we had expected, for the overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa. The wait was phenomenal and in fact the ferry left about 5 hours later than expected but we were told to expect that in Greece where the people are generally so laid back that eta's are pretty much always approximate.
The ferry itself was pretty amazing. Although our sleeping quarters were small and again separated by gender, they were clean and comfortable, and not far away from bars, a disco, a pool, restaurants and a small department store. David and I spent most of our time on the top deck admiring the view, when we were not sleeping.



When we arrived in Igoumenitsa we boarded the coach again for the short trip to Plataria where we had a delicious lunch of lamb gyros and met the flotilla skipper for the sailing section of our trip. There was a lot to learn for safety reasons and in the end it was too late and too windy to head out on the boats that day but we got to know our fellow crew of four girls from the group, and luckily David and I were paired to sleep in the same yacht in a tiny little double bed. The afternoon was lovely - we spent it on the beach getting our first close up with the Ionian Sea. Afterwards we had a beautiful Greek meal of grilled octopus, haloumi cheese and pork souvlaki.

Back in Time

In this post we go back to Wednesday August 4th. Yes there is a lot to catch up on but stay tuned because we have been writing every day even though we have not had the internet much! We left the Wednesday out of our Rome post because although we were still staying in Rome that day, it was a hugely different experience.

We got up very early to get a train to Naples, a couple of hours away from Rome. It was a comfortable trip and as we were on the train at about 7 we were able to doze through most of the journey. From Naples or Napoli as it is called in Italy, we caught the circumvesuvius train - a hot, rattly old train that slowly makes its way around Mt Vesuvius. For those who don't know, Vesuvius is a volcano that is still active. It erupted nearly 2000 years ago, covering a small city called Pompeii with hot ash. This both destroyed and preserved the city. These ruins were our destination. The train took another half hour or so, giving us views of Napoli's beautiful coast. I wished I had organised for us to have more time in the area - the neighbouring city ruins of Herculaneum are supposed to be excellent as well, the island of Capri (a favourite of many celebrities) is not far off the coast, and Sorrento is apparently a lovely place to stay. Nevertheless time, money, and wanting a really good taste of Rome meant that we had to limit our visit to this southern part of Italy to one day. We got off the train at Pompeii Scavi and stepped out into even more intense heat. It was a short walk to the entrance where we paid a reasonably small admission fee and picked up audio guides as well. With full water bottles and lots of sunscreen we started our walk. It was incredible to be up close to these ancient ruins, which I had studied in school.


We saw market forums, the ruins of halls of justice and commerce, many many residential dwellings, theatres and temples.


I loved the House of The Fawn, a mansion by the standards of the time, so called because of the bronze fawn in the courtyard. The temple of Apollo was also excellent.


Much is being done to preserve Pompeii but it was so extensively covered that only about a third of it has been excavated! We still couldn't see all of it in one day. To research life in ancient times there are also experimental vegetable gardens, vineyards and some winemaking going on there. The theatres are also used occasionally for contemporary concerts, though of course they no longer have roofs. We were able to access a lot of the ruins and walk around in the houses, among the paintings and old fountains and eateries.

We tried to touch nothing, though some people climbed all over things to have photos on them, statues and everything. It was quite upsetting to see the lack of respect some people had, even littering and taking pieces of rock and broken pottery as souveniers. It is such a large place I suppose it is hard to enforce the kind of behaviour you would expect in a museum. Some artifacts are behind glass though, such as eating impliments, jars, jewellery and even human remains. The Garden Of The Fugitives has several bodies, sadly they are mostly children who were obviously trying to hide from the downpour of ash on the outskirts of the city. They are very fascinating though and I had not really understood how they were preserved. I can't remember dates or the names of the archaologists involved unfortunately (though I'm sure you could google it!) but basically there were excavations taking place and it became evident that there were bones buried beneath the rock and ash. Suddenly inspired, an archaeologist ordered plaster of paris to be poured into the spaces among the bones. When it set and was removed, the plaster was in the shape of the huddled bodies, with the bones captured inside. It was a sad sight but very fascinating.


There were also a dog and a mule. When we had walked through as much of Pompeii as we could in the time we had, we headed back to Napoli station to get our train to Rome in the evening. It was delayed by an hour! We decided to use the time wisely and hurried to find a pizzeria. Naples is the birthplace of pizza and it did not disappoint. We found a very ordinary looking inexpensive little place, where the owner said us, "You want real pizza, Napoli pizza? No mind menu, you want two bufalina". We had glanced at the various combinations but we didn't argue. Bufalia was the simplest, cheapest on the menu - tomato, a few torn leaves of basil and slices of rich buffalo mozzarella. And this was the pizza we had hoped to find in Italy. It was roughly made by hand, had wonderful fresh ingredients and perfect flavour. We both agree that there is probably not another pizza that will ever live up to it for us!


The train ride back to Rome was obviously perfectly timed for us after all. We watched the sun go down and passed by fields and fields of corn, pumpkins and olives. The light was golden, the hills were green and I actually got a bit teary thinking how magical it all was and what a spectacular time in our lives this is. Our sleep that night was well deserved, and we were pleased with ourselves for doing the massive day trip independently. If you ever want to go, do it yourself. We spent 80 euro for two of us to catch the train there and back, packed our own lunch and drink bottles, paid 9 euro for return trips on the circumvesuvius, 22 for our entry to pompeii, 12 for both our audio guides, and 11 for two pizzas with a drink each. The whole day came to 134 euros for the two of us - the organised coach trips start at about 120 euro per person with less time in the city due to the long bus ride and no dinner. It was an expensive day regardless but we had a wonderful time in Pompeii.

Roma ROMAMA!

Ok let me start off by saying Rome is freakin' crazy. I don't mean that in a bad way, but nor do I simply mean that it is big or busy. Here are just a few of the bizarre things we have witnessed since our arrival -
-a drunk African man walking through a terrace restaurant singing 'All That She Wants Is Another Baby' by Ace of Base at the top of his lungs, which he's listening to on a cassette walkman
-two women walking out of a wine bar, one wearing a hijab,one in full naquib face covering, both wearing hotpants and one with only a sparkly turquiose glitter bra style crop top.
-buses not much bigger than a work van
-police smoking cigarettes in uniform in the station next to no smoking signs
-local men dressed up in plastic gladiator outfits trying to get you to pose for photos for a euro or two wearing an unrelated plastic crown while they smoke as well
-one young man on the metro with his eyebrows so severely shaped he looked like a disney villain
-many women with so much collagen injected into their lips they look like fish
-25 euro placards with a vague blessing from the pope where you can fill in the blanks
-toilets with extra jets to functions as a bidet using toilet water
-ute trucks with a cab for ONE that have three wheels and need to be perfectly balanced with their loads so as not to topple over.

I hope this doesn't sound negative - we have loved it here, it is just so unusual, diverse, and pretty much like stepping onto another planet. Lets start at the beginning.


Our train trip was livened up by the company of a sweet girl from Florence going to visit family in the south. She recommended we have drinks at a piazza known as Campo De Fiora and wished us a long and happy life together. When we arrived at our hotel, WRH Termini we were told that there was a small problem and that on our fifth night with them we would be moved... to a suite in a nicer part of town with a king size bed and "Ya-coos-ee!' (Jacuzzi if you didn't get that!). Gee, damn! We loved our room which had the silhoutte of a grandfather clock stencilled on the wall and a beautiful canopied four poster bed. We had a walk around the area, made some dinner and settled in for the night.


Monday morning we rose and bought ourselves two tickets for the hop on hop off city sightseeing bus. Very touristy, but so handy and the tickets allowed unlimited access for two days, with an audio guide. We went right the way round listening to all the local history and seeing monuments and buildings that we would just not have had time for had we relied on the metro or our feet to get us around Rome.




We stopped off at the Capitolina, a huge marble building with incredible sculptures and views. David dared me to run up the steps and so of course I did which was somewhat ridiculous! It was a great view from the top though, such a beautiful place.



We also checked out Arco di Constantino, the Roman Forums, the Pantheon, and Circo Massimo where they used to have chariot races. Looking at the circo, it was pretty similar to drag racing!



The next stop which was imperitive to me was the Trevi Fountain. It did not disappoint. It was extremely beautiful and very crowded. I splashed myself with the water - it is SO hot here! We both threw a coin over our shoulder for good luck as well.

I also loved another fountain though - one dedicated to the god Neptune. He is holding up a fish and drinking the water from its mouth.



One of my favourite sites was the Colosseum. It is pretty fantastic and just so iconic. I don't think you could really visit Rome without at least having a look.



Tuesday had a lot to live up to after Monday. We took the sightseeing bus again, this time to the Vatican Museum. The lines were dreadful but thankfully we had prebooked reserved tickets so although we had to pay a bit more, we didn't have to wait for several hours and we also got an audio guide. I really enjoyed the museum, especially the Egyptian antiquities, but I was saddened to see how much of the focus is on moneymaking. You are forced to go through about a dozen gift shops and you can actually buy blessings from the pope for 25 euro, which I think is dreadful.


After the Vatican we went to the Colosseum, and then for a drink at Martini's, the cafe over the road recommended by my Aunt. What a beautiful view!



We also went to a gorgeous little underground wine bar where the drinks are cheap, the music is African and the waitress nearly fell over herself to see tourists. We had found ourselves a local gem! Then we went for a Roman pizza - thin and crispy much like in Florence, and very yummy.
I will skip Wednesday as it was so different and not in Rome at all. See our next post for that one, a day in Pompeii!


On Thursday we moved over to the new hotel room. It is indeed nicer on this side of the tracks, we are closer to Santa Maria Basilica, we have a view from our window and a big spa bath beside the bed. We caught the metro to Vatican City and this time lined up for St Peter's Basilica which was magnificent. We drank water from the temple and I touched the foot of the statue of St Peter which is supposed to be blessed. So many people have kissed and touched his feet that they are wearing away. We also went down into the tomb of the popes which was quite eerie. From the Vatican we walked all the way to Piazza Nuvona where we had more traditional Italian food. Yum!


From there we walked back to the Trevi Fountain for our first gelato in Italy, and finally back to the hotel via Santa Maria Basilica. It was a lot of walking and a long hot day, but we are certainly making the most of our time in Rome!

Florence: Simple food, chiante and a lot of art

As sad as we were to leave Barcelona, it seemed that we were heading off at just the right time. We left Las Ramblas Home at 6:30am in heavy, pouring torrential rain! The rain in Spain apparently does not fall mainly on the plain. We caught the bus from Placa de Catalunya to the airport and were quickly on the way to Florence. Our flight was reasonably short and very comfortable. Meridiana were great! After dropping off our bags with the very cranky hotel reception (expect a poor online review later!) we went for a walk around the town. Despite the cruddy room and nasty manager the hotel was very well located in a small square filled with bars and restaurants and close to many markets including the local food market. We stumbled upon a sandwich bar which we later found out is known to locals for its incredible belloti. I had a roast beef roll which was delicious but really nothing compared to the phenomenal taste sensation that was Eliza’s rabbit roll. Oh. My. God. I have never tasted anything so delicious. Both of the rolls were dressed with the oils and juices of the meats as well as some rosemary. Utterly heavenly. Once we got over the incredible pleasure bordering on sedation caused by these unbelievable sandwiches we managed to walk around the city. We saw Saint Maria Novella Cathedral, the Duomo, St Lorenzo Basilica, the statue garden outside the Uffizi, a number of beautiful piazzas, more gorgeous old churches and my personal favourite, the Ponte Vecchio, a street with shops and houses that extends right across a bridge on the river. We stopped to feed each other fresh raspberries and generally carry on like honeymooners – cuddling and enjoying the incredibly romantic atmosphere.





After the long walk back we had dinner in the square - our first pizza in Italy! It was simple, thin and crisp, and accompanied by a bottle of local Tuscan chiante.


The following day was Saturday, a particularly busy day in the city especially for the Ufizzi. After waiting for 2 hours we finally got in and wallowed in religious paintings galore. We saw a lot of recognizable paintings including the “Birth of Venus” and many others by Botticelli, Da Vinci and Rembrandt. After this we went on a hunt for the rabbit belloti, but were only able to find pork and turkey. They were no rabbit but still good. Then we headed off to see the statue of me at the ‘Gallery del Academia’. I looked pretty damn good. Seriously, rounding the corner and seeing this massive, magnificent statue was pretty awe inspiring. David is the best. You can't photograph the real David, but there is a copy in the square. Here we are together.


What could have topped this day? Only a well priced and yet marvelous and authentic meal! We found ourselves in a backstreet off the square and ordered some bruschetta, Italian beer and wine. I even enjoyed the tomato! We then had some beautiful pasta – I had spaghetti with tomato, oregano and chilli. Eliza had pesto gnocchi. They were so simple but light, fresh and satisfying. We only realized later that we had eaten meat free! It was so good, it didn’t need it.


Afterwards we shared a gorgeous tiramisu and a silky caramel pannacotta, accompanied by a limoncello and a grappa. The limoncello was definitely the winner!


In the morning we packed our things together in preparation for the trip to Rome and hit the fantastic markets and shops one last time. Eliza bought me my wedding gift – an awesome, roomy sling-over-the-shoulder type bag made of real Florence leather. It smells so good and the interior is genuine suede as well. It’s so nice! We will find an appropriate wedding gift from me to her somewhere along the way on this trip too. We then jumped on the fast train to Roma and watched the hills of Tuscany pass us by.