Bologna 9-10

Off to a good start in Bologna :-() .............

Venice 6-8

We spent the night of the 5th in Verona, a lovely peaceful feel to the town.

Cheers Mate!

The next day we caught the train to Venice, built on 117 small islands, with some 150 canals and 410 bridges - there's a lot of water around the place. Visited the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a wonderful gallery and amazing women - her ashes are placed in a corner of the garden next to her beloved dogs - about 12 of them in all. Amazing to see art works like Picasso's On the Beach (my favourite), Dali's Birth of Liquid Desires and hear an in depth talk about it, to see some Jackson Pollocks art and so on. Nearly bought PG's biography but held back. The water taxi's were fun and we one  to the island of Murano to see the glass works. The Pope takes a gondola ride in Venice while we are there so the canals are closed for a few hours on Sunday. Visited the Basilica di San Marco and wondered around St Mark's Square and spent time wondering through the alleyways and streets and over famous bridges. And gues what - we managed to find some authentic gellati in a lovely chocolate shop!

Paris 1-4

We started our Paris experience in the underground subway - off we went flying from one district to another with Mia playing the part of Captain and navigator.

On our first day in Paris  we did a free 3 ½ hour walking tour covering all the main sites and listening to some great stories including: Notre Dame de Paris, Eiffel Tower, Tulleries Gardens, Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe and so on. We listened to stories about Napoleon, King Henry the IV, Mona Lisa, the burning of Paris,  and ….  history came alive for all of us but especially for Georgia as she got to see and hear some of what she recently studied at school.  We had about 10 people in our group and our guide was a wonderful story teller and able to make the tour fun and interesting, it was a great introduction to what was where.

That evening we decided to do another tour of the Montmartre District (where we were staying), only 3 hours this time  and with the same guide  and most of our morning group.

We got to hear stories about  the history of the area as well as visiting Van Gogh and Picasso's place of residence and places they  spent time at. It was great walking around and being shown all the laneways and back streets. We visited the  inside of the  Le Sacre-Coeur and from there we got to see a great view of Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower light up. We visited the  'mountain of the martyr's and saw the statue  of Saint Denis   - he owes this name to the martyrdom and was decapitated on the hill around 250 AD. He's the patron saint of France and doesn't  look to bad holding his own head in his hands :-)

There is a  saying that goes “there is not a lot of  Paris in Montmartre but a lot of Montmartre in Paris', as this is where plaster of paris originated and was used all over Paris to fix things.

The next day we spent a few hours inside the Louvre and same with the Musee d’ Orsay and  saw the Mona Lisa and other wonderful art works and sculptures  - all very overwheling and wonderful in a short period of time. Had to  have a break in between,  so we visited a wonderful patisserie called Laduree to take tea and experience some French macaroons - very nice!









Lake Como 26-30

Beautiful Lake Como – great place for us to catch up on sleep and relax. Caught the ferry to Bellagio and had lunch, visited a bar where Ernest Hemingway spent time called’ Hemingway 1988’ and sat at the bar for a few hours on a cold night with a lovely bottle of Chianti  - one of the many quotes on the bar – ‘music is free, drinks are to pay, stay till late, but sleep away’. We visited a local market and bought a roast chicken and some fruit and salad and had a feast at home that night. Seem to do lots of eating and sleeping here - found a great little restaurant just down the road and the pizza and salads were benissimo!

Cinque Terre 23-25

CHINK-weh TAY-re,  what a special place! The rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. "The Five Lands" is composed of five villages: Monterossa, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riommaggiore.  The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that  includes a protected marine area.

The area is very clean and eco friendly with lots of recycling bins and no fast food places anywhere or rubbish. The pass you have to buy to enter the park goes towards helping the villager's well being by providing them with free health screenings, natural medicines, subsidised child care and a free shopping service for the elderly. 

We stayed in the medieval town of Manarola built at the mouth of the river Volastra, on a high rock 70 metres above sea level.You can here water gushing down the streets under the houses as you walk up the hill through the village. It's a very charming village and has lots of brightly coloured tower-houses and steep steep, narrow alleyways leading to the seafront.

Everthing is grown or built on teraces as the landscape is so steep.  Part of its charm is the lack of visible "modern" development. Walking paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. Known for its Pesto, grapes especially the Sciacchetrà a dessert wine and a dry white wine,  olives (olive oil), Farinata found in bakeries and pizzerias- essentially it is a savory and crunchy pancake made from a base of chick-pea flour and grappa.

We had a very active few days here and on Easter Sunday we spent most of the day walking or hiking  uphill and downhill in the countryside  from Manarola to Vernazza. Had to walk up to the village of Volastra where we had an amazing scene of our village and the sea. We rested outside the local church called  Nostra Signora della Salute ("Our Lady of Health"), very impressive and built around the twelfth century. From there we continued uphill on winding tracks, through olive orchards and vineyards, past small farm lets and old homes, along narrow cliff paths all the way to Vernazza. We then caught the train back.

The next day we caught the train to Monterossa and hired an umbrella and sat on the beach for a couple of hours. In the opposite direction we walked the 2 km trail from Riomaggiore to Manarola  called the Via Dell'Amore ("Love Walk"), a nice easy walk! By the time we left I felt as if I had done one hell of a work out!

Firenze 18-22 April

We did a 6 hour tour called 'A perfect Morning in Tuscay' today and guess what it was just that! We visited the  famous hill top town: Fiesole, we visited a Renaissance Villa that  featured in 2 films, 'A Room with a View' and 'Tea with Mussolini'. At the villa we had a long lunch with local produce and local Chianti. We tasted the local olive oil and of course bought a small bottle to indulge us through the rest of our holiday.  Walked for 2 hours through olive groves, cypress wood forests and visited  some ancient Roman and Etruscan ruins on our walk which was made up of lots of winding paths and roads. We visited the area were Leonardo da Vinci tested his historic flying machines and where Michelango learnt his craft. The spring days have been perfect since we arrived and lots of flowers in bloom - poppies, purple iris, Wisteria in many of the courtyards and pansies galore. Saw many Bay Laurel  trees and Kiwi Fruit trees - heard some wonderful stories by the guide. We all enjoyed the tour very much but had to come home for a siesta.

Visited the Duomo and walked up the 463 steps to get to the top. An amazing building and view but those steps :-(

Caught the local bus the the medieval town of Sienna. In 1966 it became the first European city to banish motor traffic from with the walled city. The city is made up of mostly semicircled cobbled stoned streets that are very steep. What an amazing place - so old.


Visited the most famous sculpture in the world - Michelangelo's David - had to queue up for 2.5 hours to see him - well worth it. The museum also had some amazing art works. It's not everyday that one gets to see a masterpiece renaissance  sculpture created around 1501. 



                                                          Gelati - our daily addiction of choice

 a fancy deli  

Georgia's new hat - she was asked if she was English!

Mia at the local market