Ciao Ciao Italia!

Ciao Ciao Bella!

Welcome to the most beautiful country of Italy with fantastic food (no diet land!) and a rich and invigorating history and welcoming and friendly (sometimes a little too much) Italian people! I spent 28 days in Italy arriving in Pisa going straight to Florence then to Bologna, Venice, Rome, Naples and Pompeii!

For those of you unaware I lost my camera on my last day there (oh the cruelty) so the photos I have are courtesy of those who I met in Italy and who I extend a BIG thank you too!

THANK YOU!!!

I am going to be constantly updating this page until it is finished, meanwhile I thought everyone would like to read a little about what I'd done and see some photos!

Florence

I spent four nights in Florence and stayed in a pretty cool hostel with great location (smack in the middle of town) that had graffiti of people who had stayed previously all over the walls and the breakfast was pretty good!

I spent the morning at the Duomo which is a huge Basillica in the centre of town which is so intricate both inside and outside it's almost hard to beleive! It is a beautiful white, green and pink color on the outside and inside it has a huge dome with a painting of the Last Judgement which I know nothing about but looking at it its very easy to tell! After going inside I climbed several hundred steps to the top for a sensational view of Florence! It was a beautiful sunny day (with many to come) and in the afternoon I went to the Uffizi a great big gallery filled with plenty of historical paintings and for something different, statues! That night I have dinner at a place just a few miuntes from my hostel and enjoyed the best seafood pasta I have ever had!

The next day I lined up to the David's Michelangelo which is quite a huge stature and oddly fascinating but possibly not worth the money unless your really into art! Though you can appreciate how long something like that would take! The Weather continued to be glorius so i spent most of the afternoon just strolling around and eating Gelato! I made a trip to the other side of the city and took in a beautiful view from high up, it was fantastic because the sun was going down on the city and its something thats hard to explain but you just love it!

I managed a trip to a place called Opera Museo but was somewhat disappointed, one thing that wasnt disappointing was dinner as I found a place with a decently priced set menu and it was just fantastic!

The next day I made my way to to the Bapistry for the Duomo which is a cute little church that I spent all of ten fifteen minutes in to come outside to the market which I spent all afternoon!

Bologna

Well my first full day in Bologna was quite eventful I managed to see quite a lot that morning - Neptunes Foutain in the middle of the square, a Cathedral and some beautiful cheese and meats shops through the back streets!

Then I found the two tallest towers and went to the top of the tallest for a fantastic view of the city I spent close to half an hour there but at the very bottom it was wet and dark and a I slipped and fell over falling on my ankle! The next two days I manged to do very little I went to the Hospital and made sure it wasnt broken, I consoled myself with a rest and the Internet and decided I would keep going! My last night I went out and tried Tortelloni with bolognese and had Tirmasu for dessert and vowed that Venice would be nothing but fun!

Venice
Oh how I loved Venice! Its so pretty!

If there was only one place in Italy I was allowed to come back to it would be Venice! It is so magical and seems like it comes out of a fairytale!! The water is beautiful and blue (not that you would swim in it) and it reflects the beutiful buildings in a way that is incredible! Its great to get around on the waterbus which chugs along slowly giving you a chance to take everything in as you go down the Grand Canal! Everything is fairly easy to navigate along the Grand Canal but once you get off you get a maze of streets which often lead to a dead end and you have to go all the way back which seems to make it more of an adventure!

My first day was jam packed, I met an American girl Liz at breakfast and we both had the same agenda so we jumped on the boats and went and visited the Majorie (a church) and went to the top for a fantastic view of Venice! I was suprised at how small the city is because we could see the whole thing from there!

We went to St.Marcos Square which is a main area for tourists and swarming with pidgeons, most people are feeding them but I was kicking them! We went inside the Basillica which is just fantastic as its roof is covered in gold and its a sight to behold! So much detail and you get a sore neck from looking up all the time! It costs 3 Euro to get to the top and get a view looking out which is well worth it!

Later that night Liz and I went all the way along the Grand Canal, it was kinda cold but so so pretty!
The next day Liz's friends turned up and we headed up to the Jewish Quater where in being a holy day everything was closed so we went for wine and pizza and Gelato instead! Had the best gelato I have had so far and the pizzas had become addictive!

From top to bottom - St.Marcos Square, Me and American Girls Dianne, Liz and Beth, a lovely shot taken along the Grand Canal of the Gondala which you can afford if you have a spare 80 Euro lying around and the view from high up!

Rome

Coming soon(ish)

Naples and Pompeii (Salerno, Ecadoro and Sorrento)

I was in Naples for 5 days (possilby two or three days too many!) and mangaged to see many of it's castles and took a trip out to Ecadoro to visit ruins and to Salerno (an Island about a two hour boat ride away) to walk through the little lanes and to explore.

Top to Bottom - Emily is the King of the Castle and your.... a big old dormant Volcano Mount Vesivus!
Inside the Galleria which was mostly closed, out of Naples in Ecadoro ruins.