Year: 2013

Gnocchi, gnocchi, gnocchi

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Rome, Italy Our last full day in Rome, so we needed to push on and see as much as possible. Another hot and humid day awaited, so yesterday’s extravaganza that was the laundry Nonna, will be put to the test. We had pre-booked tickets to the Galleria Borghese, and trudged up the steps and through the beautiful gardens of villa Borghese to the museum. There goes a litre of sweat! The Galleria only allows 200 people per two hour time slot so as not to overcrowd the experience, and it worked well. The sculptures, especially by Bernini, were absolutely awesome. I never thought I’d like marble statues as much as I did…the detail was amazing. Two hours went by pretty quickly and we headed back down the hill to our studio, past the trinket sellers, and the umbrella Sellers, and the water sellers….till we got to the end of the gardens, with a lovely view over Piazza Popolo. The view was great, but not nearly as wonderful as the stirring rendition of a famous Bob …

More walking in Rome

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Rome, Italy Up early for a run around Villa Borghese before the heat set in, quick brekky then Hugh needed to write yesterday’s Blog as we were too tired last night. Decided on a coffee overlooking the Piazza Del Popolo and Whack!!! $15 dollars later we had consumed 2 Cappuccinos and were still only a quarter through the Blog. I made the call for Hugh to return to our room and finish the Blog whilst I walked to the Villa Borghese Museum to purchase tickets for tomorrow. An hour later, one wrong turn added an extra 25 minutes to my walk. Arrghh, Hugh was pacing the Piazza waiting for me whilst being absconded by 15 Pakistani salesman wanting to sell him hats, sunglasses, roses, trinkets, you name they had it.   Blog still not finished we returned to the room, finished the Blog and set about starting our day. But not before we addressed the issue of clothes washing. We were directed to a Laundromat around the corner from our Hotel who charged €20 for …

“Private tour of Rome”

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Rome, Italy It’s an early start today, as we have booked a private guide for the day, starting at the Colosseum. As is per our want we walked from our apartment as the owner, Adriano said it was only 1km down the road. 45 minutes later we arrived, already hot and sweaty, to meet our guide for the day, Sara. Thanks Adriano, me thinks more like 3km! First stop, The Colosseum. Impressively large, with a capacity in its day of about 70,000. The crowds build quickly and early, so we are soon jostling the tour groups for the better vantage points and camera opportunities….thank God I’m tall. Spent about an hour looking around this outstanding stadium, imagining Russell Crowe all the while. Actually the film Gladiator definitely helped image life in this cruel place. Next stop, the Roman Forum, the ruins of the houses of the ruling parties. It’s also where the cremation site of Julius Caesar is, behind a large stone sculpture wall. It’s a plain dirt pile only distinguished by some old flowers …

Goodbye Amalfi, Hello Rome

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Rome, Italy Our last day in Amalfi was pretty relaxed with brekky, a coffee at our favourite cafe, a couple of photos before finalising our packing and walking the 77 steps down to our awaiting driver. All going to plan so far!! The drive back to Napoli was very relaxing as our driver took us the back route through the lovely countryside, accompanied by some lovely Italian music, interspersed with the latest Top 40 songs and a couple of pop songs in Italian, quite the repertoire of music. It took us 45 minutes to get from Amalfi to Napoli and 20 minutes to get from the Napoli freeway exit to the train station, which was only 5kms, the traffic in this city is unbelievable. Dog eat dog when driving. Our train was on time so we made the journey along the platform to coach number 2, of 15 carriages, so we were the second last carriage, and proceeded to board the train, but not before a gentleman offered to lift our bags onto the train …

Last day in Amalfi

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mAmalfi, Italy Lazy start to the day as we needed to organise our train ride to Rome, transport from Amalfi to Naples and from Rome train station to hotel for tomorrow. After this much effort we headed off to our favourite coffee place before finally starting our day at midday!! First things first we needed a pair of sunnies for Hugh, thanks to him donating his old pair to the blue grotto yesterday. Thankfully we found a pair within our Euro price range, albeit a pair that can only be described as ‘Southern Italian Chic’ in Hugh’s words. Next on the shopping list was a bottle of Lemoncello, but from which of the 200 shops that sell it, was the authentic one??? Settled on a shop that made it on site and purchased a bottle that we could keep long after the Lemoncello had been consumed. A bit of solitude and reflection was needed, so a visit to the Duomo Amalfi was in order, €2 at the ready for Rachael’s candle. A lovely church it …

To Capri and back by boat

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Amalfi, Italy Up and at ’em today, with a full days boat trip along the Amalfi coast to Capri. No time for coffee, as we rush around trying to find an ATM that both worked, and didn’t take 5 minutes to process. Success, and off on our 36 foot cruiser with 8 others to see the coast from the sea aspect. We headed back towards Minori, where we walked to from Ravello yesterday, then on to the largest town on the coast, Maiori. Back whence we came past Amalfi, and on to the Emerald grotto for our first taste of the Italian sport of hitting up the dumb tourist for a tip! After paying €7 to go into the grotto and be paddled around the cave by our friendly pilot, who spent half his spiel telling us to remember how good he was, we finished our 10 minutes to be reminded, again, how terrific he had been, and “don’t forget to tip”. Here’s a tip, my fine young friend….’be good to your Nonna!’ The Emerald …

Ravello and Minori explored

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Amalfi, Italy Well rested after a day off the helter skelter of travel, and we are ready to rumble! First port of call was a run to rid ourselves of a LOT of carbs. Now, Amalfi is built into a cliff and flat ground is at a premium, so we did laps of the marina area dodging tourists, nonna’s, and old china’s fishing, for 30 minutes or so in the heat and humidity. Redeemed,we had breakfast, then headed out for a serious coffee. Caffe latte just doesn’t cut it in Italy, and espresso may blow my head off, so we settled on cappuccino…..not bad. Macchiato tomorrow. Bouncing, we booked a bus to Ravello and prepared for a bit of exploring…Amalfi style. Ravello sits up the hills above Amalfi, and is a peaceful area with a small population, offering stunning views of the Mediterranean. In 1996 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is just beautiful, with a peaceful piazza, tiny alleyways filled with shops and restaurants, and one amazing villa. Villa …

Rest Day

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Amalfi, Italy As with all athletes, we too scheduled a rest day from our holiday to take stock and re group for the next few weeks. Being on the Amalfi Coast it was a tough ask to sit and read or sleep on the beach or the balcony as we wiled away the hours. After a glorious sleep in til 9am we had brekky then headed out to walk around the town of Amalfi and take in all that there is to offer in this picturesque town. One word comes to mind……Lemons. They are everywhere. The Italians have managed to make everything out of lemons, hand cream, pasta, pizza, emboldened them on everything from tea towels to fridge magnets to ceramic tiles, whatever is in this town it has a lemon attached to it. The best of all is the Lemoncello, drink this ice cold as an digestive after dinner, in fact any ole time of the day, it is so refreshing. After lunch we headed to the beach, which had smaller pebbles than Nice …

Great ocean road on steroids!

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Amalfi, Italy Welcome to Italy. We stayed  in a delightful hotel in Naples last night, in a slightly grungy area full of people hanging around the local piazza drinking beer. Rachael fitted right in!! Quick pizza last night to fortify us for a busy day today. Up early in anticipation of a full day being chauffeured to Pompeii and down to Amalfi, very excited as we waited for our 9am pick up. 9.15…checking watches…9.30, Rachael getting antsy…9.45, Me realising I may have buggered up…10.00, went back to reception and luckily got another company to take us. Oops, didn’t verify with first mob, so they dumped us. Regroup! Aldo, the life (read ‘Hugh’) saver, came to our rescue….and we’re off to Mt Vesuvius which is about 1 hour away through some of the most horrendous traffic you are likely to see. The traffic in Naples is NUTS. No discernible road rules at all, indication optional. Traffic lights, what traffic lights? It goes something like this, accelerate at high speed, brake suddenly, repeat, hit every pothole, too …

Nice to Napoli

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Naples, Italy Our last day in Nice started with a sleep in (8.30!!), brekky, and packing. As our flight isn’t till 7.10pm, we were lucky enough to be allowed to leave our luggage in the apartment until 4pm. The alternative doesn’t bare thought….dragging suitcases around Nice in 30 degree temperatures. We wandered into the old town for the last time, then headed for the beach for a swim, and a chance to stop for a couple of hours. It seems like we have been going flat out ever since we hit London, so to be sitting on a beautiful beach looking out over the Cote d’Azur was pretty special. We got to the airport in plenty of time and went thru customs to enjoy a beer or two at the bar before our flight…..except, no bar! The third largest airport in France, in a country with very liberal liquor rules, and no bar! One last ****** coffee instead… So, as we wait to depart France, a few thoughts on this most beautiful country. 1/. Paris …