Some familiar faces
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Nice is nice. OK that was sad. Anyways, it is. On the way in we dropped some folk off so they could go to Cinque Terra. We had never heard of these islands, but when the guide explained them to us we had travel envy for those getting of the bus. Again, another place to add to the to-do list.
We arrived in Nice and the weather was mint! 29 plus degrees. We were stoked. The summer we had been waiting for. We caught up with Reuben and Anna and headed out for a feed and some beers and shared stories about each other travels to date. The next day we head out and explored some of the sights of Nice.
Nice is a place that can be done in a day, but it is not Nice that you really have to see. It's the surrounding areas, namely Cannes and Monaco. Our mission to Cannes was great. The beaches were excellent and it was easy to see why this place gets all the press that it does - swimming pools and movie stars. We even managed to bust the hacky on the beach, although a bit rusty and no doubt attracting a few 'what the' looks from the soccer mad locals. Young Tim and Reuben also made a new friend in the water...a jellyfish! It left a nice little mark for each of them, but nothing the magical tea tree oil couldn't fix.
Monaco was next on the to-do list. This place was truly amazing. The money that was in this town was crazy, and nothing said this more than the lineup of cars outside the casino. We rocked along to the famous casino to try our luck - unfortunately we still need to work! It's worth a look for the prestige, but unless you are a high roller, then the experience is somewhat limited.
Nonetheless, Nice was a great part of the world, and it was good to catch up with Reuben and Anna. Floating in the Mediterranean, the cooling waters soothing the sunburnt skin. It was hard to think we were half way around the world, relaxing in the French Rivera.
Labels: Travel
posted by Tim @ 1:03 pm,
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Art, thunderstorms and David's shlong
When plans for Croatia and Egypt fell through, we had to resume the original route which meant that Florence was the next stop. To be honest, we were not that excited about visiting as Florence is really an art lovers paradise with great works like Michelangelo's David residing here. Still, we went out and saw some of the sights, ate some more gelati and did a spot of shopping. We saw the fake David and then queued to see the real McCoy. It was at this stage that we made a decision that we should have made earlier in the trip - we brought our first umbrella.
Amidst the queuing we heard an all to familiar sound, the sound of the sky about to open and give us a mid afternoon cooling. And they did. Next thing we knew we where caught in the middle of the worst torrential downpour and thunder storm of the whole trip - thunder bolts and lighting very, very frightening me! The new toy got a real good work out keeping our heads nice and dry, but it was unable to save the rest of our bodies from complete saturation. After a mad dash for the bus (which was unable to go the normal route due to flooding) we arrived back at the safety of the camp ground.
The one place we wanted to go to was San Gimgaiano, a small town outside of Florence. We brought tickets and waited and waited and waited for the bus that never arrived. We were gutted, especially as others that did manage to get there said it was spectacular. We are definitely coming back to check that out.
This may sound silly, but being caught in that storm was probably (in our opinion) the most exciting thing in Florence. Not sure if we would go here again, but as we were on our way through, we had to check it out.
Labels: Travel
posted by Tim @ 1:02 pm,
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Then there were three
Rome marked the closing of this chapter for team Busabout, with a majority of the crew embarking on separate missions around the continent. Em and I were not ready to hit the big lights of Florence, and young Greig still had time to kill before he was New York bound. What were the remaining three to do? Hello spontaneity. Two buses and three trains later we were in Sorrento, southern Italy.
Needless to say, this place is amazing. Forget the tourist factor (heaps of Americans and Brits), Sorrento is a beautiful town and the people here are so friendly. Sorrento is built along the cliff face that surrounds the bay of Naples, and you have a great view of Mt Vesuvius - the volcano that blew its top to bury Pompeii ages ago.
Accommodation was a dag. After being in camp grounds that had all the mod cons, we were placed into a camping ground that resembled one at home. Our first two days were in this classy green cabin (no. 2 two, camp fortunata, mint), then we made the upgrade to the Hilton suite - now we had a shower and our toilet and even our own patio thing with a table and chairs. Speaking of the toilet, this piece of machinery was classic. You flushed the thing then when it refilled it made this crazy, vibrating moaning sound that could be heard outside the cabin. Avoid flushing after 11pm!
Sorrento was the first place that we had visited in Italy, thus far, that served fantastic Italian food - the type we had imagined and craved since arriving. As such, this was the first place we embarked on the customary three course meal. Warning to the weight conscious, you eat a lot of carbs in Italy, so much so that one could run the risk of gaining weight (2kgs for Timmy and climbing). It's a good thing we walk everywhere.
We did a day mission out to the island of Capri, the ancient playground for the well to-do Roman empire, and still is for the wealthy. We took a tour around the island via boat to see some of the sights, namely the caves and grottos that surround the coastline. The water here is beautifully blue and clear, and had the weather been more favourable we would have jumped in. Capri is worth a look should you be in this part of Italy.
We have been trying to arrange a seven day sailing trip around the Croatian islands prior to arriving in Sorrento. However due to a computer system 'glitch' our bookings were lost - technology! Oh well, we will go there another time as one of the beauties of being on this side of the world is tat you are never far from anywhere.
We also ventured out to see the buried city of Pompeii. The city was a lot bigger than we all expected, and we were amazed at how much was buried, let alone how much they have managed to recover. You could spend hours here, and we did. It was fascinating to see all the Pompeii ruins and we all agree that this is a must see, and only a 30 min train ride. After Pompeii we came back to the Hilton and jumped in the pool to make the most of the nice weather . . but not for long as we heard the thunder and a minute later it was pouring with rain - again!
One thing all the shops sell in Sorrento is the liquor limoncello - it's everywhere. So, we were quite stoked after lunch one day when we got a free taste of it. For the boys they are given the hard stuff, and the girls are given the creamy version of it. It's definitely worth a try.
Labels: Travel
posted by Tim @ 12:58 pm,
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The heart of an empire
Rome was an amazing city filled with ancient buildings and plenty of history. We thought it would be cool to see the city by night, so jumped on board a bus to see it all lit up. Unfortunately luck wasn't on our side: it seemed like it was the guide's first tour and she was awful, the Colosseum lights weren't working, and we didn't get to stop to take a pic of the Vatican all lit up. We did get to see the Trevi fountain though, and that was stunning at night. The only problem was that there was almost an army of street sellers trying to push roses into your hands, sell annoying clackety clackers that they throw in the air, and other toys - something we soon had to get used to being around.
The next day we got up bright and early and checked out Roma. We went to the Pantheon, the Colosseum - and the huge queues to get in, the Roman Forum ruins, the Vatican City (caught a sneaky glimpse of the Pope!), and the Sistene Chapel. We were quite exhausted so spent the day after we spent relaxing by the pool (yes it was actually sunny for a day or two!). We stayed in Rome for four nights, ate far too much gelatti (even found the elusive meringue variety) and started planning our trip to Croatia - this would later prove harder than it seemed.
Rome is amazing. There is soooo much to see, so much that words can;t explain it. You will have to come and see for yourselves
Labels: Travel
posted by Tim @ 12:56 pm,
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Mamma mia!
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
Welcome to Italy! This place is everything, every movie or postcard has ever portrayed. Old buildings that look on the verge of collapse, canals where roads should be, venetian masks and of course gelatti. However, before we made it to Italy we had to endure one of the longest bus trips ever. Left at eight am, arrived at half six! This was due to the compulsory (but completely unnecessary stop for an hour and a half stop at St Johan, Austria!) A really really small town, with not much to do - but it would be an absolute gem in winter. We also encountered what people say about crazy Italian drivers - it's all true, there's no road rules here, you just go for it!!
In Venice we checked out the town, the old buildings, the beautiful glass jewellery, the millions of pigeons and we didn't even get that lost (forget maps in this city, you just need to use your instinct!!) Our first, and by no means last, taste of gelatti was sensational, especially the chocolate flavour. The old lonely planet guide book recommended a restaurant with over 90 varieties of pasta and pizza that we were very keen to try, but after searching for ages and ages we found that it wasn't where they said and once we found it wasn't even open (we even tried the next day) - very disappointing!
We stayed at a flash camping ground and one night played drinking games with red wine - probably not the best idea we've had! Our American friend introduced us to few new games (thanks Aaron!) where one of us started losing very badly and will never be playing that game again!! We met an italian guy who started teaching us italian later on that night (very handy - we even managed to remember some phrases the next day!). Some time later that night (or early morning) we decided to go for a swim in the pool. Em fell off the fence on the way over, Greig fell off (and broke) the fence on the way out, but we did manage to go for a quick dip before being shouted at us to get "Out, out!"
Even though we had thunderstorms every night we were there, Venice was a very beautiful place, and one we also need to go back to in the future.
Labels: Travel
posted by Tim @ 11:46 am,
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