I may have spoken too early about (and misspelled) precipitation. I was rudely awoken from my deep sleep on the deck of the ferry Hellenic Spirit from Patra to Ancona at 9am by the beginning of a storm that had made its way across northern Italy into the Adriatic Sea. The rain and cooler breeze that followed intermittently over the next few days was a nice change from the stifling heat with no relief in Athens.

After a midnight swim at the beach our rooms overlooked in Paros, we headed on to Ios, where we stayed at Far Out Camping, adjacent to the far nicer and inevitably more expensive Far Out Village. Unfortunately, for the first night i was condemned to what could only be described as a dog kennel, which although fine at 4am, became more furnace like once the sun rose at 8am. I made the mistake of not staying out til sunrise as many others did (particularly the large Italian contingent), staggering back along the beach as others were setting up for another day.

This was Ios, the party island, although i did manage to fit in some sea kayaking out into a cove where we jumped of cliffs into rocky water, and ate some minging sausages (look it up if your not from the UK). And somehow caught up with Mark Finn,
a mate from school and blues jam sessions, who i thought had gone to Santorini but had returned to Ios.


The lasting impression of the Greek Islands was a good one despite lingering memories of 'Love Generation' and Shakira's 'Hips Don't Lie', and large groups of irritating Italians 'singing' the riff from the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army ad nauseum.

And so, I was stuck on yet another ferry back to Italy.


Finally we arrived in Ancona (described in Lonely Planet as a 'Grimly Industrial Port City'), and instead of catching the train into rome, Carrie (a Canadian girl i'd met on the way over)and I stayed the night there, which was relaxing but not very exciting, although that suited me fine after Greece.

And finally we headed into Rome, watching Gladiator (again!) on the bus.

Rome has been my favourite city so far.

This is my third day here and I have done some hardcore sightseeing but it has been worth it.

The first day involved a Vatican tour, the spanish steps and the Diocletian Baths.
The Sistine Chapel is amazing and St Peters Basilica enormous!

The next day, the Palatine Hill and the Colloseum, the Capitoline Hill, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza Navona, et alia.

Today, the Piazza de Popolo, Villa Borghese, Circus Maximus, Travestere and Giancolo

I may or may not have eaten Gelati 3 times yesterday, but it is so good.

I managed to consume scoops of Vanilla Bourbon, Honey, Blackberry, Bacio (pretty much like the soft fillimg from the Baci Chocolates), Blood Orange, Strawberry, and Profiterole gelato!

Tomorrow, I'm off down the coast to Pompeii and Naples, which was one of the main things i wanted to see in the entire trip.

Hopefully, Italy will continue to live up to expectations...