Just arrived in Riomaggiore, the first village of Cinque Terre.
Fortunately, the' Italian Explorer' generally lived up to expectations, the main problem being that it was a little rushed.
Pompeii was fantastic. To finally see the deep lines along the ancient roman roads worn away by chariots 2000 years ago, and some remarkably 'unruined' ruins was amazing.
From there we headed to Sorrento, the resort town and our base for 2 nights.
The next day was Capri, a stunning island off the coast, where we went on a lengthy boat tour around the island (lengthy because we went into the Blue Grotto (look it up) which required waiting for 90 mins as it hadn't been open in 2 weeks).
And the guy rowing our little boat into the grotto decided to dump water on my camera just before we went in, so I had no photos of the inside.
Following this, we headed up to various towns (Capri, Anacapri) making our way to the top of the island, where a chairlift took us right up to the top.
The views were incredible, the sheer cliffs, perfect blue water, little houses coming out of the cliffs, yachts of the rich and famous dotted around..
The next day was even nore spectacular as we headed down the Amalfi Coast, with more little villages shooting straight up from the sea.
We eventually returned to Rome, whence we left the next morn for the rolling Tuscan Hills and Florence.
Florence was very very expensive, but we did the obligatory visit to Davo and the Uffizzi Gallery which was initially disappointing but came good at the end with some famous Botticelli and Da Vinci works, and a large Da Vinci exhibition explaining his drawings, inventions etc.
Now in a quiet and rather steep village in Cinque Terre, I'll be leaving Italy soon, hopefully to return when I have money.
The french riviera awaits before what will be a crazy 2 weeks in Spain, hopefully involving me being pelted with hundreds of tomatoes.
Fortunately, the' Italian Explorer' generally lived up to expectations, the main problem being that it was a little rushed.
Pompeii was fantastic. To finally see the deep lines along the ancient roman roads worn away by chariots 2000 years ago, and some remarkably 'unruined' ruins was amazing.
From there we headed to Sorrento, the resort town and our base for 2 nights.
The next day was Capri, a stunning island off the coast, where we went on a lengthy boat tour around the island (lengthy because we went into the Blue Grotto (look it up) which required waiting for 90 mins as it hadn't been open in 2 weeks).
And the guy rowing our little boat into the grotto decided to dump water on my camera just before we went in, so I had no photos of the inside.
Following this, we headed up to various towns (Capri, Anacapri) making our way to the top of the island, where a chairlift took us right up to the top.
The views were incredible, the sheer cliffs, perfect blue water, little houses coming out of the cliffs, yachts of the rich and famous dotted around..
The next day was even nore spectacular as we headed down the Amalfi Coast, with more little villages shooting straight up from the sea.
We eventually returned to Rome, whence we left the next morn for the rolling Tuscan Hills and Florence.
Florence was very very expensive, but we did the obligatory visit to Davo and the Uffizzi Gallery which was initially disappointing but came good at the end with some famous Botticelli and Da Vinci works, and a large Da Vinci exhibition explaining his drawings, inventions etc.
Now in a quiet and rather steep village in Cinque Terre, I'll be leaving Italy soon, hopefully to return when I have money.
The french riviera awaits before what will be a crazy 2 weeks in Spain, hopefully involving me being pelted with hundreds of tomatoes.
posted by Stephen Walsh | 2:22 pm
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