I hadn't originally thought much if La Spezzia as a stop, I'd not heard of it but figured I would stay anyway. Ten I worked out that La Spezzia is the gateway to Cinque Terre. Then I found out what Cinque Terre is and that everyone raved about the place.

5 villages set along the Italian Coast linked by train, but originally would have been linked by ( Read more... )

We arrived in Florence mid afternoon and Busabout offered a walking tour and 4 course dinner which was pretty good. The walking tour was simple but highlighted the main attractions. We also went to a leather factory which was overpriced but tempting. The night ended with karaoke where the 3.5 litre beers came in rocket shaped dispensers with beer ( Read more... )

What a surprise winner of a city! Everyone had told me how lovely and relaxing Siena is so I was a bit happy when I was rearranging my travel and suddenly a spot to Siena was available. I turned up expecting a medieval city and in truth, the first night we didn't even leave the campgrounds, instead sitting around talking politics for well over 5 ( Read more... )

After the palava that was Verona, I was anxious about arriving in Rome and it all going to pot. Happily I manage to navigate to my accommodation (a camping ground) and upgrade to an air conditioned bungalow quite easily. I dropped my bag and went for a swim in the pool which was so very welcome. After a load of washing and generally getting myself ( Read more... )

I'm not sure Verona could have got off to a worse start. Getting to Verona was easy as pie in first class (not all that it's cracked up to be, just bigger seats). It was the 10 min bus ride to my hostel that went drastically, and nearly 2 hours wrong. Not only were the hostel instruction incorrect, they referred to a bus platform that didn't exist ( Read more... )

Finally, the first stop of the epic trip home. The trip over should have been smooth but it was marred by flight delays and long waits and when we finally got there it was more about sleeping than anything else.

On our first proper day, after pfaffing about trying to find bus tickets and the right bus stop, we got in to Plazzo Roma and started ( Read more... )