Rome, Italy

Caught a bus to the Tiburtina bus station in Rome. From the bus we could see the snow capped mountains on the outside of the city and the wind was really chilly. From the bus terminal we were able to cross the street and catch the metro to our hostel. The Termini metro stop is well-known for its pickpockets but maybe it was too cold for them the day we arrived.

No sooner had we settled in then we were off to visit the local hospital. John has been unable to shake off a congested nose and his hearing in his left ear has completely gone. The hostel owner , Maxi, took us to the hospital and John was seen by an ear, nose and throat specialist. The specialist had an old-fashioned head light to look inside John's ears and then he pulled out some dried up wax. I have only ever seen those headlights in childrens' picture books. We had to wait quite a long time and the professionals only spoke a little English but we managed to be understood. John's family has a history of ear problems so he will have to have further tests when we arrive home and for now he has to walk on my right so he can hear me nagging!

We booked a week long stay in Rome as we had new credit cards sent to the New Zealand Embassy for us. One of the hassles of travelling longer than 2 years is that the cards expire while you are away and the banks need somewhere secure to send the new ones. While we were waiting for the new cards we had to stockpile some cash in case our old cards were cancelled and then we would not have been able to get any cash out of the ATMs. While we are carrying some travellers' cheques, we aren't carrying enough to cover several weeks' travel expenses. When we picked up the new cards we noticed that one type expired 6 days later. The replacement of them was treated as though they were lost cards and so, had a short validity. Fortunately the second type of card can be used for all the transactions we need.

We spent a lot of time looking around the city and walked to the Pincio Hill for a good view of the city. It was noticeable how few visitors were in the city.

We really enjoyed visiting the Pantheon which is so well-preserved having been built in 27BC. The ceiling is open to the weather and 22 drain holes in the marble floor allow the water to drain away.

There were several groups of students trying to warm up in the sun on the Spanish Steps. The restaurants around the Piazzas had their gas heaters blazing to encourage customers to sit outside and eat but they were not very successful as it was obviously snowing outside the city and the overnight temperatures fell to -4 Celcius.

One day was spent looking at the Vatican Museums. Of course the most popular place to visit was the Sistine chapel. We took our time, but all the tourist groups are timetabled to go through. They whizz past to look at just a few of the treasures in the time they have allocated to them. They charge through the middle of the corridors and there was space on the sides to look at the tapestries, sculptures, maps, and frescoes. We were even able to sit down in the Sistine and savor Michaelangelo's fabulous art work. The Egyptian Collection was popular too and there were not so many people there. There were a handful of people in the lower floors of the Etruscan Museum and we were the only ones on the higher floors. It was interesting to see the ceramic houses they made to store their cremated remains.

On another day we visited St Peter's Basilica and Square. The queue stretched half way around the square but moved very quickly. As we got to the front of the line I saw x-ray machines and signs saying no knives or scissors. I had a wine bottle opener with a small blade, and a vegetable knife to cut fruit for lunch with. Fortunately, the person on the x-ray never saw them and may have been on his cellphone at the time!

We visited several of the piazzas at different times and in several there were children in fancy dress being entertained by singers, magicians and entertainers. The most popular boys' costume was Zoro. This is all part of the carnival or pre-Easter festivities. This street performer has been following us all over Western Europe!


Travelling around the city was so easy. We bought a 6 day ticket and it gave us unlimited use of the trams, buses, and metro and all had their routes posted at the stops.

We spent another whole day at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hills, and the Colosseum across the street. There is a combined ticket for both areas but the Roman Forum ticket area was a shambles with only 3 cashiers, explaining the ticket system, and audio hire to each customer in about 4 different languages. Under our occupational health and safety rules they would be able to get compensation for work stress! It was incredible to see how badly organised it was when this site has been operating for ever, they could get lessons from the Vatican organisers.

We spent our final day visiting the catacombs outside the city at Appia Antica (Appian Way). We walked a few kilometres along the old Roman Road that was once lined with 6000 crucified slaves, after the revolt led by Spartacus.

We really enjoyed our time in Rome.

Siena, Italy

We could not find any hostels in Siena so stayed at a guest house just outside one of the city gates. It was a huge house with large rooms filled with antique furniture, spotlessly clean but freezing cold as the old radiator heaters were too small to heat such big rooms.

Siena was originally an Etruscan town and according to a book in our guest house, Etruscans had slanted eyes and long thin noses, and if we looked closely we would be able to spot their descendants. It was surprising how many slanted eyes and long thin noses I could spot.

The book also said Siena is famous for two things, the Palio (horse race) and the contrade. The horse race is run on July 2nd and August 16th each year in the Piazza del Campo. The Campo is the shell-shaped main square. Seventeen city neighbourhoods vie for the trophy which is a painted flag, or Palio which bears an image of the Virgin Mary. The Campo was very quiet when we were there. Only one restaurant had tables out for diners and no one was lingering in the cold wind for very long. A sign posted near the fountain laid out the laws of the use of the Campo:
There was to be no sitting on anything that was not a seat.
There was to be no lying down and no eating.
Every photo we have seen of the Campo shows people doing all those things in the summer.

The Campo

The contrade, or neighbourhoods originally had administrative and military functions but are now areas of localised patriotism. Each contrada has its own museum, fountain and baptismal font, and motto. Baptisms, deaths, marriages, church holidays, victories at the Palio, even wine or food festivals are celebrated only within one's own contrada.

Everywhere there are statues of a she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, the town's emblem. According to legend, Siena was founded by Remus's son Senius.

The Siena Cathedral was covered in scaffolding but it was interesting to see the details of some of the carved pillars.

San Gimignano, Italy

A short bus ride from Siena and we were in San Gimignano, a village founded by the Etruscans in the 3rd century BC. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance period it became a stopping place for Catholic pilgrims on their way to Rome and the Vatican. It established a hospice to help the sick and provide shelter for them.

Today it is famous for white wine and it towers. A rule was introduced stating the size of the front of the houses, so creatively, the wealthy built up and up to get more use and value from their land. There are currently 14 towers left.

The town still has its medieval walls, and many churches and piazzas for a small place. It overlooks the fertile valleys where olives, grapes,and artichokes can be seen thriving, it must be really beautiful in the spring and summer.


In the distance can be seen many hilltop villages that would be wonderful to explore with a lot of time and a vehicle.

Florence, Italy

What a crowded place! It must be unbearable in the peak summer season. We were constantly elbowed, and knocked off the narrow footpaths by women with their suitcase-sized,well-ladened YSL or Louis Vuiton handbags. It took a lot of effort to keep out of the way of the pedestrians and the vehicles. It is not a place to daydream in.

We walked from the train station to our hostel near the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). The bridge used to be lined with butcher shops but the Medici family couldn't stand the smell so replaced them with goldsmiths. Some of the descendants of the original goldsmiths still work in the jewelery stores today.

The hostel was in a street a few paces from the bridge and was run by an interesting man who originally came from Skopje in Macedonia.

We did what everyone does who comes to Florence, climbed the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo to get an overview of the city. A bronze statue of 'David' kept us company along with dozens of secondary school kids. We enjoyed the warm 16 degree day and feel like we are leaving the cold zone behind at last.

We had a 30 minute wait in the queue to buy tickets for the Uffizi Gallery and then discovered that about 10 of the rooms were closed for restoration. After about 10 marble busts the other thousand became tedious. 250 years ago the Medici family bequeathed their art collection to the city and so there is a lot of religious art and sculptures.

Just as we thought we were out of the cold zone we got winds off the Siberian snow and a 7 degree day. On Sunday we visited several piazzas where the locals had 'bio-gro' produce for sale; olives, pickled peppers, honey, cheese and herbs. In another part of town we saw a puppet show, artists and musicians. Italy is the home of Pinocchio so he was included in the show too.
Recognize the pianist?
The children were dressed as story book or movie characters for carnival. They carried huge bags of confetti and streamers which they sprinkled on the ground or over any other dressed-up-character they saw.

Meanwhile the old ladies were airing their furs.

John has been having problems with his ears so has started a course of antibiotics to see if that will clear them. Her damaged ribs are much improved but Lil still cannot lie on her back and extending her left arm is still painful.

Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

On the recommendation of our guest house owner in Pisa, we took a train to Lucca for a day's excursion. It was a beautiful day and the tourist office was very helpful with information about places to visit and a great map. They promote a bicycle tour where you can get a GPS and they set a tour for you or you can set your own and explore the city centre and the surrounding nearby farms. We chose to walk the city instead but enjoyed reading about the cycling tour.

The old centre of Lucca is surrounded by a 4 kilometre medieval wall that is still intact. It was busy with joggers, cyclists, and people arm in arm enjoying the sunny weather. Each side of the rectangular wall has a different variety of tree. From the wall which stands about 12 metres high, we could look down over the old city and see the surrounding hills in the distance covered with snow.

Lucca was originally settled by Ligurians then Etruscans and became a Roman city in 180 BC. The streets were set out in typical Roman style with lots of piazzas or squares with narrow streets radiating from them. It was so peaceful after Pisa as there were no vehicles in the central area. There were no tourists and not many locals in the squares.

There was once an old Roman amphitheatre but it has been filled in and its shape could be seen from the buildings still surrounding the area in the Amphitheatre Piazza.

We climbed to the top of the oldest clock tower, Torre delle ore, and it had several olive trees growing on the roof. We had a great view of the layout of the city and at one time there were 200 towers in the city but now only a couple remain.

Giacomo Puccini, famous for Madame Butterfly and La Boheme operas, was born in Lucca and his house is still here. Every summer there is a Puccini festival in Lucca.

We saw several basilica and they were all having some kind of restoration work done on them.

Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

I suppose no trip to Italy is complete without a trip to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so off we went.

We stayed in a guest house/bed and breakfast place in a residential area a short walk from the tower. The guest house was an old two-storied place and Serena ran it from her house next door. It felt more like an old folks' home or a boarding house as there was an 86 year old lady and her few decades younger daughter living permanently at the house. The old lady would follow us around showing us light switches and the heaters, and pointing to something outside whilst yabbering to us in Italian. Her daughter would come in and usher her off to her room. When I got up to the toilet at 5am she was there ready to show me more light switches and heaters!

Pisa is a pretty small city and in half a day we had been to every sight listed in the tourist pamphlets. There were no queues at the tower but we still didn't bother to go up it.

In every town in Italy that we have been to there are hordes of dark-skinned men selling fake watches, umbrellas, sunglasses and handbags. They are from Senegal a former colony of France and living in the European Union are able to work in Italy.

They work right under these signs. It would seem logical to me to fine the guys rather than the tourists if they are serious about stopping the sale of fraudulent goods!


There were a few nice squares like this one in Piazza Cavalieri.

Cinque Terre, Liguria, Italy

We caught a train to La Spezia and checked into a room near the train station. The Italian trains have been easy to master after the first one. The ticket machines have several languages so that makes it easy to buy tickets at the station. In most places it is cheaper to buy at a machine and you pay an extra fee if you use the cashier but here in Italy it is the same price at either. If we know where we are going and when, we can find this information on line, we don't have to queue for tickets.

From La Spezia it was a short train trip to start the Unesco listed walk through Cinque Terre or Five Villages National Park. During the previous week there had been lots of rain so only the 'Lovers' Lane' section of the coastal walk was open and for this there was a 3 euro charge!

We headed off into the olive and grapevine terraces to walk some of the higher less walked trails. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun and blue fluffy-clouded skies. The terraced hills were built centuries ago.

Riomaggiore with its colourful tall houses built into the hill.


Manarola with its silver nativity scene on the hill.



Corniglia with its 300 plus steps to the train station.



Vernazza with its old stone fort and brand new harbour.



Monterrosso with its arched walkways and little plazas.



Lil managed the walk even with her ribs still healing and so after such hard work we enjoyed a chilled limoncello!

Venice, Italy

Venice is like no other place we have been. In the 5th and 6th centuries barbarian invaders forced the inhabitants of the mainland to find refuge in the lagoon islands. Venice grew to become an important merchant power dominating the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. Marco Polo left here to go to China and bring back noodles and then call them spaghetti but obviously there are not enough trees in Venice to eat the noodles with chopsticks.

20 million tourists a year come here to visit. We are staying in a hostel near the Grand Canal and a short walk from the train station. It is such a pleasure to wander the lanes without any vehicles but the beeping from the barges that are bringing goods into the stores is rather annoying. We have seen the water ambulance rush to the hospital and the postal boat deliver the mail bags. We watched a family move house and have their furniture loaded onto a barge with everything wrapped in bubble plastic. The workers renovating houses barrow their earth and bricks to waiting open barges to take them away. Cement trucks are anchored onto barges and the mixture is pumped through long pipes. Men push trolleys ladened with boxes up and down the 400 bridges, and along the 150 canals.

Venice is made up of 117 islands and it is an easy place to get lost in but it is also fun doing that. A guy in the hostel went for an hour long walk and ended up back at the hostel without knowing where he was going. The hostel manager keeps bags for guests who catch late trains and sometimes they get lost and miss their trains so have to stay longer, others go to bars and when the bars close at 2am they may not find the place until 8 or 9am. The 'vias' are not very well signposted and when they are, you have to look up high on the house walls to find the signs. They maybe there so that when the place is under water you can still work out where you are.

We were woken by the flood siren at 5am and when we got out of the hostel the path and bottom step was flooded. There had been a lot of rain and when the tides are high it floods. The council has board walks stacked in the middle of the streets and these are laid out over the street and squares so everyone can go about their business.

The lowest point in the old city is San Marcos (Mark) square in front of the cathedral. The police patrol the boardwalk to keep the photo-snapping crowds moving.

The hotels and stores make a lot of sales of umbrellas, rubber boots, and plastic- soled plastic bags that tie under the knees, for those who don't have anything to keep their feet and legs dry. Meanwhile the locals put on their waders and carry on as normal. The city is sinking into the mud and the water levels are rising.

With so much exposure to salt and water the houses are slowly eroding away. The water gets behind the layers of paint and exposes the sandy cement layer which crumbles away to leave the porous red brick exposed. It is pretty expensive and time consuming to be looking after a property in Venice and for those who can't afford to look after the outsides, they will have damp mouldy inside walls as well.

We stayed at a hostel where the manager cooked traditional meals for us in the evening. We drank wine from some small local family wineries. The wine was sold in barrels to wine shops as it was not economical to bottle it. Customers took their plastic bottles along to the shop and had them filled. At just over a euro a litre it was very palatable.

Carnival celebrations begin soon so there are hundreds of stalls and shops selling carnival masks.

Other stalls sell interesting looking pasta shapes and colourful vegetables.

The gondola boatmen make a lot of money. It costs 20 euro per person or 80 euros for the boat and in the summer they can do 3 or 4 trips a day and so make a lot of money- a lot more than average Italian workers.