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A 15-day adventure by Leanne Read more
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  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 1

    Rome, Italy

    October 2, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Mim Lawson and I were hoping we hadn’t made a bad choice when we booked our Air BnB, Dream Station in Rome. The photos were very retro on their post and they have lived up to the pictures in every detail. Very surprised by the size of our space and the extras that you usually don’t get in Europe like, air conditioning, no street noise, a large room, and breakfast. The best thing it is across from the main transport hub in Rome, Termini which has plenty of eating places. We made sure we tried the fresh pasta for dinner and will be back for gelato tomorrow.Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 2

    Vatican City, Italy

    October 3, 2017 in Vatican City ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    What a bustling place Rome is, the tourists don’t seem to mind waiting in the mile long queues at all the popular sites. Thankfully we decided to do the Hop on Hop off bus with a skip the line guided tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter’s Basilica. The guide, an Art Historian, was brilliant. We walked through the Vatican Museum and Papal Apartments of Pope Julius II at a slow walk with the guide commenting as we went, there were so many people crammed inside you often got caught up in another group or lost altogether except for the sound of her voice in your earpiece. It was a very full-on 3 hour tour.
    The Vatican City has only 230 residents and in an area of 44 hectares. During Pope Julius II time he commissioned the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo and various rooms in the Vatican by Raphael and this is what we viewed today. The artwork and details just blow you away. The fresco art lasts so long as it is painted fresh when the mortar is still damp, that way the colour becomes part of the mortar. We had a talk about the Sistine Chapel before entry as there is supposed to be silence and no photography. Quite amusing to watch the sneaky photos being taken and when the hum from the floor becomes too much you hear over the loudspeaker SILENCE, the voice sounded just like Dumbledore from Harry Potter. We then were taken to the Basilica, what an amazing place, everything is enormous, the Papal Canopy and altar stunning. What a wonderful day. We finished this off with gelato and Fritto and Pasta for dinner.    Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 3

    Ancient Rome, Italy

    October 4, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    A big day exploring some more of Ancient Rome, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill and Piazza Venezia. Our eyes were focused down today whilst trying to conquer the cobblestones and steps. There are still a lot of visitors sightseeing like us, from above we must look like ants climbing over the ruins whilst making our way along the well worn paths.
    At the Colosseum we stood beside a father who was explaining to his child what it was like when the Romans were there, the smell of the animals and men who were held in the cages under the arena. The roar of the crowd from above when the gladiators were fighting and what it must have felt like with dirt falling through the cracks in the wooden floor whilst they waited for their turn in the arena. He was brilliant, I had goosebumps listening and definitely could imagine the scene.
    The Roman Forum area and Palantine Hill would have been downtown Ancient Rome, a bustling city made up of Temples, government buildings, and market places. The size of the ruins we saw today are impressive, it must have been an amazing place in its time.
    Piazza Venezia is the Victory Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy's first King. One side of the Piazza is the site of Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.    Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 4

    The Piazza's of Rome, Italy

    October 5, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Set off early to wander around Rome today, 13 km walked over many cobblestoned streets. We visited the Trevi Fountain, missing the crowds, then onto the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps are a set of steps that climb a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base up to the Trinità dei Monti Church at the top. We then meandered through the backstreets past the Piazza Di Pietra, which has the remains of enormous colonnades from a temple which dominates the Piazza, onto The Pantheon, which was a former Roman Temple but is now a Church. The Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, which is amazing as it was built around 1900 years ago. After a well earned Italian coffee with corneta (croissant) we headed towards the Piazza Navona, which has the Fountain of the Four Rivers and the Obelisk of Domitian, in the centre of the Piazza. Our trek took us back past the Piazza Venezia, near the Roman Forum to Santa Maria Maggiore Church. We went inside the Church which has amazing 5th Century mosaics and gilt gold ceilings.Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 5

    Pompeii, Italy

    October 6, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Mim and I have taken a bus tour from Rome to Pompeii and Naples. It's a three hour drive from Rome to Pompeii with lots of farming land along the way. Pompeii is very hot and dry, the Ancient Roman city covered about 64 hectares and was buried under 4 to 6 metres of ash and pumice after the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The city was rediscovered under the ash around 1599 and excavation of the site commenced in 1748 and has been ongoing since this time. We saw the Ancient City's amphitheater, the baths and sauna, Temples, bakery, shops and homes. We saw the brothel area of the town which was easily identified by the phallus over the doorway or pointing to the brothel house from the footpath. You could still see the erotic drawings on the walls of the brothel. It is amazing how much of the site was preserved under the ash. After an Italian lunch we headed to Naples for a Bus tour of the city. It was a shame that they were having with the audio but we still saw the Bay of Naples and the surrounding city that are still overshadowed by Mount Vesuvius. A long day arriving back around 8.30pm.Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 6

    Jewel of the Seas Greek Island Cruise

    October 7, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The last leg of our three month journey, there’s no better way to finish than on a cruise. Cruising on Jewel of the Seas, Royal Caribbean line around the Greek Islands for the next nine days. We caught the train this morning from Rome to the port of Civitavecchia then onboard for a leisurely afternoon before departing the port at 5.00pm.Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 7

    Mt Etna and Taormina, Sicily

    October 8, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We arrived at the port of Messina, Sicily today. Decided to take a tour to Mt Etna and then to a small mountain village of Taormina. We travelled up 2000 metres to Crater Silvestri. This crater formed in 1892 after a massive eruption of Mt Etna. Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, there have been at least 10 eruptions since 2000, the most recent in March 2017. We walked around the rim of Crater Silvestri.
    Taormina is a small village built on one of the mountain tops in the Messina region. We walked down the centre of the village which has an abundance of tourist shops, Sicilian ceramic shops and lots of restaurants. A very pretty place.    Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 8

    Valletta, Malta

    October 9, 2017 in Malta ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    We sailed into the Grand Harbour of Valletta, Malta with enormous fortified walls of cream limestone surrounding the harbour. Very pretty from the water with the old cream buildings and fortifications highlighted against the blue sky and blue sea. Today we toured the Blue Grotto, limestone caves that capture the iridescent blue of the water. We had perfect weather with the sun shining for our small boat tour through the limestone caverns. The sun reflects the blue to give it the phosphorous blue colour. We travelled through various villages on our trip and noticed the land lots are terraced off into paddocks with the limestone rubble for the family plots for farming. The paddocks are terraced to stop the topsoil from washing away. One of their main crops, which is everywhere, is the Prickly Pear.
    From the Blue Grotto we went to the second port of Malta, Marsaxlokk, a small fishing village that has brightly coloured boats and a marketplace that sells fish and local produce and has a number of small restaurants. We then headed back to our ship docked in Valletta.    Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 10

    Mykonos, Greece

    October 11, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After a very restful sea day yesterday we were looking forward to walking through the many little alleyways of Mykonos, Greece today. We were tendered ashore to the seaside port of Chora where the 16th Century windmills overlook the harbour. Mykonos was quite windy today but the blue sky reflected the blue of the water and the blue trim on the stark white houses. There were lots of well fed cats in Chora lazing on doorsteps or under bushes happy for the tourists to give them a pat. We tried the Greek spanakopita, baklava and almonds covered in toasted sesame seeds and the Greek version of Turkish delight - delicious.Read more

  • TravelerRome and Mediteranean
    Day 11

    Santorini, Greece

    October 12, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Santorini what a magnificent place. Another perfect day of blue skies, blue seas, and white buildings which sit precariously along the rim of the remains of the volcano. Santorini Island has a number of villages that cling to the top of the volcano rim overlooking the Caldera or crater of a volcano that erupted 3,600 years ago. I was surprised that most of the housing and buildings cling to the cliff tops and only a small number of houses use the lower side of the volcano.
    We visited Oia, one of the villages, in the morning and meandered through the streets to find the iconic blue domed buildings for our photos. We then spent the rest of the afternoon in the capital, Fira wandering through the streets. We enjoyed a traditional chicken Gyros at lunch very similar to our doner kebab but much tastier. To get from the port of Fira to the top of the cliffs you can either walk the 600 steps or take the cable car up the steep slope or if you must, ride the donkey.
    The climate is very dry and the Island receives no rainfall for five months of the year, this makes good growing for a unique grape which produces a sweet wine called Vinsanto. The grape vine grows close to the ground with the vine wrapping around to form a basket which protects the grapes that nestle inside.    Read more

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