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Italy

October 2023
A 14-day adventure by A and Js World Adventure Read more
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  • TravelerItaly
    Day 1

    Walking in the steps of the Romans, Rome

    October 3, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    In what had become our system for choosing our next destination, we jumped onto Skyscanner.com and looked at where the cheapest flights would lead us next. Our loose plan was to head towards Turkey and from there spend November travelling around Israel, Egypt and Jordan. These three places had been on my bucket list for years. I was excited because the season would be perfect for visiting. The extreme heat of summer would be over, and it would be the shoulder season for tourism. I only had 24 days left in my 90-day Schengen visa. So these places were perfect for me. Conveniently located between Morocco and Turkey is Italy. We had talked about going to Italy a few times so when we found a cheap flight to Rome, it made our decision for us.

    10 years before I’d been to Rome and knew it was a must-see for Jessie. To try to keep costs down, we figured we could hit the highlights of Rome in 2-3 days. And from there head out to the regions where prices would be more cost-effective for our budget. Rome is a city where almost everywhere you go there is something that will blow your mind with the historical significance. The city is basically a permanent working archeological site. There are buildings and ruins dating back thousands of years scattered throughout the city. We booked tours of the Colosseum and Vatican that needed tickets and left ourselves the remaining time to wander the streets. Jessie’s experience in hospitality over the years, especially the very Italian-themed Dolphin Hotel made it all the more exciting to experience the food and wine scene first-hand. We set out on our first afternoon to find an aperitif on the streets and soak up the Italian atmosphere.

    Our stroll took us past the Colosseum and down to the Piazza Venezia. One thing that always amazes me is the layers of various centuries all set amongst each other. Modern roads pass over archeological digs that have massive Roman and pre-Roman era structures and ruins. Our time in Rome became a journey of pizza, apéritif, gelato and wine for the next 2 days. Time well spent which by chance also took us to the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Roman Forum, St Peter’s Basilica and more. Besides all the popular tourist spots, our absolute highlight was discovering a Salumeria next to the Pantheon. I went into the store to get us each a beer to go. While there, I saw a private dining area in the back. In a back room, small tables were set. The room was surrounded by cured meats, cheeses, an entire wall wine rack and an old guy preparing charcuterie boards. Being about dinner time spent the rest of the night enjoying an incredible selection of all types of meats and cheeses. With the bill coming to almost $200 it was definitely an indulgent experience but one that the memory will be worth it.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 2

    Vatican City, Rome

    October 4, 2023 in Vatican City ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and home to the Pope, the Vatican is a country within a country. Being the smallest “Country” in the world, it is a walled city-state surrounded by Rome. A visit to the Vatican provides access to a seemingly endless museum of iconic art and sculptures. Including the Sistine Chapel with its ceiling painted by Michelangelo.

    When we locked in our flights to Rome we started researching what tickets we would need to book in advance. Being late in the tourist season we were surprised to find out that many Vatican and Colosseum tours were fully booked or almost full. And on top of that, very expensive! We decided that an early morning access to the Vatican would hopefully avoid the crowds and then allow us time to check out St Peter’s Basilica afterwards. We booked in for the Wednesday at 7:30 am with a “skip-the-line” ticket. While not essential to gain access, we were glad we paid the extra. At 7 am the lineup for general admission was already snaking along the external walls from the entry point to the museum, and growing by the minute.

    Once inside, our tour guide took us along what was obviously the regular tour group route. In a permanent stream of people and groups, we passed through the various rooms and hallways. The tour guide gave us so much information that it was hard to retain any of it quickly enough before we were onto a new room or display. It was like drinking from a firehose while watching Oppenheimer. My highlights were the Roman and Egyptian rooms. Oversized marble sculptures of people and animals, full mummified remains in their coffins, tablets of stone with hieroglyphs carved into them. All very, very cool. There were endless rooms entirely painted with depictions of biblical accounts and other historically significant events from the time. And possibly the most impressive to me was a hallway with a series of hand-painted maps of Italy and its various regions, all seemingly perfectly to scale with mountains and natural features included. How this detail was even known, nevertheless able to be depicted on a map I have no idea. We finally entered the Sistine Chapel where we finished the tour and were left to soak in the incredible masterpiece in our own time.

    What would usually be included in the tour is a direct passage from the Vatican to St Peter’s Basilica. However by chance on this particular Wednesday there was a special Catholic event happening and access was closed until after 1:30 pm. We’d heard it was well worth it so ventured back out of the Vatican and to the standard access to the Basilica thinking we would arrive in time to go straight in. Not a chance 😂 The queue was like it was to shake the Pope's hand himself. Deciding that we would prefer to explore some more of Rome, we went to find an Aperol Spritz and some gelato🍹🍧    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 3

    Colosseum, Rome

    October 5, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    By far the #1 must-visit destination in Rome. We booked an early ticket with Skip-the-line and saved heaps of time waiting in the queue to get in. For places like these, I've always appreciated the extra insight and information a tour provides about where you are and the history of the place. The Colosseum is one of these places.

    We started the tour and were shown the difference between the 3 walls that make up the outer, middle and inner rings. It was explained how an earthquake was to blame for bringing down one side of the outer wall. From there we went out onto the reconstruction of the arena floor. A wooden platform has been built to cover a small segment of the original arena. What is often unknown is that below the arena floor is a labyrinth underground of the rooms and spaces they once housed the gladiators, prisoners and wild animals used in the “games”.

    This place is a must-see destination. It's hard to convey the sheer size and magnitude of what this place is. Without actually standing on the arena floor and strolling the different levels of the spectator's seating arena it's hard to fathom the history that surrounds you. Especially considering the gruesomeness of what unfolded here. Having done some research into it I guess it also portrays the varying periods of rise and fall of the Roman Empire. From a time that Rome could build such a magnificent display of power to seeing it become abandoned and used as a graveyard and fall to disrepair. I guess like the rest of Rome and the wider region it is an example of an age once strong and now left ruined.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 4

    Palermo, Sicily

    October 6, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    After the morning Colosseum tour in Rome, we caught the train down to Naples and boarded an overnight ferry to the island of Sicily. We initially planned to visit Naples and see Pompeii's archaeological site. However, our busy schedule didn't allow for an extra day in Italy. Turns out Naples is a massive dump so pretty glad we passed through without wasting the time. We booked allocated seats that turned out to be a great choice. The seats were in a large hall of seating and we were the only ones in there! From what I could tell, the rest of the passengers were in private cabins and had paid a lot more for the privilege. So with our unexpected privacy, we set up our sleeping bags across a row of seats each and had a decent sleep.

    Our plan in Sicily was to hire a car and finally put to use the camp gear I’d been carrying this whole time. Basically half of my entire backpack is taken up by the tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag and cooking gear so it was about time we actually used it.

    We reached Palermo at 7 am. We planned to pick up the car the next day so this gave us a complete day and night to discover Palermo, the second-largest city in Sicily.

    After living out of a bag for 3 months, Jessie and I were growing tired of constantly moving and unpacking/packing. We had already been to 5 countries in the past month. Every move we now made, we considered how hard the transit would be and how far we would have to carry our bags. I had arranged to drop our bags at the BnB I had booked at 10 am and then check in later in the day. When you're tired and have slept on seats all night, everything is harder. Our walk to the BnB through town was a punish. When we finally arrived at 10 am, I couldn’t get in contact with the host. Somehow I managed to open the door to the communal hallway of the apartment block which allowed us to dump our bags at the front door of the BnB which was good enough for us. At this stage we were both happy for someone to take all our gear and for us to start again from scratch 😂

    We wandered back into the town and set about exploring the small streets and local Sicilian atmosphere. We wandered down along a street that looked like it should lead to a central hub and found a small alley with a few local bars serving food. With no menu available we took the gamble and accepted a guy's offer of their meat platter. We had seen a few of these street-side bars with what appeared to be a grill inside and a display cabinet of sausages and kebabs. Our meat platter turned out to be more of a case of “guess what’s inside” but fun nonetheless. What was more entertaining than the food was watching the same guy hustle the other tourists who dared wander down the same street and the banter between him and the chefs inside. Absolutely no idea what they were saying as they yelled at each other in Italian but that’s how it is I guess.

    What we’ve definitely learnt is that most of the bars/restaurants dont open until later than we’re used to. The same street we had wandered down earlier looking for lunch had come alive after dark. The street had turned into a street party with hundreds of people out and about. We did a search of “best pizza” and made our way to a place that served pizza by the slice. With seats out on the street we treated ourselves to another pizza dinner and enjoyed the evening.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 6

    South Coast, Sicily

    October 8, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    To pick up our hire car we had to catch the train out to the airport in the morning. We still didn't know where we were going or how long we'd spend in Sicily. We rented the smallest car and planned to return it to Rome after 9 days. Our thinking was, that Rome would have more options for us to choose for our next destination with our Skyscanner.com decision-making strategy. Despite getting an “upgrade” on the size of our car, we still ended up with a tiny Fiat Panda. While perfect for the narrow Italian streets, it was barely big enough for our luggage. To try to keep our gear organised we agreed that Jessie would use the back seat and I got the boot.

    As we were still unsure of the viability of camping options we set off with the priority to find a camp and then we’d explore the beaches and sights after. Some basic research had indicated that “free camping” is quite difficult (also illegal), and if caught brings with it a €500 fine. Along with this, we hadn’t been able to find much information about actual paid campsites. So we were kinda playing it all by ear and hoping it would work out. We set off towards the west coast and Trapani, a cool historic town that had been recommended. There were a few campgrounds listed on Google Maps nearby as well. However, somewhere along the freeway, we ended up swinging towards the south coast and by the time I could turn around we were already too far gone. I guess that’s one of the advantages of not planning further ahead than 1hr (some would say unorganised 🤷‍♂️). It was about now we realised that Sicily was much bigger and more expansive than we expected. And naively we’d assumed being an island full of beautiful beaches that the roads would follow the coast. More accurately, there is a main ring road with side roads that dart down to the various key points. The problem for us with this is that the driving time and distances would be much longer than we’d hoped.

    Now being mid arvo, we were keen to find a campsite and actually check out some sights. Apart from a small grotto that we’d stopped at along the north coast, the scenery had been fairly average. On top of this, each of the small villages we’d passed through had looked deserted. Having been lucky to even find a single place open for lunch, we weren’t too confident in our chances of finding either dinner or a campsite. Google showed one campsite just down from the town of Menfi and it was on the coast so we headed for that. Luckily for us, it was actually open. And it was exactly as you would expect from a basic caravan park in Oz. A reception, a shower block and space to either park your van or set up a tent. With a sign saying €7/tent, we finally felt like the possibility of camping and offsetting the cost of the car hire would work out.

    We set up the tent and made it to the beach for sunset. Almost like we’d planned the whole thing 😂. Fortunately for us, the campsite offered pizzas for dinner and with nothing else to do we set up the laptop in the car and watched "The Godfather". The movie aptly follows the story of a Sicilian mafia family.

    The following day, our third day in Sicily, we hadn't been to the beach yet. We were eager to relax somewhere for a bit. A short drive away we came across the Stairs of the Turks. An incredible white rock headland that jutted out of the turquoise water. The perfect spot for a swim and hangout as we’d been wanting.

    We were excited to explore Sicily's other highlight, Mt Etna. This prominent volcano is surrounded by wine regions. The wines produced here have a distinct flavour from the volcanic soil. Realising that the best parts of the island were probably more up along the NE coast we made our way back to the north coast that evening.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 7

    Cefalu, Sicily

    October 9, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Our camping luck seemed to be with us. We found a fantastic beachside campground on the outskirts of town as we drove in from the south coast. It had tent spaces in a terrace arrangement that gave us stunning water views with a small walk to the pebble beach below. Highly regarded for its beach and historical centre, Cefalù had a stunning old town and waterfront and the most tourists we’d seen all trip so far. We made it into the centre for a beautiful sunset and another pizza for dinner (despite intently looking for a pasta to break the habit)

    The next day we cruised the coast eastward hoping to find another chance for a beach chill day. By now we had completely realised that we were out of season. Apart from Cefalu and Palermo, we found most places to be near deserted. Outside of these areas, almost every village had many of their restaurants and bars closed. The difference between the high and low season is almost as stark as on and off. With our camp gear limited to basically the tent and our sleeping bags, we couldn’t really cook. So dinners had been reliant on finding a restaurant actually open. Our focus for the day had turned to getting closer to Mt Etna and finding a campground open.

    After two failed attempts, we found a campground open along the coast. There, we encountered an Australian lady living in Sicily for 20 years. During our conversation about our trip plans, I mentioned our intention to hike to the summit of Mt Etna. I expressed my hope to witness volcanic activity during our stay. She casually mentioned the nearby volcano island of Stromboli had been especially active just this month 😮. With seeing an erupting volcano second on my bucket list behind seeing the northern lights, we set about looking into how to get there. We had already committed to heading to Mt Etna for a winery tour the next day but the planning cogs were in motion.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 8

    Mount Etna to Milazzo, Sicily

    October 10, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    In the morning we set off from the coast for a 2-hour drive inland towards Mt Etna. We had an 11 am tour booked at Frank Cornelissen, a winery known for its high-quality wines and low-intervention processing. With the harvest all done by hand, it was great to visit one of the plots during the harvest and see the process from start to finish. After hearing about the differences of the microclimate around the region, and how this affects the various vines, we went to the cellar itself and did some tastings of the different varietals.

    After lunch, we drove up to the closest point to the summit of Mt Etna that you can drive. We reached the furthest point and saw the summit clearly. As we walked among an old lava flow we could see the crater emiting sporadic puffs of smoke.

    To get a more authentic experience of the region we booked a room in a farmhouse on an Agritourism farm. Run by two Italian sisters, the house was once owned by a Princess and had been converted into a BnB. Later that afternoon the father dropped by after being out foraging mushrooms. He was a retired school teacher and loved the opportunity to explain the history of the farm and show us some unique parts of it.

    After researching, we found a way to reach Stromboli island. We booked a boat cruise to the island departing from Milazzo back on the north coast. The next day we drove back down the mountain to the coast and set about trying to find a campsite that was open. Our tour the next day would be leaving mid-morning and returning late at night. Campsites had ended up costing us around €20-25/night and we found a waterfront hotel in the city for €40. We figured the extra cost was worth it for simplicity, not to mention the hot shower and comfortable bed. With that locked in we went exploring and found our way down to the Pool of Venus for sunset. A beautiful natural rock pool out on the tip of the headland that had incredible clear warm water. Finally, Sicily was starting to feel more like the island we’d expected.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 10

    Stromboli Volcano, Aeolian Islands

    October 12, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Seeing a volcano erupting has been high on my bucket list for a long time! The closest I’d been had been in Guatemala where a nighttime hike was possible but I’d chosen not to at the time. Since then it’s been a massive regret that I missed the chance so to get another opportunity it was not to be missed. Fortunately, we were able to book a full-day return trip out to the island that would provide a nighttime vantage point from on the water.

    We left mid-morning for a 2-hour trip out to the nearby Panarea island where we stayed for a few hours before continuing on to Stromboli. The initial view of the island showed it to be a perfect conical volcano emerging from the water to a smoking crater at the top. It is known to be the most active volcano in Europe with mini eruptions occurring every 20 minutes or less. The mindblowing thing is there is a full village on one side along the coast. Established as what appeared to be a fishing village it was obviously a popular tourist stopover as well. From the port where we arrived, we were surprised to see the majority of the slope up to the peak covered in lush green vegetation. While the summit showed evidence of some lava flows down this side, it didn’t appear to be that active at all.

    From a bit of research, I could see there was a track that scaled up this side to an observation point into the crater. With only 2 hours until our boat would depart again, we started calculating the time needed to run the summit and back in time. To my despair, we were dropped an extra half-hour walk away from the actual trail start point. So our plan fell apart before it even began.

    Once back on the boat, we started the cruise around the island right at sunset. The opposite side of the volcano couldn’t have been more of a contrast. Like someone had drawn a line down the side, the lush green was replaced by an entire blackened face. Known as Sciara del Fuoco, which translates as the fire pit, it was clear evidence of the constant flow of lava and ash that came down this side. As the boat positioned itself with a clear view of the crater we experienced the first of a handful of eruptions. Even from this distance (approx 4km) the eruption was surreal. After about an hour of watching multiple eruptions, we departed for the trip back to Milazzo and happily ticked that from the bucket list.    Read more

  • TravelerItaly
    Day 11–14

    Taormina/Catania, Sicily

    October 13, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Having now booked our departure flight to Albania from Catania, thankfully we wouldn’t need to drive the whole way back to Rome. The costs of the car hire had been racking up so we were keen to drop it off as soon as possible. One of the most talked about destinations in Sicily is the town of Taormina. Known for its beautiful beaches, the old town is actually situated high on the steep hills that tower above the coastline. Without many camping spots available we decided that we could go drop the car back a few days earlier and rely on public transport the remaining couple of days. We assumed that as Catania is the largest city in Sicily there should be enough options to get by. Now what was that lesson we learnt in Bordeaux again? Oh that's right... Don't make assumptions!

    While we had the car we wanted to get another wine-tasting experience so made our way straight back up the side of Mt Etna to Gambini Wines. We had booked a wine-tasting and lunch experience that turned out to be fantastic. After lunch, our next priority was definitely to finally see some noteworthy beaches. We made our way straight to Isla Bella, a highlight of Taormina. Of all the places we’d been in Sicily, this was the busiest by far. We found some space on the pebbly beach and enjoyed a relaxed afternoon in the sun and crystal-clear water. Having still not booked accommodation for the night we hedged our bets that we would find something later that evening and went to explore the town. The contrast from the rest of Sicily was crazy. Like walking into a street mall of a city it was bustling with boutiques, bars and people. A massive change from the deserted towns we’d seen so far. After dinner, we left to try to find the one campsite on the map between Taormina and Catania. We arrived after 8 pm and set up our tent in the headlights of the car.

    The next day we had a quick wake-up swim and drove into Catania to drop off the car. Now relying on public transport, we found our way to a bus stop and managed to catch a bus to our apartment in the town. Not without the monir issues of bus schedules and actual buses arriving being quite different things. The first impression of Catania was how dirty and grim it looked. Our apartment was in a very run-down area. We dropped our bags and with the plan to spend the next couple days on the beach set out to the nearest beach. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything like Isla Bella. We decided to grab a beer from the beach bar and threw our towels down. There, we experienced a crazy mix of DJing by some random person at the bar.

    Keen to see if there were any better areas for dinner we grabbed some rental scooters and found our way to the central district. Thankfully it had a better buzz than the area of our apartment. We found a fun little back alley and finally got to enjoy a quality pasta and couldn’t resist grabbing a pizza to takeaway. (Breakfast sorted 😂)

    On our final day in Sicily we planned to find a better beach. After another failed attempt at what we now knew to be extremely unreliable public transport, we opted for the scooters. A quick Google search showed there was only one beach recommended so that was our destination. We made our way to the north and found a bay surrounded by large black boulders and littered with people. Obviously the best option around we set ourselves down to soak up the last of the Sicilian sun and chill out. We made our way back into the centre for a delicious dinner and that was it for Italy.    Read more

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