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1 Europe adventure plz
  • Alfred Wilson
  • Kate Morrison

1 Europe adventure plz

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  • 1 Europe adventure plz
    1

    Vinceville (a.k.a Palermo)

    July 14, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Vince is perhaps the friendliest airbnb host in the whole world who is very keen to drive us somewhere (anywhere) for €100.
    Instead we opted to explore his many recommendations today including a Normanic palace, a church with nuns making cannoli (therefore making it holy cannoli), and had lunch in a very chaotic street market. Alfred took me to some catacombs with 8000 dead mummies on display on the walls which was maybe my least favourite part of the holiday so far, and Bailey made slow cooked tomato pasta for dinner which we enjoyed on the rooftop (see last picture).Read more

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    Cefalù squad

    July 14, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    We had an amazing adventure to Cefalù with Miranda and Lars (Kate's friends from the UK) today! Cefalù was a recommendation from a 20 minute conversation with a unimelb stop 1 staff member and more it more than lived up to expectations! While the beach looked a bit shit - a walk around the corner revealed a rocky cliff line that was almost deserted in comparison and completely lovely for a swim and some olives and squiggly bread for lunch! We had pizza in the best seats in the house to watch the sunset and deleted multiple aperols 🤠 The train had "the troubles" on the way home and took almost twice as long as anticipated but we still made it in time for the midnight fireworks.Read more

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    Catholic Cult Celebrations

    July 14, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Full disclosure - I wrote the last post before midnight so I was just assuming (stupidly) that the Italians would be on time. The midnight fireworks started at 1:18. Right after we had given up and gotten into bed 🙃 but before the fireworks even started we got to experience some of the scariest crowd control ever. It was the festival of Saint Rosalia who post-humorously saved the city from the plague 399 years ago. They sent a giant float down the Main Street and the entirety of Palermo was all walking toward the same 1 intersection. Not to mention the demonic drumming, red lights and horror movie-esque PA system in the street. Quite a spooky time in all and a very bizarre end to such an otherwise relaxing day.Read more

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    The ice cream pilgrims (Messina)

    July 15, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We left Palermo this morning after going out for breakfast with Miranda and Lars and getting the best coffee of the trip so far 🫶 after saying goodbye, Alfred and I got road-blocked by a marching band, then jumped on a trio of trains to reach the holy land... I mean... Messina 🍦We investigated the cathedral which boasts the "most complex" clock in the world which shows the year, date, time and astrological star positions all via mechanics designed many years ago! We then lived out our dreams by having a 2 ice cream day, both of which very much lived up to our hopes for Messina.Read more

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    Train on a Ferry (Messina -> Napoli)

    July 16, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Today was a big travel day and also the day we bid farewell to Bailey for a few weeks 😥 We were expecting about 6 hours off the train and a tunnel to get from Sicily to the main land. What we were not expecting was 5 hours on a train and that the solution to get everyone across to mainland Italy was to put the train on a ferry and send the whole thing across the channel to the toe of the boot. Not much of note occurred except a friendly Italian nonna on the train kept trying to make conversation with me in Italian and when I didn't understand something she would just repeat herself louder and louder until I nodded and pretended to understand. We spent the evening doing some train bookings and planning our adventure to Pompeii tomorrow...Read more

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    Pompeii 🌋

    July 17, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Wow! Not even sure where to begin! After being super proud of ourselves for figuring out the trains (one station was hidden inside another one) we were promptly humbled as our train got stranded for 25 mins at one station (we later found out that the train in front of ours briefly caught fire #justitalytings) but we eventually made it to Pompeii!! Alfred had obviously been before but I had no idea what to expect - the whole town was amazingly preserved with 2000 year old frescos adorning every intact internal wall! There was also heaps of cheeky Roman graffiti that we giggled at the translations to later over dinner! It sounds bizarre but everything was left so suddenly I was almost expecting the shop keepers to walk back in and carry on as they were - I almost forgot about the tragic side of the town. The plaster casts of the victims were a strange mix of sad and fascinating and well worth our adventures to seek out. There was too much to possibly see in one day but we gave it a great crack before finding out that the Train Fryer 3000 had struck again and opting to gun it across town to a different station rather than do battle with violent Italian nonnas on the replacement busses.Read more

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    Pompeii

    July 17, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    We went to visit Pompeii, which was as awesome as the hype says.
    Some of the major highlights:
    - the holiday homes of Nero's second wife's family
    - temporary exhibit of artwork from the houses
    - the roof of the bath house
    - seeing the beware of the dog mosaic
    - Roman thermodynamic genius
    - really funny graffiti
    - coin sorting holes
    - Ponderarium    Read more

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    PATH OF GODS

    July 18, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Turns out everything shuts on a Tuesday, so we went to the Amalfi coast and hiked from Bomerano to Positano. Trip home was via Sorrento - the whole thing was an excellent excursion.
    The hike went past a bunch of different farms and ruins(?), which included goat and sheep herds. Getting from the trail to Positano was a bit crazy and a prelude to the later bus journey, which could have greatly benefited from some night bus spaghettification.

    The Sita bus company is garbage, but at least they don't expect you to have a valid ticket.    Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz

    Amalfi hopping 🌊☀️

    July 18, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    "1 influencer holiday please" - Alfred
    Today we hopped around from Napoli to Bomerano, hiked the Path of the Gods around to Positano and finally jumped on a bus over the mountains to Sorrento! The hike followed the cliff line around the point so we got close to 360° views of the sea and the coast. Positano was gorgeous but also packed with people and kind of overwhelming because every second person was hardcore posing in their white linen dress or bikini trying to get Insta shots - I respect the hustle but it was impossible to move without getting in someone's photo by accident! We went for a swim under the colourful houses and had most of the swimming area to ourselves because Europeans like to stand in a line at chest-depth just off the sand because no one can swim 🤠 The beaches here are also volcanic and have black sand which gets unbelievably hot in the sun which was a fun added challenge! The bus trip over to Sorrento went along the cliff line too which would have been the best views of the day if we hadn't done the hike! Sorrento offended me greatly because they had no free beaches and as an Australian I consider it my God Given Right to swim at at beach. So we found some other Aussies and hopped over a sea wall and clambered down some rocks to have a swim just outside the fenced off area (dodging the SNAV's waves on the way in and out 😳). We then stumbled upon the only reasonably priced lemoncellos in all of Sorrento in what felt like some picnic furniture in an Italian Nonna's back yard which were just ridiculously strong and when combined with maybe a little bit of dehydration went straight to the brain. One train ride later we were back in Napoli and stopped for the best pasta of the trip so far at a restaurant on our way home to a big sleep!Read more

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    Napoli Explori

    July 19, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Today was a bit of a rest after our day trips the last few days. We went to the Sanserevo Chapel Museum to see the sculptures including the Veiled Christ. There were no photos allowed in the chapel but if you google it you will get the idea. It's just amazing what people can do with a piece of marble. Also the guy that commissioned the place initially; Raimondo di Sangro, was quite an interesting dude. He built a water chariot, designed the chapel and was described as "not an academic, but the whole academy". We also dropped past a market (not as good as Palermo), another amazing church and the university of Napoli! We spent the afternoon doing some train bookings and cooked ourselves a Napoli Pasta dish for dinner which tasted way better than one might think considering there is only 1 portable hot plate to work with!Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz

    Napoli

    July 19, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    A day looking around Napoli, where we saw:
    - a big key
    - some odd churches
    - the university of Napoli (which has a pretty dedicated extremist student body)
    - excellent meatball subs
    - a trip through the Sansevero Chapel (not pictured, but it had some excellent sculptures)Read more

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    We shouldn't have made it this far...

    July 20, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Straight up - I didn't think I was gonna do it until we did it. About halfway up I still didn't think I was gonna do it. But we did it! We summited Mt Vesuvius from sea level!

    Not too many photos from me on the way up because I was focusing on not dying but enjoy a selection from the top 200m.

    We were nearly thwarted so many times as they really don't expect anyone to hike up.
    We set off to hike up under the impression that we could buy a ticket from the gate at the National park as we could not find the legit website (just a million third party ones). Got to the first gate (5km in from getting off our 7am train) and the lady informed us that the mountain was sold out for today. We felt a bit silly and took some time to decide that we would hike as far up as we could without a ticket and then walk around to the busses to come down. However after some broken Italian she let us know we could do most of the mountain for free just not the monetised tourist bit where they bus you in and we made peace with that. So she let us through! After another 3 or so hours we came to another gate and it turns out the lady had led us astray. We found ourselves at another gate with a man saying we needed tickets to get across the top and to the busses 😰. Luckily he took pity on us and radioed his friend to see if anyone hadn't rocked up for their allocated tickets and after a few minutes we had a success! Up to the crater !! The last gate before the crater an old lady made a point of telling us we were "very late for our allocated timeslot" on our tickets and she "really shouldn't let us in" but no one had it in their hearts to turn us away at this point (about 4 hours and 16km of climbing later) and we made it to the crater !! My inner geology student was so so stoked about it and somewhere 15 years ago, 8 year old Alfred is rejoicing. Some dicey bus logistics later we made it home and cooked the largest dinner and had some icy cold showers to recover. A HUGE day.    Read more

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    Napoli -> Rome (ft. Måneskin)

    July 21, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    Upon reflection, a much busier day than I gave it credit for at the time. We started the day by walking across town to Castel Nuovo which was built close to the port of Napoli and featured a pair of bronze doors that still had a cannon ball lodged in them from a pirate attack! The castle also doubled as an art gallery. We then went to have our last Napoli meal featuring all their greatest hits: eggplant parmigiana, margarita pizza and lemoncello spritz (and a cheeky tiramisu). Then, one 300km an hour bullet train ride later we arrived in Rome! Just in time to check into our accomodation, have a cold shower and get ready to go to see Måneskin (of Eurovision fame)! We initially thought we were going to miss them by 1 day in Rome but when we double checked a few days ago they had added a second stadium show 🤯. That was the sign the universe needed to give us and we snapped up some back row tickets and went to Experience Culture! It was a big night and I nearly fell asleep on the way home but so much fun!Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz
    11121Alfred showing me his best Ceaser Stabbing Action

    Roma uno

    July 22, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    Today was our first proper day in Rome! I nearly lost Alfred 4 or 5 times because he would see something old and wonder over to look closer unannounced. It's quite easy to find him these days because he is the tallest person in just about every crowd but I'm not sure how he didn't get lost in Italy when he was 8. We started the day by accidentally finding the Spanish steps (we're just too good I guess) and then walking over to the Trevi Fountain which was honestly feral with tourists. We joined in as much as we were game to but you really had to get your elbows out if you wanted a photo sitting on the side 😰🤷🏼‍♀️ from there we popped into a few religious sites because apparently they just didn't really half ass any church in Rome. We walked past the Pantheon on our way to Travestere (a suburb suggested by Rick Steves) for lunch and found an absolute gem of an Italian diner and had lasagna, aranchini, pizza and a beer for less than €10 each 🤯. After that we popped home for a quick siesta before adventuring to a park filled with old aqueducts (including the one that services the Trevi fountain) for an antipasti style dinner picnic - an excellent relaxing day ((:Read more

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    When in Rome 🔪🏛🔪🔪💀

    July 22, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    An excellent day seeing everything in Rome, that one can do without a booking.
    - Trevi Fountain (Spanish steps)
    - The outside of the Pantheon (just the pagan bits)
    - The spot where Ceasar was stabbed! (See pictured the feral cats that still live there)
    - the oldest surviving Roman temples with Greek marble (although only some Greek marble because the temple had the troubles at one point) also the square one in the picture is dedicated to Fortuna Virilus - livestock and doors, apparently.
    - Some excellent examples of hydrodynamics, so good they worked it out before Bernoulli iNvEnTeD fluid dynamics. Therefore, I don't need to know it either    Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz
    Constantine's BasillicaTemple to Faustina and AntoninusTemple of Castor and Pollox1The pile of dirt round the back of Caesars temple

    The booked part

    July 23, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    The highlights of today were based on a ticket to go see the forum and the Colloseum. Both were exciting, but the forum had more things to look at.
    Also included:

    - Kate's ancestral pilgrimage to Gelatetia Fassi
    - an excellent traditional pasta dinner (pasta alla gricia)
    - more of Caesar's old stuff
    - the vestal virgin crib and private mcc box
    - a detailed exploration about why pagan stuff is cooler

    The walking tours were brought to us by Rick Steve    Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz

    Rome - the tourist day

    July 23, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    The forum, the colosseum and a Roman dinner!
    We started the day with a trip to the forum which only cemented my perspective that group walking tours are the bane of my existence. The forum is pretty spectacular - I wasn't quite cognisant of how much had been yoinked over the years so it must have been truly marvellous in its day because even its ruins are pretty impressive! I also learnt that I missed my calling as a Vestal Virgin - they get the best house, the best seats at the Roman MCG, a fat dowry after they retire and all I have to do is not hang out with blokes? A dream! After that we headed to the colosseum which was also incredibly impressive but I found out that lady gladiators were a gimmick up there with a dog fighting a porcupine which was a bit of an L for feminism. I think I enjoyed the forum more but only because of our lord and saviour Rick Steve and Alfred's supplementary history facts ((:

    We then popped into one of the many aperitivo joints in our very funky neighbourhood for a drink before Alfred truly out did himself with a Roman pasta dish cooked from scratch 🫶👨🏼‍🍳    Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz

    Roman around 🤠

    July 24, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 38 °C

    A train strike forced us to have a slow start to the morning but once we got out and about we followed a walking tour around approx all the sights of Rome from bestie Rick Steve although we only got about half way through this one because we had already seen some of the sights. We then got a gelato to chill out in the Villa Borghese gardens and found the best lake thingo with giant geese, so many turtles and maybe the meg 🤷🏼‍♀️). We popped back to Trastevere for dinner and the restaurant I had picked was apparently a cult classic with an hour long queue so we took a recommendation from the guys in line behind us and went to a different place a short walk away. Dinner was excellent although I embarrassed myself by trying to order the artichoke out of season 🤦🏼‍♀️ made up for it with a Peach Bellini though hehe. We then stumbled across a square with some live music and had a little boogie before riding some e-scooters home to bedRead more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz
    3rd century BC statue, depicting Menalaus and his dying son1

    Sleep walking nuns

    July 24, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 38 °C

    Another day in Rome. We saw more cool Roman stuff! Including Trajan's column, which features:
    - 25 spirals around
    - 222 trees depicted, 78 of which were felled
    - 58 features or Trajan himself
    - a historically significant number of women (in that they featured at all)

    Overall, the coolest monument around. We also saw Aurelius' column but he was less cool than Trajan.

    Also featured today were some other great sights from unantiquated Romans. Dinner was back in Trastevere - although our first choice had a 1hr+ queue out the front. Much like the Catholics, TikTok ruins everything.    Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz
    1POV you're a panini and it's lunch time

    The day of insane people

    July 25, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌩️ 30 °C

    Not much to report today - we spent most of the day getting from Rome to Florence and only did a little bit of exploring before dinner. Sat next to some bonkers Americans on the train and some insane Aussies at dinner. People are strange all over the world 🥰🤠 we spent a bit of time researching Venice sights and doing uni respectively before heading out to dinner. Dinner was great - we found a super cheap family trattoria that sold €6.50 roast beef with potatoes and sold wine by the litre for €8 😵‍💫 after an ice cream on the way home we were well and truly ready for bed!Read more

  • 1 Europe adventure plz
    23The catholics faces when they saw my left shoulder

    1 Florentine (not the biccie) Day Plz

    July 26, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today we elected to do things in the right order and do the Rick Steves walking tour to get our bearings nice and early on. We saw so many cool statues and got real warmed up from the Romans into the Renaissance (bc nothing worth talking about happened in between anyway 🙃). Highlights included more paninis (!!), making fun of the silly Instagram shots in front of the cathedral (see first image and the holy water bottle) and the most extra way to cover up breaking a statue ever (image 4). I did get heartily shamed by the Catholics for being a dirty pagan whore and wanting to enter a church with my shoulders out - even though all the ladies painted on the inside have their boobs out and are draped around for the male gaze (all the men were painted with clothes on so go figure). Anyway - I bought a €5 cover up and took a selfie with their roof so who's the real winner here.Read more

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    Florence

    July 26, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Kate already summarised the day quite well I think. Here's some more photos:

  • 1 Europe adventure plz
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    Firenze due

    July 27, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    A day top and tailed by culture. We started off by going to the market on the other side of town and picking up some gourmet food (important for later) before spending about 3hrs in the Uffizi gallery. They had:
    - an exhibition on futurists from the early 20th century
    - a temporary exhibit on ancient Roman bankers (glorious)
    - all the usual bits
    Well worth the time. Following a siesta we trekked up the south bank to fight crowds, watch the sunset and destroy an antipasto (See earlier) that was the envy of the crowds.    Read more

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