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2016 Travels

June - August 2016
A 51-day adventure by PaPi Travels Read more
  • 26footprints
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  • Traveler2016 Travels
    Day 18

    Story of boy meets girl

    July 4, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We've been in Verona for 3 days - The home of Romeo and Juliette 💑

    We're staying in an apartment, again arranged through Airbnb and it is spot on! (It has air con!! 😁) It's a perfect location, just around the corner from Juliette's balcony.

    We have climbed to the top of Castel Sanpietro and Torre Dei Lamberti (clock tower) for panoramic views across Verona. We have also visited the Castelvecchio museum and bridge (over the Adije River) and enjoyed the atmosphere of both Piazza Brà and Piazza Erbe.

    Yesterday morning we went to the Roman Arena and couldn't help but think we were missing a trick if we didn't watch a performance in this huge amphitheatre!

    So it was decided, we were off to the Opera! We watched La Traviata, and we weren't disappointed it was bloomin' brilliant!

    We'll just remember to take our own cushions next time! To note - The Roman marble is hot hot hot 🔥    Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
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    Day 21

    Venice, get lost!

    July 7, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    As soon as we stepped off the train the reality of beautiful Venice hit me as the canal flowed right in front of the train station. We elbowed our way onto the vaporetto and travelled down the Grand canal to our airbnb stop at the Rialto Bridge.

    We stayed in the heart of St Marco and could even watch and hear the gondolas serenade past our balcony ❤.

    What a maze Venice is! Our first afternoon in Venice was a mix between finding out where we were and trying to get ourselves off the beaten track and away from the hoards of tourists!

    The weather again was super hot! 🌞🌞🌞so over a couple of days we had short jaunts out of the appartment to see the sights and then back to cool down 😓.

    We went to the top of Campanile Di San Marco for the stunning panoramic view of Venice. Steve and I also visited St Marc's Basilica and the Palazzo Ducale (Doge's palace) in St Marco's square, where we crossed the Bridge of Sighs - famously named because the prisoners would 'sigh' as they glanced at the beauty of Venice for the last time before being booted straight to the prison cells beyond it.

    We have now inevitably purchased a selfie stick!    Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
    Day 22

    Murano & Burano, island hopping

    July 8, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We took a day trip away from the crowds of Venice to the island's of Murano & Burano.

    Murano is famous for its hand made glass sculptures and glass blowing workshops. A collection of assorted sculptures decorated the shops ranging from a 1m tall, minature human pyramid to a goldfish inside a pelecan! With lots of glass souveniour shops to choose from it was surprisingly hard to find a shop where we both agreed on something we liked, two glass sweets!

    The challenge was accepted!! To try and get them through the trip and back home in one piece. All will be revealed when we unpack them at home.

    Burano was an island which we absolutely loved, with the contrasting colourful houses each painted individually. We would encourage a visit if you're in the area 💜💛💚💙❤    Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
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    Day 25

    Fresco's in Florence

    July 11, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Florence is GORGEOUS 💜! Both Steve and I agree that it's our favourite city so far 😍! We would love to come back and explore more of Tuscany in the future, (the list of places we want to travel to gets longer everyday 😄). #bucketlist!

    Florence again was action packed for us. We dumped the bags at our accomodation and headed for Piazzale Michelangelo in the 36°C heat! 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (refer to hot, delusional selfies). To get here we crossed Ponte Vecchio - The bridge across the river Arno where many jewelers shops line either side of the bridge, enticing lovers with pricey diamonds! 😍

    It's 2 weeks since we arrived in Italy and during this time I've learnt that travelling with a Civil Engineer means going to the top of every tall structure in the city!

    In Florence the 'tall structures' are hard to miss! The Campanile Di Giotto (bell tower) and the Santa Maria Duomo stand tall in the Centre of Piazza Del Duomo and they are a must- see! The dome of the Cathedral is immense and you can get up close and personal with the dramatic paintings depicting scenes of Hell, right before popping out of the top to see the pano's of Florence.

    A favourite place of ours was the Mercato Centrale - with a traditional food market on the lower level and a modern gourmet food court on the upper level. It was definitely a case of 'eyes bigger than your belly' or 'eyes bigger than our wallet' (in our case) We could have hopped from stand to stand all day long tasting all of Italy's specialities! 😊

    On that note we have tasted our fair share of gelato, both tasting a different flavour every day! THEY ARE JUST SO GOOD!!!!    Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
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    Day 27

    A Piece of Pisa

    July 13, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Pisa was an hour train ride away from Florence and of course we made our way to the leaning tower of Pisa and the Duomo.

    Unexpectedly however it started raining!💧💧 💧💧☔The first time we have had rain on our trip but it was a refreshing change from the stifling heat!

    It was entertaining to watch so many tourists pull the 'Pisa pose' in sync, knowing full well that we were about to join in 😄.

    We got the full Pisa experience by getting tickets (in advance) to go up to the top of the tower. A spiral stair case on a 4 degree tilt made for a dizzy descent.    Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
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    Day 29

    Rome Sweet Rome

    July 15, 2016 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We stayed at Armarndo's Airbnb stay 🏠 and it was PERFECT! He completely undersold this place which was in a great location, around the corner from Piazza Navona and Piazza Fiori! Armando was so helpful and I would recommend this accomodation to anyone on a city break to Rome.

    On our first day in Rome we hopped straight to it and visited Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Del Popolo. We also made it to the Spanish Steps to find that they were closed, no thanks to Bvlgari!!😣

    We later found out that a few of the famous Rome landmarks and attractions have recently been closed off due to luxury fashion designers funding a restoration or clean up of the site in order to promote their fashion brand. Tods shoe designer recently cleaned the Colosseum which cost them 25 million Euros 💵.

    We booked onto a tour of the Roman Colosseum, Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. Although it was good to have a guided tour we did feel that our time in the colosseum was a bit rushed and Steve would have liked to have taken more photos.

    On that note, Steve's photo count is at 1,824! We're going to have fun selecting the ones to put into this year's holiday photo book... (which has become a yearly tradition now 😊). Who's turn is it this year Steve??? 😉

    We also visited the Vatican Museums and THANKFULLY hopped, skipped and jumped right past the 2 hour long queue to get in! "neh neh 😆" couldn't help but feel smug that we booked online in advance. Later in the afternoon we climbed to the top of St Peter's cupola (dome) for great views across the city.

    It's got to the point that I don't know what day of the week it is any more, I just count the number of nights I have in a city and be mindful that we have a train or a plane to catch! 😍 #earlyretirement    Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
    Day 34

    Dubai Airport

    July 20, 2016 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ☀️ 41 °C

    Short stop in Dubai before the final leg of the journey to Thailand. The Emirates flight was really nice! Our 2nd flight was on the Airbus A380 aka double decker plane! I'm still determind that I'll be upgraded to first class one of these days 👸Read more

  • Traveler2016 Travels
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    Day 36

    Sights and Smells of Bangkok

    July 22, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    We arrived into Bangkok airport and managed to get through passport control by sneaking into the priority queue - Steve strikes again 😊.

    We're staying in a hotel close to Koh San Road. We tried to catch up on some missed sleep then ventured to Koh San Road where we had our first taste of Phad Thai from a street vendor- a really good change from pizza and pasta dishes🍕🍝.

    We're already experiencing a big culture change compared with Italy and it's really refreshing. The smells of Bangkok smack you in the face as you walk down the street, from fermented fish (not so refreshing 😝) to the mixed spices which flavour the Thai curries😍.

    On our 1st night we couldn't resist getting a 30 minute Thai foot massage for 150 baht (£3)! This was very much needed after all the walking we have done on this trip so far 😊. I don't know how, but I managed to get the more pain inflicting massuse! Whilst Steve had a nice relaxing foot massage next to me, my woman decided to flex my leg up towards my head!!! I had to laugh and grip Steve's hand. Couldn't help but think the woman enjoyed stretching my leg and inflicting this kind of pain on me! I was too scared to go for the full hour Thai message after that!

    We have visited several temples in Bangkok including the Grand Palace - Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho - The temple of the reclining budda and Wat Arun - The temple of dawn. We got to wear some very fetching outfits at these places because we forgot to cover up (oops).

    We also went on a half day tour, firstly stopping at the Maeklong Railway Market 🚂🚃🚃🚃; famous for the daring market vendors who line either side of the railway tracks selling their produce. We walked down the middle of the track and took in the assortment of the fresh produce.

    At 9am the horn signaled the arrival of the train. Very quickly the vendors moved their engineered stalls backwards and instructed us to stand back with them as the train went through. We managed to catch this scene on video!

    For the 2nd half of the tour we arrived at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. This place was a hive of activity with vendors lining the water banks. I finally got the 'gondola' experience (minus the singing) that we missed out on in Venice, but instead of €80 for 40 minutes it was £6 for 30 mins to float around the market! Steve and I shared a pork noodle soup made by a little man on his paddle boat 😊🍲.

    An evening at "The Calypso Cabaret" was an interesting experience... It was a night of various renditions of camp classics from around the world performed by an equally camp collection of boys and lady- boys. However, even under close inspection, some of the transformations had to be seen to be believed they were incredible!    Read more

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    Day 39

    The big B! Kota Kinabalu

    July 25, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    On our first day in Kota Kinabalu (Borneo) we took a boat to the Bunga Raya Resort on Gaya Island. This private resort was simply stunning! Crystal clear, warm sea and soft white sand beneath our feet - this is my idea of paradise 😄. We quickly grabbed some snorkels and off we went into the sea! 🌊We saw a blue star fish, clown fish (aka Nemo) and a clam. TO NOTE: suncreaming your bottom when snorkelling is recommended! 😖...
    After lunch we practically had the beach to ourselves, the water was so calm it felt like a lake 😍.

    On our second day we were picked up by our tour guide and together we took a drive to Kinabalu Park, the starting point for the climbers of Mt Kinabalu. We had a short tour of the botanical gardens, but unfortunately not many of the flowers were in bloom. Our guide took us onwards to Kinabalu Poring Hot Springs where we ascended the tree top canopy. Hanging bridges created a 50m high walkway above the forest floor.

    Later on, we followed a path which arrived at a small waterfall. We paddled in the water and the small fish came to nibble at our feet, just as they would at a fish spa.    Read more

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