The Return of Calamity Popkin!

Traveling with an ear infection is never fun so rather than taking the 5 hour bus ride down the windy coastal road we opted for a private transfer car and 3 hours on the motorway. Cost about the same as flying but took us right to the gates of the old town (and no painful air pressure!)

We arrived in the late afternoon and after the apartment manager finally turned up and gave us the keys we went out for dinner and had a walk around the old town.

Dubrovnik is a bizarre place, most  of the buildings date from the 16th century (after a large earthquake...) but the city walls were originally built in the 13th century. If it wasn't for the hoards of slack jawed tourists pouring off the cruise liners (7500 a day!) you might mistakenly think you'd slipped back in time.

With me feeling miserable we got an early night.

We slept in late, first visiting a gallery of photos taken by an Auckland photographer Wade Goddard at Mostar during the Bosnian civil war. it was sombre and eye opening. later we climbed up to the nearby Lovrijenac Fortress (St Lawrence in English) which had a great view of the city walls and was also a location used in the filming of many scenes in the Game Of Thrones TV show! We waited till the drones shuffled back to their cruise liners by visiting the city archives and the remembrance room for the citizens who died defending the city during the disintegration of Yugoslavia (and subsequent Serbian invasion). Once the city cleared out we climbed the city walls, it took us a good couple hours but the views were worth it :)

The following day we got up early planning to head out to the island of Lokrum bus we missed the boat so visited the aquarium while we waited. Sea turtle was cool, Cee was scared of the big fish... We caught the boat and started to explore the island, got a bit lost and nearly ended up on the nudie beach! But we found a salt lake called 'dead sea' and went for a dip, Cee (henceforth referred to as Calamity Popkin) accidentally trod on a sea urchin and got quite a few spines imbedded in her foot :( (kind of like brittle splinters) she took it in her stride and we visited monastery ruins and grabbed some lunch, visited the Botanical gardens and saw some biggish lizards, climbed a steep hill to get some photos from Fort Royal at the top and then climbed back down for a swim in the bay (urchins avoided this time!)

The last day we rode up the steepest cable car in the world to another castle 'Fort Imperial'(?) Cee was worried she'd panic but she loved (almost) every minute ;) the fort holds the 'Museum of the Croatian War of Independance' which had lots of photos from '92 - '95 but wasn't so well translated but it was still interesting to see as I remember seeing it on the TV as a child.

We then dragged our bags out of the old town in the 36 degree heat and took a taxi to the airport headed for Vienna

Split boat trip

Our second day in split saw us visit the city museum in the morning and then the days highlight; the boat tour! It kicked off at 1pm. We boarded a catamaran with about 20 other passengers and 3 or 4 crew and sailed into the Adriatic! There was even unlimited drinks! We anchored down around an hour in and got to have a swim! It was quite Scary at first as it was at least 30m deep! No one could dive to the bottom and we could see the chain of the anchor disappear! I loved it though! It wasn't too cold after a whole and we made friends with a couple (one from England and one from Canada) who live in London. We also met two other London girls and a guy from Boston. We had lunch on the boat with these guys after the swim; chicken ceaser salad. We then sailed back in the sun and docked at 5pm. Unfortunately once we were back Daniels ears were playing up from diving off the boat and we both had mild sunstroke we reckon! We felt very ill so skipped tea and went to sleep after a long day. The following day Daniel was still feeling sick and was dizzy from some sort of inner ear problem. We decided to skip our 5hr bus ride to Dubrovnik and got a driver instead. This cost about the same as a quick flight but was faster as we didn't have to wait around at the airport! It took 3 hrs and we arrived at Dubrovnik at 6pm. 

Splitactular!

Celia here! We arrived in split, a coastal town in Croatia via an overnight ferry at 8am. We found our hostel without too much trouble and decided to start our day by browsing the shops at diocletians palace - a 4th century AD stone palace that is still used as an underground shopping area today. It's amazing. And cool. Which was good as it was around 30C. We ended up not doing any shopping down there but instead toured around the other parts of the basement which are the same floor plan as the place above would've been (not much of the palace exists above ground but most of the basement is well preserved). We then saw the remaining parts of the above ground palace before visiting the ethnographic museum which features lots of interesting traditional Croatian clothing, jewellery, crafts and furniture. 

Next up we visited a cathedral that diocletian built as his tomb. This was taken over by Christians who he ironically hated. We also saw the crypt, which was very lame (pretty much just a well) and jupiters temple; a place used for baptisms. We then went to visit the statue Gregory of Nin, a croatian bishop. It is said if you rub his toe you'll be brought good luck. His toe is very shiny as a result. Just before dinner we decided to climb up the city's old bell tower. I made it up about 1/3 of the way on stone spiral staircases, but the following 5 stories of rickety, see through iron stairs put a stop to me. Daniel ventured up, but even he admitted it was unnerving. He thinks climbing up the Eiffel Tower stairs was easier! (He did that last trip!)

We got dinner at a restaurant recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel. I had amazing gnocchi with bacon and Daniel ordered chicken in a Gorgonzola sauce with fried potatoes! Yum! We also spontaneously booked a half day boat tour for the following day. 

After dinner we decided to work off the calories by climbing up a hill that over looks the city. It was soooo many steps but we made it! And had a cocktail at a cafe up there as the lights went on in the township. 

Venice - streets flooded, please advise!

We arrived in Venice from Florence by train at 11:30am yesterday. Our b&b is a quick 6 min walk away (thanks google maps) so after dropping our stuff off and meeting the family who run it we went out to explore the islands!

It's very surreal here. Everything is by boat including busses, taxis, ambulances and rubbish trucks! There are a lot of shops selling fancy masks, murano glass and fashion. Oh, and leather! Our first stop was the realto bridge. The biggest bridge with shops on top of it running over the grand canal. It's not unlike ponte vecchio in florence in that sense I suppose. Next we hit up San Marco square but I'd forgotten to pack my scarf and had on a sleeveless dress (duh it was 30C!) so we couldn't go into the church. Instead we just admired the buildings and then got a drink nearby (Daniel a beer and myself a Bellini which is popular here). We then walked back to the b&b and had dinner at the family restaurant as 6 or so hours had passed!! After dinner we decided to go for an evening stroll to see some parts of the city lit up and to get some supplies from the supermarket for breakfast (pictured below - yay summer berries again!). We got home late, about 10:30 so hit the hay immediately. Unfortunately I randomly woke up at 2am with food poisoning again!!! Definitely the same one as I was only sick once. My body is struggling to shake it because its tired I think. Luckily I slept through the rest of the night and have only been nauseous after food today, not being sick.

Today we slept in and then went back to San Marco to go into St. Marks church! It's pretty cool in there. The floor and ceilings are all completely mosiaced. Some in gold. We then went to the dukes palace which is now a museum but still has the elaborate rooms. It featured political areas such as meeting rooms for councils and the senate. It also has a cool prison underneath which was a little hard for me to walk around but also my favourite bit. It'd be great to play laser tag in haha, very winding and enclosed bridges over canals. By buying entrance to the dukes palace we also got 3 other free museums which were all in a huge building together so we quickfired all 3; archaeological, renaissance art and some plush rooms from the 17/18th century for an empress. It then started to rain heavily so we got a relatively early dinner at 6 of gnocchi and an awesome semi frozen chocolate mousse concoction. It's now 8pm and we're just going to spend the night inside as its very wet outside. We have a bottle of limoncello from the supermarket to keep us company.

Cee x

We slept in the following day, and after lunch at the nice cafe we'd found the day before headed over to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which houses a lot if modern art (more Picasso's per square inch than any other museum I've been to!). She was a New York socialite who loved art and bought a giant mansion (with a garden!) on the grand canal. So great art and great views! Afterwards we tried to retrace my steps during my last visit and find the best gelato I've ever had.... we found the shop but the gelato was half ice cream and awful :( lost to ravages of time I guess (and recession!) we then walked around the outside of the southern suburb of Dorsoduro and spotted a giant as cruise ship moseying through the canal between Guiedecca and Dorsoduro. Looked out of place as it was twice as tall as the buildings!

We made our way back through San Marco to the suburb of Castello where a lot of locals live and few tourists go. It had a nice quiet feel (till they started singing Kareoke..) oddly the Italian restaurant was run by Chinese but hey - it was cheap! We walked along the canal side till it got dark then took a boat cruise back to our B&B, well... Ok we took the Vaporetto water bus ;) but it was nice!

Cee enjoyed the bus ride so much we took a ride up and down the canal the following day! We had a bit of travel ahead of us so we quickly grabbed some lunch and jumped on the train, first to Bologna, then on to Ancona to catch our cruise liner (low cost ferry ;) ) to Croatia!

It was poorly signposted and poorly explained by the ferry company (well, 'Low Cost!' is their motto...) so it took us an hour dragging our bags around in the 33 degree heat to get checked in and boarded but we got there in the end!

On to Split in Croatia!

Dan

 

'Just call it Florence so we can go!'

After a miserable first day we opted to get up earlyish and set out for breakfast. Cee was determined to have something other than the classic Italian breakfast of pastry and espresso but after visiting 3 cafes she gave up (she did rebel and have iced tea...)
We walked across the city to Galeria de Academia and queued for two and a half hours to get in. After the wait one of the sculptures we were there to see (Giambologna's 'The Rape of the Sabine Women') was away for restoration! Michaelangelo's 'David' still made it worth the visit. The level of detail and realism he achieved is fantastic, the only thing I've seen that comes close was Gian Lorenzo Bernini's ' The Rape of Proserpina'  we got to see at the Villa Borghese a few days earlier (hmmm a lots of raping classical antiquity....). The museum houses a other works, mostly 15th - 16th century religious Florentine renaissance art which I'm not very enamoured with, there was also an exhibit of Russian orthodox renaissance art which looked primitive compared to is Florentine contemporaries.
We were starting to feel queasy so we found a nearby restaurant, the food turned out to be reheated (even the pasta!) So it didn't help much. The Orto Bortanico was nearby (officially the Orto Botanico of the Natural History Museum of the University of Florence - or colloquially the Garden of Simples....?) So we stopped in for a look. Apparently its arguably the third oldest in the world, though if they spent less time arguing its age and more time tending the garden it might look a little better.
We made our way back into the centre of the city to the Duomo, a hulking green and white marble cathedral that still towers above the city (it was consecrated in 1436!) Its quite beautiful it inside the cavernous interior, with a beautiful fresco in the dome. You can go down to the crypt but I saw a sign that said €15 and I was like nah whatevs.... Cee was sitting outside as she was starting to feel sick again so we went back to the B&B for a nap that turned into twelve hours of sleep.

Late this morning, Cee gave in (and actually enjoyed!) The Italian 'breakfast' and we went vintage shopping. It turned out it was all vintage designer and we couldn't afford anything so will visited the Ponte Vecchio (this time actually open) but it was all expensive jewellery and we couldn't afford anything.... So we went to Plazza Della Signoria and took pictures of the replicas of the renaissance sculptures (including the Rape of the Sabine Women) and visited the Galileo Museum which has a collection of scientific instruments, maps and planetariums from the 15th century onwards the including several of Galileo's, such as the first telescope!

After a brief thunderstorm passed, we are now going out for dinner.

Here's hoping no food poisoning.....

Man. I write far too much when things are fresh in my memory!

Room ceiling in Florence.

A photo of our room's ceiling in Florence. We are not sure when it was painted, the owners don't speak very good English but we may ask them. Colours are more vivid than the photo suggests. 

Oh no Rome...

We took a 3hr bus trip back to Athens from nafplio and then a further hour bus ride to the airport. Next was a 2hr flight and a metro ride and we were at our hostel in Rome! Travel took up pretty much the whole first day.. It was about 6 on arrival so after talking to our host about local sites we went out for a meal at an Italian restaurant he recommended. I got some amazing pasta with strong sheeps cheese and black pepper (the guy warned me the cheese was strong but I liked it!) and a side of expensive fried mushrooms! Daniel got a roulade of pork.

The next day we went straight for one of the main attractions - the Vatican. The line wasn't too bad for St. Peter's basilica so we went there first. It was huge. Not much stained glass but impressive ceilings and michaelangelos only signed work (a sculpture). Also a couple of embalmed popes which was slightly scary. We got a pizza for lunch and then made our way to the Vatican queue. It was about an hour which wasn't too bad. It wasn't raining and the sun wasn't blazing hot so I suppose that was ideal. Once inside I was quite surprised. I didn't really expect the museums to be laid out as they were. Room after elaborate room unfortunately packed with people (shoulder to shoulder in many areas) shuffling along towards the Sistine chapel. You kind of just follow a one way route so the anxiety was super high. There is no turning around or stopping for a break as its packed. It's one way or... Well, that's it. Had a panic attack but got though it and got into the chapel. That too was not as I expected. A lot smaller and no stained glass, only paintings, but they are magnificent. It was shoulder to shoulder in there as well and you're not allowed to stop. Guards kept yelling "shhh" and when that didn't work clapping loudly which definitely ruined it. The Vatican gardens were nice but you can't see much without buying a tour which we didn't. After the Vatican we walked towards castle st Angelo but it was near close so we just got some dinner and went back to our hostel. 

The next day we decided to go to Villa Borghese, an old estate which is now a park with museums in it. The weather was good and it was very crowded being a Sunday. We first hit up a small art gallery that had a Warhol in it (my highlight) and then decided to go to the zoo. After a long and confusing walk we found the zoo, and it's 12€ price tag (each!) and decided against it. There was however a butterfly house temporary exhibit on that we decided we would return to later as it did late nights. After a panini from a cart in the park (remember this panini...) we went to the main museum of the park, the villa Borghese museum, only to discover tickets were sold out for the next 4 days unless you'd pre bought one! Daniel was disappointed as he'd missed out last time and really wanted to go. I mentioned that technically we had pre-bought tickets as we had a museum pass. We went inside to see how this would fly and it unfortunately the lady said it didn't work like that BUT she had just had two tickets returned from a group that we could buy for full price if we wanted, so we did and we got in!! The museum had lots of elaborate rooms with classical paintings and sculptures on the bottom story and  renaissance paintings and sculptures on the second. 

After the villa Borghese we headed back to castle st Angelo which we'd missed the previous day. It's a papal castle that was built out of a masoleum to emperor Hadrian from 132AD. It was gradually extended by each pope and even includes a sneaky pope tunnel that meant they could get from the Vatican to the safety of the castle without being seen. It's 6 stories in total and was very confusing to navigate even with an audio guide! The view from the roof terrace is 360' though and was awesome. 

In the late evening following dinner we went back to the zoo to see the butterfly exhibition. As we were admiring a pure white preying mantis sitting on a matching white orchid a staff member casually came over with a huge stick insect for us to hold. Eeeek! I "patted" it and Daniel decided he'd pass, the man just handed it to him anyway though and he did very well. I certainly didn't want it crawling up my arm like that! The butterflies were beautiful and we left the exhibit at about 9pm and made our way back to the hostel. 

That night, I awoke at about midnight and was very badly sick. I knew it pretty much straight away - I had food poisoning for the first time ever. I do not want it again! Damn that cart panini!!! I was up most of the night and so the following day stayed in bed to sleep. I couldn't eat or drink. Daniel stayed at the hostel with me all day :) At around 6pm I started on crackers and was keeping down sips of water. Thank goodness! 

The next day Daniel decided he'd visit the modern art museum while I took the morning in bed to rest up a bit more. Once he got back we decided we would just squeeze in the coliseum as I wasn't feeling 100%, still nauseous and only eating crackers and plain croissants. On our walk there I felt a bit sick so we sat down for a break. Upon standing up Daniel pulled a muscle in his back! Rome really hates us. We could see the coliseum so just decided to walk up to it, take a photo and go back to the hostel. Daniel didn't think he could do all the steps and I wasn't feeling well. Will have to be next time. 

Today we woke up, ready to catch the train to Florence! I was feeling almost 100% and Daniels back was much better but he'd caught the food poisoning! (Told you Rome hated us!). The poor lad endured a bumpy taxi ride and 1.5hr train to Florence. Once here we rested up all day and he seems better now. Thankfully he didn't have it as badly as me and even had a proper dinner. 

Now it's 10pm and we have tomorrow and the following day in Florence. We were originally going to spend one of the three days taking a day trip to Pisa but we've flagged that as we lost today. 

Hopefully there is no more illness!!

Cee.

Today's pic: coffee face.