So we're over a week into the trip now. We're currently on a train going from Salerno to Florence, so here is an update on what we've been up to.....you're welcome to gloss over it, as I think I got a bit carried away in the detail...
31 August/1 September - ADL - Dubai - Rome
Uneventful but long flight from Adelaide to Dubai. Arrived to 40 degree weather and caught the free shuttle to hotel where we managed to get several hours sleep. Back to the Emirates lounge for a couple of drinks (massive place!) and boarded plane only to be told we'd been given a free business class upgrade! It was awesome - seats that turned into beds and massive screen tellies...not to mention all the drinks and three course meal we got! All of Clints flying for work finally paid off...
Arrived Rome around 8pm and caught a train to the Termini station. After a few wrong turns we finally made it to our Hotel (hotel dharma)...the only fancy accommodation I've booked for the trip....sweet as room! Popped out for a quick pizza before bed. First of the trip - tasty thin crust and bufallo mozarella. Maybe 6 or 7 out of 10. So much mozarella piled on though I had crazy cheesy nightmares all night.
Monday 2 September - Rome
Sunny and 30 degrees! Just made it to breakfast in the morning, then went for walk to find a supermercado to stock up on supplies. Booked a tour through the hotel for 2pm in the arvo. Visited the Forum, Palatino and the Colloseum. Colloseum is the one where Russell Crowe did really well as a Gladiator back in the day. Marcus Aurelius was the ruler then and he had an evil son with a hair lip. Apparently it was free for people to attend and the million residents of the city of Rome would come over many days to eat free bread and watch the brutal killing of several thousand animals (bears, giraffes, lions..) and people (mainly slaves and prisoners that were acquired from all over the world). At one stage they even flooded the arena and had fake battles between small ships. The people didn't think there was enough blood and guts being shed though so they canned that idea pretty quickly.
Went back to the hotel for a jacuzzi and few apertifs from our duty free bottle of Belvedere, then wandered to a place called Tema for dinner. The food wasn't that memorable, but the best part was that on leaving the restaurant the waiter randomly gave us a free bottle of wine from the wine rack! He said something about the restaurant closing for 30 days on holidays and he is very happy so thought he'd give us wine. I didn't really understand what he was saying but we didn't question it, so we took the bottle and legged it out of there.
Tuesday 3 September - Roma - 31 degrees and sunny
Early start to get on our second tour of the trip (thought we'd get the obligatory site seeing out of the way at the start of the trip so then we can relax for the next few weeks). Today was a trip to Vatican City to hang with the Pope. Got there around 8:30am and the crowds were insane. There were loads of other tour groups all speaking different languages with the little radio things in their ears. Our guide was called Ricardo and was very laid back. At one stage he had an altercation with another guide in Italian...seemed to be a heated argument as there were a lot of hand gestures, but for all we know it could have just been a polite conversation about what they were having for lunch.
Went through the Sistene Chapel which was pretty speccy. Got a sore neck from looking up for 15 minutes...can't imagine how sore Michaelangelo's must've been after 4 years. All the tourists were annoying though, talking and taking photos when they weren't meant to. The guards kept having to shush everyone.
Then went into St Peter's Basilica which was also quite impressive. The size of the place is colossal. We then saw the balcony out the front where the Pope walks out onto when he gets voted in. Also saw the big pointy monument in the middle of the square where that priest got murdered in the Da Vinci Code.
Tour went for 4 hours after which we were a bit over it. Went to lunch at a cool place called Urbano 47, then wandered back down the shopping street. Stopped at an Irish pub for a couple of Fernet Branca's which led to a long nap back at the hotel. Dinner at place called Finelli's which was nice.
Catching train to Amalfi Coast tomorrow morning where we will be meeting up with Trent and Amanda!
Wednesday, 4 September - Rome to Amalfi
Train ride for 3 hours to Salerno, then caught ferry to amalfi where we met up with Trent and Amanda. They welcomed us with a home made sign that said "The Airds". We then met up with our apartment lady who showed us the way to the place. Two apartments up a few sets of stairs right near the main square which was great. Had a terrace outside too. Had a few drinks in our place then went for a wander around Amalfi. Pretty small place but very cute. Had dinner at a place Amanda had read about and the food was great. Just realised I said 'place' 4 times in a row....oops. The restaurant also had gigantic wine glasses the size of my head that we made solid use of.
Thursday, 5 September - Amalfi Coast
Took a ferry to Positano mid-morning - the ferries are pretty cheap and a great way to see the coast. Had an explore around Positano and ended up walking all the way up the winding road to the duomo church place at the top...big walk! Had lunch at a cute little ristorante right up top and then made the trek down taking a shortcut down a million stairs...legs were like jelly by the end. I shouldn't complain though, as Amanda kept up the pace and she is 7 months pregnant! We considered going for a swim once we got to the bottom, but it cost about 20 euros per person to hire a chair and be crammed into a fenced off section so didn't appeal to us. So caught ferry back to Amalfi and had a bit of nap time.
Later that evening we took a bottle of champagne that Trent and Amanda had bought for us in Champagne when they were there recently down to the rocks at the water and enjoyed the sun set. Found a pizzeria up a couple of alley ways that had a nice courtyard. Pizza wasn't bad...maybe a 7/10. House wine is cheap here and usually drinkable.
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| Positano |
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| Funny manequins |
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| Limoncello everywhere! |
Friday, 6 September - Amalfi Coast
Got up earlyish today to do a trip to Pompei. Caught the ferry to Salerno and then a bus to the Pompei archaelogical site. It was pretty amazing how well some of the detail has been preserved. Basically the whole citadel was wiped out after the eruption of Versuvius in 79AD and was covered in around 8 metres of ash etc. Walked around for a few hours - was really hot and dusty though so we did the speedy route. Massive place.
We then decided to catch a train to Sorrento which was meant to be a short 10 minute ride. After about half an hour on a dodgy ghetto train we got there. Had lunch and 'man sized beers' (that's what our waiter called them who looked like Valentino Rossi). Ended up catching a packed bus back to Amalfi...took about 1 - 2 hours even though it isn't that far...but the roads are so narrow and windy around the cliffs that it's pretty slow going. Had a fairly average dinner at a place on the square (although the anchovy bruschetta was 'the best in the world').
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| Man sized beers |
Slept in and took it easy during the morning, then went and jumped on Antonio's boat to head to a little beach up the coast where it was much cheaper and less crowded to go swimming. The also had a great seafood restaurant there that did really good food, so we hung out there for the arvo.
Amalfi was pretty lively when we got back being Saturday night, and there was a talent show of some sort on that was kinda like the Miss Tunarama contest. All the chicks weren't wearing much in the way of clothing and looked about 12 years old. Had to avert the guys' eyes. There was also a water polo game going on which we watched for a while. The guys had to then avert our eyes from the speedo clad beef cakes.
Had a few drinks back on our terrace and went for a fancy dinner, as it was our last night with Trent and Amanda. Had some funny chats with the waiter, and the other waiter next door turned out to be one of the water polo players.
Sunday, 8 September - Amalfi Coast
Said goodbye to T & A and caught the ferry to Salerno. Checked into our B&B which was really nice, then went for a wander around the town before having a low key dinner nearby. Salerno was pretty cool actually - was nice to be in a less touristy place and observe the comings and goings of the locals. They all know each other and all they seem to do all day is stop for chats and drink espressos.
Monday, 9 September - Firenze
Currently on the train to Florence so will do another update in a few days time!
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