Italy - so much to see and to eat...so little time

Our Italian adventure began with two days in Venice. Rich rediscovered the Mozzarella de Buffalo he tasted on his last trip to Italy and ate this at almost every meal.

We stayed in a beautiful boutique hotel located in a refurbished 600year old Venetian apartment building so even when Rich had to do a bit of work, it was in these incredible surroundings.

The highlights of our time in Venice included a visit to a Salvador Dali exhibition, cruising around the canals in a gondola (so cliche but what an experience), visiting St Marco's square with the fabulous basilica and the Doge's Palace, going to see a theatre production one evening about the history of Venice and the Venetian empire that lasted 1000 years, eating at some fabulous restaurants and we have to add in the nail- biting Manchester United vs Manchester City football game Rich found playing at a pub! 

In Venice we got to explore the grandeur of this illustrious empire as it was...even catching a water bus along the grand canal to get from A to B had us frantically turning our heads this way and that to take it all in.

On the evening of our second day, we hopped on a train and headed for Florence...this city is just heaven for history buffs (ie: Simone) and art lovers alike. We were fortunate enough to be the only two people to show up for a city tour, so ended up having a tour guide all to ourselves. It was such a treat to be able to ask all the questions we wanted...and we had plenty, and to have such a knowledgeable person on hand to answer them. Our tour ran over by one hour and we learned an incredible amount about this birthplace of the Renaissance era.

We then headed off to explore the two major art galleries and to see Michaelanglo's David which is simply breath-taking. We walked across the famous Pont De Vecchio Bridge with it's numerous jewelry stores and Rich even climbed the dome of the Duomo, Florence's major cathedral. Five hundred steps up and the same down...quite a feat.

Before we overdosed on culture, we headed off to la Cinque Terra, five little Italian towns perched atop some spectacular cliff and along the Mediterranean coast. On our way there, we stopped off in Pisa between trains for the obligatory photo shoot at the leaning tower. Rich even tried his hand at planking.

We stayed in Monterosso, the largest of the five towns and our hotel room had the most amazing view of one of the town's little beaches. These towns are all so charming and are exactly what you would expect of an Italian village as they would have been hundreds of years ago. In fact, they have found amphoras in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii that had held wine made in one of these villages.

Surrounded by vineyards and cliffs on one side and sparkling blue water on the other, these towns are simply spectacular.

We divided up our time between relaxing on the beach and exploring the towns.

Between the first two towns there is a little path called the walk of love. Here young lovers attach locks to the fences and then throw the key into the ocean in the hope of locking up their love or inscribe their names on the walls.

Richard got all romantic and carved out a love heart with our initials in the wall with his pocket knife...very sweet.

It was then sadly time to say goodbye to all the pasta, pizza, gelato and Mozzarella de Buffalo and head off to the South of France.

Next post to follow shorty.
You stay classy Sydney
Rich and Simone xxxxx

P.S:  Rich here - You can take the Bogan out of Australia but you can't take the Bogan out if Simone. In the home of fashion, she sported a few interesting outfits like this one.