Italy

Pictures from Italy

I don't know why, but I have always wanted to go to Rome. Finally I got the chance. I bought myself a travel guide and spent a week reading it and planning out our way around Rome. I got a little excited and tried to see everything in just two and a half days. James said his feet suffered and I think he got a little sun stroke but we saw lots. On the first day we had a wander around the centre of the city, walked down the Spanish steps then sat by the Trevi fountain which is even more flamboyant than I imagined. We had our best meal in Italy on our first day when we found a little restaurant on a back street away from the crowds of tourists that made amazing pizza. Our second day was Sunday so we went to the Vatican City. We saw St Peters square, had a look around St Peters Basilica and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the longest queue possible through the Vatican museums to see the Sistine Chapel. Worth the wait though. We finished Sunday at the top of a fort guarding the entrance of the Vatican city to take in the view of the Basilica.

I think Monday was my favourite though. We walked to the Colosseum where we skipped the queue (I'm very glad we bought tickets before we left the UK). It is so impressive. Its huge. Apparently it was built to hold 60,000 people sitting and 10,000 people standing. Considering it is nearly a thousand years old it is also remarkably intact, only one side suffered people stealing stone from it over the ages. Having read some of the information cards it seems the Romans had a brutal taste in entertainment though. From the Colosseum we moved onto the Roman forum. They are basically ruins of ancient Rome where people like Julius Caesar lived. It was odd walking around the same streets that Caesar would have walked.

On the Monday afternoon we caught a flight to Sicily where our friend Nick was kind enough to let us stay in his flat. Sicily was lovely and a lot more relaxed than Rome. Nick showed us around the local area. We spent some time at the beach, saw a nearby flock of flamingoes and ate a few breakfasts at a cafe next to a salt museum on a lagoon. They make sea salt there in the traditional way by evaporating the water in pools that become increasingly more shallow. They then shovel it into wheelbarrows and finally pour it into giant piles of along the side of the pools. The lagoon made a lovely setting to watch the sun go down with a gin and tonic.

One morning we made a trip to Segesta which is an ancient temple built on top of a hill. It was never completed apparently but was still very impressive. There was also a amphitheater at the top of a hill so there was an amazing view off the back of the stage. There was a spot in the middle where if you spoke it could be heard all around the seating area.

Our busiest day in Sicily was our last. We went with Nick to visit a town at the top of a hill called Erice. It is a pretty, old fashioned town with cobbled streets and quaint, white stoned buildings. We walked right to the highest point and ate a picnic lunch at the edge of a cliff with a stunning view of the coast.

Nick then dropped us off in Trapani from where we took a ferry to the nearby island of Favignana, whilst Nick went to work. Once we arrived on the island we hired two bicycles and equipped with a map we cycled around the east of the island. We found a lovely beach with crystal clear water where we sat and enjoyed the sunshine for a while. We actually were the whitest people on the beach. Everyone else was Italian and at the end of the summer they were all very tanned. We stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was great cycling around. We felt like we saw lots more than we would have done walking and didn't get so tired out. James enjoyed it so much that he insists that on any future holiday we hire bikes. We took the fast Cat back to Trapani as the sun set then had a wander around the old town, which had some beautiful architecture, before finding a pizza restaurant that had come highly recommended.

We both really enjoyed Italy. It was lovely to see Nick and meet some of his friends. My highlight was the Colosseum which was touristy but not to be missed. The ice cream or Gelato was incredible, particularly the coffee flavour and I am now a fan of tiramisu. The only slightly disappointing thing was the food which was not as great as expected. I think that is only because we do Italian food so well in the UK though. Also, it is just not fair that when we pay to go somewhere hot and sunny the UK gets temperatures of 30 degrees at the beginning of October! Oh well, we have just booked flights to Cuba in January. I bet the UK won't be so warm then.