Back from Italy

Hi all!

We are indeed back Jess. I was meant to blog on Saturday morning in return for Matt making me some pancakes but I ate the pancakes and didn't get very far in my blog. Oops!

We had a great time away in Italy with Mum and Grant. We got to see all the sights of Italy with a great tour guide - our "Italian Mamma". Did you know Italians actually do say 'Mamma Mia'? Its not just a stereotype like on the old Papa Giuseppe Pizza ads (anyone remember that ad?)

The food was great unless it was an organised meal with the whole tour group - those meals were dodgy. There was much pizza and pasta eaten.

The group was nice enough but being cooped up in a bus with them for a couple of hours every day or two wasn't as fun. We managed to dodge the illnesses going around and almost became obsessive compulsive with the anti-bacterial gel. One of our fellow Aussies had conjunctivitis and none of us were keen on getting that again anytime soon.

A brief run down on our stops:

Sorrento was pretty cool. We spent an afternoon there and went to a local farm and sampled some fresh mozzarella, red wine, bruschetta and sun-dried tomatoes.

The Isle of Capri was absolutely amazing. I had never heard of it but it is well worth the trip if you ever head to Italy. Not many tourists stayed on the island but we did so we got a real feel for its boutiquey atmosphere. Check out our photos. You must go there!

Assissi was cool - an old walled town on the hill. Very cool. We weren't there very long (and there wasn't much to do) but it was a lovely stop over for the night.

The next day we traveled through the countryside to Venice.

Venice was very cool and much bigger than we thought it would be. There are something like 118 islands! We stayed on the only island that is allowed cars and was pretty close to the action of the Grand Canal and of course, we had a Gondola ride!

Next stop was Montecatini which was also a cute little town but had a more modern feel than the others we had visited previously. It was mainly a base to stay however for the full day excursion the next day to the home town of our tour guide - Firenze or Florence as we know it.

Florence - the home of leather and gold - was a beautiful place with so many little alleyways to explore and get lost in. The views up and down the river Arno were magnificent.

From our base in Montecatini we left for a stop over in Siena before heading back to Rome. Siena was really nice. I personally didn't get to see much of it (due to lack of time and needing food) but Matt managed to get a little further into Siena.

Rome was absolutely amazing. Everywhere you looked was another ancient ruin. We first went to the Vatican and visited the Pope's house, the Sistine Chapel (of which Matt took a photo which was forbidden!) and St Peter's Basilica. We then had some free time to explore the Roman Forum and Pantheon before rejoining the group to do a tour of the Colosseum. An awesome day.

So all in all we had a great time away. Be sure to check out our photos here!

Thea.