Kotor, Montenegro

Our host in Debrovnik told us that Kotor would be 8 hrs away by bus. When we arrived after 3 hrs, we were surprised and relieved. I don't like buses! Kotor is like a scene from the Lord of the Rings, with a hilltop fort, with walls that stretch down the mountain ridge an hours strenuous walk away to envelop the old town. I took some great shots from the top of the fort after getting up early to miss the heat, then went for a swim in the water to cool off. The bay harbours water as clear as Croatia's, if not as azure-blue. Our next step is north-west, to the Balkans! Should be interesting!!!

Debrovnik

Travelling by bus has to be my least favourite forms of travel. Travelling by bus with my cousin is worse. On our third day together, she lost her lonely planet and camera on a bus. This time, I lost her. After we left Hvar at mid-morning, we arrived in Jelsa, ready for a connection to Securaj, all the way across the island. I had been feeling blessed today, because the travel fairy I have kicked in once again - we found out only that day that the bus only runs twice a week, once on Friday and once on Monday - and it turned out to be a Friday! So we're in Jelsa and Vicki says she needs to get some water. I say "Okay", and start looking for our connecting bus while Vicki goes off to look for water. Having found the connecting bus, I put my bag in and wait for Vicki. Minutes tick by, and no Vicki appears, but the bus driver does. I ask him to wait for a second while I run and find my cousin, and he rolls his eyes and nods. Off I go, looking in every store around town - no Vicki. Despondent, I returned to the bus. The driver raises his eyebrows, and I take my bag out of the bus. "When's the next bus?" I asked him. A real joker, the bus driver checks his watch, snorts, and looks up at me with a peircing stare... "Next bus Monday" he says. Now I'm really worried. I beg him to wait for another few minutes, while I take another run around town. This time, I find Vicki in the checkout queue at one of the stores. I shout "the bus is leaving NOW!" and run out of the store, just as the bus driver starts up the engine. We jumped on just in time - I was so happy we weren't stranded in Jelsa until Monday!

After arriving at Securaj, we took a scenic ferry across to Drevnik on the mainland. After a delay, the bus came to take us to Debrovnik at around 6pm. Arriving at 10pm, we were fed up with travel. It was well past dusk, and we quickly realised that we had only copied down half of the directions to the hostel. Knocking on a likely candidate, we came upon a 70+ year old couple in their bedclothes, who assured us that they did not rent out rooms. The other possible candidate street was on Radnick street. But no-one knew where Radnick Street was, or if it even existed. Luckily, the old lady was poor of hearing, and thought I said Rad-nitch-ka. She gave us directions there, and it turned out to be the right place. We fell into bed, so glad to have a place to sleep for the night.

The next morning, we explored Debrovnik's old town suburb, Pile. Pile has to be the richest place ever seen, with white marble flagstones and beautiful buildings wrought from the same rock. We explored the town for a few hours until we threw it in for an early night.

Split and Hvar - Heaven

Unfortunately, Vicki lost her guide book when we left the apartment in Zadar. Then, in her optimistic way, she said "At least it wasnt my camera". Only seconds later, her next words were "Hey, where is my camera?". She'd left it on the bus. To relieve her depressed emotions, she went out for some retail therapy, and bought a lovely blue and white striped sailor shirt. Transeversely, plans were made to celebrate the first losses of the trip (Vicki is reknowned for them), and Vicki started with a bottle of local Vodka, while I had a delicious lemon radler beer I'd discovered in Zadar. Our hostel in Split is amazing. The friendly owner showed us up to the hostel, where we met Americans and Irish and too many Australians. We got on so well with the Irish that the night started off with lots of dancing in the hotel room, and moved to the only club open on a Monday night, where we only realised there were dancers in lingerie after about three hours. I taught Kate, one of the Irish girls, to dip, and we all danced until the floor was burning. To cool off, we went for a dip in the water, before returning to the dance floor soaking wet for some more, slightly more slippery dancing. After another dip and more dancing, we headed back to sleep. The next night Vicki and I had a quiet one while the Irish went out again. A new Irish girl called Anna joined the Irish conglomerate, and was just as fun as the other two. We all made plans to meet in Hvar the next morning. Unfortunately, one of the Irish girls woke up with a strange allergic reaction that required medical help (apparently it was the Vodka, which tasted horrible, so it might have been true), and couldn't come to Hvar.

Little did we know that they would be on the ferry over the next day. Them being Irish and us being Australian, the night couldnt help turning rowdy, where we danced and drank in our apartment until late in the night. When one of the Irish girls threw up and Vicki passed out, our apartment host threw us out, so we went out on the town. The clubs were a bit dissapointing, however, and after picking up Vicki an hour later, we took a free boat ride to a club called Carpe Diem on a little island near Hvar. It turned out to be quite as bad as the mainland clubs though, so we left before even going in. The Irish girls stayed to party, and came back to the apartment at about 6am. All the Irish went back to theirs to sleep, and Vicki and I continued sleeping.

Hvar itself is amazing. Once you've seen the ocean at Hvar, crystals dont seem so clear anymore. The days are blissful, with weather hot enought that taking dips in the clearer-than-crystal water is compulsory, while at night the lights at the top of the masts on the moored yachts create their own constellations, swaying drunkenly in the night sky. Lavender scents flow to you from the markets in the town centre at all times of day, and theres little else to do but take walks along the beach and go for swims. You can find a beautiful spot on the beach at night, perfect for a midnight dip, and watch the city lights as you dry off.

The buildings in Hvar are an old-age Tuscan style that put the buildings in Italy to shame, with stained shutters and sone walls, while the pavements are made from the same stone. The buildings are all similar, with orange ceramic roofing tiles. While one building looks good, seeing the whole city by day from afar, combined with the crystal clear water, makes a composition that is not to be missed. If you only go to one place in Croatia, make it Hvar!

Croatia - Zadar

Thinking we should see somewhere a tiny bit off the tourist track, we next headed to Zadar after Venice, taking the night train to Zagreb and from thence a bus to Zadar. After not sleeping at all because the customs people kept waking us up hourly in a kind of sleep torture as we passed through multiple countries (but we got stamps!), we didnt get seats on the bus, so I slept on the floor - which is probably the most comfortable way to sleep on a bus, anyway. Contrary to being off the tourist track, this place was well known to Germans, and almost everyone spoke Deutsch, and looked surprised when we didnt know any of it. Everywhere was ridiculously expensive and booked out anyway, and our options were looking thin. Luckily, on a visit to a campsite to see if there were any tents for rent, I met two Chilean women, who were also looking for a place. We buddied up and quickly found an apartment which we shared, which worked out at 15 Euros a night with a kitchen, bathroom, and view of the ocean - deal! We beached it up the first day, and had great fun. We didnt even know there was more to Zadar until the next day, when Vicki and I found a maze of alleyways, as all good European towns have, lined with marble pavestones and buildings. The Pekaras (bakeries) are amazing, and we discovered burek, which is a delicious feta-filled pastry that resembles a quarter of a gigantic pie. Zadar has some great beaches with crystal clear water, as well as a sea-organ, that blows sound generated by the motion of the waves against the shore. It sounds as peaceful as an Enya song, and imbues the shoreline with a magical element. At night, solar panels that have been charging all day unleash their power, transmitting an amazing light show on the ground under your feet.

Cousins reunite - Venice, birthdays, and cocktails

Catching a 3pm train from the eastern side of Italy, I thought "this is a narrow country, surely it wont take long to get to Venice". I was in Venice at 9.30pm - not as short a trip as I had thought, and that's after I had to pay an augmentation to my ticket on the train. Arriving at night, I waited for a bus for an hour, and then found the timetable - the last bus had left at 9.20. It just wasn't my day. Anxious to meet Vicki, I grabbed a taxi. Taxis in Italy are expensive - I watched as the meter rose constantly, and shelled out 20 Euros for a 5 minute cab ride (ouch!). To my consternation, I found out that there was a different bus line that I had accidentally purchased a ticket for that ran to my destination. Oh well. To make the night better, I found a cheap bottle of wine at the campsite where we were staying in Venice and spoke to a nice Australian who was travelling for a few months. She gave me tips on going to Croatia and Hungary which were great, and a half an hour later my cousin walked in. It was so good to see a familiar face after more than a month meeting new people but no old ones.

Vicki took part in the drinking of the wine, while we had a quick dinner of cucumber, tomato, and focaccia bread. We talked late on into the night, catching up on all our latest thoughts on society, politics, philosophy, the whole deal - Vicki and I think so similarly that its great to compare notes on all our most recent thoughts. The next day we woke up at a reasonable hour, excited to see Venice. It has to be the best of the Italian cities; it has such charm in the narrow alleyways webbed throughout the city, and the canals interspersed with pathways. Getting lost is a must, and we did it as much as we could, not bothering with maps or anything. On my last day there, a call to my parents informed me that there were arrows on top of the buildings pointing to the main bridge, which would have been useful to know earlier on!

The next day, it was my birthday! My 22nd, and the first where I didnt get depressed for days before hand for being old. I figure there's no point now, as I definitely am old, so might as well just enjoy birthdays. After talking to my family and girlfriend, Vicki and I found a cute cafe, where we had cocktails - I tried a coffee kahlua something and a Vodka martini and Vicki had various fruity things. Vicki spilt the best part of both my drinks, so we decided to move on, and I decided to keep a close hold on my drinks. We found a wine bar later, where I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio and we shared a cheese and olive and salami platter, which was far too big considering we were supposed to be having a two course meal for dinner. After looking around for a nice restaurant for a while, we found a place that looked decent and sat down. Vicki had camembert with walnuts and honey for primi piatti, and I the smoked ricotta and seafood Gnocci, and for secondi piatti, Vicki had a vegetable pizza loaded with vegies, while I had a platter loaded with seafood - far too much for my now shrunken stomach to hold! A great night, topped off with getting lost again. A friendly Russian-sounding family showed us the way to the bus station, and we got home very late and so full we both exploded and died.

Cinque terre - ultimate beach paradise

I decided to make things hard from myself from the outset, and set off from La Spezia train station, intending to walk to Cinque terre on the other side of the peninsula. After walking in the wrong direction (straight down, instead of across, the peninsula) for two hours, I started again, taking a path that threatened wild boars in the area. It was worth the risk of goring by wild boars, because at the top of the mountain (halfway to Cinque terre, 3-4 hours walk from the train station) there is a town called Campiglia nestled amongst the hills, that you wouldnt know existed without a strenous hours-long walk uphill. I have no idea how the residents get there.

After another 3-4 hour long walk, I arrived in Riomaggiore, the first town in Cinque terre with feet with worn-out soles at 3pm. After a snack of local lemon tart (exquisite!) I jumped in the warm, warm water. Cinque terre is a paradise, with brightly coloured buildings rising up out of a sharp cliff valley from the clear, clear water. Bright coloured sailing boats laden with nets cruise around, garnishing the sparkling sea and providing the final magical touch on the perfect beach. Nearby there is the Via Della Amour, (the way of love) to the second town. Along the walk halfway down a sheer rock cliff, locks enscribed with lover's names are suspended from nets on the cliff.

Agerola and the best of the Amalfi Coast

For a small town, the citizens of San Lazzaro in Agerola, overlooking the Amalfi Coast, sure know how to party. Every night I was there, something fun was on, starting with a birthday party for the owner - with fireworks! Italians know how to party, and the festivities dont even usually kick off until 10pm or so. Dinner is consumed at around 11, and drinks and dancing happens sometime after Cinderella has already lost her shoe. The next night, it was a festival in Agerola town centre, with a famous Italian singer up on the big stage, and corny carnival rides and cheap plastic toys everywhere. God I hate carnivals, they represent everything thats cheap and tacky in the world... I would love to see a proper fete like they would have had before horrible carnival rides and chinese toys were invented, with hay and boiled corn and animal shows. The night after, the hostel had a hot dogs and beer party. Initially I didnt join in, I didnt really feel like hot dogs and ate salad instead, but after an hour or so, the hostelier came in and offered us all free beer - they had a keg outside, so I couldnt say no. The last night I was in San Lazzaro, there was a star watching conference on the summit of the highest hill overlooking the town, with telescopes pointed at milky spots. I dont know what they are, but everyone was very excited about them, so I will have to look them up sometime in the future. After the stargazing, as I was walking down the hill I heard a few acoustic guitars and Italian singing, so I went to check it out. On the piazza below, a concert of an Italian singer was taking place... it was great, and such a lovely night, almost a full moon. I missed Bec a lot as I was standing on the balcony overlooking the concert, with the moonlight night making the view of the sea look even better than in the daylight.

So the nights were filled with fun, but that didnt make the days any less active. On the first day, I made friends with all the guests at the hostel - it was a particularly social one. Everyone was fun. There were two Canadians, one who had recently sustained a perforated eardrum from cliff jumping in Croatia, so he was initially a bit quiet. There was a dutch guy, who was always having fun, as well as two English girls who had been held up at gun-point in Naples, another English woman, and an Australian girl. This crowd just grew as the days went on, being augmented by extra Americans and Australians. The first day, all the guys decided to climb down the 3000 steps to the beach on the Amalfi Coast. The day was absolutely sunkist - after the climb, we took a boat to a grotto on the beach, where there was a rock arch to jump from into the water, and a cave that a Roman fellow cliff jumping girl told us was called the Lovers cave. Anyone can guess what goes on in there. Afterwards, we drank beer on the beach and sunbaked on the sun-warmed rocks. After a perfect day, for some reason we elected to climb the 3000 steps back up... not an easy accomplishment, but we beat the bus back to the hostel and were drenched in sweat and sunscreen. We definitely earned our dinner that night!

The next day, the Canadians, the English woman and I visited Pompei, which wasnt particularly impressive, apart from the awesome brothel, with a la carte sexual positions painted on the wall. Another day on the beach and it was sadly time to head up north again, to Bologna.

When I arrived in Bologna, I immediately was not impressed. After a mosquito-armageddon night in the out-of-the-way hostel, I decided to head to Pisa again instead of staying longer in boring Bologna. I didnt even get to eat a bolognese there, although my roommate Australian did, and said that it was horrible. No points for Bologna. Now that I am in Pisa, I intend to get up early the next two days and see Cinque Terre.

Naples: Pizza, pizza, pizza!

Not much to do in Napoli. For three days, I lived off the hostel breakfast - a croissant and juice, and one pizza for dinner. The pizzas are the best and cheapest in Italy. Napoli itself had very little to do, but nearby Hercolano is well worth the trip. Having since been to Pompei, I can say with certainty that it is by far the better of the two. While the most interesting sights in Pompei are all closed for reservation, and take ages to walk between, Hercolano is like a fairy... magical and small! Paintings from 2000 years ago are still in an amazing state of preservation, while the mosaics on the floor of the baths put modern tilers to shame. The one group of skeltons, 4 people clutching each other in fear and covering their heads, is far too lifelike, and gives an excellent idea of the fear the victims of Vesuvius would have been feeling.

Before the ruins, I checked out the local morning markets in Hercolano... extensive markets selling everything from cheap jewellery and thongs to fresh olives and bargain cheap fruit. I bought some olives while walking around, and the seller did not believe that I only wanted 100 grams. At the third ladle I realised what she was up to and hastily took the bag before she could ladle any more in. Just outside the fresh seafood markets, a fisherman had just caught a large octopus, which took up nearly a whole bucket. It was wriggling around in confusion when I saw it, although I fear it didnt have much longer to wriggle before it made a particularly fresh calamari lunch for some lucky local.

Rome - Random Amblings

After seeing the heavyweights of the Roman tourist sights, I had to work out what to do next. Lucky there were still many things left to see. The next day saw me at the capuchin crypt early in the morning - lucky I didnt go at night! This has to be one of the scariest things that I have seen. The capuchin monks used human bones - those of prior monks - to decorate the crypt in all sorts of designs. The first room has a painting of Lazarus and his resurrection, and is decorated with pelvises and skulls, with femurs making up a wall at the back of the room. The second room has ulnas and radii used as centrepieces with whole spines as borders. Gradually increasing in gruesomeness, the third room has a severed human arm - only half decomposed - hanging from the wall. The final room holds the piece de la resistance, the skeletons of children - one of which is nailed to the ceiling. What possessed these monks to preserve their dead in such a novel and admittedly creepy fashion, I will never know. I was happy to leave the place, with a visit to the Trevi Fountain next on the itinerary, hopefully a little more cheerful!

The Trevi fountain was absolutely packed with tourists when I arrived. The monolithic structure is worthy of its great fame, with superb marble statues much larger than man looming over the crowd. The Trevi fountain is also the beginning of the walk through the old town to the Pantheon, along which are lined lots of touristy restaurants. The pantheon is grand but quite a modest form of greco-roman architecture, and I did not spend a long time in there. After a short while, the constant loud recordings of "silence, please" in four languages seem strangely ironic.

After the Pantheon, I walked across to Trastevere, the most beautiful suburb in Rome. Small, well decorated and very cute restaurants line the pavements along a windy stretch of roads starting in piazza trastevere. The pavement-layer was clearly as drunk as all the guests in the restaurants, as all of the streets wind in the cutest way imaginable.

The day after these extensive wanderings, I was in for another long walking day. After the metro broke down on the way to the Vatican, I got off early at the Piazza del Popolo and wandered along the roads, seeing on the way the Augustus mausoleum, and a castle. The piazza of the Vatican is very grand, although I did not enter the basilica. I saved my time at the Vatican instead for the Vatican museum, which was more richly furnished than any I have seen. The hallway of cartographers was very interesting, as well as the statues. I loved Rafaels Stanza, filled with brightly coloured characters that almost seem to come to life, and preferred it to Michelangelos paintings in the Sistine chapel.

After wandering the Vatican museums for hours, I walked up a hill which promised to be a national park. Instead, it turned out to be where all the rich people lived. I did happenstance upon the nicest fountain in Rome, however - the Font dAcqua, which is much more peaceful than Trevi, and gives the grandest view of Rome that could be wanted for. The next day, it was to Naples - the city known for pizza and theivery, and not much else!

Rome – The Colosseum and Roman Forum

I have now endured the longest queue that I have ever submitted myself to. Needlessly, as it turns out – I could have gotten a ticket a lot faster if I had purchased it at the Roman Forum rather than the Colosseum (the tickets are combined for both attractions). After more than an hour, I finally got my ticket. At the time I was in the Colosseum, there was an exhibition on the Emperor Nero, famous for his strange sexual urges, killing his mother, and possibly burning down Rome so he could start again – quite the passionate individual. The room where he lived was absolutely amazing, a sunken marble terrace with spouting fountains all around. Lucky guy! The colloseum itself was quite amazing, it was quite brutal the way they put executions by animal or fire on show, as well as animal vs. animal, animal vs. human, and human vs. human fights on show.

The Roman forum nearby is beautiful, as well as the rest of the ruins, which stretch out over a long space. These included various arches, pillars, palaces, and gardens. The palace itself was absolutely huge, originally built with two massive wings stretching over hectares, and intended to have an extra wing. I found it very strange, seeing brick-and-mortar buildings from the time of Jesus, built as the normal masonry material of the time. I expected marble, but having seen this, it's amazing how little our building techniques have changed over time – 2000 years and no advancement!

Florence, part 2: The Uffizi and Michelangelo Square

The Uffizi was great. My favourite painting was Spring, closely followed by the birth of Venus. The statue hall was amazing, there were marble carvings from 50 BC! I didn't think art could have been preserved for that long. There were so many Madonna with child's and Jesus on the cross' that I couldn't stand to see another one, especially because christian-themed art is mostly quite droll. I loved the pagan art – Roman gods are much more interesting subject matter.

The next day I walked out of my hostel and there were my English friends from Pisa, walking by my hostel! I shouted out and took them for a brief tour of the bits they hadn't seen in Florence (their hostel was in a small town an hour from Florence). Then we headed up to Michelangelo square, where a copy of David in bronze stands, presiding over the whole of Florence. The view from the square is amazing – Florence is such a good city to have a view of, all the mediterranean buildings are awesome when seen en masse.

Florence

Florence has confirmed my love of Italy, although in Florence the tourist presence is much more obvious, and you have to fight against each other to get through crowds. Yesterday, after catching the train here I dropped my bag at my new hostel, a very basic dorm -no kitchen, fridge, or lounge area, just a bed and a toilet. It's quite good, because it forces you to go out and enjoy the city, as it's impossible to enjoy the hostel. I've spent the last two days walking non-stop, and now my ankles feel like jelly. Yesterday I went for a scope around the city, which encompassed the Ponte Vecchio, where the goldsmiths are, the Palazzo Vecchio, and a bunch of churches – the Basilica di Santo Spirito, the Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Flore, the Basilica di San Lorenze, and the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella. While the churches are absolutely huge here, they are not very ornate – it looks like they scrapped the artistry budget and just built the biggest monstrosity possible, perhaps they needed the extra room to fit all the christians in. I checked out multiple markets, which line every street, as well as the leather markets with the hog. I also found the most awesome scribe's shop, with ink, pens, sealing wax and stamps, anything you could want in order to write the most stylish letter this side of Milan. While I walked past the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, I didn't go in yesterday. Today, I visite the piazza pitti after a bit of a walk around. The part I was most excited about was the Giardina di Boboli, which are supposedly famous. In my opinion, they turned out to be famously crap, mostly consisting of a bunch of overgrown trees with grass and weeds underneath. The occasional marble statue was nice, but nothing like the beautiful palace gardens in Sintra, Portugal. After circulating the massive garden grounds, I headed in the museum, which was much more wortwhile – the treasures of the Kremlin were currently on display, as well as the most ornate carvings you could ever expext to be possible, and a few oddities, like a whole display of small statuettes made entirely of shells. The latter part of the display included jewellery with more diamonds on a single necklace than a normal collarbone could be expected to hold.

The last exhibition I visited was a fashion throughout the ages exhibition – I always wondered how dress codes changed from ballooning, multiple-layered skirts and petticoats to slim dresses. There were even some very old, preserved clothes that had to be viewed under a dim light so as not to destroy them further. While the exhibits on the different clothes were interesting, I came out none the wiser why people used to wear so much and why we are now more practical – the exhibit only vaguely postulated the culture and women's desire for independence fueled the change.