Rome (again)

Our holiday started and finished in Rome. We stayed in the same B&B as when we arrived as the location was great with many of the sights and plenty of restaurants close by. This time we did a tour of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum& Palatine Hill. The tour was in Spanish and English so was a bit slow whilst the guide said everything twice however having a tour meant that we could skip the entrance lines which was a great advantage for the small cost that we would have had to pay for the entrances. We did 6 hours straight walking before we made it back to our room for a rest.
The next day I visited the Leonardo da Vinci Machines exhibition while Mirella did more shopping.
Just after lunch it was off to the airport for our long flight home.

Montefiore dell'Aso - Monte Vidon Combatte

Picked up the hire car in Mestre (a disappointing Fiat Punto) and drove on the Autostrada to Montefiore stopping for a couple of hours to meet Alessandro's (Mirella's Italian class assistant) mum (Antoinetta) in Pesaro. She was very warm and a great host shouting us to drinks then lunch. Mirella & Antoinetta didn't stop talking for the whole two hours.
Back on the Autostrada we made it to Montefiore by late afternoon. Another medieval town where everything was built 1,000 years ago. Here were warmly greeted by Don Vitorio (the towns priest who is Mirella's mums cousin), Paulo & Ciancinta. We had dinner at the local restaurant and then slept in the convent which was very comfortable.
The next day we went to Monte Vidone (Mirella's mums home town) where we were shown over the old medieval section of the town and through Mirellas grandfathers house (which is for sale if anyone is looking for a property in Italy). The house has 2 living levels + an attic & cellars. In The cellars once housed wine, meat and other foods as well as a horse and a place for pigs.
Back at Montefiore, after being fed, we set off to Rome for our final days in Italy.

The first photo shows the rooms in the convent where we stayed. The second photo shows the outside wall & enterance ramp up into the old section of Monte Vidone.

Lucca - Pisa

Trained it to Luca today and dragged our weight gaining bags to a B&B about 200 m from the station. Then after spending an hour walking the old section and noting that Puccini was born here we caught the train to Pisa.
The Leaning Tower, in fact all of the buildings in the piazza look magnificent. They have done a good job in cleaning and restoring. We did the tower climb, something we couldn't do when we were here in 1988 when we were last here. It was worth the 15€ we pain to do the climb. That one is now off the bucket list.
Off to Venice next, well Mestre just outside of Venice, to stay with the Mirella's aunt tomorrow :(. Another 4 h on trains. I think I'm over trains now.

Cinque Terre - Monterosso

After travelling all day by train from Chiusi to Monterosso via Florence & La Spezia we finally arrived at the Cinque Terre town of Monterosso only to find out that the coastal tracks, between the 5 towns, were closed following an incident of rocks falling on a group of Australians. As the coastal tracks were closed the next day we decided to do an inland track via a church ( San Savierio) to Vernazza. It took us two hours of uphill walking to get to the church then a further 2.5 h down a goat track to get to Vernazza - a tough days walking. Only 2 of the 5 towns ticked of the bucket list. Oh well we have a reason to come back another time.
After a quick swim in the Ligurian sea we are now preparing for a relaxing evening before we travel to Lucca tomorrow.

Montepulciano- day's 4

Since I last wrote we have visited the gardens of La Foca, the small town of Bagni Vignoni (whose town square is a thermal pool - see photo), Pienza which is very pretty and Monticchiello.

When we entered the main piazza of Monticchiello I recognised it as the place the TV show Master Chef filmed a segment where the contestants had to make Pichi and then cook for the whole town.

I have found a water filling station where the locals can fill their water bottles (either straight or carbonated) for 5 cents/litre.

Montepulciano-day 3

We have settled into a bit of a routine in Montepulciano. We walk to a bar near language school for our breakfast cappuccino where I leave Mirella for the morning. I then do the 5 minutes of housework before exploring the town. In the afternoon we explore further afield. Today we went to Cortona (the setting for the book/ movie "Under The Tuscan Sun". Whilst there we visited a museum on the Etruscan (pre Roman) civilisation.
The attached photo shows one of the many shops selling leather goods in this area.

Montepulciano - day 2

Mirella started language school today so I have had time to relax. I walked to the school with Mirella, about 100 m away. We stopped at a bar where we had cappuccinos. Two cappuccinos cost us 2:20 €, so cheap. Icecream's have been costing 2:50 € for two flavours, great value.
This afternoon we drove to Bagni san Filoppo where we found some hot springs amongst the trees.
Time now for some Prosecco before dinner.

Montepulciano - day 1

After a late arrival the previous day we checked into our apartment, which is great and very comfortable.
I have just found a map that details the Locations used in Montepulciano for the movie New Moon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Saga:_New_Moon) most exciting if you have read the twilight series or watched the movie.
Today we drove to Siena, about an hours drive. We walked to Piazza del Campo, ate lunch, climbed the tower (400 steps), did some shopping (Mirella scored a new leather bag) and returned back home.

Naples

We only spent one day in Naples however we are glad that we did. Mirella booked a B&B in the old part of the city. The attached photo shows the view from our window. It was a bit noisy with kids playing soccer in the street until late and this time we only had 60 stairs to climb to our room but the location was still worth all of this.
We took a tour of the Naples underground. See http://www.napolisotterranea.org/naples-underground/?lang=en. This tour was fascinating and gave us an insite into the history of the city.

Naples to Montepulciano

We caught the very fast train (Fretcharossa travels at 300 km/h) to Rome then had 13 minutes to transfer to a Regional train which we found well away from all of the other platforms, about 10 minutes walk. Happy to have made it on to this train just in tme we found a seat an settled down for the two hour ride to Chuisi. It was then that I realised I had left my camera bag, with camera and GPS, on the Frecciarossa. What a disaster! Mirella spoke with the conductor who made some phone calls and an hour later we were informed that the bag had been found, where I left it, and was being held for us in Florence. As we had to pick up our hire car by midday we got off the train in Chuisi, collected the car, parked the car at the station and then caught the next train to Florence. After a further 4 hours of train rides we had the bag and were back in Chuisi. After a short 26 km drive we arrived in Montepulciano. Not a day that I hope to repeat although all ended well.

Praiano

We caught the Frecciarossa (very fast - 300 km/h) train to Naples and then a taxi to Praiano. The road to Praiano is narrow and winds around the coast line with vertical drops to the ocean often over 100 m below.

Praiano is beautiful however there are many stairs to negotiate to get anywhere. To go to the beach i counted 280 steps (one way). For breakfast we go down 70 steps. 

We have now spent three nights in Praaiano. Each day was a full day. On the first dy we took the SITA (local bus) to Amalfi  and then onto Rafello which is high in the hills with beautiful gardens. The next day we went to Pompei then on the last  day we took  a boat trip to the island of  Capri. Next stop  Naples for one night. 

Rome

After an 11 h flight to Dubai, three hours in the terminal then a further 6 h to Rome we have arrived in Italy.
Passport checking in the airport on arrival was shocking. About 500 people crammed into a room that was hot, stuffy and chaotic with only 4 staff to process non EU people entering Italy  It took us over an hour to get through. When we did our driver, in his suit with his flash black Merc was patiently waiting and took us straight to our B&B in the centre of Rome.
Domenico greeted us on arrival at our B&B and showed us up to our room. After a quick shower it was out into the street for our first Rome gelato.
The next day we were out early. In the morning we walked to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and the Pantheon. After lunch we caught the bus to Saint Peters where we did the tour of the Cupola and then the ground floor. For Dinner we went to Trastevere, an anchient section of Rome full of restaurants, which was full of people eating on a Monday night.
The next day we are off to the Amalfi coast.

Final Touches to Itinerary

Pre Trip Preparations

One week to go.