Athens

Hello Greece! It was a short and sweet visit for us with only 2 days to explore Athens but it was definitely worth it, even if only for the amazing food!

Oh and this view…Part of the Acropolis.Dakos salad….sooooo good.There was some seriously cool street art in Athens.The place we stayed had a great balcony overlooking a pedestrian street lined with cafes. More cool street art.Spice shop.Take a close look at just how much garlic is in this photo!Seems like you wouldn’t want to leave your car anywhere too long in Athens.Meat and garlic hanging from the ceiling….why not?Fun shoes!Why do they make the coolest kids clothes?! I want these in my size!Cafe lined streets in the city centre.The meat market was really upsetting…but I guess this is reality we have to face if we want to eat meat.Gorgeous Greek architecture.Look like this fat cat has had a few too many gyros.This marks the end of our time in Europe sadly. Next up ASIA!

Venice

While staying in Milan we took a day trip to Venice. We had originally planned to stay in Venice but the price of accommodation wasn’t within our budget. Venice was wonderful to go and see but in the end we’re actually very happy we didn’t stay there. It’s very beautiful and the waterways are a novelty but mostly we found it to be a tourist theme park. Having said that we did have a lovely day (albeit very long!) and I got some shots that I think show why people are so enchanted with Venice.Gondola parking.You would want to be careful hanging out your clothes here!An art exhibit we stumbled across.Watch your head!I couldn’t get enough of the views from all the little bridges.Andrew and the giant stovetop expresso.A great door down a great street.No Hills Hoists in Venice!Autumn vines.I love cookies!A rare moment of quiet in Venice with no one in sight.Canal peak hour.Classic Venice

Milan

Milan…one of the fashion capitals of the world. And you can tell!I was constantly impressed in Europe by how glamorous the woman manage to look while riding bicycles.Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. One of the worlds oldest shopping malls, opened in 1877.Placing your heal on the genitals of the bull on this Turin coat of arms and spinning 3 times is said to bring good luck. The number of people doing this has caused significant damage to the tiling and there is now a hole in place of the bulls genitals.Matching camo pants…this couple clearly didn’t call each other to find out what the other was wearing today!Old school Milan tram.The Duomo.Amazing vine covered apartment block.The Imaginarium has a special kid sized door!!I think this is such a good ad.
An amazing sculpture outside a church in Milan.Beautiful autumn leaves in Sempione Park.I want her bike!

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen! I’d return in a heartbeat. We spent a wonderful week staying in Monterosso Al Mare and exploring the other 4 towns.The view from our apartment.The tunnel that links the old town and the new town of Monterosso.Monterosso shops and cafes.Beautiful interior of one of the churches in Monterosso.Monterosso is the only one of the 5 towns that has a sand beach.Dining with your feet in the sand is pretty unbeatable.During our stay we did the coastal hike from Monterosso, through Vernazza to Corniglia. The last part of the trail was still closed due to the flood they had in 2011.

The view of Monterosso from the start of the trail.

Our first view of Vernazza.Arriving in Vernazza.Vernazza is said to be the most picturesque of the 5 towns and is therefore definitely the most crowded.But you can certainly understand why it has earned that reputation!We stopped for an orange juice / coffee at this fantastic cafe over looking Vernazza.Our first view of Corniglia.People enjoying a meal after their hike and the 382 steps you must climb (or descend in our case, thank goodness) to go between the town and the train station.The town off in the distance that you can see is Monterosso so it was a reasonable hike (and very enjoyable!).After that hike I think we deserve a beer and a big feed of seafood pasta!We spent the afternoon and evening in Riomaggiore which is really gorgeous.The colour of the setting sun was amazing.Not a bad view to go with dinner.And last but not least we visited Manarola.Laughing at how impossible it is to get a good photo of me!We had a fantastic dinner (more seafood pasta!) and enjoyed another gorgeous sunset.Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Cinque Terre…

Florence

Staying in Florence was a bit of a last minute decision but I’m very glad that we got to see this beautiful city!

Arno River that flows through Florence at sunset.Motorbike madness!Florence is all about art and craftsmanship. There’s so many fantastic little shops selling all sorts of creative goods.The Duomo.Florentine leather.The colourful streets of Florence.The fruit in Italy was unbelievably good.So many varieties of pumpkin!Ponte VecchioAndrew’s new shoes.We stayed with the most wonderful couple in Florence, Marco and Cristiana. They made us feel so welcome and had the most gorgeous apartment.Best Air BnB breakfast ever!Their cute cat, Micromilla.There really are motorbikes EVERYWHERE in Italy.View of Florence at sunset.They certainly love their bikes and their dogs in Florence.
Hmmm…don’t know what this was about!Funny table…An abandoned building with US $1 bills stuck all over it.One of the fake David’s.The fake handbag selling crew.Farewell Florence…it’s been great xx

Pompeii

We also did a day trip to Pompeii while staying in Salerno. It was really interesting to see how well preserved everything is. The site is much bigger than I thought. We spent about 4 hours walking around and still didn’t get to see everything we wanted to. It was definitely worth the trip!

Amalfi

During our stay in Salerno we did a day trip to Amalfi, the town the coast derives its name from. Amalfi is only about 24km from Salerno but the coastal road is so windy that the bus ride takes an hour and a half. It’s so worth it though to see the coast. I only wish I could have got out to take more pictures!

One of the quaint little streets.I don’t think a photo can fully convey how massive these lemons are!Chillies and garlic…two of the most essential and delicious ingredients. Duomo di Amalfi.A great place for lunch overlooking the water.Gelato became a daily habit for Andrew…Andrew’s gelato….and Kirsty’s gelato 😉
The lemon groves of Amalfi.Vespa & Fiat – two Italian favourites.What a gorgeous coastline…

Salerno

We took the train from Rome down to the southern part of the Amalfi Coast to stay in Salerno. While we were there we did a few day trips (pics to come in the next posts) and ate copious amounts of seafood.

The view from our balcony.

Salerno’s harbour.  Vespa’s buzzing around everywhere. There’s a lovely promenade along the water. Some of the aforementioned seafood. It’s all fresh off the boats in Salerno. Sunset from our balcony.

Rome

Our first stop in Italy was Rome. It was amazing to see this famous city in person. It definitely deserves it’s reputation.

The Colosseum was fantastic!We sat down to look at our map to work out how to get back to our place and we were sitting exactly where the photo on the map was taken from.Lots of wonderful cafes everywhere.Sunset from our apartment.There seemed to be ruins every corner we turned!Mmm…lunch.I’ve never seen so many Smart Cars!
Pantheon.Trevi Fountain(I know you can’t see any of the water from the fountain but there were people crawling over the whole area in front of it).

We went to The Vatican but just stayed outside as the lines were insane.And we ate LOTS of pasta 🙂

Aranjuez

Visiting Andrew’s cousin Beth and her partner Diego in Aranjuez was a huge highlight of our time in Spain (and the trip as a whole!). The hospitality and generosity they showed us was overwhelming.

The Aranjuez Palace just down the road from Beth’s house.Beth’s beautiful treelined street.They live in a fantastic house that used to be a restaurant.On our first night, Beth & Diego did a gig at a local restaurant. It was amazing to see them perform together. Plus the food was fantastic!Mickey! Such a sweet and cheeky pup. If we left our bedroom window open she would jump in and be on the bed in no time!Beth’s amazing turkey…
…and her beautiful cats Ramon and Pearler.Diego put on a nice BBQ the first weekend we were there. We felt like we were getting a real taste of Spain now!
They also took us horse riding at Diego’s family’s stables. Riding through the olive groves as the sunset over Aranjuez was simply amazing and was one of those moments we’ll never forget. I didn’t take my camera on the horse for fear of dropping it or falling off while trying to take pictures but here are some I took before our ride.Beth and her gorgeous horse.Isn’t he beautiful?!Some lovely Spanish countryside.The bull bar in town.Diego’s solution to no carparks being available in town…mount the curb and put on your hazard lights! Then walk across the road for a beer naturally.Mickey…loving it.Sadly our stay had to come to an end but on the final night Beth and Diego had a little housewarming party. Ten minutes before people started arriving Diego told Beth there would be 14 people for a sit down dinner. I would freak! But the hostess with the mostest managed to find enough chairs, make the table look fabulous and together with Diego put on an absolute feast.
What a fantastic way to end our time in Spain. We’re looking forward to seeing Beth back in Australia in December too!