Italy . . .2010 Rome to Venice. What to do in nine weeks . . as much as you can!!!!.

Ok! We have 12 weeks to spread over two countries.

July 2010  -  approx. 8 Weeks in one country sounds like ages, but it will go so fast.

First for a look at what is doable. Perhaps, Rome -  Pompeii -  Amalfi Coast -  Rome -  Sienna - Pisa -  Assisi - San Gimiginano - Tuscany villa -  Florence - Cinque Terra - Lake Como - Venice -   that should do it!!!!! Now to nut it all out.

then to meet up with friend, Ann and have 3 weeks in Turkey . . .Wonderful!!!!

So much has been said about all these incredible places, that I do not feel I would do justice to a description . . .also, trying to upload to the internet is a nightmare. 

So, I will just post a few pics . . . throughout we had mostly perfect weather. 

Arrived Rome. Booked into a central hotel for 10 days.

 Rome Colosseum                      Pantheon - I almost cried.

 Outside our hotel looking to Colosseum

In church foyer

 Vatican - Amazing. We had two days exploring.

Pompei  3 days   Then through to 

Naples, Sorento and a trip to Capri and overnight. Then Amalfi.

Amalfi coast a week here. Stunning

Mmmmmmm!!! Yes? No!

 Our Art Deco Hotel Amalfi coast - loved it.
Spectacular views to ocean
Funniest evening meal.

Blue Grotto boat trip - a highlight

After full day at Pompeii and time
at the Amalfi coast, it was back to Rome.

Rome - another week,  another great trip.
Local lads look a bit sexier than our Brissy boys,
and they know it!

Assisi - picked up our hire car.

Our B&B Assisi, for 5 nights

View from bedroom - Assisi Loved the chanting of the monks.

Tuscany Villa . . . fourteen days of heaven!

The most romantic and enjoyable time. Perfect villa to ourselves. Pool and all. 

Then into Florence for a week - loved this city!

So much to see. So much to do. 

Uffizi gallery, Ponti Vecchio, dell Accademia, The Duomo, Vasari passage, trip on the Arno river, Piazalle Michaelangelo, Caffe Gilli  ... gelato, leather ...

Train to Le Spezia. Overnight. Best Tiramisu I have ever eaten. Worst gastric reflux.

Cinque Terre. Manarola

 A week here to visit all five villages was not enough. 

Gorgeous views to city square where all the activity occurs, hills and ocean.

Then the train to Lake Como - Bliss. A day and then train to Venice.

 OMG!! Venice!

 I know I am expected, to feel like I am in a foreign country, but it is far more than that . . .

I feel like I am on another planet.

Dancing in San Marco square - as one does. . . 

Nothing seems to operate in Venice the way it does elsewhere, 

even elsewhere in Italy. Love it! 

Simply turning down a few pathways transforms the environ from the crowded to deserted in minutes. Making us feel like the entire city has been emptied and it’s now ours and ours alone.

Now, combine that eerie deserted street, piazza or canal with darkness and fog, and then it is more than simply ‘transporting – it is sinister’. 

Yes! Venice is different. Venice is special.

Sharing time with friends walking the winding paths, eating out, trying to avoid getting our feet wet and  hunting the shops for a 'special red coral necklace' and some old Venetian glass- was a treat.

It’s like a really good thriller you’ve seen or read, only this time you’re actually in it. And you don’t feel any sense of danger, you just feel the thrill. It’s the kind of thing that gets your heart racing, but instead of screaming all you want to do is smile.

This eerie otherworldyness makes sense. 

This is the city where debauchery flourished and climaxed in the form of Carnival. Where nobles and commoners could hide their identities for a few days each year and mingle . . . 

there is still something of that old hedonistic quality in the modern-day Venetian air.

     

The people - The art - the scenery. And another day of high tides . . .Yes! I even enjoyed the aqua alta. We stayed in an apartment on the water front on Dorsoduro, near Palazzo Clary on the Fodamenta Zaterre al Ponte Longo. (Booked online. Very modern two bedroom) Was so central. Easy to get a ferry or walk through to the  Ponte dell Accademia bridge to St Marco. Spent many nights sitting under the stars drinking wine, listening to music or in the Tattoria's on Giudecca.

We took the ferry to Murano and outer  islands. Visited St Marks, Doge's palace, Peggy Guggenheim, etc. ... spent a morning resuscitating a man who collapsed in St Marco.

However, I have to say - one of my favorite things about Venice, particularly from an artist’s perspective, is the very thing that may eventually doom the city – the beautiful decay. This city lives up to its illustrious history through every layer & lane way. It personifies the very definition of the word decadent – since it is simultaneously “in a state of decline or decay” and “provides unrestrained gratification.” It continuously fascinates & taunts us with the notion that things have been just this way for centuries upon centuries.

  

I adore the cracking & blistering paint, the sinking streets & crumbling walls, the confusing names ensuring the promise of being totally lost. Would I be so excited if all those walls were intact or – perish the thought – repaired? NO! I could be here for months and still not feel like I have seen her in each watery reflection, admired every flaking layer of chalky paint, or hear each bell resonate in the mist.
10 days is just a taste . . .what bliss!

Now onto 3 weeks in Turkey. . . .