July - 9 Weeks in one country sounds like ages, but it goes so fast when you are having the most incredible experiences.
Rome - Pompeii - Amalfi Coast - Rome - Sienna - Pisa - Assisi - San Gimiginano - Tuscany villa - Cinque Terra - Florence - Venice - that should do it!!!!!
then 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 . . .so will just post a few pics . . .
Rome Colosseum
Outside our hotel looking to Colosseum
In church foyer
Vatican - Amazing. We spent two days.
Pompei
 |
| Amalphi coast |
 |
| Mmmmmmm!!! |
 |
| Our Art Deco Hotel Amalphi coast - views to ocean |
 |
| Blue Grotto boat trip |
 |
| After Pompei and Amalphi back to Rome. |
 |
| Rome - Local lads look a bit sexier than Brissy boys . . and they know it! |
 |
| Assisi |
 |
| Our B&B for 3 nights |
 |
| View from bedroom - Assisi |
 |
| Tuscany Villa . . . week of heaven! |
 |
| Then into Florence for a week - loved this city! |
Manarola - gorgeous views to city square where all the activity occurs, hills and ocean.
View from our room.
Many an enjoyable afternoon spent people watching!
Walking - 'lovers path'
Manarola - Cinque terra
My God !!. . . 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, and everything seems so exotic.
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’. 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.
But I mean that in a good way, believe it or not. 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 . . . but there is still something of that old hedonistic quality in the modern-day Venetian air.
The people - The art - the scenery
Another day of high tides . . .
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.
One week is just a taste . . .what bliss!
Graffiti everywhere . . .
and that is another incredible adventure . . . for another blog!!!!