[There's a 15 minute limit to internet use here in our hostel in Rome, so this will be brief initially, but hopefully I'll be able to fill in some more details over the next few days... fingers crossed]

The Italian leg of our homeward journey breaks down into four sections:

Florence - 3 nights

Florence was cold but dry. We saw all the sights, except Michelangelo's David (the copy was being restored and paying to see the original was not value for money compared to the Uffizi Gallery.

New Years was strange. A lot of fire crackers going off in concrete piazzas made it sound somewhere between a football riot and an aerial assault. Too much NZ molly-coddling had us tut-tutting our way past children letting off rockets in rooved marketplaces and adults dropping lit tom thumbs at the feet of passersby. (I uploaded a video but it doesn't quite do the experience justice).

Our day trip to Pisa exceeded our expectations. That Catherdral the goes with the leaning tower is pretty cool, and the town itself is nice.

Naples - 2 nights

Our train from Florence to Naples was 80mins late arriving in Florence (it was coming from Milan), but when we finally got to the capital of the south, it seemed kind of fitting to be running so late. Naples is a jumble of a city. The traffic is bad (but not quite like in Turkey), and crossing the street is more about will power than traffic signals. Some areas are slummy, others are half way through being rebuilt or excavated. But there are plenty of sights if you get out and walk around and some pretty good shopping on offer for those with the money (not us).

And it is, of course, the home of pizza. Worth going there just for that!

Sorrento - 3 nights

Sorrento is only a 70min train ride from Naples (on the otherside of Vesuvius) but it feels a world away. It's pretty touristy, though summer would be a load worse. Finding somewhere to eat at night on a budget was a real struggle. But it was great as a base for our day trips to Capri and the Amalfi Coast... Capri was felt a bit of a tourist trap, and would be too crowded in summer, but it was beautiful, there's no denying that. The blue grotto was "closed" (though why was never properly explained), and it's not really worth the bus ride there if you can't go inside. The absolute highlight of the island was taking the steps down from Anacapri to the Marina. The steps were only on one of the two maps we had of the island, and a few times it looked liked they would run out halfway down and we'd have to hike back up and catch the bus, but in the end we made it to the ferry in plenty of time, saved a few euros by avoiding the bus, got some cool photos and did a little bit of descent training for Macchu Picchu.

The Amalfi Coast was much cheaper than Capri (could hop on and off the bus to and from Sorrento for something like 3.80 euros vs ferry to capri 14 euro each one way)... and on the whole more enjoyable. I think we prefered Positano to Amalfi town, but the celebrations at the latter for the 6th of Jan were pretty cool.

Rome - 3 nights

I made a deal with the weather gods that if they made it sunny for Capri and Amalfi it could rain one day in Rome... We got our sun, and of course it rained in Rome. Our first day we went to the Vatican since there'd be plenty of shelter. St Peter's Basilica was massive and loved seeing Michelangelo's Pieta. The Vatican museum was pricy at €14 pp (though we blagged student prices), but spent the whole day there and loved it. By the time you reach the Sistene Chapel, it's almost (almost) overshadowed by what's come before.

Today was sunny, sort of, so we walked the city, saw all the old Roman stuff and some of the newer Republican-y things. Feel like we ticked a lot of boxes, which goes for this whole Italian leg.

Next stop: Egypt