By the time we reached Cinque Terre, we had been in Italy for nearly 2 weeks. So, it didn't come as too much of a surprise that there was a train strike on, with only limited trains running. However I did surprise myself by managing to buy our tickets entirely in Italian! We arrived at midday from Florence after stopping at Pisa on the way for the obligatory cheesy photos. The place is flooded with touts, with sales pitches reminiscent of Thailand - "Australia,...

Have you seen 'Under the Tuscan Sun' before? That is one whack movie, but there was something a little bit charming about watching it on the bus ride from Rome to Florence and glancing out the window to see the same beautiful scenery. We stopped in Orvieto for lunch and browsed the little hilltop town with its 'striped wallpaper' looking church, and arrived in Florence late thanks to our somewhat disorganized guide. This put the pressure on a little as unfort...

When we arrived back in Rome from Sorrento, Mark, Ben and Gem kicked on for a massive night out with our new found friends. Poor little old me had by now picked up a pretty bad cough and went to bed feeling like poo. The next morning I woke up feeling worse, and so did the others in the self inflicted kind of way. We also woke up to a Roman heat wave. As promised by Ereni there was a crippling dry heat blowing in from Egypt, so none of us felt too guilty ab...

Southern Italy you little beauty  - you bronzed our skin and tantalized our tastebuds, warmed our bellies with your sweet sweet limoncello and soothed us in your crystal blue waters.  Be warned that this entry is almost entirely about food glorious food, and be prepared to feel very, very jealous. Originally we had left a few days open in Italy, as we were unsure how to divide our time between Rome, Southern Italy and Tuscany. The vague idea was that we would...

Our time in Rome is split into two sections - two nights and one day to start with before heading on a tour of Southern Italy, and another three nights/two days following that. Instead of making a beeline for the Colosseum, the majority of our first day in Rome was spent touring a cemetery. Kinda weird right? But it's not just any cemetery, it's a weaving tunnel of VERY old graves 30 feet below the city: the catacombes. Our tour was at 1pm, so we did have a chan...