Just a quick note to say we are safe and sound in Istanbul. We have seen some beautiful mosques and done lots of shopping. We are enjoying Turkish tea and a relaxing water pipe before we get a Turkish bath and massage. We are taking an overnight bus to Gallipoli and hopefully visit Troy as well. Then we fly home Friday, looking forward to being home and seeing our family and friends. Love Sam and Brenda

Up early for a train to Naples and onwards to Pompeii, arriving at 4pm. Had a nice walk around town and an early night with the dorm room to ourselves.  The next morning, we headed to the old town of Pompeii at 10am.  A lady hard-sold us a guide book that we didn't really want but turned out very helpful so glad she did. The old town was much bigger than expected and was really interesting. Once we got in, we realised we started at the wrong end but no dramas,...

We wandered the streets of La Speiza, trying to find somewhere to watch NZ play Argentina but no luck. We took a train to Pisa and visited the Leaning Tower. Pretty amazing piece of architecture, we were quite impressed and glad we made the effort to see it. We had an hour to wait for a train to Rome. While waiting we stumbled upon a betting shop playing a replay of the rugby. Sure, it was one of four tvs with a bunch of Italians yelling at the horse races but we...

The port town of La Speiza was our base for the next couple of days to explore Cinque Terre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinque_Terre). Basically an amazing stretch of coast on the Italian Riviera, Cinque Terre is composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Between...

We arrived in Florence and after a bit of trouble, we found our hostel. The hostel was really cool, an old convent next to a pretty church. The next day was spent exploring the city of Florence. We found a nice little place for some good coffee and then to Brenda's delight, stumbled upon the local markets. After a few market purchases, we looked at some churches including the Duomo and saw some cool statues. We found a good pizza place down a quiet alley for...