First port day is Katakolo, which is a small port town, that is 35 km away from Mount Olympus. Up early, room service breakfast at our bow window overlooking the Mercedes Taxis and the Bug buses arriving for the schmucks that pay 80 Euros for the round trip. We were off the vessel thinking we would have a walk around the town and find Coffee and Wifi, walking along the port shops and storekeeper who is from Adelaide, heard our accents and welcomed me into the sto...

Relax, relax, relax, this is on the agenda, after the chaotic visit to Prestento and Udine trying to keep the jet lag at bay. It dawned on me that we always have a few days either in Austria or Singapore before descending on the relatives, jet lag and lightening paced italian relatives is an interesting mix, but the experiences they give us are memorable. Life in Northern Italy revolves around family, friends, food, wine and smoking. With Robert we are lucky, as ...

It is time to leave Prestento, this is always hard for Robert, he is surrounded by relatives, which is an enjoyable experience for this only child of solo Italian migrants. He has his Australian god parents, but they italians that befriended Elda on her 3 month voyage to meet up with Carlo. Robert is close to them, we love then dearly, but the magic of Prestento and the beauty of Cividale pulls on his emotions. We left, travelled the autostrada to Venice with Mau...

Thanks to much needed sleep we were up with the Church bells, yes the bells ring every 15 minutes with the Angelus rung at 9 am, midday and 9 p.m, I need you Judith to lead the prayer (Ha!) Etzia and Maurizio are off to a wedding this afternoon, so the morning for me is a visit to the hairdressers, then Slovenia to buy meat and petrol. Robert and Maurizio have decided to climb the mountain behind Prestento to visit recently discovered caves. After a quick lunch, ...

We are finally in Prestento. We were met by Etzia and Maria Grazia (Maurizio's wife and Robert's cousin respectively. Interestingly we found our bags and just walled out of the terminal, no customs due to the EU arrangements - the only custom control was in France. Still no sleep ... Prestento is in full summer bloom (having always visited in winter, this is colourful change). Cividale de Friul is just as magnificent, worthy of its UNESCO World Heritage listing....