We kicked off our Italy trip in Florence where we met up with our tour group of 18 mostly Aussies and a few Canadians. We saw Michelangelo’s David and had a really yummy dinner with an American couple that we met at the Laundromat. The “entrée” was a big bowl of their house specialty pasta, which Theresa reckons is the best pasta she’s ever had. In Italy they generally have pasta (a full plate) as an “entrée” and then a main and dessert, always accompanied by a basket of bread (very dry with no butter) and sometimes starting with antipesto. They also serve house wine by the litre or half litre and is often cheaper than soft drink. The wine is very light tasting so easy to drink, but just as potent as our wine.
Our next stop was Cinque Terre (five towns perched on sea cliffs) where we walked along the cliffs from town to town taking in the dramatic scenery of ocean, cliffs, vineyards and pastel-colored houses. We also had a very nice lunch by the water - scampi penne and seafood spaghetti.
From their it was a very scenic coach trip to Venice via Lake Garda, which we took a ferry across, and Verona, where Juliette lived. Venice was probably the highlight of the trip, particularly the gondola ride and sitting (illegally) on the steps of St Mark’s Square listening to the rivaling mini orchestras.
Our final stop was in Rome where we were given a walking tour of all the main sights - the Colloseum, the forums, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevy Fountain - all amazing! One great thing about Italy is the number of fresh springs where you can fill up your water bottle with great tasting water at no cost! Even the water in the spectacular Trevy Fountain is drinkable and piped kilometres from fresh springs.
After our tour, we briefly visited the Vatican City…got into the Sistine Chapel just before it closed…at least there was hardly any queue!
Oh yeah, we tried a few flavours of gelato (“gelati”) too...rice, hazelnut, pistachio, tiramisu, panna cotta, strawberry cheesecake, milk, coconut, banana & kiwi, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, melon and pineapple. Our favourite was the massive scoop of rice (“riso”) gelati we got at Verona for 1 Euro. It had actual rice in it and tasted a bit like rice pudding on a cone! Yummm!!!!
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