The Italian Blog - Part II

Ciao from Roma!

It's been a busy few days since the last blog. We finished up in Napoli, moved onto the remote mountain village of Sora and then moved onto Rome.

When we finished in Napoli, I left with mixed feelings. The city was starting to grow on me and I felt as if there was more to see. I still haven't changed my mind about the area in which we were located, but there were also some very beautiful parts of the city. Something I've found quite amusing is how I've approached crossing the roads in other parts of Italy. For though who remember from university, road rage rob is back when vengeance!

We had to get the only bus of the day to Sora which was quite an adventure in itself. There was no organisation as all of the buses pulled up outside the main station wherever they could and moved on when they were ready. We nearly didn't notice our bus. Not that it nearly didn't matter as the kind conductor said he would let us know when we needed to get off. We arrived not in Sora, but in Cassino, an hour away from Sora. At first we walked around with a sence of something not being right. We went to the train station and noticed that it was Cassino and then rushed back to the bus. Luckily the driver was taking a coffee break, otherwise we would have been in trouble!

We arrived in Sora and went to the farm where we were to stay for two nights. The place was beautiful and over the next few days we went hiking into the hills to see a beautiful waterfall (Katie fell in the river on the hike, hehe) and went to this fantastic restaurant where we had a five course meal!!! The food was amazing the price was just as good, coming in at €34 for Katie and I. We made some friends who were also staying there, and we felt part of the family.

We arrived in Rome in stark contrast. Our hostel was a horrible, dingy, smelly and dirty place. We actually spent some time looking for somewhere else to no success. We eventually decided to just get on with it and enjoy our time in Rome. We've seen most of the tourist traps, the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain (yes, I threw some money in), the fantastic Pantheon, the Flavian amphitheatre (aka, the colosseum) and the forum. Today we went to the Vatican and the line was depressingly long. At best guess it would have taken 3-4 hours to get in. We decided against it and instead when to Anzio, a small coastal town and sat on an empty beach and typically got burned! Bloody stupid English!

We're going back to the Vatican tomorrow and then off to Florence the following day.

Ciao!