Romodessey

update from Florence

ITALY | Sunday, 28 September 2008 | Views [773] | Comments [2]

Hi Everyone

Just arrived here in Florence after my Sicilian and amalfi Coast adventures.

Sicily is a crazy place where even crossing the road - or should i say attempting to cross the road - is an adrenaline rush. There seem to be absolutely no road rules, forget any kind of safety regulations, and half the buildings look as though they are about to collapse BUT i loved it!!! The chaos is half the fun. Plus there are some very gorgeous stretches of coastline and a brown arid hilly centre which reminded me of Canterbury in summer, only with olive trees and cacti everywhere. The people were fantastically friendly to boot. Visited>

Palermo [chaotic and with some very interesting buildings with distinct Moorish influence],
Cefalu [amazing coastline and very cute town],
Agrigento [home of an entire valley of beautiful Greek temples]
Catania [another chaotic town with some very beautiful buildings partly constructed of lava from Etna and a lucky elephant statue!!]
Mt Etna [stood on old and not so old lava rivers, saw the houses that made it and those that didn-t do so well, walked through lava caves and saw some panoramic views over sicily when the fog lifted a bit. Sadly didn-t get to see the fresh lava due to the darn fog]

Then headed on up the coast to Salerno - my jumping off point for the Amalfi coast. Stayed in a converted stable in a hilltop town called Agerola and explored Ravello [saw the fantastic Villa Rufolo], Amalfi and the Emerald Grotto [ the tiniest wee cave with some pretty water in it but probably a bit of a rip off]. Next day it was on to Sorrento so i could jump on a boat to Capri. Capri was absolutely stunning. Gorgeous views to be had but yep - it-s very very expensive, graced with the likes of Prada and other bankrupcy inducing boutiques.

Headed to Pompei the next day. An amazing place to visit!!! The unearthed unlucky city is huge and some things are amazingly well preserved. Happened to be free the weekend i was there which was a nice wee bonus! I highly recommend checking it out though the plaster casts of the victims are a bit creepy. Death by hot ash is apparantly not pleasant folks.

After Pompei i headed to Florence where i crashed for a night at a fantastic hostel [Archi Rossi] and i am about to head off to Pisa on route to the Cinque Terre.

Whew - can-t believe i-ve been to all those places sometimes.

Once again i apologise for the lack of pics e.t.c. will do my best to get some up.

Comments

1

Hey Rom,
Though it was about time that I checked in with you again. Have just finished catching up on your journal updates (It's so nice to do it in work time with broadband speed internet!). Anyway, glad that you are still alive and well. Can't believe you have been gone for so long, but then again your trip is slowly coming to an end and we will see you again in the not so very distant future. I guess by now you must be looking forward to coming home, though I'm sure that feeling will wear off pretty fast once you are faced with the daunting thoughts of returning to work etc etc! Helped Karryn and Lucas move last weekend, went well and their new place is nice. Dad is going to be fixing up the carpet at your place, but I must say it doesn't look anywhere near as bad as it did. It actually looks normal except for the areas where the carpet pile is falling out. Anyway you don't need to worry about it as it is all under control :0). Right should probably go and do some work seeing as that is what I'm getting paid to do! Enjoy the last few weeks of playing tourist...
xxx Jeni

Jeni Oct 7, 2008 5:35 AM