Kobi & Brian: Europe 2013-2014: Contiki

Ciao amici!

After two weeks in Italy we are happy, tired, and about 5kg heavier. We spent two weeks exploring the country, including Sorrento, Florence, Tuscany, Verona, Venice, Milan, La Spezia and Rome and ate our way through each region. And with each meal being an average of 4 courses, that's a lot of eating!

We hit the road with 45 other Australians, Canadians and Americans, with our British guide who has been living in Rome for 6 years. It's a crazy country - the traffic, the super fast language and the way everything revolves around meals - but we loved it. My high school Italian came in handy too, and by the end of the trip we could easily order a gelato. 'Ciao, uno coni limone gelato per favore?' And that's all you really need to know to get by! It's not just the tourists that are obsessed with gelato either, all the Italians seem to eat it every day. By the end of the two weeks we had tried pistachio, peach, orange, chocolate, latte, kiwi yoghurt, lemon, crema and melon. Delicious!

Things we've loved about Italy:

Gelato
The food! Lasagne, pizza, arancini, frittata, panini, olives, eggplant, scallopini...every meal was a work of art, and was huge. We've never eaten so much in our lives, but when in Rome...!
Seeing the Bay of Naples on the way to Sorrento. The water was so blue, and looked like a postcard.
Our hotel on the beach in Sorrento. The water was too cold for everyone except the Canadians (and Brian) but the less crazy ones sat on the beach with a glass of prosecco.
Seeing Michaelangelos statue of David in Florence. There is a replica on a street in Florence, but the real deal is in the Academia museum, and is kept indoors. It is incredible, much taller than I thought it would be. It was a shame we weren't allowed to take photos (we tried but the nazi old ladies walking around yelled at us and made us delete them from our cameras). They want you to buy the photos from their gift shop.
Exploring Florence's Repubblica Square, the ancient bridges and the absolutely huge Duomo (cathedral). I've never seen anything like it, it reminded me of the strange Russian architecture that almost looks like it's from a fairytale. They're pretty good at building insanely grand looking monuments and buildings in Italy though.
Brian's rendition of 'I would walk 500 miles' by the Proclaimers at karaoke that night. And yes there is a video of it. Complete with can-can kicking.
Stopping in the Chianti wine region for antipasto and wine tasting. I found the first red wine I've ever liked (just have to order it from Tuscany!) The winery was in an old castle, and the wine is stored in their dungeons. It was very cool, especially when a huge summer storm rolled in while we were inside eating and drinking.
Visiting the ancient ruins of Pompeii. Pompeii still lies under the worlds most dangerous active volcano, Mt Vesuvius. Much of the ancient city has been dug out from the ash and rock, and is open to tourists. The highlight was the plaster casts of people who were buried in the ash. They perished in the heat, but their exact shape was preserved in ash which set into rock. Archaeologists have filled those spaces with plaster, and are displaying the set casts. There were only two on display when we were there, but it was pretty crazy to see the mould of a pregnant woman on the ground trying not to breathe in the ash.
Our tour included Verona and Venice, which we had already covered on a previous Contiki. However we did get to go to Murano on this tour, and saw a glass blowing demonstration from a maestro (master of glass blowing) which was really cool.
We had the best day doing a tour of the Isle of Capri. We got a full day on the island, which included a cruise around the whole thing. We had some really good luck in that the tides meant we were able to visit the Blue Grotto in amongst the islands' rock formation. A lot of the time the tides are too high and it's inaccessible, as it's only a tiny hole in the rock that a rowboat can only just fit through. And the four people in the rowboat have to lie down on the floor of the boat to get inside. That part was terrifying but it was so worth it once we were in! The grotto is like an underground swimming pool, only the water glows light blue. There is no light inside other than the fluoro water. We only spent a few minutes in there but it was definitely a highlight of the trip. After the grotto we got to jump off the boat into the water (which I did - I already missed out on boat jumping in Santorini, I wasn't missing out again!) My Year 12 graduation ring slipped off my finger and sank to the bottom of the ocean which I was a bit sad about, but maybe one day someone will find it and see the 2004 date on it and put it in a museum.
Buying arancini balls and walking through all the high fashion streets in Milan, looking for celebrities. We didn't see any, it was mainly just cranky looking skinny model-wannabes who could have probably used an arancini ball or two. There were also lots of dogs in handbags. We liked Milan a lot though, you can tell that's where the wealth is. It was nice to walk through marble piazzas looking in the windows in D&G, Gucci and Ferragamo. They also had a huge Duomo that reminded me of the drip castles we used to make at the beach as kids. We didn't get the best weather in Milan though, so we did spent a bit of time inside drinking cappuccinos.
One of the best days for us was in La Spezia, visiting Cinque Terra (the five towns nestled in the cliffs on the coast). It's a really beautiful beachside town, which is really relaxing and quiet. We had focaccia and pesto for lunch (they're famous for it) and then spent the afternoon with new friends eating olives and drinking fragolino - their strawberry prosecco. We also hiked up the hill to see the ancient monastery and a really beautiful cemetery which houses the mausoleum for the Ferrari family. Even though we didn't see any big famous monuments that day, we just had such a nice time relaxing and enjoying the place. You don't get to relax often on Contiki so this made everyone very happy. Especially as most of the tour group was sick by this stage!
Heading back to Rome to hit the big touristy spots like the Trevi Fountain. I felt like we were in a movie when we got there, as I've seen so many films set in that place. We threw our coin into the fountain (with our right hand, over our right shoulder) to ensure we would one day be returning to Rome. The fountain was really beautiful and was another highlight for us.
Walking the Spanish Steps in the Piazza Nuovo. You could drink out of the fountain there to improve your fertility - we didn't touch it haha!
Our tour of the Colosseum was awesome. After seeing so many ruins in other cities (we're a bit over ruins now) it was very cool to see how intact the Colosseum is! We learnt all about the games that took place there between gladiators and lions, gladiators vs gladiators, and under a particularly brutal emperor, prisoners who were forced to fight each other to the death when the jails became overcrowded. The stage and the maze are still intact and it was really cool to be able to walk where the spectators sat and where the emperor watched from his balcony.
Seeing the Pantheon, a cathedral built before Christ with a huge glass dome at the top. This was a really cool cathedral - I have no idea how they built domes back before scaffolding and cranes were invented. But they did a good job because its still standing and is in perfect condition.
The Sistine Chapel was breathtakingly beautiful. You get dizzy inside from just staring at that huge ceiling. It was Michaelangelos greatest masterpiece and deserves its fame. Unfortunately no photos are allowed as its too delicate from the paint being applied directly to plaster. But I don't think a photo would do it justice anyway.
And finally, we headed off the St Peters Basilica in Vatican City, the Pope's headquarters. Oh my. This is the biggest cathedral ever. Literally - no cathedral in the world is allowed to exceed its size. It is just so extravagant, but very pretty at the same time. I thought the dark bronze altar was a bit scary but the cathedral itself is full of light, gold and marble. It really is fit for a Pope.

We had an excellent taste of so many different parts of Italian culture - from the poorer but friendlier south to the wealthier, fast paced and grand north. We've made more friends who have now scattered all over the world again. We ate way too much in little family restaurants, but loved when the nonna who cooked the food would come out to see if everyone enjoyed it. And we now have to go and wear bathers in Croatia after doing nothing but eating for two weeks.

Salute!

Kobi & Brian

Xxx