Travel The World With Maria: Italy

Well, where do I start?! I have been in Italy 10 days and I have done so much! I started in Venice, which was so beautiful, and just as romantic as I imagined. Narrow canals cross crossing all over the main island with gondolas gliding down them one after the other, buildings that rise out of the sea, delicious food and wine, I absolutely loved it. My hostel was on Guidecca, just across the sea from the main island of Venice. It was right on the water and I could look out to San Marco square across the other side, from my room. I spent most of my time exploring with no map, you can never get lost in Venice, you will always end up at a water bus stop that will take you where you need to go, or back to somewhere you recognise. I did go on a Gondola, but it wasn't quite as romantic as I had imagined, with a family of 3 along with another small group squished on board with me... it was still fun though .

After saying goodbye to Venice, I was off to Rome. The history there is mind blowing. There are so many ancient ruins, huge sculpted fountains, and beautiful churches. The Coliseum is so impressive when you go inside, you can just imagine all the brutal fights that happened there, the trap doors that the tigers emerged from, and all the people cheering in the grandstands. I found it all very tiring though, walking around such a big city with so much to see. I did two walking tours which were great and taught me a lot about the history.

There was no time to rest after Rome though, after three nights there, I was off to Florence. Tuscany! It's so beautiful, all the vineyards, and fields of sunflowers. It's just how I imagined it. The first night we got there (the group on my bus) we all did a walking tour around the town, went to a leather demonstration, had a delicious four course dinner with wine, then did karaoke. It was such a fun night. The next day I did a tour of Tuscany. We went to a little village where the movie 'Gladiator' was filmed, visited the small town of Siena, did some wine tasting (YUM!), along with some olive oil, sweet garlic, balsamic vinegar, truffle oil and honey tasting. Then we went to an old Italian man's house for dinner! The food was delicious, and be even made his own Chianti, which was even more delicious. My last day I visited the statue of David by Michelangelo which is really breath-taking up close. All the detail in the veins and that he carved it from one piece of marble. On our departure from Florence, we made a stop at the leaning tower of Pisa, which is much cleaner and nicer than I expected. And surprise surprise, it was on a lean!

I am now in the beautiful Cinque Terre, five small towns on the coast on the way to the south of France. I feel so at home here, out of the city, by the sea. I have tried to hike to as many towns as I can, and I have done some killer hills! It's totally worth it for the amazing views though. All the tall, colourful houses here, cling side by side to the cliffs on the edge of the sea. It is really pretty. The seafood is amazing, and there are many vineyards, I crossed over some on the walking trails, so the wine is also very good and inexpensive. The water is magnificently clear, I could swim in it all day. I am staying in a little town called Manarola, which is probably my favourite of the five because it is small, less touristy and has the best food and clearest water. Four more days of heaven here, then off to Nice!