Viva Italia

Yes, unfortunately I must start this (very) belated entry with an appology. Dearest readers, I have been a slack slacker slackerson and am now months behind in my blog updates. Of course now I am writting this in "sunny" Brisbane and not basking in the Italian sunshine. Yes, this upsets me too, but lets get down to business. Better late then never... right?!

With a weary heart and head we departed the party of Oktoberfest and headed south to the warmth of Italy. Our first port of call was the canals and lane-ways of beautiful Venice. This city has tantalised peoples imaginations and filled their hearts with romantic notions for years. The city was a great introduction to some of Italia's most notorious- pizza, pasta, wine, gelato and the skill of being wildly disorganised. The best advice I ever received before arriving in Venice was, "ditch your map - get lost", and that is exactly what we did. Wondering the amazing alleyways and skipping over canals we were able to stumble on some little gems. Highlight for me was when one night we happen upon a small square where local couples were swooning away to jazz and salsa. All the women had attached LED lights to their feet, which gave this strange sight such an amazing glow. Only in Europe baby.

Oh so Venice - canal time baby

Team PoKa and some other dashing tomato

From Venice we headed south to one of the most famous cities in history, Roma. (or Rome for us english speakers). The sheer scope and size of this amazing historical city is mind blowing. My biggest regret from Rome is I only had a few days to explore. To maximise my time, me and team PoKa (Porter and Katie) joined a "bad asssss" Vatican tour (so named after our bad ass guide Justin) and general city highlights tour. Hands down favourite moment of the tours had to be the BAD ASS sandwich I inhaled outside the Vatican. No joke - there was a sandwich party in my mouth, and it was hosted by Kim Kadashian. Yes, it was THAT over the top fabulous! Moving on from fatty James, it was definitely a trip highlight seeing some of man kinds most famous constructions, including; the colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and St Peter's Basilica.

Bad ass sandwich time. Crusty roll, olive paste, chilli paste, cured meat, smoked cheese, fresh rocket, olive oil.
SNACK DOWN

Inside the Vatican + Bad Ass tour guide doing bad ass dance

What happens when Sleepy Joe wakes up...

Happiest super tourist in the World

It was with a heavy heart I had to depart both Rome and PoKa and make my way to fabulous Florence. Although Florence itself was pretty cool, I think the highlight of my short visit to the Tuscany region was getting out into the countryside. I joined a few of my new Busabout hommies and spent the day wine and food tasting in the Chianti wine region. I'll be honest, my standard wine consumption involves a rotating clothes line and the added benefit of being used as a pillow at the end of the night. Although I remained pillow-less, the wine on the tour was delicious and sparked a semi-flirtation with being a wine drinker that happily lasted until I returned to Australia. The scenery was amazing, great company and plenty of good stuff inside to round out a top day. Other Florence highlights included; checking out all three statues of David (one real, two copies), haggling for leather goods at the markets, snacking down on a Florentine steak served very rare and "Contiki watching" the night away at a karaoke bar with the crew.

Nom nom nom

More nom nom nom

Florence from afar

Farewelling Florence we made moves with a quick pit stop at Pisa for the much needed token leaning photo, before arriving at the picture perfect coastline of the Italian Riviera and Cinque Terre.

This beautiful area of Cinque Terre is composed of five villages connected along the coast by some beautiful walking trails. Although by this stage my travel belly had swelled, I'm proud to say I completed the walk (eventually - no thanks to the 2.5hour detour) and got to experience some of the most unbelievable views of the entire trip. I was lucky enough to have met up with a great little group of solo travellers and together we were gob smacked at every turn in the path. The weather was perfect and the place shone. I'll have fond memories of the walk for many years to come. At night we converted our dorm/ mini apartment into a family style kitchen and snacked down to some delicious home-made pesto pasta. Go team! Sadly, in the last few days I've read reports of major mudslides, destruction and deaths in the Cinque Terre villages. It makes me feel even more lucky to have experienced one of the most beautiful places on Earth while it was intact.

Lovers walk

the crew enjoying the view

Yeah... not bad I guess

Not a bad way to end a day

From the beautiful Cinque Terre I had to board the bus again and revisit an old French lover for a Nice quickie. As I'd already spent time in Nice at the start of my Europe trip, it was only an overnight stay before I had to say goodbye to most of my busabout buddies and keep on trekking. Next stop - Spain!