Some snippets of southern France

After three weeks in Italy we sadly said ‘ciao’, catching the train into France.  Changing trains at the border was easy; switching into yet another language was a bit trickier!

Nights in Nice

24th-26th August, 2012

Nice turned out to be nicer than expected; it had a cute little old town which we roamed a couple of times finding some great little cafes, a bustling market and some pretty squares.  There were also the ruins of a castle on hill set in some attractive gardens complete with waterfall and views down the entire Promenade de Anglais.

We just so happened to be in town on the night of the Prom’ Party where the whole promenade was closed to traffic and featured five or so stages, with bands playing a variety of music, spread along the length of the street entertaining the crowds.

 

A day In Marseille

26th-27th August, 2012

It was just a short stop in the second largest city in France.  On the to do list was the old port and a couple of churches and parks but we only made it as far as the old port where we proceeded to jump on a boat and head to Isle d’If, spending the morning wandering the small but famous island where the story of the Count of Monte Christo was set.  A quick hop over to Isle Frioul for lunch and then we were fare welling Marseille.

Atop the Chateau de'If

Looking back to Marseille
 

A moment in Montpellier
27th-28th August, 2012

An even shorter stay in Montpellier meant we regretfully had even less time to explore this quaint little city.  We managed dinner and a sunset stroll but the little time we had the next morning before leaving was hampered by rain L  Next time…

 

Here are some more photos of our short trip through France

The Cinque Terre



17th-23rd August, 2012

Looking down to Corniglia

Over the course of five or so days in this beautiful part of the Italian Riviera we managed to see all five villages which make up the Cinque Terre as well as a couple of the sanctuaries tucked up in the hills.








Looking along part of the Via del'Amore

Swim stop

The short walk from Riomaggiore to Manarola along the cliffside ‘Via Del’Amore’, was our easy introduction into walking the region. Although, doing it in the hot sun necessitated the dip in the lagoon like waters after wandering the village.

 We thought we should explore the surrounding national park a little so we trekked up many steps and along windy terraces to complete a number of walks to sanctuaries; religious retreats, high up above the villages.  Each sanctuary walk was generally a hefty 2.5-3km solid, up hill trek.

 

We couldn’t stay in the Cinque Terre and not attempt the Sentiero Azzurro-the walk which links all five villages.  The fact that a landslide had wiped out a big chunk of path between Manarola and Corniglia wasn’t a deterrent-we just took the 2 hour detour up into the hinterland!  With just a few quick stops we managed to complete the walk in just less than 6 hours.

Pausing to enjoy the view and catch our breath-we were almost at our destination!

 

For a few more photos of this beautiful part of Italy, click here

 

 

 

 

 

Tales from the cities of Romance

David & the Dome-Florence 9^th-12^th August

A bit of art, a bit of architecture, some markets, shops, cafes and wine bars, hilltop views and high up vistas-in our few days here we sampled it all.

The tourists and the heat made daytime in this old city a challenge but there’s nothing like an early start to beat the rush and enjoy the sights.  We did just this to avoid the long queues for the Galleria dell’Accademia and managed to get an unobstructed view of Michelangelo’s David (although it is so massive it would be hard to obstruct!)

Again, the early-bird-ness in us meant we didn’t have to line up too long before being able to trudge the 400-odd steps up to the top of the dome in the immense Duomo for some great views of the city.

 

The most magical of views though, was from the Piazzale Michalangelo at sunset.  Seeing the gorgeous colouring spread over Tuscany and Florence itself was a brilliant reward for the trek up the steep hill!

Venice-12^th-15^th August

By day or by night, Venice was impressive.  The labyrinth of canals and laneways, the leaning buildings, piazzas and churches round every corner and fact that the Venice was built up out of the waters was just extraordinary!

We did our fair share of wandering, making it to the Basilica di San Marco and joining the long queue for, surprisingly, not such a long wait to stare in awe at the gold mosaics covering the interior.

Palazzo Ducale was also crossed off the list.  We were able to mosey through many of the old palace rooms and most notably across the Bridge of Sighs and into the old prisons.

Our time was spent with a little island hopping too, making it to Lido for some beach time, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore for some vistas atop the bell tower and Murano for some pretty glass goods.

To add in a little refinement to our Summer trip we spent our last evening in a church listening to a small string octet play some Vivaldi and glorious bits of classical music

Fair Verona 15^th – 17^th August

This was probably our favourite of the trio of romantic Italian cities-easy to get about, not half the amount of tourists, some great sights to see and a lovely small town feel.

We got our money’s worth from the Verona Card, squeezing in six monuments and two churches over the space of a day and a half!

View from Castelvecchio

Roman themed monuments:

The Roman Theatre

The Roman Arena

Tower themed monuments:

Juliet's balcony

At the top of Torre dei Lamberti

Churches:

For some more photos of each of these romantic Italian cities follow the links:



Florence

Venice

Verona

 

Glorious Positano

It was with fond memories of romance and unforgettable scenery that we returned to the Amalfi coast three years after our honeymoon.  This time we weren’t trekking from village to village along overgrown cliffside goat tracks on scorching hot summer days, but rather, lazing about and filling in the gaps with things we had missed or not had time for the first time round.

The trip down held less surprises than the first.  We knew to expect the tedious 30 plus stops on the non-air-conditioned Circumversuviana train from Naples to Sorrento as well as the mostly frightening bus ride from Sorrento along the tight curves of the coast road where you find yourself looking either into oncoming traffic, rocky cliff faces or an endless drop to the ocean!  So it was still a relief to have the journey done with and safely settled into our hotel in Positano, our home for five nights.

We had two active days, venturing out of Positano and two more gloriously lazy days just lying on the beach.

A diddy little bus took us up the narrow, windy roads above Positano to a hamlet village by the name of Montepertuso.  A place well known for a hole in the rock above the village believed to have been created when Mary cast the devil away from the area.  We were lulled into a false sense of security by a sign board saying it was only a 400m/15min walk to reach the hole and decided that that was an easy, manageable walk.  Hot, sweaty and thoroughly out of breath we should have twigged that it was an uphill, steps only climb, to reach the point of interest!  None the less, we were glad we did it as it was the only walk we didn’t do on the walking tour three years ago.

Looking down to Positano from Montepertuso

The Villa Rufolo, a 13^thCentury home to a few important people with its magnificent gardens was our other ‘active’ excursion.  We braved the buses once again to head to Ravello where this Villa is situated.  It was easy to see why this is the star attraction of the town, the gardens were immaculate and the views were breath-taking!

To avoid the crowded main beach in Positano we made the small walk along the cliff side path to Spiaggia del Fornillo, where we enjoyed a day of dips in the sea alternating with lounging on the sunbeds (under an umbrella of course!).

On our second beach day we took the boat with the red fish, as recommended by a number of fellow travellers, to an even smaller and less crowded beach (Spiaggia Laurito) to do much of the same!  

There are some more photos of Positano if you follow this link

My mother's motherland



Outside Aunty Rosina's house (right) and the church in Qormi

For five gloriously sunny, hot days we were taken under the maternal wing like long lost children by Danielle's mum’s family in Malta. 

 The resort town of Bugibba was an ideal location to be based with swimming, food, family and transport all within a short walk.

St John's Co Cathedral, Valletta

By day we either took ourselves on sightseeing trips or were chauffeured around to places not so easily reached.

At the ancient Hagar Qim temples



The Blue Grottto



Getting a great big cuddle in Marsaxlokk

A curious square in Mdina, the old capital

Xlendi Bay, Gozo

 Then, by night we chatted about people, places and pastimes with the family either on the breezy balcony or down at the local hangout-the Bocci club.
Although it had been seven years since Danielle had visited and Julian's first time meeting the relatives, we were so comfortable here that it felt like a place we had grown up in and never left :)

Getting Lucia's help with some shoe repairs

There are a few more photos of our time in Malta here