Italy - Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd June

Our Italian summer road trip was off to a good start, relaxed check in at Gatwick, super quick flight to Milan and easy check into our hotel, things were looking good!

Sunday 3rd June
Very early start to the day, we had to get the hotel shuttle back to the Malpensa airport, and then get the express train into Milan city, and then get a bus from there to the Linate airport. We were hoping to catch up with Anna Cowie for a quick breakfast but it all got a bit hard and we were keen to hit the road as soon as possible.

We picked up our rental car and Lou's dreams came true, it was a little Fiat 500, her favourite car. Although it was a steel grey and not the powder blue with a cherry red interior that she was really hoping for, it was still super cute and so Italian. Hamish had a few practice laps round the car park to get used to the left hand drive business, and to make it more tricky, it was a manual as well. Probably the best quote of the trip, Hamish saying "It's like being inside a toaster".

So we were off, trusty Tom Tom in hand, we only had to do about 2 U turns to get onto the right motorway but little did we know that we would soon begin to dread the lady's voice that said "turn around when possible". We were headed south west of Milan towards the Cinque Terre, to a little town called Riomaggiore. We passed through some nice countryside and then Spezia, the main Italian military and commercial harbour before going on a windy road up the mountains, then down to the coast on the other side.

The view was spectacular, definitely worth the drive. We found our little hotel easily and dumped our bags and got into our walking gears to walk the infamous Cinque Terre trail. We had our own little villa and there were about a 100 steps to get to it, but the grounds were beautiful, jasmine, lavender, grapevines and flowers everywhere, it was so pretty and smelled amazing.

Our first navigational hiccup happened now, we headed down what we thought was the Cinque Trail but it didn't feel right (mainly cos there was no one else there, and there were no signs). An hour or so later (and some cursing at Italian signs), we were on the right track. It was scorching hot and we had been up for ages and didn't get a proper breakfast so first stop was lunch in the coastal village of Riomaggiore. The village, dating from the early 13th century, is known for its historic character and its wine, produced by the town's vineyards, which are all perched in terraces above the town.

We had a quick lunch, salad for Lou and pasta & bread for Hamish, and then we were off on the first leg of the track, called Via dell'Amore (The Way of Love), which is an easy path round to the next village called Manarola, which is the oldest of the 5 villages on the coastal walkway. The views were incredible, and the little villages were picture postcard perfect with their bright colours and the sunshine didn't hurt!

We had a nosey round Manarola before starting the next leg of the walk to Corniglia, but our plans were scuppered as they had closed the trail due to falling rocks. We chilled out a bit in the sun, the water was actually quite cold but not surprising considering the summer Europe has had.

We trekked back to Riomaggiore and bought supplies for dinner from a cute little deli place, white asparagus was on special which we had never had before, fresh pasta, mozzarella and pancetta and amazingly ripe bright red tomatoes. Yum! We hauled our stash up the steepest hill ever back to the main road, it was such a tough climb but Bandits never back down. We treated ourselves to a beer and locally produced wine in the hill top bar by our villa. I asked for the smallest size of wine (a 250ml jug) that the waitress poured it from something that looked like a petrol container so I'm guessing that’s local! It was reasonable nice, but nothing special.

Showers and relaxing were next, we had hoped to eat out on our balcony but this incredible fog had started rolling in, which was quite cool to watch from so high up. Dinner was lovely, and so was the early night!

Highlight: The walk on the Cinque Terre with the views and little villages was really fantastic
Lowlight: Trying to find the start of the dam walk!
Interesting Fact: In October 2011, freak floods hit the Cinque Terre putting 2 of the towns (Monterosso and Vernazza) under 3 metres of mud and silt, killing 4 people, they are still repairing the damages to the historic churches and buildings now.

Italy - Monday 4th June

We woke to the sound of pouring rain :(, but we weren't too disappointed as we were going to be driving all morning anyway. Yummy breaky of scrambled eggs and more asparagus (love the self-catering!)

We were soon back on the road heading inland to Florence, being economical we were trying to avoid toll roads where ever possible, mainly by entering in our destination on the sat nav and requesting that we don't pay tolls. This is all good in theory, except when you get to a road that is completely closed due to roadwork's and the sat nav have plonked you in the middle of nowhere. So we bit the bullet and hit the toll toad after unsuccessfully trying to cross a river with no road….

Italian drivers are mental I think that's common knowledge, but the way that they approach difficult driving conditions is also amazing. So the rain was getting heavier, it was what you would call torrential, interspersed with hail, coupled with the fact that Italian motorways don't seem to have a drainage system (there could be a job for life for you James), yet they still insist on going 20 miles above the speed limit. Which meant that Hamish felt he could too. Some harsh words were spoken, and Lou started getting cramp in her calf from applying the imaginary brake, but we made it out alive. 

Luckily it brightened up for our entry into Florence. We had high expectations for this city, a lot of our friends had raved about it so we were keen to get out of the car and get exploring. Finding parking was the first hurdle. As these medieval cities have such narrow roads, parking is at a premium so we found this underground place where you give your keys to this guy and he drives your car away to god knows where (and they had those lifts for parking cars on top of each other that they had in HK).

By the time we got out we were pretty dark, but we found our way to the Duomo which was pretty cool. Haven't seen a church like that before, construction started in 1296 but it wasn't completed until 1436, meaning that they architectural styles are a bit mish mash. We went inside but didn't get up the bell tower, the inside wasn't as cool as the outside we thought but still pretty incredible. We popped into a little café for lunch, salad again for Lou and panini for Hamish, and then wandered through the old part of town.

Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and the political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and republican revolutions, and there were numerous references to the Medici family throughout the city. Lou was pretty excited about this as it brought back all the facts she had rote learned for her Bursary Art History exam almost 10 years ago.

We found ourselves in the Palazzo Vecchio, which has a copy of Michelangelo's David in the middle of a fountain, which was nice as the museum that houses the original (also in Florence) was closed on Mondays. From there we strolled down to the River Arno which cuts the city in half. Historically, the locals have had a love-hate relationship with the Arno – which alternated between nourishing the city with commerce, and destroying it by flood. The most interesting part of this part of town is the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), with the multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts. It is the only bridge in the city to have survived World War II intact, and almost every shop on the bridge is a gold jewellery shop (and Lou still didn't get a present).

Overall, I think we were expecting a bit more from Florence, is was pretty but we didn't think the hype lived up to expectation.

We collected our car and paid an extortionate amount for the 2 hours we parked and got out of Florence to experience some Tuscan countryside. Lou had obviously done her research and found this cute little B&B about an hour out of Florence (between Florence and Siena), there were so many to choose from but the thing that made the choice obvious was the name – Locale La Bandita. Yup, the Italian Bandits lived here.

All expectations were realised when we pulled up the little gravel drive surrounded by orange, lemon and olive trees. The house was gorgeous, it had about 5 rooms all with balconies overlooking the grounds. Our host was this cute old Italian woman who was so lovely with her pigeon English. There was a tiny wee dining room by the entrance and she said that "dinner is served around 7.30pm, or 8pm" really casual, and Lou spotted the handwritten menu (all in Italian) that showed the prices were really cheap which was promising.

Considering it was only about 5pm and we were starving we concocted a plan where we would go to the local village and buy some nibbles and then save money by just having a main course in the restaurant. As frequent readers will know, one of Lou's favourite things to do on holiday is to go to foreign supermarkets and wander the aisles, so from our expedition we got Limoncello, cheese, olives, antipasto, prosciutto, and crackers – a right feast. As usual we ate too much and when we got round to 8pm we were pretty full, and typically Hamish didn't like the limoncello which meant Lou had to drink his, making Lou rather tipsy.

So, we were greeted by the young waitress who couldn't speak a word of English, and we played the Russian roulette of foreign menus, randomly picking 2 pasta dishes and 2 mains (we thought they might be miniscule portions as they were so cheap). Lou also ordered a half litre jug of the local house wine as it was criminal not to at a grand total of 5 Euros.

We were served up a complimentary antipasto of bruschetta, with mozzarella wrapped in pancetta, which is delicious, followed by the pasta course. Lou had home-made ravioli stuffed with pecorino cheese in an asparagus sauce, and Hamish had the ravioli with some kind of meat ragu that I think was rabbit. It was simply divine, home-made pasta is the way forward, so yummy. Lou had a brilliantly cooked steak with a mustard sauce, and Hamish had a pork fillet wrapped in pancetta, with a huge bowl of rosemary roasted potatoes and a bowl of salad with so many different types of lettuces, leaves and herbs fresh from the garden. Every mouthful was amazing. As with every meal, home-made bread was served with their own olive oil which was the best olive oil I have ever had. And at a grand total of 50 euros for whole meal, it was an absolute steal.

We were so full we couldn't manage desert and it was a good thing that the bed was just upstairs as moving was proving difficult. What a stunning night – so nice to be able to do a toast for Dad's 60th as well!

Highlight: Definitely the dinner and the night at the B&B, so highly recommended!
Lowlight: Getting into Florence and getting our bearings in the city, and I guess Florence not living up to the hype.
Interesting Fact: Tuscany is regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some many influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, da Vinci, Galilei, and Puccini.

Italy - Tuesday 5th June

We awoke to an eerie Tuscan fog that seemed to make us feel like we were in the middle of nowhere even more. After last night's epic dinner we were both excited about what breakfast would have to offer and we weren’t disappointed. We were treated to a spread of homemade tarts, cereals, bread and home-made jams, yoghurt's, juice and home-made biscotti and that was before we were offered eggs and espresso's! Definitely got a good deal out of that one.

We were going to Siena this morning before our biggest drive of the trip down the coast to Sorrento. Lou was worried we would have the same problems with parking as Florence, but as the main town part of Siena is completely closed off to cars it was actually quite easy, and we managed to find a space in the local stadium. It was a gorgeous morning and when we stepped into the Piazza del Campo, we were really taken aback – it was just beautiful.

This main square is where they hold the annual horse race (the Palio) that has put the town on the map. Ten horses and riders, bareback and dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen city wards and race around the square that has been laid with dirt. We started queueing to go up the bell tower of the Palazzo Salimbeni, but the line wasn't moving anywhere and we had to pay 12 euros for the pleasure so we flagged that idea and went to the Siena's version of the Duomo. Again, this was pretty cool, a similar look to the Florence one but way cooler inside. There were mosaics all over the floor, the most notable being The She-Wolf of Siena with the emblems of the confederate cities dating from 1373. Adjoining the cathedral is the Piccolomini library, housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di Betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael.

We wandered back to the car at that stage, knowing we had a lot of miles to cover that afternoon. The drive was relatively stress free, we had lunch in one of the thousand rest stops they have along the motorways called AutoGrills, not a bad spread, salad for Lou & pasta for Hamish.

We were driving south down the middle of the 'boot', passing Naples before going through so many tunnels (the Italians don't believe in building roads over hills, just bowl right through them). Sorrento was a bit manic, it had the reputation as a bit of a resort town as it is the entrance to the Amalfi coast. We were staying just for the night on our way to Positano. We arrived around 5pm, with the hotel's address plugged into the sat nav, but for the life of us could not find this hotel. There was no signs, and according to the sat nav lady the address didn't exist, which meant there were 2 very snappy campers in the wee Fiat. Lou spent a good 30 mins walking up the road asking at each hotel where our places was meant to be, with all very different answers. Eventually, we found it and we were quite unimpressed with the hotel, but it was cheap and we were literally just sleeping there. They didn't have a restaurant so we headed back into town and managed to snare a carpark at the local supermarket (again at a massive cost).

The town itself is nice, very touristy, with lots of expensive hotels and restaurants. We found a spot down on the harbour where we saw the start of an amazing sunset. We were starving at this point, and Lou made the call that tonight was going to be the night we have traditional Italian pizza (when in Rome right?) so we found a little pizzeria, and had one of the best pizzas ever, so yum. Hit the spot too.

Bit of a rough night's sleep as our neighbours decided to have a wee drink out on the shared balcony until really late but wasn't too bad.

Highlight: We really loved Siena, and the pizza in Sorrento was magic.
Lowlight: Trying to find this flipping hotel! Don't worry, I gave them some strong feedback on TripAdvisor.
Interesting Fact: The Siena Duomo has an axis that runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world, with a north-south transept and an east-west nave, as is usual. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.

Italy - Wednesday 6th June

Another beautiful day, another cruise ship docking in the habour. Breakfast was pretty reasonable, we got some fried eggs, loads of bread, and more cake. The Italians seem to think it's appropriate to eat cake at all mealtimes, something Lou could very easily get used to.

We drove around the coastal round of the Amalfi coast, another treacherous road where Italians believed it was acceptable to pass on blind corners and scooters have free reign of the road. Mental. We passed through Positano (where we were staying) to have a look round Amalfi which is the biggest village on the coast. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we were stinking hot so we couldn't wait to get down to the beach and into the water.

You dont want to know whats on the ground...

We had a look round the town first, basically lots of flash hotels and a massive church, both were nice though. We stocked up on lunch supplies for a picnic and hit the beach. It's quite European for there to be sun loungers & umbrellas for rent at every beach you go to, but Bandits don't pay for no shade. It was quite uncomfortable though cos it wasn't a nice sandy beach, more of a hot black pebbles beach. But regardless we took turns having a dip, it was surprisingly cold but refreshing anyway. We hung out at the beach a bit more, Lou was feeling pretty comfortable in her bikini after seeing what old Italian women wear to the beach, they are really not afraid to let it all hang out!

Yummy lunch of hams, tomatoes, cheese and salad and then we packed up and went in search of our home for the next 2 nights. Although the B&B address was in Positano, it was actually in the little village above Positano which meant for a very perilous drive, and again parking issues. We had to climb over 150 steps (we counted them) each time we left the hotel but it was worth it for the views. Our hosts were so nice, the main guy Salvatore helped us with our bags from the car and then he gave us iced tea and sfogliatelli, a classic Italian pastry with ricotta filling which were really well received!

Our room had a great balcony, so we spent the afternoon chilling out in the sun. Unfortunately Lou had thought this was self-catering accommodation but in reality that meant that there was a kettle….not going to cook much with that! So with our budget in mind we wandered down to the local shop and bought more snacking supplies and had antipasto on the balcony before going to every restaurant in walking distance trying to find the cheapest meal (it seemed we picked a very exclusive village to stay in, each restaurant had its own shuttles that people were getting on in Positano specifically to go to their restaurants! and so it was all really pricey). 

We found the cheapest one and Lou had (you guessed it!) salad and Hamish had pasta. All was fine but nothing amazing.

Highlight: The first sights of the brightly coloured towns on the Amalfi coast were like nothing we had seen before, and the weather was perfect.
Lowlight: Having a car was both a blessing and a curse, parking was a continual hassle and it was quite stressful dealing with other drivers.
Interesting Fact: Lou had just finished her holiday reading and was really pleased when she found there was a Mills & Boon book in English left behind in our room. The interesting part of this fact is that the main character in this book was called Theresa Weller of the Weller House, who is (and I quote) "she is precisely the sort of lady to spark Bartholmew's desire…a most improper lady". Just fantastic.