A hike to the train station and at 9:30am it was already hot. The first half of the ride to Venice, as far as Bologna, was in tunnel. It must have cost a mint to build. Arriving in Venice is pretty cool. The line crosses a crappy causeway. You get off the train and walk…
Booking a car turned out to be a hassle. I tried doing it on my phone during the long ride back from Lucca the day before. A lot of places had no cars available, or were very overpriced. I booked one from Europcar, only to get an email an hour later (while still on the…
The day began with a short walk up the road to the Accademia. Having a pre-booked time (9:30am) meant we went straight to the front of the already 90 minute queue. Once in we went straight to the main event – David. We checked out a few of the other rooms, but with a train…
With our first activity at 10am we had what could almost be called a sleep-in. We had pre-booked tickets to climb to the top of the dome of the Duomo. The climb was much less tiring than the one at St Peters, though I still managed to bang my head in a few places. The…
As usual an early breakfast in Nocelle before catching the bus down to Positano. Being the end of the line we got seats, though as the bus went down it became very crowded with the morning commute. Once down in Positano we made the trek through the alleys to the wharf where we bought tickets…
Nocelle is a small village high above Positano. The road only came as far as the village 20 years ago, but at the village itself there is only foot access. And because it’s on the side of a very steep hill if you want to go anywhere chances are you will be going up and…
We troubled Nino for an early breakfast so we could get our little trek on Path of the Gods done before the heat of the day. We set out about 7:45am. The path itself is of pretty good standard – in New Zealand it would be considered relatively easy other than a few mild climbs…
After breakfast I quickly had a run around the streets, trying to follow the directs given to me by the hotel reception for an ATM. Eventually I found one inside a building. So with cash in hand we caught a taxi down to the harbour and caught the high speed ferry to Capri. We left…
The train to Napoli left at 7:35, so an early hike to the station. The train was a Frecciarossa, meaning it travelled at up to 300km/h. As we sped through the countryside I explained to Mina and Jess that New Zealanders fought in this area during World War 2 against the Germans. Just as I…
On our way to the Domus Aurea tour we had booked for 9:30am we stopped first at Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore. We had to go through security to enter the church – maybe due to the fact it’s Vatican property. We then had a short detour to Arch of Gallienus which was an…