Quattro giorni a Roma

Rome is one of those places you feel like you’ve been even if you have never visited. The city’s landmarks, history and culture pervade our history books, education and our consciousness like few other places.

Rome and the powerful empire that once extended from the city has always held a certain fascination for me. I remember vividly, borrowing textbooks from the school library that explained the Roman Empire and the battles it fought. I studied ancient history at high school and even took classics subjects at university where I studied ancient Roman texts. In fact, such was my devotion that I may be the only Asterix and Obelix fan that wanted the powerful Romans to overcome those pesky Gauls.

Whilst my passion has been replaced by other things in more recent times, there was still no way that I was going to end my time living in Europe without visiting Roma. And the city didn’t let me down.

It was a flying visit, but we still managed to take in the landmark sites:

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The Colosseum – like you didn’t know…

St Peter’s Basilica

The Forum and ancient Rome

The Pantheon

But we also did all those clichéd tourist things you simply have to do when visiting. Like:

Throwing a coin over your left shoulder at the Trevi Fountain, so that you will visit Rome again

Hanging out at the Spanish steps whilst checking out all the pretty young things

Laughing at the men in their silly pantaloons

And sneaking a dodgy shot of the Sistine Chapel roof whilst the guard is not looking.

We strolled around Villa Borghese, Trastevere and spent time in the many beautiful piazzas.

And of course we ate handsomely. Enjoying meals at Cul de Sac (the city’s oldest wine bar), Trattoria (thanks Matt Muir), Gusto, Pizza Remo, Obika (there is one of these at Selfridges in London) and had amazing espresso coffee at too many places to mention.

So that was Roma. Our last European city break before embarking on our trip back home. It didn’t hold too many surprises (well beyond the quake), as I said at the start, we all know it too well for it to do that, but that made it no less amazing.

Check out all our photos here.

Ciao ragazzi!

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The Great Summer Adventure – Croatia, Italy and Monaco

Well the tan may be fading – let’s face it what hope does a ginger have getting a true tan anyways – but the looking back at the pics makes me still feel like I am still there – handy given the shitty summer weather. Below are some of the top memories and great pictures.

Trip details – Landed in Dubrovnik Croatia on 28 July and travelled north up the Adriatic Coast through Split, Hvar Island, Zadar, Rab Island and Opatija, before getting a ferry to Venice, Italy. From Venice we travelled by train to Cinque Terre and down to Monaco where I celebrated my birthday. We reluctantly flew out of Nice on 13 July.

Top Spot – Opatija – the perfect combination of sun, sea, a 5 metre springboard and beers delivered to your very own sun-lounge did it for me.

Most extravagant spot – The Monaco Casino where in one night I saw in excess of ten Ferraris, countless Bentleys, about four Rolls Royce Phantoms and a Bugati Veyron 16.4. That is not even mentioning the yachts – see the pics below.

Most memorable comment of the trip – Laura recalling how the first time she swore at her father (a vet) was when he was putting stitches into her arm – “Be more careful dad, I’m not a fucking animal!”

Most Picturesque spot – All of Croatia’s water – simply stunning

Beer that was drank – Ožujsko

Car driven in Croatia – Opel Zafira (thinks ours was the model before)

Best bargain – Ice cream in the cone in Croatia only costs 50p per scoop! Bargain

Thing I wrote home about – The fact Elizabeth bought me a lap of the Monaco GP course in a Ferrari F430!

Most active pursuit – Walking the coastal route that links the five fishing villages of Cinque Terre – nothing to crack a sweat over when you have done hikes in Sth America!