Roma

To move on to our next location - Croatia - Lies and I had a flight out of Rome. Rather than just arrive and fly out again, Lies and I decided that Rome was a worthwhile enough location to spend at least a couple of days. So we booked 2 nights accommodation and planned a super whirlwind tour of this incredible city. First though, we had to get there, and that took some effort!

We took a ferry from Capri to Naples and the plan was to take a train from Naples to Roma. The trick was that we had to get from the Naples ferry terminal to the Naples train station. On the map it looked like an easy couple of kms walk, so walk we did. And regret it we did!! It must have been close to 40 degrees. Our packs weighed a tonne and Naples is, as I mentioned before, a completely insane city. Crazy and dirty. We slogged our way along the streets, through the rubbish and around the traffic for what felt like 20kms in the stinking heat. We kept asking people if we were going the right way for the station and we just kept getting looks of sympathy and fingers just pointing straight ahead. Keep going girls! We were absolutely drenched in sweat when we arrived at the station. And I mean drenched! Wring your shirt out kind of drenched. Beetroot faces kind of drenched. Hate your pack with a passion kind of drenched. That walk became the low point of the whole holiday for Liesl, because it was, excuse my French, an absolute bitch! It didn't help that we saw a guy from our hotel on the train looking fresh as a daisy, he must have taken a train or a taxi. That hurt! I think I can convince myself that it was a rewarding experience though. In that we got a sense of Naples and we felt like we earned that rest on the train. It did, however, make me claim that I would not care at all if I never returned to Naples ever again! We did, however, eventually arrive in Rome.

Both Liesl and I were initially pleasantly surprised by Rome. As it had not been a planned stop as such, we both had rather low expectations, but after walking around and seeing some of the sights on the first day, we decided we liked the city, that it indeed did have some charm and class and that we were very glad we stopped over. Some of the sights we saw that first day were the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps.

Can you find me on the steps? Once again, we were amongst thousands of other tourists in Rome, it is completely overrun with them! And hot, OH MY GOD was it hot! I think the heat was intensified by the fact that previously we had been able to swim when we felt like the heat was overtaking our ability to think straight, but in Rome, we just had to sweat it out. Am I talking about sweat too much in this post? Well that is the way I remember Rome! Sorry. Sweat and bedbugs.

Originally, Liesl and I were very happy with our chosen bed and breakfast accommodation in Rome - good location, good room, good services and reasonable price. After the first night though, I was no longer so happy with it. For the 5th time in my life, I was attacked by bed bugs and unfortunately, suffered my usual allergic reaction. After waking and realising that I had been made a meal of, I was forced to retreat to my yoga mat on the floor, which Liesl of course thought was so funny that she had to record the event for all eternity. Thanks Lies!

This meant that the next day when we headed off to see the Vatican, mostly to see that most famous ceiling painting of the Sistine chapel, I was itching like a bastard! Those little bites swelled up to enormous hard lumps and drove me completely spare. I bought a thousand drugs and creams, none of which seemed to work, and I suffered terribly for the rest of our time in Rome. One of the ways Liesl helped me cope with the situation was by playing the game where we named the worst of the bites and followed their development with interest. Meet Vesuvius...not sure he shows up in all his glory in the pic, but he was a real beauty!

Enough of my self pity though, here are some pics from the Vat...although not of the hand of God because there was no photography allowed in the chapel, and in fact no talking was allowed in that most hallowed location!!


One of the things i was most astounded by in the Vatican was the sheer enormity of the art collection. In my mind it was completely obscene, far too opulent for the religion to be demonstrating any spirit of generosity. Surely the more Christian thing to do would be to sell half that shit and use the money to feed the starving millions. But then maybe I am missing some point about a greater glory...maybe.
It was pretty though, no doubt about that.
My favourite aspect of all the artwork on display though was the incredible mosaics on the floors. The detail was truly stunning.
Now blogger is having another little fit about posting photos so I will tell the rest of the roman holiday story tomorrow. xxx