Unplanned Italy

As I run all the photographic memories of this beautiful and history rich country through my head, I am tempted to leave you with nothing more than these images. Of course, I was lucky enough in that I had the best guide, and seeing the city by scooter. Apart from all the ice cream and espressos that we consumed, another one of our guilty pleasures was going around on the scooter and letting the fresh breeze from the ride cool us off. Every single street of the city has a story to tell, and I struggled to put my camera down (even taking a few sneaky shots whilst on the back of the scooter)

From Rome we took a bus to Siena  where we stayed for three days and ate like kings. It was here that I got the first few glimpses of all the rolling hills of the Tuscan region and the ever so beautiful Piazza del Campo. We road tripped to the coastal town of Santo Stefano, and swam in clear blue sea's on Giglio Island. Not a single part of our trip was planned, and  in true adventurous style much of our accommodation along the coast entailed last minute camping with all of a tent and mattress.

As we literally ate away our 'budget' and the camping got the better of us, we headed to the mountain regions of Mount Amiata and his hometown of Abbadia San Salvatore. We were treated to true Italian home cooked meals, and exploring more of what Tuscany had to offer. Most of the time I had my head stuck out of the window and my mouth wide open in awe. The entire region, and I mean absolutely all of it, is like a beautiful painting.

PRAGUE CITY GUIDE - PART 2

If you're anything like me, you will love the fact that you can sleep late on a Saturday morning in Prague. The locals, as well as tourists, only really start to show their faces from noon onwards.  We however managed to pull ourselves out of our hotel room  by 10 AM, getting our day started with a cup of coffee and a pastry in the park. If you're feeling a bit lazy, there is the Funicular Railway that will take you all the way to the top of the hill to the Petrin Tower, or you could get some fresh air and brave the steep hills on foot like we did. It really is worth it to go up the tower and check out the view (which is surprisingly not crowded with tourists) and see the city from all angles.
 

 

Its great to wander through the forests of Petrin Hill and exit through a different gate than the one you came in with. The steps leading up to Prague Castle were within walking distance from us and we braved yet another steep set of stairs to reach our destination. There is an abundance of tourists pacing all over the place, leaving us with but a mere glimpse of the area (and more than enough time in my opinion). I was fascinated by all the old Czech woman walking around in their best church attire and managed to sneakily photograph them in all their glory. If you're feeling peckish, try the traditional Balkan pastry, a Trdelnik. In English its translated as 'sweet bread' and are baked fresh on a daily basis and served 'natural' - with powdered sugar, or with Nutella.

 

 

The remainder of the afternoon gave us some time to make our way to DOX, the centre for contemporary art, situated just outside the city. A 20 minute tram ride will get you there, for which we didn't even have to scan our ticket in, so didn't bother buying one back.  The centre is relatively new but had some interesting exhibitions showcasing propaganda posters and a 'Pharmatopia' installation by Marek Schovanek.

If youre planning on eating out for dinner, there are plenty of restaurants to choose from, many of them being commercial eateries targeting tourists. We opted for the less touristy Leone and Anna, a quaint restaurant in the Mala Strana area not far from our hotel with a quiet atmosphere, great music and good food. Their Goulash was not quite to my liking but their service was impeccable. What's great about the city is you can go for evening strolls at any time of the night followed by a cup of hot chocolate to get the feeling back in your fingers and toes. T centre of The Old Town Square boasts several street musicians sitting in t-shirts ( even in the winter) playing a wide array of musical instruments whilst tourists half heartedly listen to their melodies and sip on their Glühwein from the street vendors.

 

HELLO BARCELONA : PART ONE



Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be writing about Barcelona, but here I am, blogging about what an amazing city it is and how it managed to steal my heart in only 5 days.

After waking up on the morning of Friday the 18th of October and preparing the boys' breakfasts and school lunches, I did a bit of last minute packing into the smallest hand luggage bag ever. Iv always travelled with a substantial amount of clothes, so this was something I had to get used to. The weather forecasts for Spain read in the mid twenties, so in I packed skimpy shorts and dresses, this made the process a lot easier as these don't take up too much space. Myself and the girls took the train to Eindhoven, and from there the bus to the airport which is so small in size it only has 1 terminal. We checked in, took toilet breaks in turns and finally had a chance to sit down and relax before our flight. A friendly girl, Derya, sat down by the table next to us and we ended up striking a conversation with her, she too was headed off to Barcelona. Lone behold, she ended up sitting next to me on the flight and we spoke about South Africa, Sweden  and listened to Swedish rap.

As we touched down, I could already start to feel the heat from outside. We yanked our hand luggage out the compartments as fast as we could and sped into the Spanish Sun. We purchased our bus tickets into Barcelona and because I couldn't resist the heat in long pants anymore, I sneakily changed into my short shorts on the bus.  We exchanged numbers and full names with Derya before she headed off into the city to meet her boyfriend. From there it was our turn. I must admit, we got slightly lost and had to ask for directions in a nearby café' only to find out we were a mere block away from our hostel.

We waltzed into The Black Swan Hostel only to be greeted by the front desk girl demanding us to get our bags out the way. I wont lie when I say she was not the happiest clam I have come across. Regardless, she appointed us to room 110.

We explored the streets of Barcelona for what seemed like a good 3 hours when our hunger pains got the better of us. In true Spanish tradition, we sipped on tall glasses of sangria at Maka Maka, whilst conversing with the Australian and South African lads sitting beside us.

We managed to muster up enough energy to traipse home and slumped into our lumpy hostel mattresses, completely exhausted from all the traveling our first day had presented.