Arriving in Milan after a long weekend at Oktoberfest, Munich, our hotel was a welcomed delight, a chance to dry our clothes, bags and shoes and get some much needed washing done. After we ticked off a few jobs we were able to get out and explore Milan, the fashion capitol of Italy. To say we felt less than fashionable was an understatement - picture runway attire as you wonder the streets, the clothes were outrageous at times and way too stylish to compete with our backpack wardrobe. We spent three nights in Milan where we dined on the canals, had coffee in the city and people-watched as the Vogue fashion show was in town and there was a few great sights out and about. We were able to see one of Michelangelo’s uncompleted sculptures as well as a Di Vinci exhibition as we began to get a taste of the art and history of Italy.

From Milan we made our way down to Florence where we checked into our hostel and had an afternoon wander around town. There were tourists everywhere but it was great to get amongst the hustle and bustle of the narrow streets. That evening we jumped onto a walking tour that took us through the town explaining how Florence came to be such a prominent city and the famous Medici family, the tour dragged on a bit so we didn’t quite make it to the end. The next morning we jumped onto another tour this time it was the renaissance tour which was excellent to learn a little more about the art scene and have the facades of different cathedrals and churches, like the Duomo explained to us.

We pre-booked some tickets to skip the huge line into the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo’s statue of David, we weren’t disappointed as there was a great display inside of renaissance art and other marble sculptures.

That evening we headed up to the Michelangelo viewpoint with many others as we watched the sun set over Florence and the city lights come out. This was a pretty special view and definitely worth a visit when in Florence. On our return down the hill we found the city food market where we indulged in some freshly made pasta dishes, we enjoyed the cheap eats and amazing food so much we returned the following night.

Our final day in Florence we decided to book onto a wine/historical tour that took us into the Tuscan countryside. We assumed as we booked this through our hostel then the age group would be mostly our age, wow were we wrong, let’s just say we probably brought the average age on the bus down significantly. The day was pretty slow starting as we made our way through an old village but then we arrived in Siena the old medieval town. It was one of those tours where you’ve got an ear piece in and listen to your guide in English and French, some of the oldies got lost along the way but they were so easy to spot we made it our mission to round some of them up making sure they made it back to the bus, this was partly (mainly) as we didn’t want to miss any time at the winery. We found a great place for lunch in Siena - a family run business and the best antipasto platter we have ever seen. The last stop of the day was at a winery in the Chianti region where the owner was a bit of a character and had the whole group laughing as we went through the wine, olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings. Pete and I smuggled a bottle of rosso back onto the bus and everyone in the back corner had their cups ready, it was a good few laughs on the way back to Florence.

Our next stop on the itinerary was Rome where we took another Bla Bla Car with a few university students who gave us a few local tips for our stay. After arriving late in the afternoon we checked into our hostel and booked onto a free night walking tour. The tour was great, it was a city tour of modern Rome with a Dutch tour guide and two other couples all from the U.S. The small group was great and we all had a really good time seeing the city by night. We visited Trevi fountain, parliament house and other piazzas. After the tour wrapped up the six of us decided to go out for a bite to eat where we ended up settling in for the night. It was a great evening and a great way to meet some others along the way. The next morning we jumped onto the ancient Rome tour, this was pretty good to piece together a time line of Roman history. After a nice lunch, pasta again of course, we made our way into the Colosseum where after a short wait in the line we made our way inside. We didn’t opt for a guided tour inside but even still it was great to wander around and you can read different boards as you wander through.

 The next morning we were up bright and early as we had an early Vatican tour booked to be one of the first through the door. This was one of my favourite tours all trip, having someone explain the art and the time of the church was great, the background stories provided by our guide were really great. The tour was just through the Vatican museum and Sistine chapel, we carried on after the tour making our way into the tombs under St. Peters Basilica which is home to many past popes including the tomb of Saint Peter himself which was pretty impressive. From the tombs we made our way up some steps and found ourselves in St Peters Basilica which was so impressive but also so overwhelming as the entire basilica is filled floor to roof with different art, statues, engravings and gold, so much gold. From St Peters we made our way out into the Vatican square and found the Vatican post office where I posted Gran a postcard stamped from the Vatican. After a long four hours at the Vatican we needed a bit of a sit down and some lunch so made our way quickly past the Spanish steps which were well over-rated but were nice and clean as they had just reopened two days previous. That evening was a quite one after a big day of tours and steps.

The following day the Pope was making an appearance at the Vatican so we were up early and followed the 15,000 others onto the metro to the Vatican. It was a pretty surreal experience as we walked in and saw the Pope on the big screen and then realised it wasn’t a replay and he was in his Pope-mobile out in the crowd. We came within about 5m of the Pope and managed to snatch a few pictures as many phones, hands, and babies were thrown the Popes way. We stayed for the mass that followed and the Pope gave many shout outs to the Pilgrims present which was greeted with cheers and flag waving. After the mass we managed to weave our way through the crowd and headed to a nice spot for lunch recommended by a girl in our ride share car. It was a quiet area which was nice to spend a few hours away from the hustle of Rome.

The next day we had finished with Rome and we boarded a train to Naples where we then caught a ferry straight to the Amalfi coast where we stopped for two nights in Sorrento. Here we had booked a great AirBNB with our own room and an amazing balcony with views of Mt. Vesuvius. We were met by Franco and Pepe who had limited English but were just so lovely, that evening we went to the local pizza place and made our way back to our balcony where we watched the sun set and had our pizza and wine - delightful. We spent the next day walking around Sorrento which offered some really great views and loads of stair climbing.

The next day we jumped on a bus and headed further down the Amalfi coast to Positano, the bus ride there is not for the faint hearted the cliff drops are impressive and the sharp narrow roads are a tad scary. Once we forced our way off the packed bus at our stop we made it to our hostel. Here we were positioned overlooking the cliffs, ocean and rooftops from the terrace view. We made our way down for an afternoon on the beach where I finally got to have a swim and Pete did some good napping on the beach. We had a really nice lunch with ocean views before heading back to the beach until the late afternoon. We then had to tackle the 750 stairs upwards back to the hostel! That evening we went to dinner with others from the hostel and made some plans for the next day. We awoke to a massive thunderstorm where we all huddled into the common room and had some breakfast and coffee followed by more coffee as we prayed for the weather to clear. Finally about 12:30 the rain had stopped and a few of us decided to make the most of the afternoon and ventured down the Amalfi coast to do the Path of the Gods walk. The 12 km walk stretches across the mountain tops and offers some impressive views of towering cliff faces and the towns along the way. We made it back to the hostel in the dark but the walk was so worth it with the stunning views.

The next day we made our way back to Naples on the ferry where we checked into our hotel to prepare for our next adventure in Jordan!