Day 44 (Monday) Venice to Crikvenica

You just never cease to be amazed in this travelling gig. The most incredible scenery and day's travel unknowingly awaited us when we sadly left Venice (in the rain) this morning - poor old Venice looked quite miserable as we headed (200metres) to the railway station from our lovely hotel and our wonderful breakfast host and master coffee maker Ranaldo (self-proclaimed "The Michaelangelo of coffee")

Train journey (2 hrs) from Venice to Trieste was quite interesting - more beautiful flat farmland, irrigation canals, grapes, corn etc and cute Italian farmhouses and vilages - and another area of marble quarries and cutting plants. Very fertile all the way - the Italian rural production must be (should be?) huge.

Arrived in Trieste on time and had a bit of trouble tracking down the "maggiore" car-hire office. Two unpleasant surprises - "No we don't have any GPS and no we don't have any maps" This is car-hire Italian style. Also had car full of food scraps, paper, someone's hat!!! Found a nice shop in the station where I purchased a good road map of Croatia and then we set off following the car-hire fellow's direction "Croatia is that way" Fortunately we navigated our way out of trieste without getting lost (Yeah!!!!)  and eventually went through Croatian passport control (no problem) so we knew we were on track.

This is the MOST amazing country. The road system is unbelievable. We travelled on a superb motorway nearly all afternoon and never had another vehicle closer than about 100 metres. Massive viaducts across fijord-like inlets, high mountain ranges, through tunnels, one of which must have been 4-5 km long, past beautiful little villages, forests, green farmland - it is just the most picturesque place. We went down the West coast, then across through the Istra Peninsula and again down spectacular coastline to the village of Crickvenica where we are  staying in a beautiful new hotel (The Grand) with everything that opens and shuts, Very friendly and helpful manager - learning a bit of Croatian - which is not easy!!!

Only problem occurred when we arrived at a toll point (what do you do???) but the system is that you just get a ticket at first then pay whenenever you exit - that was about 8 euro after about 2 hrs travelling!

Interesting introduction to Croatian dining tonight. Went down to the local "Domino's" restaurant - ordered the chef's special - Turkey and mushrooms plus soup plus the usual red house wine, but the neighbouring group got going and their behaviour was terrible - no one else in the restaurant could hear themselves talk - hope that isn't an indication of what's instore! Food was beautiful though and we got a free schnapps at the end (compensation???)

Off to Split driving down the Dalmatian coast tomorrow. We have a Fiat "500" diesel which must be the ugliest car ever built - inside and out - but is OK to drive and doesn't use too much fuel (definitely not turbocharged though!!!)

Cheers all

trivia: We had a first at breakfasts in Venice - Coffee flavoured yoghurt!!! Sounds terrible (especially on cornflakes and muesli) but was actually OK. Only the Italians would come up with that idea!

Pictures:
* the famous Ranaldo - the "Michaelangelo of coffees"
*The Island of Krk (correct spelling) - from our hotel balcony - weather is actually fine here but just looks a bit crook.
*how many taps does a shower need??? - not sure what they're all for!

Day 43 (Sunday) Venice

A wet and cold Sunday in Venice would be pretty miserable, right? No, not at all - we've actually had a lovely day.

Being Italy, we were of course woken with the sound of church bells - and there are a LOT of churches in venice!! Not much musicality with the bells here - just a lot of noise really. The lovely Sabrina at the front desk mapped out the day for us and we headed off towards the "Accademia" where the Leoardo da Vinci exhibition is on. A couple of churches and other museums along the way and then we were to end up at the "Santa Maria della Salute" church which is acros the Grand Canal from St Mark's Square.

Had one of those magical touring moments when we arrived at a church near the "Casa del Goldoni" museum - we were completely on our own (it WAS a wet and cold morning) and walked into the church and the organist was obviously practicing for the 11 o'clock mass - just the most beautiful music in a very beautiful church and we had it all to ourselves! Just able to sit and listen to the most beautiful music.

Did the Goldini museum (he was famous as a puppetier) with displays of antique puppets. The rain continued and we called into the da Vinci exhibition - models of many of his "inventions" - hard to believe how many machines he either developed or drew for later generations to actually see working - such as helicopters and submarines.

Unfortunately the huge "Santa Maria" Basillica was closed so we took the easy way out and caught the water-bus back to base where we had a lunch beside the canal and watched the incredible amount of water traffic going past. An appropriate lunch for the day - spaghetti/seafood (sounds incompatible but is actually beautiful and becomming a favourite) and a bottle of red wine - all beside the Grand canal in Venice!! - doesn't get much better.

Our time in venice is over - off to Croatia tomorrow after a train ride to Trieste to pick up the car. Venice certainly lives up to its reputation for being absolutely unique and  beautiful.

An unforgetable experience!!

Trivia: Leonardo da Vinci (as we all know) invented some amazing machinery but did you know that the list includes: THE BICYCLE!!!; ball bearings, the chain; the machine gun, the dredge, double hull boat, flywheel; parachute; glider; screw gearing, gearshift, floodlight; piston, camwheel - and the list goes on!

Pictures:
* emergency services Venice style - the firestation
* - an ambulance
*Leonardo's bicycle - complete with chain/sprokets

Day 42 (Saturday) Venice

The weather forecast was only half right - we woke to cloudy skies and light rain but by 10  the rain had stopped and it was just cloudy and cool for the rest of the day.

By the way, this blog will probably be late in being posted as was yesterday's - the hotel wi-fi and my tablet just won't talk to each other for some reason - yesterday's was eventually uploaded at a wifi cafe where we had lunch. Apologies.

We had planned a "museum" day in anticipation of bad weather so basically did that but took a lovely walk through the non-touristy back blocks of Venice which was very interesting.  We went to the natural History Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Archeological Museum - each housed in magnificent old villas that were worth visits in themselves.

The Archeological Museum is housed in the buildings around St Mark's square so we also joined the queu to see the Basillica which dates from circa 400B.C. when St Mark's remains were apparenty brought to Venice. The interior is quite dark and uninspiring but the exterior is quite beautiful but you can't come to Venice and not see inside St Mark's really. The Museum itself was very interesting - a section of it was the former Royal Palace - The Empress Elizabeth from the Hapsburg dynasty visited here a couple of times (it was then part of their empire) - the famous "Sissi" from our visit to the Schonnberg Palace in Vienna and it was fascinating to see the similarities in the way the rooms were decorated - all to her preferred style, and she only visited here twice!! Fascinating displays of ancient books (1400's), coins (1300's) the venetian navy as well as the usual array of beautiful marble and stone statues. The armoury with its amazing displays of the development of firearms was also fascinating.

The backstreets of Venice are really worth a look - for a start you are away from the thousands of tourists but you also get a view of everyday life in Venice with the delivery boats, the rubbish removal boats, the ambulance boats - for every vehicle we see on our roads, Venice has an equivalent boat - even saw a fire-boat!

The museum of Modern Art was "interesting" - just as well the building it is housed in was interesting in its own right!

Obvious problem with the tides - some canal steps and doorways were partly under water as we went around this morning and St Mark's Square was partly flooded - there are walkways stacked everywhere for when the square really floods. Cheers all - we'll see what tomorrow - our final day in Venice - brings!

Trivia: Saw Rodin's "Thinker" in the art museum today - there are two versions - the one we saw today and a bronze one in Paris!

Pictures:
* fruit&vege delivery Venice style -
*backstreets - the date on the building on the right was 1345!
*we've seen some narrow streets, but this one has got to be the narrowest - hardly space for two people to pass!

Day 41 (Friday) Venice

Every day brings new surprises and today it was the turn of the Doge's Palace to provide the incredible.

Firstly though the breakfast at the "La Locanda di Orsaria" hotel (hope we don't get lost and have to remember the name!!) is worth mentioning, mainly for the wonderful old gentleman host who treats you like family and looks after you for breakfast - and beautiful cakes, pastries etc also help of course. Again our hotel is great and ideally located for getting around Venice.

The weather is threatening to get a bit damp tomorrow so decided to do St Mark's square this morning to get that in just in case. Beat the crowds and got into the square and then the Doge's Palace, which, as indicated above was a big (pleasant) surprise. The outside is quite familiar of course, but I never realised the magnificence of the interior. We spent the whole morning there, marvelling at the beautiful rooms, most of which were meeting rooms for the various assemblies that governed Venice for four or five centuries. The main assembly room is the largest room in Europe - it held a weekly meeting of over 2000 - each noble family of Venice sent a representative - it also has the world's largest painting on canvas across the end, No photos allowed (but again i-phones etc get away with it) - these rooms were much more impressive than Versailles - more tastefully decorated and beautifully panelled - but still lots of 18crt gold etc on the ceilings.

We have purchased a three day ferry ticket so after a very nice lunch a few streets back from the square we headed for the island of Murano which, as we now realise, is the centre of manufacture of Venetian glass. Another great museum showing the development of glass manufacturing from the first century as well as shop after shop of beautiful glass - lighting, jewellry, vases,etc etc - has to be seen to be believed.

Ferry back to St Mark's Square, then another one all the way down the Grand Canal with its magnificent waterfront villas before heading for dinner at the recommended "Trettoria della Madonna's" seafood restaurant near the Rialto Bridge. Oh dear Oh dear, sorry to relate, this has to have been our best seafood meal anywhere - we had to queu to get in and when we left, the queu went half-way down the laneway. It is a Michelin star restaurant and I've never seen so many white-coated waiters in one place - the service was brilliant. Bit posh? Not really - we had a three-course meal with beautiful wine and coffee - 100euro - we've paid more in Maryborough! Any prospective visitors to Venice, I'll give you the directions!!!

Really pleased also that we have sorted out the water-bus system - it works really well and we've used it constantly. Another navigation achievement!  Cheers all - rain is still forecast for tomorrow and the next day so museums might get a workout.

Trivia: The Doge's Palace was commenced in the 9th century but has experienced numerous fires and reconstructions over the centuries, Most of the current rooms were completed in the mid 1500's.

Pictures:
*The Doge's Palace with gondolas
*The famous "Bridge of Sighs" - links the palace (where the trials were held) with the jail next door (thus the name)
*The "golden staircase" inside the palace

Day 40!!!!! (Thursday) Florence to Venice

Most people apparently dream of visiting Venice and here we are at last!

Firstly though we had to catch the train in Florence - we were very sorry to leave Florence - certainly a place we would love to come back to and felt there was more to see and do. It was an interesting train trip. The first half was through Tuscany and because of the hilly country, most of it was through tunnels so you don't get to appreciate the Tuscan countryside  - but the bits we did see looked really beautiful. This area is on the wish list for a future bike ride so hopefully those hills we went through are not too high!! After Tuscany we travelled through very flat but obviously very fertile farmland with all sorts of crops including huge areas if grapes - very prosperous looking farmhouses, large rivers and lots of irrigation development.

Arrived in Venice at about 12.30 and had the instructions to get to the hotel which was supposed to be very close - only problem was that the instructions were a bit ambiguous so we crossed the "ponte" (bridge) the wrong way before finding we were supposed to go the other way so got to drag the luggage over all those steps again!! The  hotel WAS quite close to the station so we booked in OK and got all the info for our three days in this amazing city.

We spent the afternoon going for a very slow walk around to the Rialto bridge where coincidentally we stood right at the rail on the right side just as a huge boat-race approached with police boats clearing all the gondolas and other traffic. Crossed lots of "pontes" and canals and have seen lots of gondolas already so getting the feel of venice - it certainly is beautiful, unique and the crowds so far have been not so bad so we'll see how it goes.

Pretty ordinary dinner tonight - went to the closest Ristorante two doors down from the hotel and the food was OK - joined by about 50 Japanese in tour party which sort of destroyed the atmosphere!!

trivia:If anyone is wondering why we have been quiet on text messages, we have found out that we have no "roaming" carrier in Italy - we can't send/receive phone messages - sorry!

pictures -
* first view of gondolas - probably lots more to come!!
* Got to be the worst example of "kitch" we've ever seen - in a Venetian church - you don't light a candle- you just flick the switch and a light comes on!!!
* Boat race on the Grand canal - taken from the Rialto bridge

Day 39 (Wednesday) Florence

Florence is BEAUTIFUL - we certainly put it in the top few cities in our limited experience anyhow.The disadvantage of everything being so close is that there is no bus/tram/train ride to give you even a brief respite from the hard walking on cobbled streets.

First task of the morning (after breakfast that is) was to head to the station and get the tickets for Venice tomorrow. Used the beaut little auto booking machines they have in Italy and after a bit of sorting, out came or tickets, seat allocation and everything. Easy.

As predicted, we went to the "Duomo" - the amazing cathedral of Florence - joined the large queue but got in quite quickly. Huge surprise. For abuilding that is so decorated and complex on the outside, this is quite austere on the inside - a pleasant change from the usual gold and decoration. It is all the better for it - quite magnificent. Down into the crypt and you can go through the remains of the previous smaller cathedral which stood on this site until they demolished it to build this one, commencing in 1296. The "new" one is150metres long and 90 m wide - immense.

We followed the Miles "tradition"  -  where there is a dome, we will climb it - this time all 474 stairs!! As in St Paul's (London, not Maryborough) the climb brings you firstly to the interior of the dome so you look down on the nave of the church before entering the space between the internal and external domes to reach the lantern and emerge ouside to amazing views of Florence.

We then headed to the famous "Ponto Vecchio" across the Arno River with its beautiful jewellry shops built on the bridge - more gold and silver and diamonds and watches than we've ever seen. Resisted temptation. Marta our B&B lady had recommended San Bevitore's restaurant along the Via Spirito for a good lunch so we tried it out and weren't disappointed - probably the busiest restaurant we've ever been in but the food was magnificent (but please don't get the idea that we are just here to eat!!!!)

We have really just loved Florence. The shops are just amazing - incredible stock and beautifully displayed. The architecture is pure middle ages but reflects the huge wealth of Florence at that time - massive villa type buildings with lots of decoration and statues everywhere. After our magnificent lunch, very small dinner tonight close to the apartment.

Cheers all

Trivia: The Medici family were the source of most of the wealth in the Florence/Tuscany area. The were originally merchants who eventually owned the largest bank in Europe. As well as sponsoring such luminaries as Machiavelli and Michelangelo, they produced 4 Popes and 2 queens of France! they "ruled from the 1400's until1737.

Pictures:
* view of Florence from the top of the cathedral's dome
* the "Ponto Vecchio"
*David - this is a photo of the re-production outside the town hall, but this gives an idea of the size of the statue - not as beautiful as the marble original.

Day 38 (Tuesday) Riomaggiore to Florence

No doubt - the WOW! factor today has been Michelangelo's "David" - but more on that later!

Sadly left David and Julie and Riomaggiore and Cinque terra this morning per train and headed via Pisa to Florence. We decided that finding the leaning tower was not worth the time and effort involved - after all its only a belltower and we've done enough belltowers!

The train trip down the Arno River valley was very scenic. Especially interesting were the marble quarries and cutting workshops around Carerra - the high mountains are almost pure marble so huge quarries scar the sides of the mountains revealing pure white marble cliffs. Huge cubes of marble are stored in yards around the cutting works where massive cranes lift and then the cut slabs of all thicknesses can be seen.

Arrived in Florence about midday and easily found our B&B (La Residenza dell'Orafo) where a lovely Italian lady (as you would expect) explained all the things to do in Florence. Fortunately, most of it is within easy walking didtance so should be no problems. "Booking.com" has again not failed us - it is a lovely apartment in a central location and the staff are terrific. We were booked in to see "David" at 2.30 so headed for the "Accademia" where he is housed, collected the tickets and headed in.

No doubt about it, this is one of the most incredible man-made objects in existence. How someone can create something like this statue from a block of marble is incredible. The massive size takes you by surprise - much bigger than pictures suggest. The detail is also amazing. You can't take photos unfortunately (although phones and pads seem to manage)
(note: If David Henderson is reading this blog, we think David's hand is in proportion, and if you stand right at the end of the room it is definitely all in proportion)

Did some serious leather shopping and we each ended up with a new wallet. The leather salesman here are very similar to the carpet sellers of Istanbul - very hard to escape and desperate to do deals. Refused numerous beautiful leather jackets! - only 900 euros!!!

The world roadbike championships have just finished here so all the shops are still decorated with bikes, gear, jerseys etc. Unfortunately there are no reductions on jerseys as yet but we did buy the T-shirts!

Found (as usual) a great little ristorante down a side street - the Tuscany area is famous for beef cattle so I had roast beef and roast tomatoes and Elizabeth had a tuna salad - both beautiful as usual - chocolate pannacotta for sweets. mmmmm. Cheers all - let you know how our day of exploration in Florence goes - first impressions of Florence??? Absolutely beautiful

Trivia: The Guild of Woolmerchants commissioned Michelangelo to create "David" in 1501. It was finished in 1504

pictures:
*the narrow strets of old Florence (actually its nearly all VERY old!)
*the cathedral - known as "The Dome" - a most extraordinary building - will visit it tomorrow
*for the bikers - World roadracing championship display in the cafe where we enjoyed a'noon      tea