FLASHBACK #64F: Italy - Garda, Prescheira, Milan

Day 14 – 14 July – Garda, Lake Garda

After waking at 9am, we went for breakfast which consisted of the usual crap! From 10.30am to 1pm, we sunbathed by the pool; I oiled myself up and continued reading Angel's & Demons. After 25 minutes, I had to swim in the pool; the sweat was just rolling off me and I couldn't handle it anymore! After 1pm, we went for a walk into town for a wander and bought some water and soda. Bree suggested we stop for an ice cream so we did. It was lovely. We watched people walk by and noticed how calm the place was.

There was a steady flow of people, not packed like Rimini was and nobody was rushing to get anywhere. Afterwards, we walked around and I bought a t-shirt for my niece, some fridge magnets and some more postcards and stamps. We headed back along the waterfront and it was then that we noticed that there were speed boats for hire – one hour for €50. I was tempted. We asked them how much two hours would cost, they said €90. It seemed a bit much so we left it.

On the way back to the hotel, I said to Bree 'Oh, let's do it, but let's bargain'. So we packed a rucksack with towels, swimming trunks etc. and headed back down to the harbour. To cut a long story short, the large moustached Italian guy would not bargain. It was €90, take it or leave it. The boat was new and sparkling clean so we accepted the charge and got onboard.

The minute Bree started the engine and revved out of the harbour, I knew we had made the right decision. It was so cool! We headed north and, within half an hour, we drifted not far south of Mount Baldo. Bree went in for a swim first, followed by myself. On the surface, the water was very pleasant. In the water, if you put your feet down, you could feel the biting cold beneath the surface. It was refreshing to swim in a lake such as this.

Bree told me that we had used half of our fuel already after just 30 minutes and I wondered how it was possible. After taking in the view and taking some photos, we headed back just to ensure that we would be nearby in case we did run out of fuel. We sped back, passing a sailing school of some 20 boats and a water-skier who waved as he passed. We stopped once we reached the beach we had visited the previous evening. Bree dived in. Well, when I saw he dived, it was more of a cross between a belly flop and a botched-up suicide attempt from the front of the boat. The fuel motor read ‘empty’ and I said to Bree we still have another hour, but no fuel. We decided to head back and try to pay for one hour instead of two.

When we arrived back in Garda, we had been gone for 1 hour and 20 minutes and they insisted on charging us €80 for an hour and half. An argument erupted. I claimed the fuel supply wasn't adequate for two hours. Bree joined in by demanding that they accept €50 or nothing at all. I could tell that people on the nearby tourist boat were watching and I thought this was a good thing; we had been constantly conned and overcharged throughout this trip and now it was payback. Enough was enough. We left €50 with the guy and just walked away with a sense of satisfaction.

We went to a nearby beach, swam and chatted for an hour before heading back to the hotel. It was nearly 5pm and the heat of the day had taken its toll. While Bree slept, I finished writing some more postcards, downloaded another load of photos onto the laptop and got ready to go out.

We walked into town about 7.30pm and, as we walked along the waterfront once more, we saw four men on a boat who were participating in some kind of stand-up version of rowing. We found a restaurant and I tucked into a shrimp cocktail, sirloin steak and a fruit salad with ice cream followed by Grappa, an Italian brandy made from grapes. Yummy! There was a rather large, elderly lady near our table who had a hell of an appetite. You couldn’t not notice. As we left, to our amusement, she had fallen asleep at her table in the restaurant. Oh, dear!

When we headed back to the apartment later that evening, I showed Bree the mini-clip of his botched-up suicide attempt. It was so funny! In bed after midnight.

Day 15 – 15 July – Garda to Prescheira to Milan - 31ºC

After nearly two weeks, I had given up hope on getting a decent breakfast. After eating fruit salad and yoghurt, we decided to make the most of the immaculate poolside and it's view of what I call the ‘Rock di Garda' – it kind of looks like the Rock of Gibraltar.

We packed, checked out, loaded up the car and hung around by the poolside until about mid-day. After a couple of swims, I lapped on the oil and admired the sun, perhaps for the last time on this trip. The afternoon heat was fast approaching and, already by mid-day, we could feel the heat rolling into the region once more.

About midday, we set off due south, along the eastern side of Lake Garda. We passed a number of towns which, like all the others, were very tastefully done; not overly commercialised and certainly not crowded on this July day as one would expect.

Within an hour, we had arrived at Prescheira and were bombarded with adverts of Canevaworld, a water park – it had been our intention to visit there after spotting some printed material about the place a few days earlier. We pulled into the car park and headed to the entrance, paid the entrance fee, placed our stuff in a secure locker and set off enjoying the various water slides and lagoon.

We got there about 1pm and didn't leave until 6pm. There were two very memorable experiences on this day. One was the ride where you had to sit on a rubber ring that resembled the number '8' and seated two people. We stood in line, collected our '8-ring' and then headed up to the launch spot. Little did we know that when you left the launch slide that, momentarily, you wouldn't be able to see the surface of the slide itself. The aim was to position the body in such a way so as to go down this slide and overcome another raised slide – it's difficult to explain.

The first time, we failed miserably, but we tried again later in the day and succeeded, very much to the amusement of the crowd waiting for our ring below. We realised the second time around that the secret was not letting your bum fill the ring itself, but to lean back. This is what actually happened:

We went to the launch bay, placed the 8-ring on the conveyer belt then sat down and waited for the conveyer to transport us to the slide just one metre away. The moment came and there was that momentary rush where the ground beneath us just disappeared. We headed down the steep slide, the ring built up an enormous speed and then the slide started to rise again. At this point, we raised our bums to avoid friction with the surface of the slide and proceeded to literally 'fly' over the second slide. It was thrilling.

The second experience of the day had to be the Kamikaze. Having gone on every ride in the park, the only thing left was the Kamikaze. Bree didn't want to go on it so I went alone. When I walked to the top, I was treated to an amazing view of Lake Garda. To cut a long story short, I got to the top, sat down on the water and took sharp, deep breaths for five minutes before simply pushing myself off the 'edge'. Within seconds, I was at the bottom, mouth spluttering and my trunks up my bum! It was a thrill and Bree stood there in amazement. After ten minutes, I managed to persuade Bree up to the launch bay. He was very hesitant, but displayed remarkable courage and we both went down the Kamikaze. Whoo!

By the time we left the park at 6pm, we could feel the heat of the day in our bodies. It was the first day during our trip we had spent the whole day in the sun and it felt fantastic. I felt tired, but in a nice way. We continued along the lakeside and headed towards the A4 Autostrade. We sped towards Milan, arriving there after 8pm. It took us a long time to locate the centre, but when we did, the really symbolic thing was that we emerged on Piazza del Scala where we had seen the Opera house and the impressive statue of Leonardo da Vinci at the beginning of our trip.

We ventured upon the idea of staying at the Hotel Dei Caveleiri like we had done during the first two nights of the trip. After a long while, just before 9pm, we managed to find the hotel. I went inside, enquired as to availability on this Friday night, and they were intent on charging €109 despite our earlier custom! Via an online agency, we had paid €70 per night so I thought 'no way'! After a bit of a whinge, we continued driving. Just before 10pm, we managed to find a Congress Centre outside of the centre for €70. We had saved nearly €40 and that would go a long way towards our very own Last Supper in Milan!

Why were we in Milan anyway when our flight wasn't until 1pm the next day? Well, Bree wanted to see the Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci. By being in Milan the evening before, we could relax, have a nice night out and wake up fresh for our 9.15am reservation to see the painting.

We emptied everything from the car and our hotel room soon looked like a burgled home! We ignored the mess, showered, dressed smartly and headed – by car – to the boat on Naviglio where we had dined two weeks earlier.

We ordered a bottle of Rosé, shared a Quattro Stagioni pizza followed by the best Seafood Spaghetti. After a break where we reminisced over the experiences of the last fifteen days, we ordered the ice cream with Grand Marnier and coffee. Yummy!

We drove back to the hotel, rubbed aloe vera into our well-sunned bodies, laughed at the bruises Bree had sustained on his bum from the 8-ring, packed our suitcases and got into bed. It was nearly 1am by this time.

Day 16 – 16 July – Milan to Helsinki - 26ºC

After an early rise of 7.30am, we headed to breakfast which had so proved pretty predictable. However, at this hotel, there was cake! Soft cake! I downed two slices of it with lot's of coffee and water and yearned for a nice Finnish breakfast sandwich with punajuri!

We set off just after 8.30 in search of the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie. We got there just before 9am, but not without a minor incident this early on a Saturday morning. As we approached the church, we located a parking space behind us and intended to reverse into it. The taxi driver behind us, however, wasn't intent on reversing in order to make this any easier. The taxi driver started gesturing in such an Italian way by placing his thumb, index finger and middle fingers together and simply waving them about!

Bree responded by doing the same hand movements and joked that he would miss arguing with his hands! We eventually got into the parking space and collected our reserved tickets from the ticket office. We waited for our 9.15am entry while chatting outside in the spacious piazza.

Before long, we were huddle inside a booth which was then dehumidified prior to our release into the hall where the painting stood. Out of the twenty or so tourists, I would say that more than fifteen of them were of Japanese origin. The painting had enjoyed a recent boost in popularity with the publication of Dan Brown's novel Da Vinci Code.

The painting itself WAS impressive, although one can't help but question its validity. Is the person sitting on the left of Jesus a man or is it a woman, as suggested by Dan Brown? It looks very clearly like a woman… and can we really believe in a painting that was painted more than 1500 years after the event itself? Bree and I discussed this while, at the other end of long hall, was a painting of Christ's crucifixion. Again, the painting raised a few questions: why would people play dice games beneath the crucified three? And what's the temple in the painting placed behind the crucified three? Still, it was an experience, but as with all religious paintings or places, you left with 101 questions, but no one to seek answers from.

We left the hall and headed to the shop where we bought postcards of the Last Supper, just as a souvenir. From there, we drove around the city, killing time. We filled the hire car with petrol and I bought a couple of bottles of Bacardi before we returned to Milan's Linate Airport.

We left the car in the designated car park, returned the keys to the agency and then checked in. Apparently, our flight departed at noon and not 1pm as indicated on our e-tickets. It's a good thing we arrived at the airport early! We boarded the flight to Stockholm and admired the mountains from the window, perhaps the very mountains were had driven over just days ago.

Last Words…

The trip to Italy was to be my last trip with Bree, at least as my boyfriend. When I moved to Tampere in Finland in November, 2001, I moved with the intention of working in a project for two years to earn a bit of extra money. In April, 2002, I met Bree, a wonderful man.

For nearly four years, Bree had been my guiding star in a land very different from home. He was my best friend, and still is. I decided to return to the UK in September 2005 - things were not working out for me in Finland and I needed a change of scenery.

Understandably, Bree didn’t want to leave the thing he knows as ‘home’ while, for me, it was time to return to mine. However, my love for Bree has not died. If anything, my love for him has got stronger. When I told him in the June that I wished to return to the UK, it was an emotional time for the pair of us. Right up until my departure in September, he had stood by me every step of the way: if I needed help, he was there. If I wanted a buddy to go swimming with, he was there. If I needed company from the unbearable loneliness, he was there; he remained at a time when most would have blocked out the pain and sought other distractions.

I experienced very much the same thing with friends in Helsinki – during my last few weeks in Helsinki, each and every one of them shared their deepest feelings with me and it dawned upon me just how many lives I had touched and vice versa.

FLASHBACK #64E: Italy - Venice, Dolomites, Bolzano, Lake Garda

ABOUT VENICE

Before moving on from Venice, it might be worth telling you something about Venice. Venice is built on 117 small islands and has some 150 canals and 409 bridges. Only three bridges cross the Grand Canal: the Ponte di Rialto, Ponte dell’Accademia and the Ponte degli Scalzi.

The Grand Canal is looking a bit dilapidated these days, but rivals the world’s great boulevards. It weaves for 3.5km through the city like a huge, back-to-front ‘S’. The canal has a depth of about 6 metres and a width ranging from 40 to 100 metres.

Taking a vaporetto (waterbus) is the only way to see the incredible parade of buildings, including more than 100 palaces which date from the 12th to the 18th Centuries.

Day 12 – 12 July – Venice to Dolomites to Bolzano

I woke at 8am from a restless night with a sore throat. We went down for breakfast and the old man running the joint was close to incompetent and it was a case of DIY or stay hungry! After breakfast, we went back to the store where Bree had seen the masks the day before. He bought one and then we proceeded, on foot, to Piazzalle Roma to collect our car. By doing so, we were heading towards our next con. We had parked our car there for just over 24 hours and were charged a whopping €46! Once again, pissed off in Venice!

We left Venice at mid-day, and joined the A27, heading to Bellino, 70km north of Venice. In the distance, we could see the towering Dolomites and, as we got close, they got more impressive. We arrived in Bellino about 1pm and needed to stop for petrol. Chance would be a fine thing, since all the petrol stations in the area were closed. God, these people really do love their siesta, don't they? We ended up using the Automat.

We visited a nearby supermarket and bought chicken, fruit, bread, coca-cola and some salad; our plan was to have a picnic somewhere in the Dolomites.

From Bellino, we took the SS51 and headed towards Cortina D'Empazzo - this route was fantastic, running along a rushing river and meandering between the lofty peaks. We arrived at Cortina D'Empazzo about 2.30pm and the place took on a distinct Austrian or Swiss ski-centre feel; the town looked new, with swiss-style lodges dotting the sides of the road and ski lifts adorning nearby dark green hills.

Just after we arrived, I told Bree that I wasn't feel well, that I was feeling weak and perhaps we should eat. We turned off and ascended a hill overlooking the town. We found a small driveway and it did the job – we laid down a couple of towels and made chicken salad rolls. In a nearby field, a tractor was cutting grass and you could smell the freshly-mown grass. To the left, there was a stream, hidden now by some bush, but you could hear it trickling down to the town below.

Soaring above was a lone eagle, no doubt hunting the green wildlife-rich land below. It was lovely, although when I got up my bum had gone numb! When I went to wash my hands in the stream, I was greeted by yet another statue of the Virgin Mary herself. Even here, there was no escape from religious artefacts.

Bree had his own travel guide and it recommended a drive through the Dolomites. However, we actually took the wrong road and had headed towards Diabocco by mistake, some 25 kilometres from where we should have been. We headed back to Cortina D'Empazzo and, during that drive, I slept. My body craved rest for some reason – I hadn't been sleeping that well and I think the execessive sun in Venice (without sunglasses) combined with the intense air conditioning had given me some kind of chill. I pulled on a fleece sweater and slept. When we got back to Cortina D'Empazzo, Bree woke me up, seeking directions on how to follow the route recommended by the book.

I had woken up with a start, instantly feeling better for the 30 minute nap. I directed Bree through the town and it proved quite confusing – we stopped the car, asking for directions from a passer-by. Within minutes, we were ascending. The next hour was going to be one of the best drives in the whole trip, thanks to Bree! As we climbed higher and higher, the weakness within me started to take hold again. We stopped at a place called Passo Del Pordoi where the view was absolutely breathtaking. We rested here and ate the fruit salads we bought earlier in the day.

I pleaded with Bree, telling him I thought I was really coming down with something. We carried on driving and the downward journey was stomach-churning!

The evening came quickly and, just after 7pm, we passed the town of Canazei. It reminded me of Austria and, after I had mentioned it, Bree launched into a rendition of Edelweiss in Finnish. Very good indeed, it was. It was much better than my dismal attempt in English anyway!

We continued driving towards Bolzano where we agreed to stay for the night. Before heading to the city limits, it was interesting to notice the towering cliffs above us on both sides. The formula-one like meandering highway was covered with a net that stopped falling rocks from hitting cars. As the cavernous rocks subsided, we joined a highway that took us all the way to Bolzano. A river, the first decent one so far, coursed through the town. We checked five hotels and settled for one just outside town for €70 excluding breakfast.

A family-owned hotel with a resident gorgeous German Shepherd, we decided to give dinner a miss and instead drank a Bacardi in reception. It had been a tiring day and my fatigue from earlier was slowly lifting from me. I think I had narrowly escaped getting seriously sick and yearned for my bed. It certainly wasn’t a case of pneumonia sounding like ‘you-moaner’, as kindly pointed out by Bree! Was in bed by 11.30pm.

Day 13 – 13 July – Bolzano to Lake Garda

I had slept really well, practically non-stop until 8am which is very good for me. I laid awake until Bree woke up. We ate cookies and showered; it was another lovely sunny day and you could tell it would be a hot day. While checking the weather and our emails using the hotel's own internet terminal, we were offered complimentary coffee and cake. Bree was sending an email to the hotel in Rimini because he had left his camera charger behind. We left the hotel at 10.30am and headed along the A22 due south. Flanked by mountains and vineyards on either side, we drove one hour south to Rovereto. From there, we followed the signs for Lake Garda.

Torbole sat on the very North of the Lake. When I looked back, it was in a fine setting. Christina Aguilera's song Beautiful played – a perfect accompaniment to the wonderful scene passing by. Eventually, we reached a lovely castle perched on the shore at Malcesine; here, we took the turn off for Funivia Cable Car which we took to the top of Mount Baldo. By 12.30pm, we were on our way up to the 1760m peak, using two different cable cars.

We enjoyed the views and we downed lunch in the restaurant. I laughed when I ordered hamburger and fries – what was delivered was a hamburger and fries alright, but no bun! After lunch, we walked 1.5km to the panoramic views – you could see the north of the lake and the remaining expanse of the South. The cool air was great, a welcome retreat from the humidity at sea/lake level. We sang the Sound of Music and, for a laugh, took a mini clip of me pretending to be Fraulein Maria late for church! It was so funny! Well, you had to be there to appreciate the moment…

We got back down to base about 4pm, and continued our drive towards the town of Garda about 30 kilometres to the south. It wasn't an impressive place, but it was our chosen destination for two nights stay due to its central location on the lake. The search was on for accommodation once more; before long, we realised that accommodation in Garda was going to be expensive.

We went to a hotel reservation office on the Garda / Bordolino border. There, they recommended a hotel at €35 per person per night. The woman at the reservation office asked for Bree's surname and she wrote it down perfectly. I was amazed, since Strengell isn't an easy name to spell. Apparently, the woman serving us was a Finn who lived in Italy. What a small world! The brochure of the complex looked good so we drove back to Garda to check it out. What was promised was a lake view. However, when we viewed the property, it was a hovel; the view was, in fact, of other apartments looking straight into our apartment. The interior was simplistic, very 70's and reminded us of the oh-so-basic amenities offered to us at the Christian Refuge in Hanko, Finland. Aaagghhh! It was awful.

We drove back to the first hotel, the 3 star Excelsior with its own swimming pool. We checked the room and there WAS a lake view for €50 per person per night including breakfast. A hefty price, but it was by far the best offer. And the day wasn't over yet! By 6pm, we had checked in, unpacked and headed, by car, to a lakeside rocky beach 2km away.

The beach was great and the lake was refreshing, warm in the shallows, getting cooler with each step you took. We laid in the sun and, about 7.30pm, headed back to the car. Surprise, surprise – another parking ticket! We couldn't believe it and only hoped that they didn't process them before Bree could cancel his credit card upon returning to Finland.

We drove back to the hotel, showered and had a Bacardi and Coke in our room before heading into town. We walked along the calm shore, tastefully dotted with outdoor restaurants and a cosy shopping district in narrow streets selling classy, tasteful souvenirs. I checked out the t-shirts for my niece – a whopping €11, much more than they would have cost before joining the Euro, I'm sure!

We didn't buy anything (we would buy our souvenirs just before leaving Garda). We went to the shore once again and chose a restaurant right by the sea – Bree sat facing inland while I had a view of the calm lake.

We ordered a litre of local Bordolino Rosé and I ate a huge Greek Salad followed by Seafood Spaghetti, the best so far I should add, which was full of clams shells. As the last of the day light receded, the distant lights from resorts across the lake came to life. As the night wore on, I was amazed how well behaved the girl and boy on the next table were: they were with their parents and, in Finnish, Bree told me they were probably Danish.

After taking a break and finishing the remainder of the wine, I ordered Tiramasu and coffee. Soon, it was 11pm and, like in Pisa, we were the only customers in the restaurant – the restaurant had emptied very quickly and, by midnight, we were looking at the photos from the last few days on the laptop while drinking yet another ice-cold Bacardi with Diet Coke. Yummy! We laughed about the Sound of Music on Mount Baldo and, for a laugh, I even played three Sound of Music songs from my laptop before bedtime! It was after 1am when we finally went to bed.

FLASHBACK #64D: Italy - Rimini, Ravenna, Mestre nr. Venice

Day 10 – 10 July – Rimini to Ravenna to Mestre nr. Venice.

The prospect of moving on yet again this morning filled me with dread since I was just starting to really relax; in Rimini, one wasn't bombarded with churches and museums and lot's a religious imagery. Instead, there were restaurants and bars and beaches, my kind of thing! Having said that, the weather hadn't been that kind to us in Rimini so moving on was probably for the best.

We headed north towards Ravenna on Route SS16. In the distance, on our left, we saw the impressive mount of San Marino. The motorway was uneventful in itself, until we pulled into Ravenna. Whilst there, we visited the Basilica di Santa Apollinana Nuoro, Basilica di Santa Vital and the Mausolea di Galle Placidia. The town was very low-key, the pedestrian-only centre of town dotted with tourists who had made this unlikely detour, most likely on their way to Venice just like us.

About 2pm, we continued along the SS309 towards Venice. Sunflower fields and cornfields dotted the landscape. As we proceeded, I looked at the map and told Bree that there seemed to be some kind of delta on the way which might be worth checking out. There was nothing in the Lonely Planet guide about the place, Scardovari, but sometimes it was nice to go of the beaten track so we did. We turned off at Porto Tolle and headed east; we were transported into a world very much like Florida where marshland, fishing spots and pelicans dominated the landscape.

We made a stop at a camping site where we found a café bar selling sandwiches – we were both famished and the two sandwiches we consumed were very filling. We continued our drive to the edge of the delta where fishing shacks and boats nestled beneath a hazy blue sky; it reminded me of the Virginian Lakeland's as seen in the movie The Prince of Tides starring Barbara Streisand and Nick Nolte.

As we continued our drive, we reached the point where all you could see was sea. We had reached the Delta del Po. We followed the road and, before we knew it, we had done a complete circuit and were back at Porto Tolle again. We rejoined the SS309 and drove north towards Venice.

We were 40km away from Venice when we saw dark grey clouds gathering in the north. In the distance, lightning emanated from the sky: it was approaching 5pm by this time and our thoughts were focused on where to stay for the night. Rain started to fall as I looked through the list of hotels in Venice. We had a hotel booked for tomorrow night, but not this evening so we pondered upon whether or not to stay outside of Venice this evening and drive onto the Island in the morning or whether to go Venice now and enjoy two evenings there. Before long, we had taken the SS11 turnoff to Venice. A couple of kilometres down the road and we on the bridge that takes you to the Island of Venice. From this angle, the island looked very compact while, above us, a plane was coming to land at an airport on the mainland.

Once we had reached the other end of the bridge – which reminded me of the Overseas Highway which links the Florida Keys – we parked outside a multi-story car park and looked for some tourist office who could advise on where to stay. Not yet 6pm, it seemed that everything was closed. Moving cars still kept all lanes going into Venice busy, but frustrated by a lack of orientation with the place, we decided to head back to Mestre just outside Venice and stay there. What good would it do arriving in Venice this late anyway?

We headed back to Mestre and stayed at the aptly named Hotel Venice for the night. It was convenient to stay there since parking was included in the price, which meant no fear of getting a parking ticket! After checking in and settling into our hotel room, we headed out for a walk in the rain, aided by an umbrella loaned to us by the hotel. I always thought of Italy as a very dry country! Yeah, right! We've experienced rained for some four days running now so perhaps the drought is officially coming to an end?!

Mestre, clearly not targeted at tourists, was dead. Admittedly a Sunday night, there were no restaurants or bars open, although there was a café, but that wouldn't serve the purpose of a nice dinner. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel and, after yet another filling three course meal, we took a walk and found the centre of town with it's modest piazza and water feature. Mestre was Mestre, that's all I can say!

Day 11 – 11 July – Mestre to Venice

After waking at 9am, we headed to breakfast which featured the usual croissants and hard bread. I admitted to Bree that I was starting to miss my Finnish breakfast of ham and cheese with punajuri (beetroot salad)! We checked out, loaded up the car and drove the short distance to Venice. By 10am, we had already parked the car in the multi-story car park near Piazzale Roma.

As we left the parking house, we encountered our first con of the day. A man told us to go down the road for a water bus to Saint Mark's square. Naturally, we were interested in going to Saint Mark’s so we set off in the said direction. We were told the fare was €10 each and boarded the water-taxi. This didn't look like the waterbuses in the photos I had seen, I told Bree. While we waited for the water taxi to reach capacity, I called the reservation telephone number for the Last Supper to see if we could fit in a viewing in Milan on the last day of our trip. I finally got through and managed to get us a reservation for 9.15am.

Ten minutes passed and the water taxi still wasn't filling up. I told Bree that this can't be a real waterbus because they go more frequently than this, very much like London's tube lines. I told him that more frequent waterbuses should be around here somewhere so we got out of the boat and followed the meandering canal. Just 200 metres away, we were presented with a number of waterbus stop points. Our only task was to buy tickets so we made enquiries with passers-by, finally finding the ticket office and managed to get 24 hour unlimited waterbus tickets for just €10.50 each. The one way ticket to Saint Mark's square would have cost us €10 each! What a con, eh?!

Anyway, we boarded waterbus number 82 which would take us to Rialto where our hotel was situated. As the bus departed from the jetty, I armed myself with the new digital camera I had bought in San Marino and was impressed by architecture reminiscent of the Wall's Ice Cream ads on TV from my childhood!

Crowds filled the streets and every possible means of transports was filled to capacity. Within 20 minutes, we arrived beneath the impressive Rialto Bridge where we disembarked. We boarded the 82 extension waterbus and travelled to the end of the line to Lido.
We stayed onboard and admired Venice with its many spires and domes. We followed the same route, but in reverse and disembarked at St. Mark's Square. Nearby, we saw some masquerades and Bree had a picture taken with them.

Pigeons had clearly made St. Mark's Square their home and It dawned on me that any entry fees to any churches round here would clearly be allocated to cleaning up all the pigeon shit from everywhere!

We walked back to the hotel through the meandering streets, stopping briefly for some very appetising sandwiches. The location of Rialto was very clearly signposted so we followed the signs. Within half an hour, we emerged from the narrow, pastel coloured street into the busy vicinity near Rialto bridge.

We retrieved our printed confirmation for our overnight accommodation at Hotel Graspo De Ua and, as luck would have it, we took one side street and, after walking along a urine-stinking-graffiti-and-advert-emblazoned-alleyway, we found our hotel. My only hope was that our hotel room was better than the distasteful alleyway we had just passed.

The receptionist, the same guy we saw on the hotel's very own internet pages, advised us that check in wasn't until 2pm, but that it was okay to leave our bags to ease the load on our backs. We did so and continued our trek of the Island, criss-crossing the narrow streets dotted with bridges and passing gondolas. We checked out the prices at a Gondola station and it was a hefty €70. Since it was the two of us, we gave it a miss as all the same routes could be covered on foot anyway.

We made our way back to Piazzale Roma and, from there, followed a recommended walk on the map given to us by the hotel receptionist. We covered the western side of the Island, emerging onto the river at Academia Bridge. The area just before the Academia Bridge was dotted with shops selling masks. When you went inside, you learned that these shops doubled up as masquerade studios where masks ranging from the joyful to the downright weird were being made here right now in the back rooms.

One store looked distinctly more superior than the others and, on the wall, stood a sign that proud proclaimed: 'Official mask supplier to motion film production Eyes Wide Shut'. I have seen that movie starring Tom Cruise. We looked around and it seemed that the world was staring at you through what seemed like thousands of masks hanging on the walls. After a while, we left the place, truly impressed with the array of masks they had to offer.

Since I had agreed to do this walk only if Bree bought Ice Cream, the search was on for a gelateria! Within minutes, one emerged, we queued up, ordered and took away our icecreams, sitting down on steps near one of the narrow waterways. Gondolas passed by as we consumed the quick-melting ice cream. On our way once more, we stopped at a souvenir store and bought our postcards. With just five days left on the trip, now was the time to write our messages to relatives and friends.

Shortly after crossing the nearby Academia Bridge, we made our way to St. Mark's square and, over the course of the afternoon, we visited St. Mark's Basilica and the 99 metre high Campanile (bell tower). We went up the bell tower first which offered a panoramic view of the city. Fortunately, unlike Florence, there was a lift that took you right to the top. The views were impressive, the best views being those of St. Mark's Square and the Lido. Unfortunately, you couldn't see the S-bend of the river that meanders through the heart of Venice.

The Basilica was impressive and was the only one so far which didn't charge an entry fee. Where will they get the money to clean off all the pigeon shit?, I wondered. Once you've seen a basilica, baptistery or church in Italy, you've pretty much seen them all so it was very difficult to be enthusiastic about this one although the horses from the Byzantine era were impressive.

The original church, a chapel built to house the purported remains of the evangelist St Mark was destroyed by fire in 932 and rebuilt, but the new design was considered poor in comparison to other splendid churches in the land and it was demolished. The new basilica, modelled on Constantinople’s Church of the Twelve Apostles, was consecrated in 1094.

The afternoon was draining and I felt very dehydrated – our next experience would bring us into contact with our next con. We grabbed seats at the outdoor café in St. Mark's Square. Bree ordered a beer and I just wanted a water. The water cost a shocking €4,50 for a 30cl bottle and the beer didn't cost much more. By this time, however, my mood had deteriorated with a huge headache taking its toll. I had left my sunglasses in my rucksack – which was now at the hotel – so I guessed the strong rays of the day had bought it on. Music from the Cafés own orchestra emanated into the air and I just used the time to rest. When the bill came, I nearly died from shock – the cost of two drinks was €23! Apparently, we were being charged €4.50 EACH for the pleasure of the crap orchestral music that had been played. Disgusted, Bree settled the bill and I walked away in an even worse mood!

We headed straight back to the hotel and when we reached our room, it felt like we had entered the arctic, totally unaware of how humid it must have actually been outside. Naturally, we had acclimatised somewhat, but after a while it emerged that the air condition was truly on an artic scale. We messed about with the dials to turn down the intensity and opened a bottle of Chianti and wrote our postcards.

A couple of hours passed and, after showering and shaving, I got on my clothes, ready to go out and enjoy a slap-up meal in Venice. This is where we headed unknowingly towards our next con. What happened was we left our hotel, emerged from our graffiti-emblazoned-urine-stinking alleyway onto the main street near Rialto Bridge. We decided to have pictures taken on the bridge, capturing some of the background. We continued over the bridge to the other side and, within minutes, found a number of restaurants. We decided to dine at the third restaurant we saw – let's face it, all the restaurants in Italy serve the same thing so there's no point wondering around looking for something unique!

We got the menu, ordered some wine, then deliberated upon what to eat. I decided to have the Prawn Cocktail followed by Seafood Spaghetti with Lobster and Tiramasu. We had been warned that the main course – we both chose the seafood spaghetti with lobster - would cost about €30 each. Bree had never tasted lobster before so I though 'what the hell, we're in Venice, let's dine in style.' Well, to cut a long story short - because it pisses me off even now - the meal came to a staggering €177! Apparently, the lobster weighed more – and therefore cost more – than they were letting on. I told the waiter that the cost of the meal was bloody expensive and the pricing policy was disgusting before leaving the restaurant. What did they care? They had got my money, hadn't they?

By the time we left the restaurant, it was nearly 10pm already. We decided to see St. Mark's Square at night so, with our waterbus tickets still valid, we jumped on the Number 82 from Rialto and enjoyed the slow hover down the river. Stomachs full, we disembarked from the waterbus and ambled back – via St. Mark's Square - to the hotel very slowly. St. Mark's Square was still dotted with tourists, and the odd camera flash bounced off the monuments. The orchestra at the outdoor café now had a singer and, I'm sure, continued to con customers by charging them €4.50 per person for the pleasure of the music. I felt like going up to the owner and telling he or she to stick on a CD!

We headed back to the hotel along the deserted, narrow streets. We spoke about how expensive Italy – and especially Venice – actually was. The streets were adequately lit and, once again, we followed the signs for Rialto. It was after midnight when we reached our hotel and, during the walk home, we encountered surprisingly few people. While many people view Venice as a day trip, we had the luxury of staying overnight, free to explore Venice one last time in the morning before moving on.

The evening had been quite warm and, with a heavy meal in my belly, I felt sweaty. I took a shower before turning in for what would be a restless night.

FLASHBACK # 64C: Italy - Beccia, San Marino, Rimini

Day 7 – 7 July – Beccia to San Marino to Rimini - 25ºC

After waking at 9am, we had a breakfast of croissants and coffee. When we checked out, we were told that the credit card machine wasn't working. We had to settle the €113 bill with ALL of our cash. Completely devoid of cash after leaving the hotel, we stopped at an ATM in the town of Della Verna and stacked out wallets for any further hidden surprises. Relieved to have dosh in our pockets, we continued our drive. In the town, nuns walked along the roadside in solitude.

We headed towards the E45 which we joined at Pieve Santo for the 10km journey to Sansepolcro. From there, we took the scenic SS250 to San Marino. We travelled over the Montefeltro region towards San Marino. At one point, we noticed a small group of white cows and Bree pointed out that the landscape didn’t seem to have any birds whatsoever. The traffic was very light which was great for us – no aggressive Italian's brushing against the back of our car today! We arrived at San Marino with it's towering peak, just after mid-day.

San Marino is an interesting place. Located at 657m above sea level yet just 10km from the Adriatic Ocean, the 61 square kilometre Republic is Europe’s third smallest state after the Vatican and Monaco. Several legends describe the founding of this hilly city-state. One story tells how a stonecutter was given the land on top of Monte Titano by a rich Roman woman whose son he had cured.

During World War II, San Marino remained neutral and played host to 100,000 refugees until 1944, when the Allies marched into the town. San Marino joined the European Council in 1988 and the United Nations in 1992. Citizenship is passed on only through the male line and domestic staff under the age of 50 have been banned after a wave of gold-diggers, posing as domestic staff, married many wealthy natives for their money, jeopardising the state’s wealth.

The first things we noticed was the castle atop the towering town and that San Marino's vehicles had their own license plates.


We parked at the cable car station and bought tickets to travel up to the Old Town. We spent three hours in San Marino, admiring the views (you can see the Adriatic Sea from here) and visiting the Prime Tower. Afterwards, we ate hamburgers with Iced Tea before heading to Palazzo Publicco to witness the Changing of the Guard.

We bought Digicams for €250 each and a bottle of Bacardi for the rest of our journey, which cost just €12 as opposed to the €22 you would pay in Finland. Still, I doubt there will be any left in this bottle by the time we leave Italy!

We left just after 3pm and headed to Rimini – it was a hazy afternoon, but warm. Finding our hotel was easy – while driving towards the sea, Hotel Arinium was clearly sign-posted. We checked in and one pleasant surprise was that secure on-site parking was included! By 5pm, we were in the sea. Literally. It was warm, very salty and the tide had a strong northerly pull. Para-surfers dotted the sea, and the shore was lined with sunbeds and umbrellas for hire for as far as the human eye could see.

Rimini was just like any other beach destination – beach, sea, watersports and sunbeds for sale, neon-lit stores and lot's of chips to eat! It felt like I had been magically transported to a Spanish Island.

On the Adriatic Sea, the wind was strong as we headed – on foot – north along the beach. After an hour, we headed back to the hotel, showered and changed then went out in search of dinner. As we left the hotel, we met this Irish woman in her 30s and her young daughter in the lift. Apparently, they had problems with their air conditioning and were about to complain for the third time. Oh, dear!

Outside, we headed towards the centre of the town via the same road as our hotel; we passed countless souvenir stores selling all the usual tat, mini-supermarkets, cosmetic stores, boutiques and, of course, restaurants and bars.

We finally found a restaurant where we shared a litre of local wine and ate Spaghetti Carbonara and Mixed Grills. During the dinner, I was amazed when I saw a timid, young boy no older than eight or nine selling flowers at our table. Nine years old, I tell you! I was stunned!

The day had been a fairly dramatic one, actually – while we had been in San Marino, a shop owner had asked if I was from London. After I confirmed, he told me that there had been a series of bombings in London. Details had been sketchy, but later on it had emerged that one double decker bus had been bombed and three tube stations had been attacked. More than 50 people were said to have died. How tragic.

After the dinner, we walked a bit further and found the Centre of Rimini. A shopping mall and a fire-eater were the highlights along with the mass of people. We went into a novelty store where we came across some naughty adult products. Some of them were very original and downright hilarious!

As we headed back, we contemplated desert. Bree paid €15 for two ice cream deserts. And they were well worth it! We walked the rest of the way to the hotel and had a drink in our hotel room. It was so relaxing and, by midnight, we were snuggled up in bed.

Day 8 – 8 July – Rimini - 25ºC

Woke up at 9am, then went for breakfast; cereal, boiled eggs on toast, fruit salad and yoghurt with coffee and juice. Yummy!

We collected our beach things, then headed to Beach 78, just 30 metres from our hotel. The sky was hazy, the temperature pleasant. We found some sunbeds close to the sea, but just as I removed my over-shorts, I felt a drop of rain. I hesitated for a moment, sensing that the downpour had only just begun. We abandoned the beds, grateful that we hadn't parted with the hefty €15 daily fee.

We headed back to the hotel and relaxed on the sheltered veranda. After a while, the rain really fell – I updated my diary and Bree continued reading Da Vinci Code; I had bought the Finnish version for him not so long ago…

After an hour, we ventured out on the hotel's complimentary bikes. We took the seaside route to the north and, after half an hour, came to a marina with an isolated pier. We rode out to the pier where the waves crashed onto the breakwater with considerable force. When we returned to the marina, we drove around in the direction of the historic centre. The roads became cobbled so we knew we were heading in the right direction. As the last of the boats receded, we saw Ponte di Tiberio (Tiberius' bridge), a reminder of the city’s importance to the Roman Empire. The original bridge had been laid at this point in the 1st Century.

Soon, we had reached the centre of the old town, a not-so-busy square where we saw Castel Sismondo, so named after one of the Malatesta family. Sigisnomdo was a far from ideal ruler: Pope Pius II – also no angel – burned his effigy in Rome and condemned him to hell for his crimes which included rape, murder, incest, adultery and the severe oppression of his people.

We proceeded along the Corso d'Augusto to Piazza Cavour and reached the imposing Arco di Augusto (Arch of Augustus). From there, we headed back to the seafront where we ate lunch near the isolated pier at the foot of the marina. We ate piadane, thin pizza-like bread with toppings of your choice which is then folded over, very much like an omelette. We ate this with a huge salad before continuing our ride back to the hotel and returning the bikes.

The weather had improved so we headed to the beach. We arrived at the beach about 3pm. We paid €10 for the afternoon and, within half an hour, an angry looking grey rain-filled weather system parked itself above our beds and the heavens open. What a waste of €10!, I thought.

We spent the afternoon in the apartment. After showering, then reading for ten minutes, I decided to have a sleep. Apparently, Bree had slept too and we didn't wake until just before 8pm! We had been asleep for more than 3 hours which is so unlike me in the middle of the day – was I finally adopting the Italian tradition of an afternoon siesta?

The rain was still falling when we left the apartment. Bree told me he had heard thunder and lightning throughout the afternoon while we were napping. The rain was heavy and we went to the restaurant just beneath our hotel room. Known as Mister Grillo, the name was too tacky for what turned out to be a very good restaurant. We both ate Prawn Salad, Europa Pizza and Tramisu with a bottle of local wine. The cost of the meal was a little more than €50 – great value!

We took a walk to the South this time – the area went from four star hotels to three and two star hotels and started to look really shabby. We crossed onto the main seaside street and headed back to our hotel via the promenade, away from the booming music emanating from the two star area!

We got back to our hotel just after midnight and had a nightcap in the bar before turning in. I had Bacardi and Cke, Bree had Martini Bianco.

Day 9 – 9 July – Rimini - 27ºC

After waking at 9am and heading down for the usual breakfast, we decided to make the most of the weather and headed to the beach while blue sky remained. We grabbed some sunbeds, quickly unpacked, paid the €15 fee, got oiled up and laid skyward. I didn't move for the first thirty minutes, then took a dip in the sea – this early in the morning, the sun was particularly intense and the sea offered a welcome escape. As I waded my way out of the sea, I felt two very sudden pangs of pain, one under my left arm and one on my right foot. I had been stung by jelly fish. After a while, the pain went away, but ouch! Ow, sweeie, ow!

It wasn't surprising that more people dotted the shore than usual – it was a Saturday so, clearly, the town could expect more visitors than usual. I finally got an opportunity to do some reading – I was halfway through Dan Brown's Angel's & Demon's, a gripping read. We spent more than two hours on the beach, in relative silence, before the weather started to change. It got windier then greyer, culminating in heavy rainfall.

By 3pm, we had abandoned our sunbeds and headed back to the hotel. After showering, Bree continued reading and I updated my diary on my laptop. We made Pina Colada laced with extra Bacardi while a thunder and lightning storm brewed outside. I could feel the Pina Colada taking effect and had no option other than to have a sleep – I was in such a relaxed state.

I woke up just after 6pm and was amazed at how addictive these siestas were becoming! I couldn't remember having slept so well during the day. Bree was sitting on the small balcony, absorbing the last of the rays now the sun had returned. He had just finished reading his copy of Da Vinci Code.

We got dressed and walked beyond the centre of town, some 3kms away. We passed the usual stores selling naff stuff and set down in a packed out restaurant where a noisy, annoying waiter made the dropping of a metallic tray (to make people jump) into an art form. Honestly, I'm not making it up.

I ate a somewhat surprising version of crunchy vegetables for starters, Europa pizza and Mascarpone with coffee. Yummy! We chatted away whilst drinking a litre of local wine and watched the scene – the place was a madhouse; waiters dashed about, most of the time in a senseless, inefficient way. We watched the waiters busying themselves in their self-important way while we waited 30 minutes for our main course to arrive. As a result of the inefficient way in which the restaurant was being operated, we ended up leaving the restaurant richer than expected since they had forgotten to charge us for desert and coffee. €40 for three courses, including wine. A bargain!, even if we did have to listen to the noisy annoying waiter!

On this warm Saturday evening, the streets were alive with people. On-street gamblers tried to con people out of their money with their deceptive games, child xylophone players entertained for a fee and young people were selling club tickets in nearby Riccione on every street corner. There's no better way to watch all this going on than to sit down in an ice-cream parlour and down €15 worth of ice-cream, which we didn’t do this evening! Instead, we had an alcoholic drink in the same place. We walked the rest of the way back to the hotel and were in bed by 1am.

FLASHBACK #64B: Italy - Levanto, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Radda, Florence, Beccia nr. La Verna.

Day 4 – 4 July – Levanto to Cinque Terre to Pisa - 30ºC

Another hot day awaited us. I woke at 9am and grabbed a shower. The open balcony and the fresh air-induced sleep left me grumpy. We headed down to breakfast – I didn't eat much, still feeling full from last nights huge dinner. by 10am, we had already checked out, loaded the car and settled down on the town's beach. Because of the searing temperatures each day, we decided to bathe in the late morning/early afternoons and then head off on our travels thereby avoiding the heat of each day.

On the beach, I updated my diary notes and then went for a swim – as I lowered myself into the water, I noticed that the water was crystal blue and pleasantly warm. It wasn't hot, but it certainly wasn't cold, even at 10am in the morning. There was already a crowd on the beach, although nowhere near as populated at the beach at Camogli!

After a while of sunbathing, I went into the sea for relief from the heat. Bree was reading the Da Vinci Code, but he stopped reading for a bit and we went into the sea together. It was nice! Anyway, just before 1pm, we returned to our car and found another angering parking ticket. On this occasion, however, it should be noted that there was no mention of any motoring offence being committed which is why we parked there. However, some corrupt idiot found it fit to create a makeshift parking offence sign.

We drove from Levanto towards Monterosso on the yellow route of the Riviera de Levante. The route itself rises, falls and meanders and is therefore not for the faint-hearted, myself included! We saw an info booth at the entrance of Monterosso and asked how the 'system' of viewing the Cinque Terre (five lands) worked. The bronzed Italian women in her early 30's explained that you can take a train or boat between the five towns and gave lot's of information concerning costs and timetables.

We headed down to Monterosso, parked the car and grabbed a quick focaccia snack before boarding the train to Riomaggiore, the last of the Cinque Terre. After arriving, we ascended the stairs up to Torre Guardiola. On the way, we passed many private gardens where lemons, olives, peaches, tomatoes and grapes were being grown. From the tower, the views were fantastic and we descended to continue along the UNESCO-endorsed footpath. For €3 per person, you could walk along the specially prepared footpaths around the ocean footpath of the Cinque Terre.

After reaching the next town of Manarola, we descended into the old town where people had no objection to drying their underwear in full public view and where many people had gathered to watch divers jump from a nearby rock into crystal clear waters; the crowd gasped in awe at the brave children. We continued our walk along the path, taking splendid pictures of the colourful town of Manarola as we left.


The sea was so blue, a world away from Helsinki, and the heat was starting to get the sweat glands going once again. We rested in the shade, sipping from a water bottle… and looked out to the sea: there was nothing out there, just a huge expanse of ocean and waves crashing against the rocks below. Tourists overtook us and we continued also, but not far from reaching Corniglia the path came to a complete stop – we had to turn back.

We checked the boat timetable printout to see when the next boat along the Cinque Terre would be. With just twenty minutes until the boat left, we dashed back to Manarola, bought tickets for the boat, boarded and decided to see the remaining two of the Cinque Terre by sea.

We found seats on the crowded sun-exposed upper deck and when the boat started to move, the breeze was so satisfying. Corniglia and colourful town of Vernazza passed by and, by 4.30pm, we had arrived back at Monterosso. It had been an exhausting day, but after a thirst-quenching Slush Puppy near the railway station, we headed back to the car park and were once again on our way.

We left Monterosso about 5pm and headed for the A12, bound for Pisa. Pisa was still standing because Superman had saved it from falling over in Superman 2. Did you know that?! Well, that's all very interesting, but Pisa is certainly one of those monuments in Italy that everybody has heard about so I was looking forward to seeing it with my own eyes with my digital camera in tow!

After the meandering drive from the Cinque Terre, we were back on the A12. We zoomed
past the Provinces of Massa and Cararra, Tuscany’s administrative centre. With beaches supposedly nearby on our right, we saw what seemed like huge snow capped mountains. I consulted the Lonely Planet guide and what seemed like snow-capped mountains were indeed marble quarries. What an illusion!

We sped along the A12, passing Viareggio and then taking the turnoff for Pisa. At this point, I started calling local hotels, intent on finding us a place to stay for the night. One place quoted €105 while another quoted €60 for a room without a bathroom. Yuck! We quickly reached the city limits and there, in the distance, was the imposing Leaning Tower. What a spectacle! It hit me in very much the same way as Neuschwanstein Castle (on the German-Austrian border) had done during my summer holiday in 2002.

As we approached Pisa, what struck me was that it was a small town, surrounded by miles upon miles of rolling countryside. Part of me expected the Leaning Tower to be in a City somewhere, but I was in for a surprise for, within ten minutes, we were parked outside the Piazza del Miracoli. We parked on the road side and let traffic pass us while we decided what to do. Right next to us was the Hotel Roma so I enquired within as to their availability – they had a room for €96 for the night including breakfast and parking. THIS close to the Piazza del Miracoli?! Oh, why not!

We checked in, eager to get washed, dressed and explore the city while daylight remained. By 7pm, we were in the Romanesque inspired Piazza del Miracoli. Here, stood an impressive baptistery, a grand cathedral and, of course, the Leaning Tower itself. We saw people walking around the top of the Leaning Tower and enquired as to how this was possible from a nearby guard strolling around the grounds. She motioned us towards the Ticket Office. Within 10 minutes, we had obtained tickets to scale the Leaning Tower at 11.20am the next morning… Cool!

It was time to eat so we went in search of a restaurant to satisfy our hunger. Bree was in one of his indecisive moods and his quest for a restaurant took us to the other side of Pisa – where the main shopping streets were and we the only tourists – before we returned to the Leaning Tower and dined nearby. Drinking Rosé one again, I consumed Caprese Salad, Seafood Spaghetti and Tiramisu. Lovely!
As the daylight dwindled and the crowds died away, lights lit up the Leaning Tower. We took our time while we ate until it emerged that we were just one of three tables eating in the outdoor restaurant. We got the message – it was time to settled the bill and buy some souvenirs on the way back to our hotel. It was past midnight when I got into bed and I slept soundly.

Day 5 – 5 July – Pisa to Radda, in the heart of Tuscany

We woke up at 9am and, after a breakfast of croissants and honey, we headed back to Piazza del Miracoli. We visited the Grand Cathedral and the impressive baptistery, surmounted by a statue of John the Baptist. The crowds were staggering. We went to the Information Office where we waited for our guide to the Leaning Tower – about 11.30, we were on our way there and, within minutes, were ascending the many steps within.

As you got higher and higher, you could feel the incline of the tower on the steps. The views were amazing – in the near vicinity, you could see the sun-kissed town of Pisa itself. I call it a town because it doesn't exactly qualify as a city when you view it from the top of the tower. You could also see the nearby stadium of Pisa Football Club and, of course, the expanse of the Romanesque Piazza del Miracoli itself.

Once we got back to terra firm, we headed down Via Santa Maria where we ate an assortment of Ice Cream with Coffee. Lovely! The weather had been windy, especially at the top of the tower, but remained warm. Now, the clouds were clearing and we were treated to blue sky once again. Before collecting the car from the hotel car park, we took some more photos of the Leaning Tower, this time with blue sky as a backdrop.

We started driving about 1pm on the A12 towards Cecina. From there, we picked up the SS68, the route that would take us into the heart of Tuscany. The meandering roads afforded us some amazing views – after a while, we reached Volterra, an important trading centre under the Romans, before heading onto San Gimignano so named after the Bishop who apparently saved the city from Attila the Hun. Later, we passed Poggibonsi – what a strange name – which proved to be a bit of challenge to get out of. It felt like you were double-backing on yourself with every arrow pointing to Castellina in the Chianti region, famous for its red wines.

We reached Castellina, know for its brimming supply of Chianti Classico wine, just after 4pm and parked very close to the castle itself. It was siesta time and the area seemed pretty deserted. However, the Botega Del Vino store recommended by the Lonely Planet guide was open so we paid a visit. We were offered a glass of sparking Rosocco wine before we left with a bottle of the same name and two Chianti Reds.

We drove onto nearby Radda, 11km from Castellina, and began our search for overnight accommodation. Two places in the centre of town were intent on charging €150 for the night, but we found a place just a kilometre outside of town for €70 and it even had its own swimming pool – what a bargain!, I thought. We checked in at the Podere Le Vigne and, by 6.30pm, we were enjoying the remains of the day’s sun by the pool. Fantastic!

Just after 8pm, we headed into town and strolled around the fortified town walls. At this hour, most of the shops were closed, as were most of the bars and restaurants. As we progressed through the town, we passed through a very quaint, cosy street just like those pictures you see of Italy in brochures. A cute, toothless, elderly woman in her 70’s grinned at us from a window above!

We headed back to the main road where we found an up-market restaurant, seemingly the only restaurant open in town, and we needed to eat. We dined there, tucking into Tagliatele Bolognese as a starter followed by Pork Kebab with salad and Chocolate Torte for dessert. Naturally, we drank a bottle of local Chianti Red.

After dinner, we drove back to the hotel which resembled a vineyard house and, outside, we drank the Prosecco we had bought in Castellina and viewed the mass of photos taken so far on the laptop. What a journey it had already been!

Day 6 – 6 July – Radda to Florence to Beccia near La Verna

I woke up at 9am and the sunshine was trying it's hardest to infiltrate the wooden slats covering the windows. I took a shower and we went for a rather naff breakfast of cornflakes and coffee. By 10am, we had checked out, loaded the car once again, then oiled ourselves up by the poolside. And there we stayed until 1pm, before heading on our daytrip to Florence.

We hooked up to route SS222 which took us all the way to Florence and along yet some more amazing scenery. We got to Florence via Greve-in-Chianti, pulling into Piassale Michelangelo where we parked for free and enjoyed the views. We sat in a café and ordered sandwiches and coca-cola with ice.

Our intention was to drive into town to see Michelangelo’s Statue of David at the Galleria dell’Accademia and scale the Duomo, like we had done in Milan. Just as we headed back to the car, we saw a CitySightseeing bus. For €20, we hopped on and started the tour. Florence IS beautiful, perhaps more consistent in design that anywhere we had visited so far. However, I could sense that I was starting to reach my cultural limit – every city seemed the same; a duomo, a baptistery, gelaterias etc. What surprised me was that every church, cathedral, baptistery or any place of religious meaning charged you money to get in. No wonder the Catholic Church is so wealthy, I thought to myself. It was then that I realised that, with every church we visited, we were funding the Catholic faith's outdated influence at a time when attendances were dwindling and faith was falling.

If these buildings were so bloody marvellous and in need of such preservation, shouldn't the parishioners who want the churches so badly pay for it?

The bus came to a stop just north of the Galleria Della Accademia where the Statue of David is said to be housed. For the museum, there were two queues; one for those with reservations and one for those without reservations. Each queue was more than 100 metres long which I thought was bloody ridiculous. In the LonelyPlanet guide, it says that queues can take as long as four hours to get through and it looked like some people had already been waiting for an eternity so we gave it a miss and headed towards Piazza Del Duomo.

We queued for 30 minutes before scaling the gruelling 463 steps to the top of the dome. About two thirds of the way up, there was an internal stop where you could walk around the inside of the dome and either gaze up at the impressive paintings on the dome or gaze down at the wandering mass of tourists within the church.

The religious images spanning the dome were powerful, representing the triumph of good over evil. At the top, you had God with Christ, lot's of angels and then what seemed to resemble crowned kings and queens, followed by servants and the like. Towards the bottle of the dome, you had devils and monsters and all sorts of evil; the paintings showed how the church resorted to fearful imagery to control the masses.

Having traversed to the other side of the done, the stairs continued for the remainder of the ascent to the top of the dome. After a gruelling fifteen minutes, we emerged into bright daylight at the very top of the Dome.

From the top, the view of Florence wasn't altogether impressive. Since the houses had been built so close together, you could view mostly the roofs of all the buildings while the spires of the numerous churches rose above the mass of pastel red roof tiles. In every direction, however, Florence was surrounded with rolling hills of green.

We returned to terra firma only to realise that the €6 per person fee hadn't included access to the main church itself. What blatant capitalists these people are, I thought. It was even worse when we got outside - we were charged €9 for two ice creams!

We jumped onboard the CitySightseeing bus again and travelled to Gold Street, situated on the 13th Century Bridge we had seen from Piasalle Michelangelo. After a brief stroll around there, we made our way back to the car park where we bought souvenirs then headed in the direction of San Marino and Rimini using a cross-country route.

It was a welcome escape from the city as my cultural limit was once again starting to reach its limit! We headed towards Pelago where we brushed against the south of the National Forest Park. The roads meandered upwards once more and the towns got smaller and smaller and, with each kilometre, the views were more spectacular!

We were now driving in what is known as the Val di Chianti. By 7pm, we had reached Beccia near Chiusa Della Verna. We found a deserted hotel, La Verna, for €54 for the two of us including breakfast! What a bargain!, although I do remember thinking 'Lovely, it's like the Bates’ Motel from Psycho' when I first saw the place.

Actually, the place WAS nice and, a family-run business, the burly Italian son tried his best to serve us in English. After we checked in, we passed through the huge deserted restaurant when I noticed a flat screen television broadcasting images of the Union Jack. For a minute, my heart stopped – I thought there had been a terrorist attack. It was, in fact, fantastic news – London had just received news that its bid to host the 2012 Olympics had been successful. I remember clenching my fist and exclaiming 'yes!' in happiness. Fantastic news!

Shortly after we checked into our room, we headed down to the restaurant and the Italian son helped us to understand the Italian menu! I had Ravioli with meat sauce followed by a 600g Beef Steak in balsamic vinegar which was surprisingly delicious. The Italian son recommended a very traditional desert of biscuits and sweet wine – very sweet, but surprisingly light.

After dinner, we went for a walk up the steep hill in the direction of the Sanctuario Delle Verna. Halfway up the hill, I had to stop walking due to indigestion. I told Bree to carry on without me, announcing that I would wait for him when he came back down.

I had my mobile phone with me and checked my messages while he was gone. Five minutes passed and still no Bree. I had rested against a brick wall where, on the left, was an overgrown cemetery. I turned to see if Bree was coming. Darkness was fast approaching by now and still no Bree.

To the left, I saw a huge wooden crucifix and it was at this moment that I sensed a sudden chill. If I had reached my cultural limit, I had also reached my religious limit; something about the religious-imagery-everywhere freaked me out. I had long since recovered from the indigestion so I proceeded up the rocky path which meandered sharply to the right and then sharply to the left where I saw a tiny Bree at the top of the hill. I shouted up to him, telling him to stay there, that now I was at the top of the hill I also wanted to see the Sanctuary for myself.

Within a minute, I had reached the top of the hill and above us stood the towering walls of the monastery. We entered the grounds and, again, overlooking the Valley was an eery, huge cross. You could hear singing from the nearby church – the monks were currently in a service. We took a walk around the silent grounds and were suddenly drowned out by a mass of chattering Italian students who were on a religious tour of the place. They passed by and we returned to the view of the Valley once again.

By this time, the service had ended and a number of monks had congregated, engaged in conversation with what I can only guess were, at this time of night, visitors to the service. Satisfied that I had come up the hill, albeit because of some dim-witted fear, we descended the rocky path back to our hotel where we were tucked up nicely in bed just after 11pm.

FLASHBACK #64A: Italy - Helsinki, Milan, Como, Milan, Genoa, Levanto

Day 1 – 1 July – Helsinki to Milan - 27ºC

After an early breakfast at 6am of unfinished Arnold's donuts from the day before, we took the 30-minute taxi ride to Helsinki airport. We got there about 7.30am and there was just one hour until our Blue1 flight would depart for Stockholm. We boarded the small turboprop plane on time, but it didn't leave until 8.45am. The onboard magazine didn't make much sense in English nor did its advertising – Blue1, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines, quite clearly didn't fork out dosh for someone to proof-read its English texts.

After arriving in sunny Stockholm, we looked around the terminal while we waited for our onward SAS flight to Milan. The hour went by quickly and, before long, we were up in the air again; by this time, we were both so tired from the early start that we fell asleep before the plane even took off! When we woke, the food trolley came by and we laughed at the sandwiches you could buy; we both had one and they left a lot to be desired!

I read the lonelyplanet guide and, after a while, I looked out of the window to my left and instinctively grabbed Bree's arm to get his attention – he followed my gaze to outside the window, where we could see what remained of the Swiss Alps. Shortly afterwards, we saw some huge lakes before landing at Milan's Linate Airport at 12.30pm.

As the doors opened, the heat filled the cabin and the humidity engulfed us as we stepped out of the aircraft and into the brightness. We walked across the tarmac and boarded the bus that would take us to the small terminal building. The first things that struck me about the airport was how small it actually was, then how old it looked. We collected our luggage and picked up our Smart hire car. And smart it was!

We left the airport and headed towards Milan. Within an hour, and after considerable difficulty with navigation, we checked into Hotel Dei Cavelieri in Piazza della Missori. By 2pm, we were back in the car, checking out the vast city. We passed Piazza del Duomo, Milan’s social, geographical and pigeon centre since medieval times and home to the impressive cathedral, El Duomo.

Commissioned in 1386, the Duomo can house a congregation of 40,000. Gothic in style, the roof features 135 spires and 3,200 statues.

We then drove to Castello Sforzesco to the north of the centre – originally a Visconti fortress, it was remodelled by Francesco Sforza in the 15th Century and Leonardi Da Vinci helped design the defences. Nowadays, it houses many excellent museums.

We parked nearby and walked through the castle, entering via the Piazza Castello. We didn't visit any of the museums choosing, instead, to be outside enjoying the sunshine. Once we reached the far side of the impressive structure, we had reached Parco Sempione, a 47 hectare park featuring a neo-classical arch and a neglected arena inaugurated by Napoleon in 1806.

We walked through the park. For a while, we sat down – shirts off, ice cream in hand – taking in the intense sunshine. After a while, we walked back through the castle and back onto Piazza Castello, where we had left our car. We headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap.

We rose again at 7pm, showered and headed out for dinner in the city's lively Naviglio area. We had been advised to go there by an Italian colleague of mine from work and the receptionist at our hotel also recommended it so we began the 40 minute walk to Ripa Di Porta Ticinese where we had dinner on a boat moored on a stretch of canal. I drank a Bacardi Superior with Coca Cola and ordered Prawn Cocktail, followed by Seafood Spaghetti (which I shared with Bree), followed by ice cream drowned in liqeur. Yummy!

After dinner and feeling a bit woozy, we went for a wonder around the local area which, by now, was starting to fill up. We headed back to the hotel and turned in – it was already after midnight and it had been a long day!

Day 2 – 2 July – Milan to Como to Milan - 30ºC

The morning started off with a sumptuous breakfast, before taking in Piazza Del Duomo. Again, we tried to see the Last Supper only to be told that it was fully booked for the week ahead. We headed to the Piazza on foot and decided to scale the 165 steps to the top of the Cathedral and enjoy the views across Milan. We could see the impressive Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, one of the first buildings in Europe to employ iron and glass as structural elements. Virtually destroyed during WWII, the building takes the form of a crucifix and currently houses upmarket boutiques and trendy cafes.

From the heights of El Duomo, we could see the swiss alps, a building which I liked to called the 'Star Wars' building and the sprawling piazza below. People rushed across the square and pigeons gathered, eager to be fed by kind passers-by. When we reached terra firm, we went inside the Cathedral and enjoyed its impressed interior.

We left the Cathedral and walked through Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II and came to the statue of Leonardo da Vinci, situated at the far end in Piazza de Scala. In the same square, you could see Milan's opera house, La Scala. Seeing Leonardo da Vinci's statue was very topical since I had just finished reading Dan Brown's bestseller 'Da Vinci Code' which Bree is currently reading.

We walked via Piazza de la Duomo on our way back to the hotel. By mid-day, we had picked up our car and discovered that we had received a €35 fine overnight which I suppose was our own fault since we had park on a main street, Via Zebedia, the very night before.

Our plan was to head to an Outlet Centre where we could get real Italian bargains. The place was 50km from Milan so we headed for the Autostrade and picked up route A9 towards Como. The highway was what it was – flat, industrial in some areas, but to the north you could see the towering alps.

We fed a CD into the stereo and sang away to the specially prepared CD containing some of our favourite songs. Eventually, we saw signs for Chirasso which, unbeknownst to us, was actually in Switzerland. As we headed towards Chirasso, we saw Lago di Como down below, a splendid densely populated area amid a mass of azure blue.

The traffic started to slow and we were in a queue for what appeared to be a border check. Can you belive that we were charged SFr 40 / €30 / £20 to enter Switzerland? Our car was pulled over and we were told to go to the cashier station and pay. The guard gave us this instruction so casually, not even realising perhaps how preposterous the system was.

We paid the fee and headed to Mendrisio, just 2kms away. We pulled into the underground car park of the Fox Outlet Centre. To cut a long story short, the visit was a disappointment – everything was bloody expensive and the fashion of the goods itself left a lot to be desired. We stayed there about 2 hours and Bree bought two pairs of underpants. That was the extent of our great day out shopping! We headed for Lago di Como. By this time, the heat of the day had subsided somewhat although it was still stifling and the sun still intense.

We drove round the picturesque town of Como and found a small stone beach where we took the sun for a while. There was a pool area, but it was reserved for private members so we settled for the small, seaweed strewn stone beach. We were surprised by how few swimming areas there were for tourists. By 6pm, we were in a lake-side restaurant. I had prawn cocktail, my first sampling of genuine Italian pizza (Lovely with a capital 'L'!) and strawberries with cream! Mmmm! Feeling dehydrated, I drank only water with the meal.

We left the lake about 8pm, taking the cross country route back to Milan. Getting to the outskirts of Milan, just 50km away, proved to be no problem. However, once we had entered Milan itself, we got lost more than 10 times trying to find our way back to Piazza della Missori. We finally got back after 10pm and parked the car in a back street in order to avoid detection! When we got in the hotel, we got some ice from the bar. After having a bathtub bath, we both drank Bacardi and Coke which went down nicely. In bed just after 11pm!

Day 3 – 3 July – Milan to Genoa to Levanto - 31ºC

I woke up at 8am and headed straight for the shower – the shower woke Bree up and we were already at breakfast and out of the hotel, car loaded and all, by 10am. We head to the Cenacolo Vinciano, 2km west of the hotel. The museum is in the refectory adjoining the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie. The purpose of our visit was to see if we could squeeze our way into a viewing of the Last Supper, painted by none of than Leonardi da Vinci himself. To begin with, we actually visited the church and could hear a service being conducted in the distance. A nearby sign said that the Last Supper could be viewed around the corner.

We found the museum and Bree pleaded a little, but the insistent little madam at the desk said that there was no space and that we were fully booked for the next week. We left and, between us, I joked how Leonardo would roll in his grave if he knew what a money-maker his painting had become nearly 500 years after his death!

We decided to check out La Scala, the opera house which just the day before we had managed to ignore; it was in the same square as Leonardo's statue. Once again, we got lost and I lost my rag, threw the map on the floor in the car and said that I wanted out of Milan. Oooh, I had another tantrum indeed! One good thing was that the traffic on this Sunday morning was much less than the traffic of the last two previous days.

After seeing La Scala, but not being able to go inside because of some function, we headed to the Autostrade once again and onto the A7 which would take us to Genoa. To the East, we saw rolling hills and mountains while, in the foreground all around us, were very flat, but rich fields of green. We stopped at a service area for ice cream. It was more than 30 degrees and the cold ice cream went down nicely.

We reached Genoa, birthplace of Christopher Columbus, by 2pm and our consensus of the place was that it was a bit naff. It was a hive of activity, largely industrial with cars parked everywhere and, for more than 10kms along the seafront, there was not one parking space to be seen. Just like my Italian colleague in Helsinki had warned me, there wasn't much to stop for anyhow so we just carried on.

We hooked up to the A12 and headed down what's known as the Riviera de Levante. We turned off at a place called Sori because there was a well sign-posted opportunity to swim there. What greeted us was a densely populated beach full of Italians who clearly wanted to enjoy the weather as much as we did. We eventually found a parking space under a towering railway bridge, quite close to the beach. We grabbed our trunks and towels and toddled off in the direction of the beach.

We spent maybe an hour or so there, swimming in the sea twice during that time, before continuing with the sightseeing. This time, we took in Camogli (Population 5,740), 25km due south of Genoa on the coast. Not famous for any particular reason other than the colourful buildings and the popular beach, this beach did prove popular on this particular day. We strolled along the seaside and downed breschetta with water before continuing the walk towards the church near the harbour. On our way back to the car park, we bought grande ice creams and, by this time, I was starting to feel the draining heat.

We got back to the car, yanked up the air conditioning and continued driving. We passed San Fruttuoso, famous for its abbey which was built as a final resting place for Bishop St Fructuosus of Tarragona in the year 259. We continued driving and reached the exclusive town of Portofino (Population 556), 38km due south of genoa on the coast. Apparently, this is where Europe’s movers and shakers come to 'wheel, deal, play and pose', whatever that is!

From Portofino, we decided to make up time by rejoining the A12 highway and turning off at Deiva Marina. Our final call for the night would be Levanto, nestling at the top of the Cinque Terre, the 'five lands'. As soon as we turned off the highway, the route went into a treacherous, downward dip all the way to to the small town of Levanto. At times, the bends proved too much and I felt like putting a towel over my head! We arrived in Levanto, a well organised town of boulevards, just after 6pm. We went straight to the tourist office and they told us that Hotel Primavera had spare rooms so we gave them a call.

We ended up staying there. It cost a steep €95 for the room; it included breakfast, but no air conditioning or parking. Since time was getting on, we concluded that, because the town was quite isolated, the costs of accommodation were probably overall quite higher that usual anyway.

After checking in, however, it was funny to note how this hotel ranked itself as a 3 star hotel. The interior was very basic and, when we first arrived, the room was humid as hell; we opened the balcony doors, closed the curtains to block out the suns rays, turned on the fan, took showers, changed our clothes and then headed out for dinner.

There wasn't that many places to dine, but when we found somewhere, there was mix up over the wines. Apparently, red wine in Italian is Vini Rossi and we got this mixed up with Rosé wine. We ordered the wrong thing, but eventually settled for a bottle of locally produced Levanto white – light, but fruity.

After a dinner of Prawn Cocktail, Fried Seafood and Tiramisu, we joined what must have been the rest of the Italian community in a walk along the seaside. It was gone 10pm and the number of locals awake at this time on a Sunday night in an isolated resort was surprising. We walked up to the top of the seaside hill, then returned to our hotel room.

We returned to our room which was still a bit warm so we repositioned the fan near the cooler balcony and it worked – quite quickly, our bedroom was much more habitable and we drank Bacardi on the balcony while reviewing the photos from the last three days on my laptop. Tired, we in bed before midnight.