Aaaaahhhh, Panorama!!!!!

The beautiful Amalfi coastline.... it is what all the postcards look like (but unfortunately not our photos as it was quite overcast on the 2 days we were there).

Amazing houses stacked on top of each other perched on the side of the cliff. More difficult driving with narrow winding roads all along the coast. Buses that zoom along too quickly for such narrow roads - and scooters that overtake the buses on blind corners! Yes - lots of our blogs comment on the roads and the driving conditions …. but hey ! That's where we spend most of our time.... trying to avoid all the buses and scooters!

We rode up to one small town called Ravello which was beautiful. They have music festivals up there regularly through the summer and it would be an amazing venue. Great views over the mediterranean, lovely narrow cobbled streets with loads of (very expensive restaurants). And an old villa surrounded by gardens. So we had a bit of a relaxing time for 2 days there - no beach time unfortunately because of the weather. And of course the next day - back on the road for another full day's driving and it was clear blue sky and hot sun all day. Stink! Our tans our disappearing rapidly.

On the way up to Rome we took a small detour to Caserta - an old royal Palace. Huge place in the middle of nowhere. But we walked through all the stately old rooms which were beautiful with huge old paintings everywhere and a lovely old library. And gardens that stretched for miles … but we were too hot to walk too far outside.

Rach and Felix ended up in Rome a day earlier than expected, so we drove to meet them. Lovely to see them!! And they are “camping” in such luxury!! They have a really nice campervan with fridge, stove, lights.... even cooked tea for us last night. Hey – we might be travelling in the same direction as them for a while now!! They spent the day exploring Rome yesterday, and we are all going back in again today to see some more.

Rome …. /contintued... another overcast day. But we headed in to the Colusseum and enjoyed imagining the history there. Lots of time spent dodging the touts. Then we wandered the streets, and through the Roman forum and Palatine hill area.

Enough of big cities.... back on the road. A detour to Vertibo - what a surprise! There was a Harley shop there, and they were having a test drive day for the 2012 models, but we thought they were quite expensive at around 21,000 euro for a basic Fat Boy. Not that we were really going to buy one anyway …???? We travelled then to Sienna - a beautiful hilltop down with a magnificent cathedral and baptistry. I went through them while the others had a walk through the town – but I was given strict instructions NOT to be too long! So I whizzed through, but the cathedral is absolutely amazing and, yes, I could have spent ages in there admiring all the artwork and mosiacs. There was a cycling festival happening that weekend and consequenly the town was very busy and bands playing, heaps of people, and market stalls everywhere. From Sienna we went to San Gimignano - to camp for the night. A gorgeous drive through typical Tuscan farming country with long winding curvy roads, rolling hills, great scenery … great for biking! Another beautiful little town we explored the next morning … with lots of italians exclaiming “Ohhhh, Panorama !” as they looked out over the beautiful Tuscan scenery. It really was beautiful … lots of photos … and “Ohhhh Panorama” became the catch cry for the day.

On to Florence where we found the most expensive campsite we have encountered to date. No competition! We set up camp and finally the sun came out to dry everything. YAY. We have had rain every night since we met up with Rach and Felix. I am so sick of packing up wet tents! Fortunately it is mostly dry during the day, although overcast – but we have had some very heavy rain at nights, and even thunder storms one night. So we were really happy to find some sunshine in Florence and left all our washing out to dry while we went to explore the beautiful city of Florence. Guess what happened while we were there …. RAIN! Stink! Wet tent again … wet washing. Stink!

Florence is, of course, beautiful. We wandered the streets, and across the Ponte Vecchio, through the piazzas and the Duomo. Not quite as picturesque as it is when the sun is shining unfortunately. But it is still one of the world's most beautiful cities. Back to a soggy camp, but with neighbours who are living in luxury and cooking dinner for us each night … life's not too bad really. Oh except my silly lilo got a hole in it last night - more stink! Rain, flat lilos …..

Still very overcast this morning, so we packed up and left town – heading north towards Pisa – in the rain. And the usual photos of people trying to hold up the tower etc. Lunch stop was kebabs at Lucca - a town described in Lonely Planet as a place you would fall in love with at first sight. Hmmm … not quite. And especially not in the rain. So we have trucked on to the Cinque Terra – hoping the sun will shine tomorrow and we will be able to do the walk. This is one of the highlights we have been looking forward to, so fingers crossed..... However I think the weather is supposed to be better the following day, so we may wait till then to do the walk, and just have a bit of a rest day tomorrow and find out what else we can explore around here. On the shopping front – it is always interesting to explore supermarkets in different countries. Warwick has discovered fizz !! He was sent to buy 6 large bottles of water the other day and we didn't find he had bought “frizzante” until we opened one that night. And today Warwick and Felix were excited to find 1.5 litres of red wine for only 1.95 euro!!! Ooops- yes. They failed to read the frizzante bit in fine print on the label! Fizzy red wine … oh goody!