The land of pizza, pasta, gelato... otherwise known as the land of carbs!

Where to start with Italy....This is the longest we have spent in one country and probably one of the most famous types of cuisines that is mimicked all over the world.  I therefore have so much to write about over the last 5 days that I apologise in advance for the length of this blog and the amount of attractions I am squeezing in between the food!

Our Italian journey began with a quick stop at Pisa on the way to Florence.  We did the normal tourist thing and took a few funny photos, or at least we thought so, of the leaning tower before jumping back on the bus to continue our drive.   Arriving again late at night we had an organised dinner by the backpackers staff.   There were 2 other groups staying at the hostel, so with approximately 150 hungry stomachs to feed we had a delicious antipasto platter followed by salad and a few different grilled meats, the most amazing being a sausage.  The only downside of writing about these types of dinners is that you have no idea what you have actually eaten, so we made it into a bit of a guessing game to try and figure out what we are eating.  We went with pork for the sausages and they were a massive hit with everyone.

After a little sleep, we woke up bright and early to have a guided walking tour around Florence.  I almost instantly fell in love with the culture in Italy after seeing cute little old ladies in their best skirts riding around the streets on an old school push bike with bells and baskets attached, not to mention the beauty of the streets where many of the houses are bright and colourful lined with flowers on their window sills.  For our short time in Florence we saw a lot of the sights including the Statue of David and Ponte Vecchio, which is a cute little bridge known for the shops built alongside it.   After a lot of sightseeing we were super hungry and had sat down for some lunch overlooking the beautiful Piazza della Signoria the main square in the city.  I was in desperate need for some healthy food so I opted for a salmon bruschetta with some cherry tomatoes.  It was delicious smoked salmon on crisp bread and was a great start to Italian food.

Continuing our walking tour theme, we jumped back on the bus for about 3 hours and headed to Rome.  We then walked the streets to see the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain (which we threw the traditional three coins into the fountain in the hope of luck, love & that I will return to Rome in the next year) & Pantheon which is where Rapheal’s tomb lies, before stopping for a dinner break.  It was time for another salad as I knew what the next few days would bring.  We continued our walk to the Colosseum where we stopped and saw some of the ruins from ancient Rome.  It is amazing to see that a city has been built on top of another city and the only ancient buildings left standing are those that were built on hills at the time.  The buildings themselves are astonishing made out of marble and the majority are covered with mosaic artwork .  As the sun set over the Colosseum we headed back to the camping site to get some rest before dominating the streets of Rome.

First stop was the Vatican where we did a short tour including the Sistine Chapel.  The famous roof painted by Michelangelo was amazing but the chapel itself is much smaller than I imagined.  We were lucky enough to be in Rome on a Wednesday so we headed to St Peters Square to watch the Pope’s address of the public.  We were very lucky to be with a tour guide as she took as to one of the best spots in the square to get a glimpse of the Pope as he drove through the crowds.  It was a surreal feeling to be standing in a jam packed square watching the Pope drive by giving us a wave, I am sure he looked directly at me! Time for another food break so we headed back towards Trevi Fountain to sit in a little street and enjoy some more Italian food while watching the world go by.    Today I was keen to try enjoy some carbs, so I opted for Italian sausage pizza.  One of the main differences I have noticed is that all the pizzas are flatbread bases, similar to a pita bread, and have minimal toppings.  Amazing to think that this is the traditional type of pizza yet not at all what we are used to where we stack as much on top of a pizza as we can!  It was time to move on to dessert.  We had heard about a gelato shop, Della Palma, which has over 150 flavours so we went hunting and wallah we discovered some gelato heaven.  I opted for choc strawberry, mint and mango flavours and enjoyed every single mouthful of the amazing flavours. 

We then headed to check out the inside of the Colosseum and took a guided voice tour to learn a little of the history of the types of entertainment that took place.  The rubble of the building made it hard to imagine what it was like when it was functional, but the building itself was still amazing and I would recommend as a must see to anyone going to Rome.  Back to the camp site for some more delicious food by the Top Deck chefs.  More antipasto platters with cheeses, meats, salads, sundried tomatoes, breads and marinated tomatoes with fresh basil was probably enough for a main, but it was just the beginning.  Mains were traditional chilli penne pasta and mushroom sauce gnocchi.  The gnocchi was amazing and I am disappointed to say that I forgot to take my camera with me to dinner this night!

Back to the bus we go to head to Venice where we again had a stop midway through the journey. This time we stopped at Verona to see the mystical land of the love struck Romeo and Juliet.  We visited Juliet’s balcony which evidently has been built onto the original building for tourist purposes.

 We finally arrived at our final stop in Italy, the city surrounded by water, but had an early night before gearing ourselves up for getting lost the next day! We caught a water bus into the city where we first walked around and checked out some sites including a lace and glass factory.  Both were very fascinating as the amount of time and effort put into making any lace or glass products is incredible. As I am sure many of you know Venice is famous for its gondola rides, so being the tourists that we are, we jumped at the opportunity to take a ride through the canals.  It is so easy to see why this city is known for its maze like streets as the tiny little streets all look the same with over 400 little bridges that stretch across the canals.  We made our way to the rialto bridge after a quick bite of lunch.  Today I needed some more salad and tried an octopus salad with celery and a lemon dressing, nothing at all like the octopus salads I am used to, but it was very refreshing.  We ended the day by wandering through the markets for my first real taste of shopping.  The shops were amazing and I could definitely spend an entire day hunting down some more bargains, but it was back to the campsite for our final Top Deck chef dinner as there are no other camping sites along the way.  Our final meal was lemon chicken with roasted potatoes followed by Sunday ice creams and yes, mine was covered with chocolate sauce, m&ms and sprinkles!

We are now on our way to Vienna, Austria where the views are already picturesque and the country side is lush and green but sadly heading away from the warmer weather that we have been loving so far!