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Greece relies on tourism to survive. The Greek islands are a bunch of islands similar to Australia Whytsunday’s islands in some ways as they’re geared for tourists and have vast stretches of natural beauty. Cara and I were looking forward to this final part of our trip as we’ll finally be able to relax instead of dragging our bags across half of Europe!

There were also a couple that were going to meet us in Athens for a boat ride as well…

Yes it’s my old mate Ben “MasterCyl” Routeledge and his radiant wife Vikki! The above photo was taken aboard the Ikathaki on our five hour boat ride from Athens to Mykanos. We all had much to talk about and the time passed quickly with stories and news from home. It’s not very often you get to spend time overseas with mates so it’s always great to take the opportunity when you can!

Also another advantage of having friends with us is that they can take photo’s of us for us! Cara and I have been working on our trick ‘hold the camera with one arm and smile’ myspace style shots, but now it’s time to trade camera’s with Ben or Vikki.

It was an awesome boat ride with our new crew of Aussie’s, and docking at midday in Mykonos we were greeted by a guide, picked up by a bus and taken to our hotel. Easy street!

Ben and Vikki were still quite exhausted from their 20 hour Airplane ride just as we were in Paris nearly three weeks ago. So they retired to their rooms early 18h to have a nap. I however had my eyes on a vehicle hire shop only ten minutes walk from our accommodation….

Cara heard a noisy scooter pull up outside our room and wouldn’t-ya-know-it, it was her crazy Husband who had found a scooter to travel the roads of Mykonos! She ran downstairs and jumped on quick-smart as we cruised the empty streets of this awesome little island to find a nice spot for the on-coming sunset.

You have to agree, Mykonos is positively gorgeous.

We rode for an hour and found a nice little spot in an urban area not too far away from our hotel. Stopping to take the beauty in of the horizon we cuddled up and watched the sun drop over the horizon.

The sunset was fantastic, especially being able to watch it drop over the sea. The constant fog (or I suspect pollution haze) reflects the Sun’s rays as it dips down and creates some beautiful pinks and purples.
Cara and I jumped back on the scooter and cruised back home.

Our accommodation here in Mykonos is fantastic, and is very spacious compared to our previous Hotels in our Europe trip. It’s fun by an old Husband/Wife who barely speak English but have hearts of gold and are genuinely warm and welcoming. We spent quite a lot of time communicating with hands and making various noises that are generally universal, but in the end we got there.
Unfortunately for us the electricity has blackouts in our hotel between 8h-18h as there is work on old water pipes nearby. This wouldn’t be a problem except this also means no running water as it’s all pumped… You can imagine trying to ask an old Greek lady for a bucket of water to flush a smelly toilet.

Ben and Vikki rose from their slumber later on in the night and I ferried them and Cara to the main town for dinner at a cute little outdoor Greek restaurant. To be honest the town is only 15 minutes walk away, but why walk up a hill when you can motor up one?

… do as the Romans do! It was our operation to find out what exactly do Romans do in our two day trip to Roma. I’m calling it Roma instead of Rome, because that is the name it was called over 2000 years ago and still is today by the Italian’s and most other languages. The English language loves to rename things, but I thought since we’re in Roma…

This city has to have more archaeological ruins in it then beggars/hustlers, and there are a lot of beggars here. It’s crazy, as soon as we arrived in from ‘Termini Station’ (the main train station) and started walking to our Hotel we found an ancient church falling apart and a statue both over 1500 years old.

It is truly amazing to imagine how the Romans lived their lives and to see pockets of their past scattered through-out the city. More-so from a Westerners perspective as we have so much in common with Roman culture. The Republic, organised buildings, entertainment, running water, taxes, and so much more. Sure they didn’t invent a lot of that, they copied bits from various cultures but they definitely showed the world how to bring it all together.

Cara and I were starting to feel the effects of sight seeing from our previous trips, but we were determined to see as many sights as we could see in our short stay here!

Here we are outside of the Trevi Fountain, which is actually quite a new area built only 300 years or so ago. It was commissioned by a Catholic Pope but it has very little to do with Christian’s at all and has a very distinct Roman look to it. The water flows from on of the oldest aqueducts in Roma and is so pure that people used to bottle it up and take it home to save for the best Tea and drink for longer life. It turned into a bit of a tradition to take a drink from the fountain to ensure your return back to Roma.
This happened until around 1960 when for some reason or another the Italian’s didn’t like everyone taking the water so they changed the myth to instead flip a coin into the fountain instead of drinking it. Then they wanted more money to maintain it so they changed it to two coins instead of just one.   

You’ve got to love Human decisions and Human motivations behind things. Most of the grandest things made by man in this world have very distinct Human flaws and most importantly humour hidden in the work.

One of the biggest ruins here in Roma has to be the Colosseum…

The scale of this place is pretty staggering, especially when you considered when this thing was built.

This photo was taken inside the Colosseum, and whilst off-centre you can see the tiny little pixels of people on the ground and first level. Over 70,000 spectators could watch the spectacles take place in the Arena. The very word Arena I learnt later comes from this place. Of course Roman’s didn’t call it ‘The Colosseum’ back then, they called it the Amphitheatre Flavio.

Cara and I were a bit shocked to see the hour or so line-up to get in. Luckily we found an English tour guide that was about to head in, and these guys get to take the express gate through. So we paid a little extra for the guide and went in as a group. This has been our first ‘tour guide’ experience since we arrived in Europe but I’m so glad we chose to do it as we both learnt so much more about Roma.

Did you know Roman’s invented cement? And had bricks to use them with! After travelling through old Castles in France that were built around the time Roma was created it’s crazy to see the precision in the Roman work. The Romans had standard size bricks instead of haphazard stones. Each brick was stamped with the Caesar at the time, and here is an example of some bricks from the Colosseum…

Today of course the Colosseum is not at all similar to its former self. I would say ‘former glory’, but the Jews might not consider that very nice as the Colosseum was built with the help of about 40,000 Jewish slaves and a lot of the raw materials were ransacked from the Jewish Revolt. And once they completed the Colosseum in less then Eight Years (!), they were we rewarded by being eaten inside of it by Lion’s and Tigers.

I love it how our Italian tour guide pointed out things in the Colosseum and how they were ‘recycled’ instead of ransacked. This place would have been monumental even in today’s standards. White marble was everywhere and now there is not a single piece. You can see pock marks all throughout the structure, we were wondering what they were for… turns out they’re holes made by people stealing the Iron that was used to support it. Now days there is not a single piece of original Iron in the Colosseum.

It is a bit sad to see all these old buildings deteriorate so much by the hand of man. I suppose that’s progress though.

On a taster note, using our Lonely Planet guidebook we found Roma’s supposedly best Gelati ice cream shop. Here’s Cara about to munch down on some Fig and Ginger Cinamon combo!

I ended up with Vanilla Bourbon and Honey infusion…. Mmmm it was sooo yummy!

We took an evening walking tour guide that went around most of Roma’s city. It was awesome because there weren’t that many people that came along, but they were all English speaking. At the end of the night we ended up at a restaurant and all had dinner together which was fantastic. There was an American couple who were on honeymoon as well us who were fantastic, two kiwi girls who were working in the UK on holiday and a handful of other American random’s.

After dinner was finished at around 22:00 our walking tour guide showed us as well as the Kiwi girls a bus to travel home. On the packed bus he offered a drink at his favourite pub to watch the end of a soccer match and we all agreed. Needless to say it was a great night with cheap Becks on tap and too many pints to count.

Cara was a bit miffed with me not being able to walk straight home through the strange streets of Roma at 3 in the morning but we managed to make it home safely without too many incidents.
I did wake up around 8 still very drunk though… Vertigo sucks!   

Waking up to a hearty Italian meal of Salami and Mozzarella cheese for Breakfast we set on the streets of Venice to get lost in the best way I can think of.

I’m just going to make a quick obersavation that might sound silly.  Italian’s know how to make damn good coffee.  In less then an hour I had three coffee’s and damn I’m ready for more.  This morning I had an awesome Mochachino, and Cara had a Venetian Machiatto which was fantasmagorical.  The Venetian Machiatto was like a regular Machiatto with a dollop of thick fresh cream on top…. mmmm….. 
Must be something in the water here, or possibly the cow’s.

Getting lost in Venice is like loosing your virginity, it’s envitible.  A city built on 117 islands with over 400 bridges is bound to confuse even the most dedicated tracker.  Good luck with GPS to as you’re surrounded by Three/Four story buildings of solid rock with lanes no wider then 2 metres.  Even if you did have a GPS accurate enough to traverse these lanes it won’t help you that much as Street numbers are virtually useless as they’re a mixture of districts and long non-sequential numbers.

All of this can be summed up in one word: AWESOME!

Getting lost in this place is a pleasure as each turn brings a new flavour and experience.  The problem lies when your Wife is busting to pee and you have no idea where you are.  Arguments ensue, words are said, but after another coffee you forget such troubles.

I really enjoyed just strolling around the city and soaking it up.  The knick-nack shops contain most of the same junk as others on the Islands, but that’s ok because you don’t come to Venice to shop.  There are numerous Lace stores and Masks’ for the Carnivale as well.

Gondala.  Gondala, Gondala?

If there was one reason Cara wanted for us to spend our Honeymoon in Europe I think it is because of this.  Beautifully romantic and hillariously expensive we splurged early in the day to take a slow boat throughout the lanes of Venice.  The weather was a bit overcast, and the forecast was for rain so we purchased a cheap bottle of Champaign and jumped in a Gondala!

Awww what a lovely couple.   When I popped the Champaign we were just about to travel under a bridge and some of the on-lookers cheered with us when it popped.

In about an hour our slow boat tour of Venice was finished.  It’s a pity it had to end there because we were so enjoying our time.  The Gondala ride was definitely the highlight of our exploration of Venice…

Wi-Fi here is scarce, in at least the small part of Venice we’ve explored.  There is a Net place near our hotel that is also next to useless and at 8euro ($15AUD) you’ll be able to explore the internet like our forefathers did when tin cans and string were in fashion.  
We have many movies to upload, but it takes around an hour to upload 20megabytes with numerous drop outs so there is no guarantee.

The internet may be slow, but the Pizza is fast and hot.
Above, Cara consuming a $2euro (around $3.50AUD) slice of Margarita Pizza we found at a hole in the wall called ‘Crazy Pizza’.  I think I’ve eaten so much Pizza now that I am oozing with mozzarella.  
I love here when you go to a little Pizza shop and ask for a Pizza the guy will go ‘OK – 5 MINUTES!’ and start  spinning out a round dough from scratch.  And damn the Pepperoni Pizza is hot!

Lucky for us it rained after we took the Gondala ride, as it’s been raining ever since.  I was happy to explore Venice with the weather, it wasn’t pouring just this miserable mist.  I love it though because we don’t have conditions like this back at home.  Tons and tons of tourists are all over the islands and I’m so happy when I find a little spot where the is no one else.

Definitely taking things at a slower pace then in France.  I’ve read that Italian’s are masters at the art of doing nothing, and I’m more then happy to practice this.

Waving good to Nice and France we boarded the Venice Express train with a full day of travel ahead of us… oh dear.  Comparing a French train to an Italian one is like comparing an award winning dentist and a guy with a hammer: they can both remove teeth but there are varying degree’s of cleanliness and pain one might think about before choosing.
Not knowing what to expect we had paid the extra Euro’s an opted for first class.  Turns out on Italian trains that baggage is more for hand luggage then suit cases.  The only place to store luggage is above your head, and now I’m glad we stayed under the 20kg limit set by our International Airplane restrictions.  A Japanese couple sharing the 6 seater-cabin didn’t dare put their luggage on the racks and instead opted to squeeze them between their legs.

For those that are keen on bringing their pooch, First class in Italy allows you to bring dogs with you;  I was wondering why there was so much hair on my seat until I found a few Germain Shepards eating some Salami a few seats down from us.  Don’t worry, you only have to pay a third of the seat price for your K9 companions.

Cara was a bit annoyed as she was looking forward to viewing the Italian country side as we power through on the train, but alas the Italian’s think dust is a protective layer and is best kept on.  So we had a view kinda similar to a cataract ridden 70 year old with Vaseline smeared on their eyes.

The people on the train though were fun to listen in on.  A bunch of Americans sitting in a nearby cabin were postively HOLLERING and were speaking to some Kiwi’s. 
I tried my best much to my amusement to speak the little Japanese I could to our cabin buddies.  Unfortunately the only thing in memory I had was Nils’ youtube videos of Jnglish speaking girls saying the rudest things. 

We changed trains in Milano to head over to Venice with the second train being a lot newer and quiter then the previous one and watched a movie on my Macbook called “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”.  I didn’t realise the context of the film nor the darkness of it, but i was glad I was travelling to Italy instead of Germany watching it… 

Eventually we arrived to a slightly chilly Venice and grabbed a public boat to take us near our hotel.  I didn’t realise that cars/bikes are almost non-existent here due to the lack of space and water.  Boats are the way to go, and we met some lovely Americans spending their short holidays in Europe. 

Dragging our bags around the bustling streets we shortly found our Hotel, and here’s a piccy of the reception.

Don’t worry, the room is actually pretty spacious!  The biggest room so far we’ve had in Europe.  My only complaint is the lack of elevator and three flights of small stair cases.  Poor Cara is going to have to take some more pain killers for her hips… or just drink enough until the pain goes away.

In any case… WE’RE IN VENICE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Dropping of the C3 to hire company was a breeze, but finding Diesel to fill it up wasn’t. Luckily, I had filled up two days earlier and after nearly 150kilometre’s the tank still registered as Full! Parked the car, handed over the keys and viola all good.
I miss that car already though.

No matter as today we explorer the city of Nice in all it’s glory. First up we climbed up Chateau De Nice, which used to be a castle back in 1691 and is now kind of like a sports park for kids. Any case I lie, we didn’t take the stairs but paid 1.20Euro to take a lift. Cara’s hips are almost at breaking point now from all the walking and sitting in Aeroplane and Car’s, so walking up stairs are quite painful for her.

The view up there is pretty spectacular though.

I really love Nice compared to Paris. Its vibe is a lot more fun and fresh then that of the seriousness of Paris. We both found the city to be enjoyable and very similar atmosphere to say Brisbane.

Seeing kids for the first time was pretty cool, as we simply haven’t seen any kids with the places we’ve been so far. I jumped on a giant spider climbing thing and managed to push a few of the tikes of. Sadly, I didn’t reach the top. At the Chateau Cara found a nice bench to rest her hips for a bit and have a stretch….

After descending we headed to the beach and had a bit of a walk on the rocky shore. The water is spectacular in its blue translucent colour, and I doubt there would be many hazards for swimmers in terms of stingers. But it’s quite boring with very little waves and hella cold. On the upside women are allowed to sun-bath topless.

Ducking back in the city i have to mention the tram system they have here. The cities main shopping strip has a two way tram system in the middle that was just completed in 2007 so very new. It’s awesome and apparently well needed as it is seemingly always packed. At $1euro a trip it’s good value too.

Cara and I did something we haven’t done since we arrived in Europe…. shopping! With a few hours before closing time we tried our luck with the local shopping strip which was the closet thing to shopping back in Australia. I actually found a Video-Game store, I was starting to think they didn’t exist here! We probably spent more then we bargained for but with a 19.60% tax on everything who’s to complain.

To save a bit on the clothes, widgets, and other stuff we bought, we decided on having a cheap meal for dinner instead of a restaurant. After seven days of having constant big restaurant meals we’re both starting to feel quite bloated! The rooms we’re staying in don’t have any facilities to even have a refrigerator let alone prepare a meal so it’s restaurants and Cafe’s. Speaking of Cafe’s, I did manage to find a cheap place to have a Coffee and I chose a Choclat Vineto (we’d call it hot chocolate but it doesn’t translate as that).

mmmmm yummy…. and yes my camera work does suck but the glass is actually tilted. I was too excited about having the drink then taking a photo of it.

Turns out McDonald’s here isn’t all that cheap either! At $11.20euro (around $20AUD) for two medium Big Mac Meals I don’t think it’s possible to have a cheap meal on the run here. In any case we were impressed with the 15 year old cashier who managed to make sense out of our English! She was so happy when she said something correctly and we were happy someone was understanding us for a change!

Ding ding, we woke up in Nice again and luckily the bed bugs didn’t bite. Not so for some guests a floor below us however as I overheard in the lobby an Indian lady complaining furiously about ‘insects biting me on my bum at night’… I just hope the sheets from room 318 get mixed with ours…

Revving up the Citeron C3’s diesel engine we shot of to Europe’s second smallest country Monaco. Taking a long windy and leisurely way via the sea was enjoyable. The C3 doesn’t offer the best driving experience but it is a car and I was so happy to be driving around again with my partner (err, Wife!?) through these foreign roads.

Monaco has one of the highest amount of police and it shows, as soon as we entered the city/country we noticed quite an influx of coppers. We did a ’slow’ lap around the famous hair-pin turn and followed around the Monaco F1 track. After cruising the streets for an hour or so we found a park in the centre of Monaco, the Casino.

The first photo above show us as we were about to head towards the Casino and the latter is looking back towards the mountains surrounding Monaco. Apart from gambling and spending copious amounts of money there isn’t that much to see here. So we did as the Monacians do and spent an insane amount of money…. on ICECREAM!

The above photo show’s that Cara’s eyes are bigger then her stomach. It doesn’t give a good perspective here on how big these deserts were, safe to say that they had enough calories to sink a small ship. But tasty…. oh so tasty….

There is one other thing that Monaco has and that is ludicrously expensive cars parked in front of Hotel’s as badges of honour. Lambourgini’s Diablo’s, Ferrari’s from the 60’s, Ford GT’s, Porsche 911’s, you name it and it was there. I was surprised people were so brazen with touching and leaning on these insane machines, but then again I suppose the owners don’t mind showing us mere mortals there wealth.

Searching for a different High Life, we shot out of Monaco in search of a mountain. It has been Cara’s dream that we find a quite little place somewhere to share a bottle of Vin together. What we found was a town called Eze, and on top of that a Castle that was even older then Gourdon. This castle has approximately a bazillion steps, and the further we climbed through it’s streets the more in love we fell with it. It was around 6pm when we arrived, so by then the Castle’s shops were closed and most of the tourists have left.

Perfect for us honeymooner’s to loose ourselves inside the castle walls.

I’m so happy we’ve found these little Castle’s, even though there’s really not much to ‘do’ in there we can soak up the atmosphere and awe of how people lived in the past. That and sneak in a kiss or two looking out to the mountains below. If I ever come back to France I want to spend a night or two in one of these relics.

We never did find a mountain to have a little drink but we did have a nice view of the city of Nice during sunset on our way home…

Tired and hungry we found a small Restaurant with a bit of character to it that suited our stye; a nice escape from the endless Cafe’s and Pizza joints in the area. I ate an -awesome- Beef Stew ‘Nice style’ that was like a slow cooked meal there! There was a form of Karoke there as well, with a musician playing on a keyboard offering people to come up and sing. We both declined not wanting to damage the Patron’s ear drum’s with our out of tune melody’s… but after a wine or two we were quite applauding of the efforts from others.

The keyboardist noted our nationality and in response to our drunken claps managed to play a ‘version’ of Advance Australia Fair! Our job is done, Cara and I managed to sing the Australian Anthem in a little old bar in Nice.