Sep 21, 2009 - Naples, Italy

Naples is the capital of the Campania region and has over 1 million population.Naples is the capital of the Campania region and has over 1 million population....

May 24, 2009 - Day trip to Portofino

On our walk to the ferry terminal in Genoa--at the other side of the harbour to where we are living—we noticed that another of the big super liners had berthed. ... The ferry trip out of the port of Genoa showed us that we had only seen about one third of the harbour as there were a lot of docks out of sight in some of the other bays. ... At 5:10 when it was finally time to go back to Genoa even the people in Portofino could not give us the right answer but in the end-when we were trying to board the wrong ferry we were told “not here but over there” so that is our story of today’s escapades and now to really get the sympathy vote for this hard done by little traveller one of my little toes is swollen up to twice its normal size as it is covered in one big blister----don’t you feel sorry for me—having to endure all this hardship? P. ... After 3 nights here at the Novotel Ovest, Genoa we feel that we want to state publicly that the rubbishing it got on “TripAdvisor” is completely unfounded. ...

May 23, 2009 - Genoa on foot

Sat 23rd May---Weather:-Sunny/25degrees Famous natives of Genoa include the Italian freedom fighter and revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-72), the national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82), Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) the discoverer of America, and the great virtuoso of the violin Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840). ... Walking further along we noticed smaller ferries taking people down the coast as far away as Portovenere so with Portofino being one of the closer stops to Genoa we have decided that instead of driving there tomorrow and having to worry about parking, taking the ferry is what we will do. ... It was reconstructed in Romanesque style during the 12th century, and has since the time of the Crusades protected the ashes of Saint John the Baptist, the patron saint of Genoa. ...

May 22, 2009 - Cortona to Genoa

Fri 22nd May---Weather:-Overcast/24 at destination Cortona to Genoa (350km) (3:20h) A funny night was had by us last night. ... Mick has been alluding as to what is going on in the world but we had not been able to decipher the news on TV Our ‘Novotel Genoa West’ has a lot of bad comments on ‘tripadvisor’ a site that gives peoples’ revues of the hotels after they have stayed there. ... When trying to book for these two nights (Friday and Saturday) and finding most places booked out--unless we wanted to pay $300 and upwards per night-- we got desperate and said to each other “just book in to the Novotel in Genoa and we will make the best of it--all worries were unfounded--we have a lovely room on the sixth floor, fantastic bathroom and shower, staff that up to now have been very polite and helpful and to top it off a TV that tells us the news in English. ...

May 18, 2009 - An open letter to Italy

Dear Italy: You stink.Dear Italy: You stink....