La Boqueria

1. Introducing the Mercat de St Josep de la Boqueria. Supplier of cheap fresh fruit, quinoa salad, juice, vegetarian paella and lollies (oh the irony) to Chelsea and Michelle as well as a place to view weird parts of animals and seafood I've never seen before.
2. 3. Fruit glorious fruit. One of the highlights of being in the south of Europe is definitely having access to the most incredble fresh fruit. Had my first avocado in about 3 months because they were so cheap, I died.
4. 5. Candehh!! An unnecessary
6. Our daily (or twice-daily) juice hit; anything with coconut. Freshly squeezed at 1 euro a pop, who could resist?
7. Fancy some cow testicles? Tongue tickle your fancy? Maybe kidney?

barTHelona

Barcelona is one of those cities that held the smallest resemblance to Sydney in that it had the whole city/beach thing going. However, it also had the tapas/sangria/night life/street culture on steroids that puts home to shame.

Oh and next time I'm getting a tattoo by this guy.

And thus begun our love affair with tapas.

1. 2. The most amazing apartment in El Raval; a neighbourhood that is supposedly dodgy, but I beg to differ.
3. 4. The best, and reasonably priced tapas we could find in Barcelona, recommended by Lucia the owner of the apartment - O'Toxo 3 Hermanos. Meatballs, spicy chorizo, catalan bread and god that OCTOPUS mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh and how could I forget the sangria?
5. Plaça de Catalunya.
6. This is the day we drank mojitos and about 1 and a half litres of Sangria in the middle of the day then ended up drunk at 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the beach without our swimmers wondering what to do.

When in Rome

1. 3. The Tiber River.
2. Castel Sant'Angelo and Andrea in the shadows.
4. 5. Piazza Navona and its obelisk.
6. Campo de' Fiori.
7. 8. 9. 10. Behold the Vatican! So boss it's got it's own postcode and columns that line up exactly from the two Centro del Colonnato. Drinking from a fountain in St Peter's square; they're everywhere in Italy, ingenious.
11. Pretty buildling near our apartment.
12. 13. Karina!
14. 15. The Pantheon.
16. The Colosseum.
17. 20. 21. The forum. By day then by night. The car has some significance, I think we saw about 4 wedding parties that afternoon/evening. Imagine having this scenery available, right on your doorstep for your big day. 
18. Some pretty street near the forum.
19. Statue of the legend of the She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus who went on to found Rome.
22. Glass shop in Trastevere.
23. A lion by the twin churches.
24. Throwing a coin into the Trevi fountain.
25. The best pizza in the world.

The first thing I noticed as we drove through Rome to our matchbox apartment was that everything in this city is Grand and Magnificent (and yes with capital letters). Everything is Big and Boisterous and Beautiful, just like the Roman Italians.

We had the chance to become acquainted with Fabio and his brother; two middle aged Italian artists who owned a quirky boutique near our apartment (not too creepy I promise). They insisted on us dining with them and their family at a brilliant local restaurant and again the night after with friends. How that happened I will never know but I’m starting to believe the unbelievable happens when you travel. We were essentially taken under Fabio’s wing and saw a local’s Rome, we ate prosciutto with figs and drank prosecco and were given the location of the best pizza in Rome by his friend Andrea.

Forever thankful.

Gelato flavours consumed over 16 days in Italy

Milan-

strawberry

pineapple

florence-

watermelon

rose

white chocolate

pistachio

plum

banana

mango

fruit salad

stracciatella

white mint

cheesecake

raspberry

lemon

green tea

passionfruit

strawberry

Siena-

watermelon

cocount

Manarola-

rice and caramel

mango

opera: caramelised nuts

white chocolate passionfruit

blackberry

bacio

Vernazza-

ricotta and caramelised fig

crema vernazza: white chocolate w/ mixed berries

Riomaggiore-

grapefruit

peach

Rome-

tiramisu

cookies

orange

pink grapefruit

blueberry

blueberry yoghurt

ricotta pistachio

san crispino (honey)

ginger and cinnamon

sage and raspberry

white peach and lavender

ricotta fig and almond

plum (san crispino)

Number of flavours in total = 43

Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare, Riomaggiore

1. Looking onto Vernazza.
2. Looking down from the coastal walk.
3. The most beautiful place to swim.
4. Looking back.
5. Playing with our shadows on a cliff before Monterosso al Mare.
6. Sunset from Via dell'Amore coming back from Riomaggiore.

By the time we'd gotten up past Manarola (where we were staying and where we started the walk), I was soaked to the bone, with sweat. And that's me putting it nicely. Vernazza was our gelato break where I inhaled a cone of ricotta and caramelised fig and crema vernazza; white chocolate and mixed berries. And may I add that I LOVE that it is standard to get two flavours of gelato in Italy, it means that I get to taste twice, even thrice, the number of flavours!

The limited number of photos from Monterosso and Riomaggiore is just an indicator of my dwindling patience for a swim in the perfect waters that we'd been gazing at longingly all day. Vernazza was my favourite town (aside from Manarola); it's got a more vibrant youthful atmosphere than the others and I'd recommend staying here (or Manarola), I know I'd try stay here next time.

Finally reaching Monterosso, stripping off and racing into the pristine Ligurian waters at the end of the day was the most gratifying thing, as well as walking god knows how many kilometres through Cinque Terre and surviving. The landscape is breathtaking and is definitely worth the screaming calf muscles.

Manarola, Corniglia

Walking through all five of the towns in Cinque Terre (note the name 'five lands') is one of the must do things if you come here (which I highly recommend); it's beautiful, and it kind of balances out your excessive consumption of pasta/pizza/seafood/pesto/focaccias/wine (not really).

1. 2. Walking in the appropriate hiking gear.
3. What was ahead that day.
4. Looking back on Manarola.
5. The Ligurian sea.
6. Terraces and Corniglia in the distance.
7. More terraces.
8. Rocks to reinforce the roofs of houses in Cinque Terre and protect them from the winds from the mountains and the mediterranean.
9. Down towards the water in Corniglia.
10. Round to Vernazza!
11. Litlle town on top of a mountain (no we didn't make it up there).
12. Looking back on Corniglia.