Seville - 21/06

Mainland Europe - Day 57
Cabopino --> Seville

Seville is about a 2 hour drive inland from where we were staying at Cabopino. Geraldine had booked us in for walking tour that started at 9:30am, thus we had quite an early start. We made good time on the freeway, checked into our hostel and even managed to pick up an extra (Aoife, a lovely Irish girl who was staying in our hostel), all before 9:30am.

The walking tour was very good. Our guide was actually English, but had been living in Seville for something like 10 years. It was one of those tours that you walk away from going "Wow, I really didn't pay attention in class". Apparently Seville is where Christopher Columbus left from when he went off and discovered America. And for many years after Seville was Europe's gateway to America. Which made Spain very rich, but enough of the history lesson.

We ended up having a bunch of beers with our guide after the tour was done. Then as the heat kicked in, went back to our hostel for a siesta. At 6pm we all resurfaced and headed out for some tapas. We had a few recommendations from our tour guide, but they were sadly all closed, so we just picked a place at random. It was a good meal, but not as good as the tapas in Marbella.

After a few drinks in fancy river side bar we called it a night. Our stay in Seville was short and sweet, but with the temperature getting up around 40 degrees, we were all keen to head back to the coast.

Marbella - 20/06

Mainland Europe - Day 56
Cabopino --> Marbella --> Cabopino

Marbella is only about a 15 minute drive from Cabopino. It's a beautiful coastal town with great beaches, restaurants and bars. Geraldine had a little local knowledge and found the free parking (I love free parking), then we walked for while and enjoyed the lovely evening weather.

Like many of the towns we've seen in Europe Marbella comprises of an "Old Town" and a "New Town". Geraldine needed to pick up some jewelery for her sister in the Old Town, so we headed there first. We were keen to try some Tapas so we found a cute little place and took a seat on the street. The food was good and we drank a jug of Sangria, simply because it seemed like the right thing to do.

The night had set in now and we moved on to the New Town. The bars and restaurants by the beach were packed and so as not to feel left out we sat down once again for some more Tapas. Our second dinner was probably a little better then the first, but both were delicious. Geraldine was driving so we kept things sensible and headed home to our beloved 601 for a few nightcaps.

Cabopino - 19/06

Mainland Europe - Day 55
Pisa --> Barcelona --> Cabopino

The ferry trip to Spain went smoothly and we spent a night in a camp ground just south of Barcelona, near the airport. After putting the car in long stay parking we hopped on a plane and flew to Malaga, on the south coast of Spain. Here we met up with Geraldine for the start of our holiday within our holiday.

Geraldine's folks have an amazing apartment in Cabopino, a coastal town about 30 minutes from Malaga. It would be hard to imagine a more idyllic and relaxing setting. Amazing apartment, beautiful grounds, stunning pool, perfect weather, and cheap food and grog to top it off. The apartment number was 601 and it has now become our benchmark for any place that we stay, for example ... "this place has a nice pool, but it ain't no 601!".

The original plan was to spend 9 nights in the south of Spain, using Cabopino as a base for day trips and a couple of over night forays into the country side. However, the longer we stayed in 601 the less we wanted to leave. Our days comprised of late starts, fruit salad breakies, a few hours by the pool, Wimbledon on the big screen, book reading, napping, beer drinking and dreaming up what we were going to eat for dinner. Geraldine and Yvonne are both great cooks and we had some of the best seafood meals of our entire trip in 601. Mussels, calamari, tuna steaks ... yum.

There were a few rare occasions that we managed to tear ourselves away from 601, dinner at a local restaurant and even a couple of days on the road, but it seemed as if 601 was always there, like some drug or the call of a siren beckoning us home.

A big thank you to Geraldine and her folks for spoiling us and letting us stay in their little piece of paradise. Not only have you given us the "601 accommodation rating scale", but also some of the most memorable and relaxing time on our holidays.

Pisa - 15/06

Mainland Europe - Day 51
Cinque Terre --> Pisa

Pisa, not a whole lot to say really. You go to see the leaning tower and guess what, it really does lean. And it is pretty cool!!

A bit of trivia......there are a bunch of other old buildings around the tower and they all lean too, but all in different directions. Dodgy soil apparently.

We were in Pisa for about 24 hours. About one was spent checking out the tower, the other 23 were spend at the pool or sleeping. It was our last destination in Italy. Next stop Spain, and a 22 hour ferry ride from Pisa to Barcelona. Happy Sailing.

The hunt for our ferry from Italy to Spain epitomised Italy and the Italian people for me. Our ferry was leaving at 23.30, and we gave ourselves an hour and a half to find the port in Livorno. Plenty of time, so we thought. After nearly an hour we actually found three ports, none of which our ship was sailing from. There were signs for passengers terminals all over the place, but they honestly didn't make sense and kept sending us in circles.

We started to get very nervous as the clock was ticking. We ended up on a highway system which had closed roads and roundabouts with blocked exits. Things were not looking good. By sheer luck we stumbled upon a commercial shipping port which turned out to be our terminal.

The Italian guy that checked us in was full of smiles and jokes. He told us that some of the highway system had collapsed due to heavy rain, thus the signs were messed up. He was so charming and fun that the stress of not being able to find the 'bloody place' was all forgotten. Once again, crap signs, confusing roads, but such amazing people that makes it all ok.

Bye bye Italy, I hope I will come back some day !!!

Cinque Terre - 14/06

Mainland Europe - Day 50
Florence --> Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre is one of those well kept secrets. I stumbled upon it on one of the travel websites but we decided early on that it would be to much of a stretch to make it. Then, just when we were checking out of Siena we got chatting to a couple who had just come from there. They had all the maps and info and told us it was unmissable, so we put it on the must see list.

Cinque Terre is comprised of five colourful, seaside villages connected by a cliff walk and a train line. They are old and cute and teaming with Italians. We were there over the weekend and it felt like the cities had emptied to come here.

We spent the day walking and training between the five villages. Each town has its own uniqueness and atmosphere. The terracotta houses seem piled on top of each other, almost falling into the ocean below.

By late afternoon we had made it to the last town, which is the biggest and has two huge beaches. We settled down alongside groups of kids having fun and men in their speedos and cooled down in the refreshing Mediterranean.

Florence - 13/06

Mainland Europe - Day 49
Siena --> Florence

Our stay in Florence was very brief. Which to be honest I was not all that upset about. We had a terrible time trying to find the hotel we had booked and when we finally stumbled across it, we found it certainly wasn't worth the money we were paying.

We also realised that the camp site back in Siena didn't give us Yvonne's passport back. It's so strange, loads of campsites across Europe insist on holding your passport until you checkout. We were always very careful to make sure we got them back, but somehow forgot in Siena. After several phone calls we ended up having some random backpacker who was heading to Florence deliver the passport to us. A bit risky but it worked out ok.

Anyway I think Yvonne and I were both in the wrong frame of mind for Florence. We wondered around and took in the city but neither of us were really feeling it. We only stayed the one night and we were both happy to hit the road early in the next morning. We probably didn't give Florence a real chance, but that said it didn't grab hold of us either.

Siena - 12/06

Mainland Europe - Day 48
Rome --> Siena

Siena brought a welcome relief from the hussle and heat of Rome.

We'd heard about a campsite and after some difficulty we found it. The mercury was soaring so when we slapped our eyes on the gorgeous (and deserted) swimming pool we knew we would be very happy.

The campgrounds have become a bit of a theme in Italy and each time we face the same moral dilemma. Pay $30 euro to pitch a tent for two and deal with heat, mossies and a blow-up mattress. Or pay $40 euro for a cabin with beds, sheets, bathroom and power to plug in our laptop to watch Underbelly!!

Of course the cabin wins..!!

We spent a day and half lounging by the pool, getting through books and working on our tans. By the second afternoon we decided it was time to head into Siena and check it out.

We strolled, took in the atmosphere and then found ourselves in the main square, which isn't really a square. It's more like a circle which slopes towards one side. We plonked ourselves down, the stones were warm and smooth. Hunger was lingering so we picked up some essentials in a local deli. Beers, olives, bread, some cheese and meat. The evening passed as we chased the sun across the non-square and people-watched.

After two days in Siena we were very sad to leave (our swimming pool!!) but we dragged ourselves away and hit the road again the next day. Time to drive through Tuscany, I hope it has nice swimming pools!!)