Italy

There were no problems hitching back to Athens from Istanbul. The weather was getting a bit cooler and after two years in the tropics it felt really cold to me. We quickly arranged a ferry ride from Athens over to Naples Italy. The ferry was smooth and the views were awesome. We talked to a lot of other travelers during the ride and we learned a lot about traveling in India from some people that were there for over a year. I was looking forward to going there but first we were heading up to Denmark to rest up for a while until I was healthier. I was still very weak after my malaria attack in Ethiopia. I was surprised that it was taking me so long to get my strength back.

We arrived in Naples and the city did not impress us in a good way. We wanted out right away so we sprung for a taxi to get us out of the city. At a stoplight were were attacked by a large group of young boys that tried to bust the doors of the taxi open while we were stopped. Our driver was scared and he kept moving the car around so that they never got a good shot at opening the doors and then when he was free he sped away. He told us that is a daily problem for drivers in Naples. No wonder we got a bad vibe from the place. Once we were out of the main part of town and we came to a smaller town that looked safe enough we jumped out of the taxi and hitch hiked all the way into downtown Rome.

Now Rome is a great city. I loved the place. We setup the tent in a campground right downtown and we started to explore the wonders of this ancient city. We went to the catacombs the first day and checked out all the bones and other spooky things down there. Then we spent an entire week wandering around in the Vatican. The Catholic church has enough art in its possession to put a piece in everybody's house in the world I think. I jogged through the basement storage areas there for two days running past thousands of carved marble statues and every other conceivable object I could think of. We watched the Pope do a Mass in the Square. We listened to an Address from him afterward. The Pieta by Michelangelo, had been damaged by a crazy lunatic not too long before we got there and the security was stiff all throughout our visit to the Vatican.

We ate like pigs everyday. The coffee was great every morning and there were pastries galore. Then for lunch there was pizza, calamares, sandwiches, soups, salads you name it in Italian food and it was always available and cheap too. At night we went to bars and clubs to party. The Italians are very friendly to say the least. I enjoyed Rome for a full month of daily touring, eating and partying. We never ran out of things to do. Side trips to places like the leaning tower and lots of other places kept us busy all the time. But all good things must come to an end and we left to go up and see the Statue of David next.

We had no problems hitching in Italy. We got rides almost instantly and always with nice friendly people. Florence was another great Italian city. There were a lot of students there and we had a great time sitting around in the cafes talking with them all. The Statue of David was a mandatory day tour. It was worth the wait in line to walk around it for a few minutes. Then we continued on to check out St Mark's Cathedral and square in Venice. The first day we were in Venice we started to drink wine in the morning. When our supply was empty we just refilled at the wine shops all over town. We got hammered. In the afternoon there was a demonstration walking down the street and they took offense at my lack of respect for them and beat me up a bit but I didn't get hurt. I sobered up quickly is all. We hung out in the cafes around St Marks but it was tourist prices so we left quickly and headed north through the mountains to Austria for our next destination.