We stopped on the Amalfi coast for a spot of lunch. The setting was so nice that we decided to push-the-boat-out and go for a main course at a restaurant (a real treat for us, nowadays). Two fair pastas, two waters, two coffees and–infuriatingly–two cover charges later; the bill came to a hefty €30 (the […]

Rome is mostly magnificent, but in-line with the rest of the Italy that we’ve seen, this place is expensive. I’ll surely write another post on the cost of travelling this country, but in the meantime here’s an example for you: We climbed the national monument to get the best views over the city. About two-thirds […]

Today I got chatting to a market-stall merchant*. He was one of two, working a particular stall. They work together from 7am until 9pm, seven days a week. Oh, the boss does give them each one day-off a month. I thought I used to work long hours. (* Being a salesman, maybe you don’t believe […]

Squiffy was rather pleased when I intercepted a couple of queue-jumpers at the Colosseum in Rome. In my best projected theatre-voice, I asked them whether they were comfortable jumping ahead of all of the other good people who were waiting patiently in that queue. With the unwanted attention of all eyes around them, the queue-jumpers […]

We went into an Italian Cybercafe to use the Internet today. Here’s their price list: 15 minutes 1.50 Euro 30 minutes 2.50 Euro 1 hour 3 Euro 2 hours 5 Euro and so forth…   We used the connection for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I approached the counter to pay. “You’ve been one and […]

Siena is a lovely city which we only spent one day looking around, mainly because of the closure of the camping facilities there. However, had we been able to stay longer, I’m not sure what we would have seen. Bear with me here whilst I explain. On our arrival, and after consulting the Rough Guide, […]

This picture is of a statue, taken inside the Duomo of Florence. Click on it and look closely at it. I often appreciate graffiti in its various forms, in fact I came really close to buying Banksy’s coffee-table book just before we left for our trip. However, I cannot understand what drives people to believe […]

I understand why there are so many languages in the world (Esperanto, anyone?) but I don’t understand why the same place has a different name in so many languages. I had no idea that what we know as Florence, is natively called Firenze, for example. And for that matter, why do we call Germany, Germany? […]

Hawkers; the looky-looky men illegally pedalling fake designer handbags and sunglasses in a very affrontish manner to tourists as they attempt to pass-by unscathed. “Look, look. I give you good price.” Frustrating? Annoying? Aggravating? Or human beings struggling to make a living to support their family, just like everybody else?

Dear campsite owner, We are travelling Europe in a small camper van and would like to have the following things at a campsite, even if only once in the three months that we’ll be camping: General Located within a short walk to the town or local tourist sites. Nobody can walk 5 km in “a […]