Dubrovnik - the jewel of the Adriatic

We are now in Dubrovnik in Croatia after a long day in Bari and catching the boat to Croatia.
Kirk has decided that he won't be returning to Bari.  It started with the vending machine not dispensing our packet of chips on ari railway station, catching the wrong local bus to the port (bus 20 rather than 20/) and ending up in the middle of nowhere, and spending hours at various locations tryibg to buy a boat ticket due to bad information.
Anyway the boat trip was fine and we got there in the end.
Croation women seem to favour big hair so I am fitting in fine.
We are staying in an apartment in the old city which is very beautiful.

Trani

We are spending the day and night in Trani, the so-called "Pearl of Puglia" a pretty town on the coast north of Bari.
Hopefully we will be catching the boat tomorrow night to Dubrovnik.

Trulli-amazing

We are currently staying in Alberobello in the heart of trulli land.  The trulli are strange cone shaped houses - see photos.  Lots of good wine, olive oil and pig :-)

Day trip to otranto

We took a day trip to the seaside to the pretty town of Otranto. The local trains are very local - the trains are the size of buses and the train driver opens his window, asks you where you are going, and says hop on.

Still in Lecce

Quiet day of mindless meandering and arranging our journey to Egypt
Siesta here is legally enforceable.
The town goes from "BUSY" at 13:00 to "ASLEEP" at 14:00, and little happens 'till 17:00
All we could do was obey
We have been out of practice with red wine, but are trying to make up for it!
Puglia has great (filling) Antipasti, and the wine is OK :-)
We paid well over 20 Euros last night at the local Osteria for dinner .. YUM.
Looks like Pizza tonight, hope it's OK

Puglia - down in the heel of Italy

Greetings from Lecce in Puglia.  The "Florence of the south" has a beautiful old town with lots of baroque architecture.  Puglia is the food bowl of italy with lots of good wine.  We are currently on the rooftop of our guesthouse sampling the local red wine.  The work life balance around here seems ok - siesta lasts from 1pm until 5pm.

Last night in Rome

We are off to dinner at Antico Arco where kirky celebrated his 50th birthday.  We now have visas for India so we are all sorted for December.
Off to Puglia tomorrow.

Frascati in frascati

We went on a little sojourn from Rome today to the town of Frascati.  Also appears to be the home of yummy pig.  A leisurely lunch sampling the odd glass of frascati...

Another day in Roma

Great weather for another day of rambling through Roma.
We have begun to organize Egypt, whjch is no longer on the "avoid" list from Bob Carrs mob, looks like fun and hopefully the crowds will not have built up.

Rome is a great place to just hang, wandering aroud ,and finding places that youve missed in the last 3 trips.
Sit around and have another coffee,and pastry (WHO NEEDS SLEEP).

The days in Rome are now following a similar pattern.  Out the door by 10.30am for coffee and then a trip to a different food market to buy the ingredients for dinner.  Today it was the market in Trastevere.  Afternoon at leisure before cooking dinner.  We have mastered the Rome transport system and having been catching buses, trams and the metro as well as walking.  First pizza in Italy for lunch and we have been here almost a week!

Starbucks corrupts Italy

Warning to those who like PROPER coffee, in Rome if you are in a tourist area they will give you AMERICAN style coffee.
We ordered an espresso and americano and got a really long coffee in a cup (basically a half long black) and a MUG of weak coffee.
We blame America and Starbucks.
Had to go to Cafe Eutrusca to get some real coffee, however I (Kirk today in case you couldn't guess) wasn't happy untill we went to a local bar and got good coffee there.
Lesson learned .. no coffee where there may be bloody tourists !!!!!!!!!!!!
Quiet day, put in our applications for Indian visas, they were disappointingly not bureaucratic, opened at 2 pm and we were out by 2.45.
Cooked a nice veal schnitzel for dinner, the kitchen does not have great cooking utensils, so we had to use an omelette pan to cook one at a time ...a little slow but with the right amount of wine it was fun, surprising how we miss a simple home cooked meal.

Rome

Greetings from Roma.
Caught the train this morning from Florence.  Only 45 minutes late:-)
We are staying in an apartment very close to the Colosseum.
Chillaxing here for a week while be do some admin and enjoy Roma.

Back in the land of wine and good coffee

We travelled from Fez to Pisa yesterday.  It was our first Ryanair experience.  Apart from the lack of seat allocation, the flight was fine.  Lots of advertising on the overhead lockers as well as the flight attendants selling scratch lottery tickets.  We spent the night in Pisa and visited the Leaning tower this morning.  We are now in Florence - very busy but very beautiful. 
Kirk is happy now that he has had a few good coffees and pasta.

We are staying only a stone's throw from the Duomo. The hotel is family run. We are sitting in the common area surfing the net and blogging. The kids are doing their homework and the mother is helping them with their maths homework. Our Italian numeracy skills are improving by the minute.

Cooking class in Fez

We had a terrific experience yesterday in a moroccan cooking class with our friends Carolyn and David.  It started with buying the fresh food in the markets in the medina.  Fresh means the live chicken was weighed before being slaughtered , plucked and washed in front of us. We made soup, salad, couscous and a tagine.  For dessert we baked macaroons in the community oven in the medina.
Off to italy this afternoon.

Yesterday we had a day trip from Fez - roman ruins (with impressive mosaics) at Volubilus, Moulay idriss and lunch in Meknes.
A stroll through the fez medina today without getting too lost!!

Lost in Fes

How could anyone have troubles negotiating Fes.
During the day we knew exactly where we were at least 4 times.
However many of the locals were helpful and pointed us in the right direction.
Alison had map anxiety .. just don't bother in the old town with maps, you just get frustrated.

We hired a guide for a few hours today to take us through the fez medina so we could get our bearings and see the sights. Not sure that we have our bearings yet as the medina has lots of narrow streets. Thankfully no motorbikes but quite a few donkeys.

Fez

Caught the train from Marrakech to fez today - on time, clean and very comfortable.  Staying at a riad in the medina. Check out the photo of the pool.Only had a chance fora a brief walk through the alley ways with lots of donkeys.  I am sure we will get lost tomorrow.

This is our last night in Marrakech.  Today we visited the saadian tombs and the magnificant Dar el said.
It is sunset and we are having a g & t on the terrace listening to the call to prayers.
Off to Fez tomorrow.

Only 25 degrees here today and the locals are rugged up.
Went to the Jardin Majorelle, the gardens and villa of Yves St Laurent.
Have bought the first pair of gorgeous sandals...

Took a day trip out of Marrakech today to see the atlas mountains (still with snow) and see Berber villages in the ourika valley.  Wasn't tempted to take a camel ride....

Kirk has been resisting the temptation to get a dodgy henna tattoo.  Unfortunately many english and french fellow tourists have given into this temptation.  It is like the hair braiding - looks good on the locals but not so good on the pasty tourists.

Found good coffee - very important for kirky.  Meandered through the souks - so much to buy - gorgeous bags, handmade shoes, lanterns, ceramics, jewellery....just warming up.