Off the Couch and On the Road

I never did end up venturing past the confines of my own paradise. There were churches to see and grottos to explore, different towns with different shops and different beaches.

But having been on the go since early March, I decided I didn’t care to see any of it. A holiday from a holiday, I supposed. And besides, the deck chair man was giving me disoucnts with a wink, the gelato man was helping me try all 24 flavours in the best possible combinations, and afternoons chatting to the hostel owner and plaing with her puppy left me no time to do anything else anyway.

I would see the sights of Croatia instead, I thought. In the afternoons. After going to the beaches, which are very famous, and could be considered sightseeing. Do you think?

-Sarah

After not doing very much at all, least of all sightseeing, I realised somewhere between a cappuccino and a margherita pizza that my accomodation was only booked for another 3 nights, and from there I didn’t quite know where I was headed. I couldn’t seem to figure out how to get to Croatia from this side of Italy, could not find any accomodation and could not for the life of me find a flight to link me from Croatia to Greece.

I was all ready to give up and move away from the beaches to the big cities of France, when I ran out of suncream. I searched for what seemed like hours for a bottle with an SPF higher than 2, the only one of which was 15 euros. Fifteen euros. That’s a night accomodation, a train trip halfway across the country, almost a day of food. That’s a lot, man.

I wasn’t sure whether it was a joke, a ‘let’s laugh at the Aussies who will spend a fortune to prevent skin cancer, haha’ but I looked around and the only one loking at me was a little old Italian woman behind the counter, probably wondering what was so amazing about this suncream that I would stand there agape for ten minutes.

After my purse was a little lighter and my budget a little tighter, I marched straight to the internet cafe and, most likely through sheer willpower, managed to book a bus to Sorrento, train to Naples, train to Bari, ferry to Croatia, and accomodation in Dubrovnik. Oh, and an entire Greek island hopper tour.

That suncream was going to be used and enjoyed dammit, and if that meant I had to lay on a beach for the next two months straight, then that’s what I had to do (it’s hard, it really is).

-Sarah

Just as eating pizza and watching the world stroll by in Rome was exactly as I'd imagined, Positano was the Amalfi Coast in my mind I'd saved to daydream about when I was stuck in traffic, or listening to a ... [Continue reading this entry]

'Oh, so you've heard about Naples, then?' the British backpacker asked.

Yes, I had. Don't go there, look both ways and watch your back, hang onto your bag, hang onto yourself. But when you're planning your European sojourn a week in ... [Continue reading this entry]

On my fourth day in Rome there was only one thing left to see - the Colosseum. I confidently caught the bus and metro to the site and spent longer than expected within it's ancient walls, imagining exactly where Russell ... [Continue reading this entry]

It was a fairly relaxing day - I couldn't decide what I wanted to do when so I started with the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo and just kept walking. With the hoards of tourists (and the sun) still ... [Continue reading this entry]

I woke up with a head full of curls, and that's never a good sign. It was raining, bucketing down. But with my hostel not within walking distance of anything, and the rooms closed during the day anyway - it looked ... [Continue reading this entry]

There was a taxi, a train, a plane, a bus, and another taxi. And I was in Rome.

It was overcast and slightly cool, and by the time I checked into my very-school-camp hostel, and checked my emails, it was too ... [Continue reading this entry]