We started on the road to Rome with a stop at a mountain village, San Gimignano. Named after St. Geminianus, it is a hill town in Tuscany known as the Town of Five Towers. Southwest of Florence it is encircled by 13th-century walls. The old town centres on the Piazza della Cisterna, a triangular square…

From Naples, after the ferry from Capri, we head off to Assisi. We headed back up the motorway until we got to Rome, skirted around Rome, and headed inland up into the mountains. We were heading for Assisi and the Basilica of St Frances of Assisi. But first we stop in Perugia at the Giuditta…

Sunday and we’re on our way to the hotel the Trafalgar tour people organised for the first 2 nights. A simple taxi ride is called for when my knees and Angie’s back have taken a pounding over the last few weeks, best to save them for the upcoming walking tours. The hotel, the Grand Hotel Tiberio,…

Time to say Farewell to the boat, the crew, and fellow passengers. A lot of contact details have been swapped, a lot of appreciation has been expressed to the crew, and all our belongings packed for transfer. Emerald Cruises is a relatively young company with Australian origins and it has exceeded all expectations. The cruise…

Day 9. We have now entered the Danube River and our first port of call is Regensburg. This town has buildings dated to the Roman times, around 175AD, and it is the furthest most northern point on the Danube so was an important military post. After the Romans left, townsfolk moved inside the town walls…

Day 5. Not far upriver (southwards) from Rüdesheim we leave the Rhine River and start travelling on the Mains River. The adventure with the Locks and the low bridges begins. We were warned that the sun deck would be closed for a few dates as we travel up the Mains River due to low bridges.…

We had a short and sweet flight to Amsterdam arriving about 6 pm. This time we figured we could do the train/tram venture to the hotel and it worked out well, the tram stopping 50m from the hotel. We only had a short stop in Amsterdam, 1 day, before we joined the river cruise to…

So once EasyJet finally got underway from Berlin, we reached Edinburgh with no dramas and reached the guest house in the evening. We booked this particular place as it was close to the castle for after the Tattoo, and that is about its only redeeming feature! The stairs were steep and narrow, fun with the…

And so the Estonia drama starts! We clear passport control on the Russian side of the river, easily, walk across the bridge to Estonia and to their passport control 👎. First it seems we had no Visa! Kiwis don’t need visas to enter Europe but their senior didn’t seem to know that. After much investigation…

Our 2nd week in Russia started with a trip to Suzdal, a town 3 hours drive east-nor-east of Moscow. It’s an ancient town, from around the turn of the 1st century, and contains many examples of old Russian architecture. The weather has now turned to mostly grey with showers here and there. Before this ,…