Tropea

We changed our plans half way through the trip and had some extra time to incorporate some more places off the beaten path! Yay! More beach time. We picked a tiny little town called Tropea, famous for its jaw dropping beaches, sweet red onions and views of the Stromboli volcano. We rented a little apartment on the top of a hill as well as a scooter and spent the next eight days in paradise!

It was refreshing to be able to make our own coffee for a change..

The main beach of Tropea town and the one that attracts all of its visitors..it was so beautiful!

View from our terrace over the town! It was very hard to leave this spot.

View from our bed.

Catching some glorious rays and Dyl loving our little scooty!

Another magnificent beach in the area..Cherries are seriously delicious and cheap in Italy, we have not stopped with them!

Bored and silly on the beach!

Sheer cliffs from Tropea town overlooking the main beach, makes for an awesome photo!

The sleeping giant, Stromboli.

This was the most magnificent sunset ever.

Lucky me! Dyl cooking up a storm, this was a vegetable risotto using fresh local ingredients namely the beautiful cipolla di tropea

Italian lighties playing football which they took very seriously, we sat and watched them for ages in a little piazza. This was real entertainment!

Cipollo di Tropea

Italian groceries..

We were invited to a sunday family lunch, the family of the owner of our apartments. This was such an honour and a very special day for us. Obviously the food was out of this world and the company just wonderful! Felt like we had known them forever.

Capo Di Vaticano

This pizzeria holds the oldest oven in the town (the origional oven that was used to bake bread), over 100 years old and they stick to origional and authentic recipes. This was a family run spot and such a little gem, we were loving the wine being decanted out of the barrel...Must get one of these for home!

An evening on the rooftop terrace of our apartment. The views from here were unreal and we had a little party for two on this evening..Fun times

Sad to go after such a wonderful experience..

When in Rome..

Rome was everything that we had hoped for and more, what a sensational city! There is so much to see and do and a crazy energy about it. We met a pilot and his beautiful wife on our first night and had an unexpected party with them (long story short, Dyl took a little turn for the worse) and hence our first day was of a rather fragile temperament, 'rome'ing the streets in the rain and taking it all in..It was awesome!

 

Beautiful statue on one of the bridges

 On our way out for the night

 Piazza Navona, a gorgeous square

 The Spanish Steps

 The Trevi Fountain by day

 The famous and ancient Trajans Column from Piazza Valentini.  Remarkable!

Lunch.. Porcini and pea home made tagliatelle

 Trevi fountain by night

 

A wonderful little tratorria that we found on our second night, it seemed hidden and off a quiet street away from the crowds

 Dyl navigating the streets by night, thank God for his map reading skills!

 The much anticipated Colosseum by night, incredible!

  A few sights as we walked off dinner, back to the hotel..

 The Vatican City and Saint Peters Basilica

We decided to walk up to the top of Saint Peters Basilica because to be honest, as one can imagine after spending 5 weeks in Italy, we could do with the cardio! We charged up the 551 steps and the views from the top were magnificent!
 

Descending the very narrow staircases down Saint Peters Basilica, I was a tad claustrophobic and not loving life too much at this stage, just wanted to see the end!

On our last evening, we discovered an amazing little neighbourhood called Trastevere which is where the local Romans enjoy food, wine and socialising. There are countless numbers of little streets filled with trattorias and bars.

Dyls seafood spaghetti, the picture does not do justice and maybe it was all the wine, but he actually cried when it was finished...

Much to Dylans delight, we stumbled upon the finishing line of the '1000 Miglia' rally where a huge group of finatics with modern and vintage cars gathered together to celebrate.