Quick update

We've been in Pisa for 3 nights now and as soon as we're up and packed we're walking to the station and jumping on a short train to Firenze (Florence). We've booked a couple of nights at a super cheap hostel sleeping in a dorm, so we're very open to the idea of staying there for a prolonged period of time. Since we left France after only a couple of days we figure we've got a little extra time to spend in destinations.

Oh and by the way, yes, I do have embarrassing 'Look I'm leaning against the leaning tower!!! How cool am I?' pictures and eventually they'll be posted on here.

Bye!

Bella Italia - Genova

We arrived in Genova on Tuesday night after connecting three times from Saint Raphael to get there (Nice, Monaco, Ventimiglia). We managed to navigate our way with ease to the B&B we had booked into and were so content with the place. Met by the lovely owner Carlo, he showed us to our room which was huge! We had a big bathroom and great views overlooking the city’s various roof tops and buildings.

We went for dinner at a restaurant on our street which is situated on one of the city’s many roof top terraces and seriously enjoyed the first decent plate of pasta since Valencia (which my lovely Raffa had made for us!).

Day 2 in Genova we decided to check out the city seeing as it’s apparently the largest historical centre in Europe. When we left our place the sun was shining and we were in a great mood; however after a meal at a nearby café we felt reasonably bummed. It had started raining and a middle aged guy and his friend had offered to share their table with us whilst we finished chowing down. They spent the next 45 mins talking at us about how if we want the beach we should go here, there, there, not here, Genova is ugly if you don’t know it, everywhere closes early, you should go to this place it’s full of rich people etc etc. We felt as if they were trying to put us off our choice of destination, so we paid the bill and proceeded to walk around the back streets taking snaps whilst feeling pretty lost.

The city itself is very beautiful, in a gritty kind of way. It's a style that I really like, where buildings are so close to one another you'd have thought the architect in charge was blind. Really enjoyed walking around the back streets of the city but it really was a shame the sky was overcast as I can imagine Genova in the sunshine is a completely different place.

Whilst walking around we had seen that there was a big stage and small bars being set up in one of the big piazza’s and understood correctly that there would be some sort of concert and party in the evening. So after dinner at around 11.30pm we headed down to the square, where we found the celebrations had come and gone. What was left? A hundred free-loving hippies or so, playing bongos and purchasing extremely overpriced beer. We decided to bail on the hippy fun and after walking around the quiet streets of Genova, we found a small bar serving house wine at €2 a glass. We spent the next hour there trying to put together a foam jigsaw square which we eventually concluded was a dud.

I’m glad I visited Genova as the people there were a breath of fresh air and really made the trip worthwhile, regardless of the lowkey party scene. Also, everyone has so far understood my Italian, apart from a few tosser’s who have completely dismissed my efforts, interrupting me before I can even begin to finish a sentence, and ask if I can speak English instead.

As I’m writing this M and I are sitting on a train on our way to Pisa where we’ve booked what looks to be a great place to stay for a couple of nights. We’re staying right in the centre, near the leaning tower and right by the university area. The only thing pissing us off is a group of irritating Italian girls who’ve befriended an annoying American who are now participating in a full on karaoke session. They have the cat wailing down to a T.

Dove siamo ora?

We are currently in Genova in Italy. Arrived last night, checked into our beautiful B&B with rooftops views from the window and went out for a big plate of pasta. Mmm mmm mmmmm! We are having a great time here so far and I'll update with pictures and news soon i.e. when I can be bothered.

Until then, ciao ciao!

Bonjour, enchante, AU REVOIR

France, in the opinions of M and myself, was shit..to put it nicely. Everyone we met were complete oddballs, rude, unfriendly, unhygienic, sad, horrible, scummy people. We spent a total of 46 hours in France, living off baguettes and cigarettes. If we were to write a pros and cons list I can only think of one entry for the former: Bottle of house wine €9.

I decided that none of the three destinations we passed through were worthy of their own blog posts therefore I shall divulge all relevant details in subsections accordingly.

Cerbere

Cerbere is a small coastal town on the border with Spain. We rocked up at the station confronted with what seemed to be a ghost town. Nothing was open and after an abrupt conversation with some lady seated behind a glass window we knew we were in a very weird place. We walked into 'town' sat down to eat something, were told we couldn't have extra bread, were ripped off for tapas that had clearly come straight out of a jar and then realised that the lady at the train station wouldn't be the only hostile person we'd meet.

We proceeded to spend the next few hours picking at a stale baguette on a park bench starring at a tree, whilst homeless drunks starred at us and children ran around in the nude.

Getting on the train to Montpellier we were happy and excited, we really thought good things would be awaiting us....if only we knew.

Monderrier Montpellier

I feel that if there were to be an opening theme tune for this destination it would go something like this: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHH AGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN. Then silence.

Montpellier, is apparently a nice place - away from the station. The station and the surrounding area however, is a cesspit full of unmentionable people, aggression, prostitution, drugs and most probably the HIV virus.

Arriving on an extremely busy Saturday night with no possible way out of there by train, we had no choice but to find a hotel for the night. The first hotel we found which was right opposite the station seemed like a sure choice until we found out it was almost €80 for the night, which for two backpackers on a serious budget was far too steep. So we decided to find somewhere else and were told that there were a lot of hotels in the area. We walked quickly through the streets lugging our backpacks, sweating like pigs and being harassed by almost everyone. Every single hotel we passed had signs in the windows or on the doors saying 'COMPLET'. We couldn't understand why or how this was possible and put it down to the fact it was a weekend. After a lengthy mission through back alleys and bustling roads we realised we were in a rough area and felt the most ridiculous sense of relief when we passed one shitty hotel which had a room available for a mere €35 for the night. An absolute steal we thought and even said to each other in the lift up to our floor. How naive we felt when we got out of the lift, only to hear the distressing sounds of whoring. We darted into our room which was comprised of a skanky bed and a bide. We didn't want to touch anything as it was quite clear where we were and what we were in! M and I made our way downstairs and bluntly said, we don't want to stay here please give us back our money. The man with no fingers left on his right hand and two chelsea smiles on his left cheek was not pleased, in fact - extremely angry. He barred us from the brothel I mean hotel, 'Next time you come back here, I will not give you a room!!! Do not thank me!! Just go. This is not normal behaviour!'. Clearly, this man was deluded. On the plus side we got our money back.

We quickly walked back to the first hotel, happily paid for the night and were on the first train out of there in the morning.

Saint Raphael

Saint Raphael is near Cannes, although not exactly what we expected. We realised it wasn't blessed with extreme beauty but rather extremely overpriced food and drinks, a string of tacky bars and restaurants and again, very odd (however not hostile) Frenchies.

We stayed at a small hotel for a reasonable price, made fun of Gordito (previously mentioned in MIA post) and decided to spend the two days we had booked doing absolutely nothing. We went to the beach, ate sandwiches, heckled people from our bedroom window and had early nights. Not much else is to be said about Saint Rapahel, or France for that matter as I believe the next sentence speaks for itself:

We left for Italy after having spent approximately 46 hours in France.

Girona – a beautiful plan B

Whilst in Barcelona we had decided on Marseille as our next stop, however by the time we actually left the hostel and made our way to B.Sants we were considering Montpellier and Nimes as well. Arriving at the station, drained and tired from San Juan, we soon discovered that due to striking going on in France (…!), there was no way we’d be able to cross the French border by train.

Initially this felt like a personal attack by France, sabotaging our plans and throwing us off our planned course. However, after some debate and a lot of uncertainty, we decided to travel to Girona, a small city (compared to Barcelona, however is actually the largest in north Catalonia) an hour between Barcelona and the French border.

We didn’t really know what to expect in Girona, but regardless, our expectations were not only met but exceeded.

Girona is a very beautiful city with a river running through it, separating the old town with the new. We arrived in the afternoon and had some well and truly needed down time before making the short walk into town for a romantic meal, where we discovered a plaza full of restaurants. Extremely happy to find that it was a lot cheaper than Barcelona (sangria in Barcelona €9, sangria in Girona €2), so it’s safe to say that we felt Girona was going to be good to us.

We spent the second day wondering around Girona discovering the old city. Beautiful! Imagine cobbled, narrow winding streets, old buildings built on hills, intimate side alley ways lined with small stores, a Cathedral, a Jewish quarter (El Call) and Arabic baths.

Girona at night was relaxed yet fun. We discovered there were a few clubs here and there although we didn’t go to any due to a (supposedly) early wakeup call the following day. The previous night we had spotted a cocktail bar on our walk home with deck chairs outside which looked busy, even on the night of San Juan, so seeing as it was now a normal Friday night we decided to check it out.

Outside we lounged in comfortable bed-like deck chairs and later we ventured inside. Weirdly decorated, the bar (Cocktails and…) seemed to have an almost burlesque feel to it. After we were befriended by a bar tender, we ended up enjoying a night of free drinks and amusing conversation with some of the locals. Both M and I put (her) Spanish and (my) Italian to good use, and mixed with some very dodgy English from the locals, we got by.

One amusing thing we realised is that most people thought we were ‘Eras-moos’ students. Clearly we were the only outsiders, which we thoroughly enjoyed!

If you ask M and I what we thought of Girona we’ll tell you one thing: GO!

MIA

M and I would like to apologise to all our fans for not being in touch/ updating the blog with all our news, gossip and photos.

We left Girona, stopped in Cerbere, got stuck in Montpellier and are now in Saint Raphael in the south of France, although due to leave in an hour for Genova, Italy (yay)!

We have had complete lack of internet due to eccentric fat man at l'hotel here (who we've come to know and not love as GORDITO). He is a very weird man with an evil laugh who does not understand ze engleeesh we spik and cannot provide us with the correct details to access ze internets.

Once in Genova I intend to devour a massive plate of pasta, possibly one or two loafs of ciabatta, at least a bottle of cheap wine and if I'm feeling adventurous a mountain sized scoop (or 4) of gelato. After this I'll find a cafe with free wifi, set up camp, drink espresso after espresso and fully update this blog.

So, once again, apologies from M and I, and we send out all our love to our fanbase i.e. our parents who are pretty much the only people checking this thing.

Oh and Abby, I will upload more photos of M, I have a rather beautiful picture of her getting stuck into a mammoth sandwich.

With love!

xxx

San Juan - Barcelona

So, San Juan is pretty much the biggest party of the year in Spain. The streets are filled with people, fireworks are set off, fire crackers are thrown and generally a fair amount of alcohol is consumed. We were in Barcelona for San Juan which was celebrated on the night of the 23rd, and during the day of the 24th.

The general idea is that the masses flock to the beach, set up camp, dance to a variety of music played out by dj's, party, socialise and have a good time.

M, Leah and I did just this, heading down to the beach by weaving through town, dodging children throwing fire crackers and following the crowds. Eventually we got to the beach which was covered with people, thousands in fact.

Not much else can be said about San Juan apart from, I hope I go again next year!