Tour through Sardinia and Corsica

Our time in Rome has come to an end and were heading to France, the idea was getting on a ferry to Corsica, that fore we took the train to Civitavecchia, unfortunately there is no ferry going to Corsica during this period, so we did not have to take the train for a longer journey we decided to go to Sardinia and maybe stay there some days and then get to Corsica.

On the ferry we met some friendly Italians. And had a good conversation, also they helped us to find a place to stay for the night in Olbia, the ferry arrived there later as we expected and it would have been hard for us to find a place on our own. Two of them gave us a ride to the guesthouse and helped us checking in, the nice girl running the business did not speak much English. But she tried to help us and was so friendly. Next time we gonna spent some more time at her place.
Because of the high prices at the hotels we did only stay for one night and got on our way to Corsica. In the morning we went to a bus stop to get to Santa Theresa and on the ferry to Bonifacio. At the bus stop we had to wait for more than an hour, but time passed by cause we met there a couple from Germany and a couchsurfer from Paris. So we had good company and conversations.

And the day got even better at one of the stops a beautiful girl entered the bus and was joining us on our trip to Bonifacio.

In Santa Theresa we did not have much time for exploring, because the ferry was leaving too soon. But we could get a feeling of the town, because it took a while to find the harbour and the ferry. We were the last persons getting on the ferry.
It was so amazing on the ferry, the north of Sardinia is so beautiful and when we got closer to Corsica we could see the high cliffs and on them Bonifacio. A view I'll never forget.

In Bonifacio Nina had to leave us and after enjoying the ancient parts of this town we headed to the bus to get to Aleria.
But there was no bus going, so the only bus we could take in this direction brought us to Porto-Piocchio, but also from there was no bus leading to Aleria. We tried to get a ride in a car poor but for the, it was also to late. So we got to stay here for the night. Seems our luck has disappeared. The prices in the hotels here were so incredibly high that we were not willing to pay so much and preferred to spent the night outside. Bernd got totally frustrated and was grumbling all the time. His mood got better after realising what kind of bed I found for tonight. A Hammock. First he was very cautious, thinking of all the people falling down from a hammock, but at the end it was safe and comfortable. At least we got a good sunset and sunrise there, also full moon.

Unbelievable after the bus ride we arrived at about noon in Bastia and what happened there, next ferry goes next day at eight o'clock in the morning. What the hell is wrong in this island ? Three days just to pass through, bad place for traveling as a backpacker.
At least here we could find a hotel close by and did not have to search for another place to stay outside. Bernd hates started hating Corsica and will never get back here, so he stayed the rest of the day in our little room.6

From the land and the people it's nice here, also when you are not able to speak french and they not speaking English or German, they try helping, for sure one day I'll get back here. But tomorrow we will finally be in Nice.

Vatican and more places in Rome

There is so much to see in this beautiful city, we got to get here again to see some other places and also some important places again. Rome is a town you never get bored of.
Our first day in Rome ended up pretty late. Not for both of us, Bernd was too tired to go out at night, so he got to bed early and let me alone. But I did not stay alone for a long time. Met at the hostel with Nico and Victor another globetrotter from Chile. We thought it might be a great idea to go to a night club or some place where many people hang out. We should have planned better, there was not much going on so we ended up at a small bar and had some great conversations. So it was not a total waste of time. Our hostel was already closed when we got back, to our luck the night guards are not strictly following the orders and still let us in.
After a short night and waking up the others we got on our way to the Vatican, the guys also wanted to go there today so they joined us.

Don't let your thoughts about the Peter's place get to much affected by the pictures you have seen on TV, it is a big square, it always appears to be much bigger there. It must be a great feeling going out there and having a big crowd there waiting only for you. Maybe that's why the cardinals want to become the pope.

Another cathedral we went to, and we still love to get in this big buildings and take a look around, never getting bored of it and always there are great things to see. At the Vatican we were not able to get into the gardens and the Sistine chapel, cause it was closed that day, well a interesting place left for our next trip.

Played with some settings on the camera and also took a picture of Victor

We lost Nico after out trip to the Vatican, he again said something about work, so Victor stayed with us and again we went to the Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish stairs. After this time of walking around he also left us.
Our next stop was the Castel Sant'Angelo. The castle has a big fortified tower in the centre and around that the fortress walls. This place was for us another trip back in time. Well especially into the fictional times, running around in this castle as Ezio Auditore, by the way the Via Ezio is not far away from the castle.

Gamer talking again, will stop now. The fortified tower did not feel like the others we have seen in the past. There is a long way leading up the tower, not as usual narrow stairs. Real easy walking up. On top there are many rooms with amazing decorations, in absolutely good condition. There is also a nice little restaurant you can go to, offering a great view.

When we found the tresury Bernd wanted to take away all treeasure chests, but they were a little bit too heavy and afterr deciding to leave some treasures behind we realized that the chests are empty. Would have been a waste of time steeling only the chests.

We took the metro to get to some other places more to the south, the circus Maximus, we have seen before without knowing that we have seen it. Also we went to the pyramide, unfortunately it was completely covered so we could not enjoy the sight as we wanted to do it.

Time passed by in Rome much too quick, but not over yet. At the evening back at the hostel again we met the other travelers and Bernd found some nice girls from Turkey there and had a great evening hanging out with them.

The next day in the morning we left our hostel and headed to the church Santa Pudenziana al Viminale. My flatmate Maria told me about this church, it's a smaller one, but one of the oldest ones in Rome. Deep below there are catacombs, which are more than two thousand years old. Also I met there Mario, he is working there and he is sending the best wishes to Maria.

All roads lead to Rome

Now we got to the capital of Italy, the town to which every road leads to. We arrived at our hostel in the evening and started planning which places we gonna visit here. There we met Nicolas a guy from Canada, he has already been in Rome for some days but he was also interested in seeing some places.
The first thing we visited was the Colosseum, it's still in a rather good condition and looks absolutely awesome. It's so amazing that people were able to build such huge buildings, more than two thousand years ago. Thank to some good royals in the past it got repaired several times and no one destroyed it, would have been a big lost.

Next to the Colosseum is the Foro Palatino con Mostra. This place is a very big ruin, only few buildings are still in a good condition. At the beginning the area of this ruins did not look that big, but after getting around a corner there were more and more ruins, again a corner and even more. It felt like we entered a separate town made of ruins. It did not seem to end at all.

From the Foro were the bath of some ruler used to be we got a view to the circus Maximus, at this moment Bernd did not know that it was the rest of the circus, it more looked like a construction area and some lawns.
After walking through the ruins for ages, don't get it wrong, it still was interesting there, only another expression to say how big this area is, we left the ruins and headed to the capital. A big white building, located on a small hill and giving a good overview above Rome. Good that this town has no skyscrapers blocking the view.

Next we headed to the building with the hole in the ceiling, no damage here. The Pantheon was build that way, we got here the wrong time so the light was not falling to the marked circle on the floor but it was still nice there. Some funny thing happened there, the guys taking care of this place made an announcement in several languages to remind the tourists to be silent, so far not really interesting, but in German they said that the people should talk silently not like the other announcements telling to shut up. Also the persons walking around there were strange, it did not bother them having people sitting around at the columns, dropping trash outside, but they do not want to have someone sitting there and taking off the shoes. It was outside in front of it ... strange rule.

Fontana di Trevi, only a short walk away from the Pantheon was the next stop, good that everything is so close by. The fountain is not so huge, but worth seeing and being there. As expected it was totally crowded, but not enough to make Bernd mad about all this people passing by, so we still could take a picture or two.
Since we got here I also flipped a coin into the fountain, don't know if it really works but it's worth trying.

This time Bernd was not the first one, who needed a break from walking around and getting back to the hostel. Nico was so exhausted that he could not keep on walking, he brought out an excuse about having some work to do. Well we kind of believed him and let him of the hook and leave. So as usual Bernd and I kept on exploring, like never getting tired of it.
So we went to the Spanish stairs, not only one time. Because we got there during the daytime we also went there later at night, to get the feeling of the way the people are living here, also the tourists always being interested in special places.

Greetings to Maria from Bernd, we had to search a while for your founders stone at the Piazza del Popolo, seems like the only founders stone left or the only one we were able to find a name on. Too late we realized that the Leonardo da Vinci museum was close by, otherwise we also would have taken a look inside.

Go to Palio di Siena yes/no

As we did not see much of the town the day we got in this region, we are now going into the big town and look what we could find here. Today also il Palio is taking place, so the town will be totally crowded and overwhelming.
So the big question was if we gonna stay in there and also watch the race or get back to Colle di Val D'elsa a few hours earlier and still be able to take the bus. Not like the day before, walking through the Tuscany. This time it would be about 16 kilometres.

After reading about the horse race and the fact that Bernd is already scared when he sees a horse from far away and this race being one of the most dangerous races in the world.
So three big points and also not really interested in a horse race made us decide to leave earlier.

So far for the plan. From the bus stop we could directly walk into the amazing old part of this town. There were so many small alleys and old buildings so we felt like we were sent back into time. The stuff the people wore only ruined this image, but could not ruin our dreams about the past.

We have been walking around for a while until we arrived at the Piazza del Campo, the place where the horse race takes place, the time we got there the place was still open for public and we stood there and had amazing feelings being in this place. Appearing like standing in the middle of an arena like a gladiator. Next to the place is the Torre del Mangia a huge tower you can also walk up and get a great view above the town.

But we did not get up there, cause we still were more in the mood of exploring the town and walk around, like saving this experience for later. Our feet lead us to, they did not lead us far away from the Piazza del Campo. Pretty close by we found the cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (-> wonna know more ?), what an amazing building. Thank to the race and festival going on in the town it was free to get in there.

Next we got into the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana di Siena and upstairs to get a panoramic view. It was a better choice than the tower, because there was only a low handrail and not the huge battlements blocking our sight.

We had a great time in this ancient town and still had some more plans, we planed to meet with a nice Italian girl at a bar and maybe have some drinks and good conversations, we searched a rather long time to find the bar and when we got there she did not show up.
Since I was still looking around and may find her, Bernd got more and more unrelaxed, the citizens were closing most of the streets for their festival. So we got to the bus stop and headed back to the hotel, this time it did not work to calm him down.