Ancient ruins and beautiful coastlines

We got off to a rocky start in Rome, with a complicated journey that finally ended in a campsite in Aurelia, in the outskirts of Rome. We arrived late in the afternoon, but after dumping our bags decided to head back into the city.

The Spanish Steps were insanely overcrowded, but we got the shot. The Trevi Fountain was our next stop, where Lauren threw a coin over her left shoulder, then got paranoid and had to go back and throw one over her right shoulder as well.

The Panthenon was impressive, and Pizza Navona was entertaining with strange street performers including a Michael Jackson hand puppet. We crossed over the Tiber River and walked through the narrow streets and back along the river bank through the night markets.

The next morning we ventured to Palatine Hill and the infamous Colosseum, the sun was shining and the tourists were out in full swing. Palatine Hill is the site of ancient palaces and temples, now its just a bunch of ruins but still impressive. The Colosseum was an ancient sports arena for gladiator and animal contests, but we didn't manage to spot Russell Crowe. We spent the late afternoon in Vatican City, going into St Peters Basilica and the tomb of the Popes.

Because it was Sunday the Vatican Museums were closed, so we came back the next morning and sped through the Sistine Chapel before our train to Sorrento in the Bay of Naples. Here we got VIP treatement from our campgound, being upgraded from a tent to a cabin so we were living the highlife.

Pompeii was high on the list of things to do, so we caught the train out and walked around the burried city, tacking onto the back of tour groups here and there to get the real story. That afternoon we jumped on a bus to the Amalfi Coast, getting off at Positano which was a lot like Cinque Terre with its cliff top houses and overhanging windy roads.

Our time in Italy was up so we planned to catch a ferry from Brindisi to Patras, but this turned out to be a full day mission when our train from Naples was cancelled, so we eventually got on a bus to Bari and managed to catch the overnight ferry to Patras. When we arrived we bought a bus ticket to Olympia, but being the ultimate tourists that we are, forgot to notice the one hour time difference from Italy. So we were sitting on the bus station floor, enjoying our chip and cheese sandwiches while our bus left for Olympia minus two. It all worked out in the end and we arrived in Olympia late that evening.

Olympia was a bit of a ghost town, but we liked it. The hostel was small and family owned, and being their only guests we got the royal treatment (the owners were an old couple we nicknamed Maude and Claude, who seemed to yell at each other a lot and pee with the door open!)

The next morning we headed to the olympic archeological site before the hoardes of tour buses arrived, and a highlight was enjoying the empty olympic running track with no one else around. Just as we were done the bus loads arrived, so we felt pretty lucky to be there when we were.

That afternoon we caught a bus to Athens, and eventually found our hostel in an area called Omonina. Its a bit of a grotty area but luckily we only had the one night here as we managed to get a ferry to the island of Paros for this evening. Today we wandered around the Acropolis, visiting the Parthenon, Erechtheion, the National Gardens, Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Greece is hot, but we're not complaining as we much prefer it to torrential rain. We have a few nights in Paros, then Santorini, before catching a ferry to Turkey via Rhodes.