14.

13.

12.

11.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Dozza murals

Every few years Dozza invites artists to come and paint murals around the town. Here are some.

The helpers.

A beast in our bathroom.

Cherries that failed quality control.

Farm dog & farm cat.

The vineyard as seen from our room.

The view from the farm.

Dozza Farm stay

We spent 11 days in a little village situated about 25kms outside of Bologna. We stayed at a small family run farm run by Victoria and Davide. At the farm they had around 10 goats 3 of which milk goats the rest meat goats, 6 cows, 3 extremely free range chickens, 2 ginormous pigs, 2 dogs, 3 cats and 4 kittens, best not forget their two little monkeys Charlotte and Isabel. Also there were 2 other help ex's to start with Rosie from Israel and Nick from New Zealand. Later on in the stay Sylvia from America joined us. We spent our days looking after the vines, feeding the goats, cherry picking, looking after the girls and a little bit of painting and decorating. In exchange we recieved lovely food fresh from the farm and a very nice size living area which we had all to ourselves. Lovely family, made us feel very welcome.

More street ladies.

Street ladies (red light district).

Inside the humbug.

The humbug cathedral again.

The humbug cathedral.

The port.

Main road into Genoa.

Main piazza.

Into Genoa.

Genoa

One of our most favourite towns so far! A lively port town which perfectly combines everything you would need in a modern city with the charms and narrow alleyways of its past. We arrived in the outskirts of the town, which is a more industrial area. On our walk into the centre we stopped off at a tiny cafe where we enjoyed some very nice pizza and coffee. Having got lost wandering around the many back streets we eventually found the centres cathedral. This beautiful building looked like a huge humbug from the outside which made it unique. Inside was as you would imagine, grande', full of black and white marble columns. Getting lost again in the narrow twisting alleyways we found to our suprise a mini red light district, bustling with crowds and cheap food and clothes shops. It was almost as though we were back in Amsterdam.

GENOA = 9/10

When im a spy my missions will start from here.

Yachts. i want one.

Moretofino.

Boats in Portofino.

Portofino,

Our swimming pool.

The view from our tent. Sestri Levante.

Liguria and Portofino.

We were very lucky to have got onto our beautiful campsite in Sestri Levante, Liguria. When we eventually arrived, there was a sign outside saying campsite full for campers and caravans. Having been driving for a long time and being lost for a while we decided to ask anyway to see if they could fit us in. When they did manage to squeeze us in we were very happy as this site was great. It was set amongst the Ligurian Appenines looking over the sea. It also had a good size outdoor swimming pool and the perfect weather for us to use it everyday.

On our way to the campsite we drove past lots of little towns scattered along the beautiful coast. We saw Portofino and decided we would make a visit there at some point during our stay. The road into Portofino was long and windy with the car almost scraping the wall to fit through along side cars going in the opposite direction. Although at the time it seemed like hell the moment we got into the small town we realised the death defying driving was worth the sight of simply the town itself.The parking was €5 an hour so we decided to stay just for the hour but we wouldnt say it needed much more time anyway. Portofino is a very expensive port town, so we couldnt really afford anything however it was stunning. With lots of colorful houses looking out over the sea and extremely clear water it was the perfect place to just sit and relax for an hour.

LIGURIA = 7.5/10

Milan town centre.

Ooh dramatic.

Castle cats.

The castle that we looked at.

Black & white. Oooh arty.

View from the roof (Duomo).

On the roof (Duomo).

Statue of man carrying his skin (inside Duomo).

Inside the Duomo (again).

Inside the Duomo.

Duomo, Milano.

High end shops in Milan. Expensivo.

Milano.

After spending a few days relaxing around the lake we decided that as it was raining we would take a train into milan with Gavin (the suspected aristocrat). We got into town at about 10 in the morning and ate traditional italian mcdonalds for breakfast as most of the other eaterys in the area wanted 10 Euros for a sandwich!!. After breakfast Gavin went off to do whatever it was he wanted to do leaving us to explore Milan. Our first stop was the magnificent Duomo where you can climb the stairs and walk about on the roof. We then walked from the centre of Milan out to some castle and looked at it. Deciding it was time to eat again we headed back towards the centre and found a massive crowd of locals queing outside a local bakery so decided to join them, im not sure what we had there as we have never tasted anything quite like it before, i can only describe it as similar to hot freshly baked donuts but with tomato and mozzarella inside, Yum yum.

MILAN = 7.5/10

Amy posing in Como.

Lago di Como.