Hvar - 2 blow jobs please.... oh, and extra cream!

I'm on a boat, I'm on boat, MOFO

A taxi, a plane, a bus, a boat, and another bus later, we arrived at the island of Hvar!! This beautiful little piece of paradise is located off mainland Croatia - a brilliant retreat for either families or party-goers. Excitement enveloped us as we finally arrived somewhere where we wouldn't sight see and could just chill by the beach! If you visit Croatia we highly advise you to visit one of the islands (the beaches here can be more beautiful and picturesque than the mainland) - though make sure that you go to Hvar town on the island of Hvar, not to Stari Grad on Hvar island. Although most of them are rocky, the clear-blue seas and all-year round hot weather will surely suffice. And of course, the nightlife on Hvar is quite an experience - even offering enough glitz and glamor for prince Harry (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2031219/Prince-Harry-plunges-swimming-pool-nightclub-Hvar-Croatia.html?ito=feeds-newsxml)
The island is very small, you can pretty much walk to most places you need. Slight issue for those who are trying to avoid a mistake/embarrassing moment from the night before.... ;)

Villa Skansi!!

Accommodation - Once again, we chose brilliant accommodation. Our hostel - Villa Skansi - is located on top of a hill - a 10 minute walk from the centre of town. The rooms are lovely and clean, and so are the bathrooms, and there is also a shared kitchen and even a communal bar area! The design is modern and Mediterranean with a lovely ocean view. Price is brilliant at about £17 a night. Beware though, upsetting the landlords is not a great idea - we have a first hand experience of this. After having our room over-booked, we made a complaint - which we felt was totally valid,unfortunately the owners felt we were being irrational and were very annoyed. According to other travellers, over-booking in hostels is rather common - we however thought otherwise, and although our (may we add POLITE) complaint caused a bit of a stir, we still paid a bit less money. Anywayyy,  do not let that story dishearten you - even with such an experience we would definitely recommend going here, it really is a beautiful hostel in a great location too - clean, comfortable and also an excellent place to meet fellow travellers.

Ella riding DA BOAT

Hvar isn't a place for sight-seeing, but its a great spot for chilling and exploring. You can rent quad-bikes/bicycles and go for a small expedition around the small island. For the more adventurous type (like us) you can rent a motor boat for the day - highly recommended!!! We did nearly die.... Joking!.. well not really... :s (we crashed head on into another boat) but apart from that, it was so much fun and the surrounding islands are SOSO beautiful - breathtaking views and beaches!! And you get the hang of how to sail it after a while.

Hoola Hoola beach club is a cool place to hang out in during the day - music, sunbathing, drinks and good food are an excellent mix for those who want to jam in style :)

mmmm fishy

Food - The food here is good, you can find most foods here, even pizza and pasta. BUT they mostly serve seafood so if you are a fan, you can just soak it all up! If you aren't such a big fan, finding the perfect meal may be a little bit more tricky.

LOCAS ON TOUR!!!

Nightlife - Our top favourites were a dance-bar called Nautica (brilliant pop music for those who love listening to the latest dance/club tunes and pop-chart toppers) and of course CARPE DIEM! This club is INSANEEE you cannot miss it (and you probably won't as there aren't THAT MANY clubs in Hvar). You meet at the club on Hvar after which you board a boat that transports you over to a tiny party island across the water!!! A really cool experience, and both boat and club entry is for 60kn (about £7). Be warned, drinks are very expensive on the little island, so word of advice - pre-drink before or in the clubs/bars dotted around Hvar town centre - they are all located in the same place.

Roma - We nearly got RUN OVER, no biggie.

(For a quick summary, scroll to the final paragraph)  
No train delays this time, wooppieee :) Even so, we were exhausted as we left the train and still had to drag our suitcases over a number of cobbled streets, a draining exercise after a long travel day. Thankfully, our B&B wasn't far from the train station so we were soon put out of our misery.

MEAT

*It's time for us to boast and mention that once again, we chose the best accommodation. Rose B&B is a lovely little place located 'underground' (in a basement, though we promise, it's not scary and is wayyyy better than it sounds!!) in the heart of Rome - only a 7 minute walk away from the Colosseum! Price is prettayyy cheap at about €22 a night. A sweet couple run the B&B - they provide free breakfast (albeit its not for those looking for a luxurious start to the morning - mostly cakes, toast and spreads, fruit and of course hot drinks), as well as free internet connection on the computers in the room (oh facebook, how we missed you :D). The rooms are clean and so are the bathrooms (even though they are shared). Only slight issue is that you can't be too loud at night, though that shouldn't be much of a problem for most. The kitchen facilities are great and a brilliant way to save money on meals - the supermarket is only about 8 minutes away. One night Ella and Dora made a delicious steak dinner with roast veg - proof that you can make your own mouth-watering menu without having to spend a lot of money (see top right). Such a dinner followed a serious group carb-crisis that was sparked after our concern over Myra feeling weak - after which us locas started eating more healthily by loading on our fruit, veg and protein.

--------Here comes another fellow-traveller appreciation moment: SHOUT-OUT to Bruna (the awesomely friendly Brazilian we met, who taught Erin how to say bitch in Portugese - Safada) and Izi (the most hilarious English girl with the funniest expressions and stories)---------

Myra Hydrating

A little word of advice, Rome is sweltering in summer - and the choking pollution doesn't help - (in particular in mid-July when we were there) making it difficult to sight-see, especially if you are exhausted from having gone out the night before. So perhaps if you just want to sight-see a cooler month may be a good idea (May/September) - but realistically, many people visit in summer anyway which of course is manageable - you just need to make sure you have water with you wherever you go and perhaps some snacks for energising.

Colosseum

Sightseeing - buy the 3 in 1 ticket for the Colosseum, Palatine and Forum (a.k.a Roman ruins) - only €7.50 for all three! You need to queue when getting it at the first location you go to, but it allows you to skip the queue at the other places. Be warned: queues are long, so try and go as it opens or just before! You absolutely cannot miss out on these sights! They are a great way for you to try and imagine just what it was like to have lived in ancient Rome.
- Vatican City State - obviously VERY LONG QUEUES (because everyone wants to go!) so keep a full day free for this. It might be extra busy on Wednesdays because that is when the Pope usually comes out (Turned out he was away on the Wednesday we went :(...) We suggest beginning with the museums because if you go to the Basilica first you may be too tired to walk around the museum after. Entry isn't expensive at €8 for the museums. Have an EARLY NIGHT before so you at least have some energy to walk around and soak in the culture. Queuing may be long and tedious, but it certainly is worth it - countless works of art from paintings, to artifacts to sculptures. Even if you are not religious or are an atheist, this is still worth seeing!! Also, it is possible to send a postcard to family/friends from the Vatican City so look out for that. Word of advice, bring a sandwich/packed lunch for the day as many of the restaurants inside the museums are very expensive, and also not the most amazing! (Prices for hot drinks are quite standard though). Entry to the Basilica (largest church in the world) is free. No doubt this is also a must - the awe-inspiring Late Renaissance church is a beautiful masterpiece not to be missed.

TREVIIIII

- Trevi Fountains - also an absolute must - they are stunning! "It is the largest Baroque (European Architecture) fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world." A lovely place to sit and have lunch.
- The Pantheon is also gorgeous - one of ancient Rome's best preserved buildings. It was "commissioned by Marcus Agrippa as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD."
- We highly recommend going on walk in the evening, perhaps to the Spanish steps (dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church at the top),  were you can just relax and soak in the warm summer's feel - maybe even get an ice cream :O.
- Walk around the city centre and find a nice place for lunch.
- If you are staying in a central location just buy the €1 metro ticket - its a one stop ticket but if you won't be using it too often its not worth buying a more expensive one.


Food -
- Gelato!! mmmmmm ICE CREAMMMMMM --> you must visit an ice-cream place called Flori, they serve divine home-made great-quality ice-cream.

Penis Pasta with White Sauce....

-Erin and Myra carried a bag of Italian pasta all the way from Rome, through Croatia and Amsterdam to London - a real challenge with such a fragile item. Look out for cool pasta bags, they have a million different shapes. Our personal favourite was, of course, penis pasta.


Nightlife - 

Dora and Ella having Black Absinthe!

We didn't go out enough in Rome to have a great idea of what the nightlife was like, BUT the pub-scene is prettay awesome. As everywhere else we visited in Europe drinking only starts at 11/12 - so for Lonodners used to pre-drinks at 9/10, forget it! You can chill till later and start getting ready when you want - clubs only peak after 1 really. There are countless clubs dotted around Rome, perhaps its worth asking the people working at the place you are staying at for the best nightlife. Some bars offer REALLY CHEAP drinks - keep your eyes peeled for €1 shots!!


                                                                                                            

Summary

1. There is so much sight-seeing in this exciting city!!! It's not difficult to find out what to do, just ask for a map or do a quick search online, though none will be as descriptive of local lifestyle as ours ;). Top of the list: Colosseum, Trevi Fountains, Vatican City.
2. For nightlife - go to the place where loads of the clubs/bars are located and go on a mini pub-crawl with your friends - you will meet loads of cool strangers :D
3. Food - need we say it? Indulge in the best ice-cream, pizza and pasta while you can.
 

*All quotes sources are from Wikipedia

Firenze - my oh my David, put it away!

Travellers to the MAX

(For a quick summary, scroll to the final paragraph) 
On they marched, the five girls, nearer and nearer to their next destination. What a shame that they missed their train..... On arrival to Venice central station (an hour early) to depart for Florence, we were extremely annoyed to find out that our train had been delayed for a further 20 minutes. To try and pass the time we sat just at the entrance of the station, trying to soak up some sun and forget about the hunger cramps (prices were steep at the station and if you have learned anything about us - we were ON A BUDGET). 10 minutes before the end of the scheduled delay we entered the station to find out that our train had JUST gone without us - earlier than it was supposed to have left. If you thought we were annoyed before, boy were we angry now. An aggravating hour of heated arguments, long-winded explanations and fruitless demands with the train company followed: we were forced to surrender. The moral of the story is this: Italy is Italy. Expect a certain lack of courtesy and information. Oh, and if there is a 'scheduled' delay, be sure to stay by your train, juuuust in case it decided to leave without you :)

Successful Laundry-ing

That aside, we were excited to arrive in Florence after a grueling travel day. We quickly found out that we were staying in the most AWESOME hostel --> Plus Florence! A chain of hostels which apart from providing a clean and comfortable place to rest your head (as well as 2 bars, a restaurant, washing service, pool and sauna) are brilliant for meeting other travellers and generally some of the nicest and funniest people. SHOUT OUT to Simon and Derek - some of the coolest and friendliest people we met. Simon no doubt made our night by bringing on the groove on our little bar-hop.

What to do in Florence?

Food

A thick and silky cup of chocolate paradise

For a cheap coffee and pastry in the morning, turn right when leaving Plus Florence and walk down towards the several cafes dotted around. On the left hand-side of the road there is a cafe (that we think is called) 'Jolly cafe'- veryyy cheap and great quality Italian coffee and pastries.
If you want to stop for long break and enjoy Florence's famously mouth-watering chocolate cake and hot chocolate selection, as Dora and Ella did, visit Caffe Rivoire - on the Piazza della Republica, close to the Uffitzi.
Much to Simone's disappointment, no one in Florence knew what a pizza florentina is.... strange no!?!?!?

Sight-Seeing

You can get a map from you hostel/hotel and the people at reception will no doubt explain to you where you should go. It is possible to do quite of bit of Florence in one day (as Simone, Erin and Myra discovered), though if you really want to see everything and discover the ins-and-outs of the city, you need a good 3 maybe 4 days.

Sneaky picture :)

Top of the list is definitely the Pitti Palace - an extra-ordinary, beautifully decadent masterpiece whose large exterior doesn't suggest such marvels to be concealed within its walls - an endless amount of rooms filled with a breathtakingly detailed art collection displaying Florence's royal history. At the ticket-booth you can buy a pass either for the gardens or the museum (or both). We bought the museum ticket which was undoubtedly the right choice. If you are unsure, we suggest you visit the museum first and then see whether you would also like to visit the gardens. For both you need at least half a day, and for the museum - a good 2 or 3 hours. While we are sure the gardens are marvellous, one could partly see them from the windows of the palace museum - as well as picturesque view of Florence, so we felt our money was well spent on the museum ticket.
Second comes the Academia - and if you don't know much about art history, one the only things you will find interesting (after long, hot hours spent in the queue, literally) is of course Michelangelo's David. There are countless other sculptures and paintings, all of which are also very beautiful, though they pale in significance next to David. Go early to try and at least avoid some of the queue, otherwise you will find yourself waiting for about 2 hours in the baking heat. At the Academia they don't accept a student card as a discount, but they do accept EU passport holders - so in total entry for Europeans should cost €5.50.
Another chart-topper is The Duomo, Florence's Cathedral. Make sure you are dressed modestly to enter (knees and shoulders covered). Also, the Medici chapels, Uffizi gallery, Ponte vecchio, Piazza dela republica and Piazza dela signoria. 

Nightlife

BEST MANDEM

Yes, there is a nightlife in Florence - to our surprise.  Far from being the Barcelona or Berlin of Europe, though enough to attract the cast of Jersey Shore ;) which is saying something! Although we didn't go there, the club Flo is supposed to be a high-end venue for party-goers looking to go wild and partayyy alllll nighhhtttt loooongggg.
Otherwise, you can also have a bit more of a chilled night in, or perhaps mingle with others on a hostel-organised pub crawl.
For more about nightlife either ask at your hostel/hotel or simply google search! Here comes another warning from Simone - BEWARE OF THE SLEAZE : girl to guy ratio is 1:10.

                                                                                                          

Summary

- Florence is a great place to explore world renowned culture, art and good food
- For accommodation - Plus Florence is highly recommended, and in general hostels are great for meeting other travellers
- For food - there are countless restaurants, cafes and ice-cream shops - you will no doubt find what suits you (you can also ask around at the place in which you are staying)
- Nightlife here is quite good, though you shouldn't feel bad if you take Florence as one of your places during a long trip to stay in and relax in the evenings

Venezia - Ciao Bella!

(For a quick summary, scroll to the final paragraph)
Four hours sleep, an aggravating taxi journey and a million toilet trips later we arrived at Barcelona airport. To catch a taxi to the airport you don't have to book in advance, even if you are travelling at five in the morning. Simply walk over to La Ramblas and flag down a passing cab - five seater taxis aren't common so if you travel in a big group you may have to split up. As you can see (to the right), we were hyped up and bursting with energy and excitement to begin our Italian leg of the journey....

What else is gonna wake ya up?!?!

On arrival to the airport, for a quick fix, Simone decided to whip out her muesli and... Do a line.... (well, not literally but the image was hilarious enough to send us into fits of laughter). Having regained some of our energies from a fibre boost we boarded the plane and headed to Milan! We couldn't get a direct flight from Barcelona to Venice on easyjet so settled for Milan - luckily for us the trip was easy and rather quick - as we landed in Milan we hopped on the bus to the central station (costing €6), after which we took the (two and half hour) train to Venezia :). Instead of waiting for our train to Venice we were able to change our tickets (with Tren Italia) to an earlier time at no charge, so if you arrive early at the station it's worth asking if there are spaces on an earlier train.

Travel in Venice

Since travel around more distant parts of Venice and to surrounding islands is by waterbus, we were told to purchase a student ticket that lasted for a few days. Now here comes our unsound advice - DO NOT BUY THIS STUPID TICKET!!! You may be thinking, well then, why did you buy it? We were fooled to believe (by people working at the station) that this ticket was a necessity and that travel without it was impossible, as was every other confused tourist that strolled out of the central station in Venice. Meanwhile, no ticket officer or waterbus driver EVER checked our ticket, EVER! This was most irritating, particularly because €22 was a huge sum of money for us on a small budget! So, we would advise you to perhaps not buy the ticket, HOWEVER, be warned, if you are caught without a ticket, you may be fined €50. Fine, that is considerably more than €22 and some of you may be thinking 'better safe than sorry', but, for those of you who live on the edge, it mayyyy be worth hedging your bets and not getting it- you could always come up with a cunning story about your ticket falling in the water, or that you didn't know you had to get one. Either way, DON'T BLAME US!!!!!

Expenses

Venice may be notorious for being expensive, though we can assure you that it is possible to travel on a budget - just keep your eyes peeled for bargains, and perhaps look for cafes or meals on quieter side-streets.

For accommodation - we stayed at a little hotel called Ca Mignon. It was just brilliant - we had our own mini apartment with an ensuite bathroom (a real necessity for our locas). The price tag per night was also not very expensive, at about €22 a night (considering the location is great {you can walk to San Marco Square in about 15 minutes}, and the staff there are very helpful).

For dining - what we believed was the BEST pizza restaurant of the entire trip - Casa Mia (located on Cannaregio, calle dell'Oca) a real Italian-style place located in a small side-street, perfect for a quiet evening eating delicious food and soaking up the local atmosphere. For very cheap ice-cream (about €1.30), you can walk down the main road not far from either Casa Mia or Ca Mignon, and you will no doubt find a number of ice-cream stalls - walk down nearer the end to see what suits your fancy or which stall is cheapest. Also, there is a fantasticccc little cafe right near Ca Mignon hotel offering very cheap cappuccinos which are nonetheless deliciously creammyy and satisfying ;)))

To save money (and time) at lunchtimes between sight-seeing, pop into a local supermarket and you can simply buy a large salad and perhaps a tin of tuna for some protein --> its great value for money.
If you are interested in spending a one-off ridiculous amount of money for top-quality baked goods while enjoying top-notch service and good music (as Dora and Ella did) - have tea at San Marco Square.

Gondola!!

For a Venetian experience - since gondola rides can be a touch (*major understatement*) on the pricey side, to get a taste of what its like to be on one look out for small cross channel gondola rides for about €0.50 lasting a few minutes - they may be short though the rides are fun and at least you get a taster of what one is like.

For sight-seeing - the Guggenheim Museum is the top museum of the list (a brilliant modern art museum which appeals to most creative tastes), San Marco Square (which is dominated by the beautifully grand church of St Mark {which if you want to enter make sure you are dressed modestly - knees and shoulders covered}, beyond which is the church tower and before it is the Loggetta at the foot of the Campanile). Entry into the church of St Mark is about €4, though to enter some of the other sections within the church you may have to dish out a few extra euros. We would not recommend buying an €18 pass to all churches if you are only staying for a couple of days, it isn't worth it and you won't have the chance to go and see all of them.
You must however visit the island of Murano - The Glass Island!! There you can go to the glass factory and view the professionals effortlessly crafting beautiful masterpieces famously known as Venetian artworks. There are many little shops dotted around, though be warned, they are VERY expensive. It is worth checking out one of the first few shops that you see as you get off the waterbus at Murano - there Erin found a gorgeous little glass pendant for only €6 (which she bargained down to €4, ooooo yeeeeee!!!)

Do visit the old Jewish Ghetto, where you will also find the Jewish museum and synagogue - all of which have a fascinating history.
Another sight on your to-do-list must of course be the Rialto Bridge - the oldest bridge across the canal in Venice.

                                                                                              

Summary

- There are so many sights to see in Venice and beautiful little shops/cafes/restaurants to pop into, that its worth just walking around and taking the waterbus around different places for a full 2/3 days to soak in the atmosphere.
- There isn't really a nightlife here, so if you are going travelling for a long time, perhaps leave Venice as one of your more intensive tourist locations during the day but a good place to rest in the evenings. (oh, and word of advice, don't go to the Casino - leave the gambling for Vegas).
* Small warning from Simone: holla to all those suffering from pernoctation – a.k.a pigeon phobia – it is where your fear will come alive – common symptoms include hyperventilating and bad thoughts about ways in which you could harm the pigeons most (and no, she isn't joking).