Freya & Us

Back to our engine 'mistake' - it turned out we needed spare parts and so we had a few more days before it could be fixed! We decided we'd done all there was to do in Marina de Pisa and so booked a hotel in Florence for the night. The next day we took the bus back to Pisa and then the train to Florence. The old town is stunning but I have to say our overriding megmory will be of the crowds! Around the main areas you shuffle around people in camera bubbles trying not to get crushed. We went to Piazza Michelangelo which is on a hill looking over the city and that was better and the view very impressive. There were huge queues to see the Duomo and so we didn't see inside but there are lots of other amazing churches.

We paid extra to reserve a slot to get into the Ufuzzi gallery to avoid the 3 hour queue but inside it was very difficult to appreciate the art for the cameras. The Galileo museum was amazing though (and not crowded) with lots of early navigational and scientific bits including Galileo's telescopes - the very first telescopes ever made! Florence certainly has style, even our budget hotel by the station had a fresco on our bedroom ceiling, but the crowds made it very hard to appreciate it.

We didn't realise until the next morning that the specialist specialist engineer had been and our engine was fixed! Not only that, after the obvious huge gale we'd escaped while in Florence there were a few days of settled weather forecast. We could leave! We spent the day going to the supermarket and paying our bills. The marina bill turned out to be better than expected as they gave us a discount for staying 2 weeks but the engineer's hurt a bit at 735€!

Early the next day we headed off on the 30 hour passage to Rome. We decided to do it in one trip as the weather has been unsettled and our next visitors were due to arrive soon. We'd also been told that this bit of coast was a bit boring. The weather forecast was unusually accurate and we had the best sail of this year - unfortunately much of it in the dark! We passed Elba and the Tuscan Archipelago including Gigilo where we were careful to avoid the rocks as that's where the Costa Concordia went aground. Overnight the winds became gusty going between 15 and 25 knots and the sea became very choppy and so we decided to motor sail that bit as it was going to be hard work all night. The moon was almost full and despite the clouds it gave us a bright night and when it disappeared so did the clouds leaving amazing stars. As the sun rose the wind dropped and the sea became still, beautiful, but the wind soon picked up again so that we could finish with a lovely sail to Porto di Roma.

We've heard many warnings about how dangerous the entries to marinas along this coast can be and how they frequently close them in a big swell but here we saw the first evidence of this, with the remains of a yacht bashed against the rocks while trying to enter the marina just 3 weeks ago! The warnings clearly need to be taken seriously!

On our first day here we established that Ostia (where the marina is) is a bit of a dump apart from the sea front! On our second day we discovered we could get the bus from the marina and the metro into central Rome for just 1.50€ - bargain! And what a brilliant day we had. We decided we would try and find things to do away from the 'A' list of attractions until our visitors arrive. We walked from the station finding lots more ruins around the forum area which were all amazing but as Rome has so much they aren't significant - hard to believe! We went to the beautiful gardens of Villa Borghese with its walks, ponds and fountains and stunning views over the city and finally went under the Palazzo Valentino which is now a city admin office. They've found 2 Roman Domus underneath mixed with the foundations of the palazzo. You walk over the ruins on glass floors and as well as seeing what's actually there which are impressive baths, mosaic floors, marble walls and rooms; Lights and 3D graphics are used to highlight it and then show how it may have been. The final part is the recent discovery of potentially Trajan's temple under our feet, the story of the column using unbelievable 3D film and finally a view of the column from right next to it. An absolutely amazing tour.

We've now discovered a good point in Ostia - a great fresh food market everyday including a couple of stalls selling wine in plastic bottles filled from huge vats. We bought some at 1.2€ per litre to try! The same day we cycled along the coast and had a picnic on the beach - quite a boring, straight coast with lots of Italian private beach clubs but still a lovely afternoon.

Unfortunately the station we arrive at in Rome is just off of our map (that we had to buy!) which means a magical mystery tour towards the centre each time. But what's amazing about Rome is that there are always interesting things around each corner. This time we found a Commonwealth WW2 military cemetery, a lovely market and the remains of a Roman landing stage on the river Tiber which was in use nearly a millennium later. Up until the 1300s it had 50 ships per day unloading on it. Our destination today (once on the map) was the Great Synagogue which was very expensive and vaguely interesting but a bit of a rip off. After lunch though we wandered around the piazzas of Argentina, Novana and Camp do Fiori which all had a lovely atmosphere with artists selling their wears, buskers, market stalls and interesting old streets joining them together. Another good day in Rome! Our trip back to the off the map train station this time involved a tram, a bus and a metro - I'm sure there must be an easier way!

Today we are getting Hotel Freya ready for her next set of visitors, Paul's brother and sister. Rita is staying on board, but as always, Andrew has opted for one of Rome's best hotels.

Click here for the interactive map of our travels