OK Roma...You win.

            Sleeping in until at least 10am every morning, we would make our way to a local produce market and stock up on food for the day. Each day was a satisfying mosaic of getting lost on the cobble stone streets of Rome, sitting in front of amazing ruin after ruin, and eating loads and loads of Gelato. After 5 days, and probably a few pounds extra, we were a little sad to leave.

One of the fountains in one of the piazzas,

with yet another interesting sculpture.

Our favorite roman past-time, eating gelato. Chocolate, Pistacchio, &  Fragoli

             Everywhere you go in Rome, there seems to be some

             thing interesting to look at. 

              

The crypt of the Capuchin friars, tucked under the church of the immaculate conception. All of the friars of the Capuchin order are buried under the church. Their bones have been made to decorate the whole crypt in a very interesting way. Creepy and cool.                

Epic photo from the inside of Saint Peter's basilica. The most incredible cathedral in the world. 

Bocca della Verita, "the mouth of truth" we did not not get to put our hands in it, sadly.

                    The original entrance to the city, or so we were told by a drunken local.    

St. Peter's basilica 

                                                              La Pieta, Michelangelo's masterpiece!

The valley of the Caferella, a delightful park that offers a bit of respite from the city.

One of the greatest things about Italy is all the drinking fountains

      Ninfeo di Egeria, an ancient fountain hidden in the valley of the Caferella

Trevi Fountain

We ate bags of fresh, and delicious, cherries every day. They were super cheap from the local produce markets

Roman Forum

Colosseum

Salami sandwiches and colossal ruins

Italia!

After we said our goodbyes to Spain we headed to Italy, Florence to be exact. I was so excited to go because I am a huge fan of the renaissance painter Botticelli, and this is the city where his painting “The Birth of Venus” is displayed. Since we only had a day in a half in Florence we went straight to the museum. Since we were limited on time we had to skip seeing the real David which was both costly and in another museum. Instead we opted for the replica that stood in the spot where the real one was originally. I thought it was more interesting to see the David in the original spot. We really enjoyed our short stay in Florence, we captured a small portion of this romantic city, but I would recommend staying longer so that you can really soak up the city and really appreciate it.

a Florentine Parade- it was cool because they were dressed in renaissance era clothing

the Main River

An interesting shot that rusty took

Hercules killing a centaur- you know every day stuff being sculpted

Perseus killing Medusa( this was Rusty's Favorite Sculpture)

The David ( replica) in the original spot

Duomo- (dome) in the background- This is what Florence is also famous for

We thought Spain was full of Spaniards…typical us.

In an effort to keep costs down we have attempted “couchsurfing.” We have belonged to the community of “couch surfers” for a couple of years and have yet to make a real effort to stay with anyone. After re-entering Europe from Morroco we started emailing dozens of fellow couch surfers for a place to stay in Barcelona. Needless to say, we weren’t met with any real success finding free room. We did, however, receive one reply from Paul, a fellow couch surfer who runs a small tour operation outside of Barcelona who was willing to give us free room for two nights, after which we would have to pay for the subsequent nights. We decided to stay with Paul at the “No Worries Villa” due to the relatively low price.

Budget Travel Rule #1 – Make sure you have detailed directions to where you are going to be staying. Detail what public transport to take and what time to take it. Note the phone number for the place you are staying and an exact address.

Arriving in Barcelona early from an overnight train, we realized that we didn’t know where we were going. About 5 Euros worth of change eaten by a payphone and metro ride to an obscure town on the outskirts of Barcelona we found our way to the No Worries. Untold numbers of couch surfers have been lured to this lovely old Spanish villa nestled in the hills outside of Barcelona. We were given private accommodation amidst dorm rooms filled with bunk beds. Relieved of our bags and thoroughly confused by the cult-like atmosphere of the Villa we decided to go back into the city for the day.

The Sagrada Familia, chuch, like no other church in the world

A giant food market

Full cured pigs legs that are thinly sliced for your eating pleasure, Spanish prosciutto.

Barcelona won us over instantly, the Dr. Seuss-like surrealist art and architecture combined with medieval cobblestone roads and buildings, makes for a very magical place. We spent the next few days sleeping late and venturing into the city until we felt the need to go home. We really changed our pace there, taking everything in stride.

Drinking form an ancient fountain in the Cathedral of Barcelona, the water was excellent.

Graffiti is one of the dominant art forms in the city

No need to explain why we find this funny

The set of a beautiful water fountain show that we watched for hours one night

View of Barcelona from Guell Park

Guell park with our Barcelona travel mate

To Spain!

The mornings in Morocco are the choicest part of the day; quiet, cool, and the sun casts shadows everywhere as if teasing in another hot day. Not knowing what time the buses left for the north coast we headed to the station early in hopes of catching a ride to Tetouon, a town nestled in the Rif mountains above the coast. Tetouon was a beautiful town that doesn't see many tourists, every scammer around seemed to lift an ear as we came into the city and made their best efforts to work their magic on us. We had one incredulous fellow try to corner us in the stairwell of our hotel, insisting that he could offer us better accommodations for a lower price. We told him to hit the road, so naturally he followed us up to reception where he kept trying to talk to us, trying to see our passports, we told him to go away again and again but he would not relent until we went into our room. We figure he had told reception that he had brought us here and that he deserved a commission, we may never know. We spent one more day walking through the Moroccan markets while drinking glass after glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.
The next morning we were gone again, headed to Ceutas, a Spanish enclave on the tip of Africa, where we caught a ferry to Algeciras, Spain. You can actually see across the straight of Gibraltar to Europe. It only takes about 30 minutes to cross by ferry. From Algeciras we took a bus through the beautiful Spanish countryside to Malaga, Spain. We spent a day wandering the streets of Malaga, savoring the sweet ocean air and enjoying not being hassled by scammers. We then set off for Barcelona on an overnight train.


The streets of Malaga


Cool old Moorish fortress



Lunch in Malaga


A cool covered promenade in Malaga


Overnight train, Looks like first class but does not feel like it with crazy people sitting next to you all night long.