I want an otter. When they eat they roll onto their back and hold the food in their paws. If they have excess food they hold it on their chest. It is so cute. So my first day in Lisbon included seeing aquatic animals. It actually started with a visit to the church of santa maria. Then onwards to Castelo St Jorge. There were peacocks and penhens co-existing with cats at the castle. The castle itself had a tower with a periscope (made old school di Vinci style wit...

I have the morning free to wander around Venice (as my flight to Lisbon is until 9pm). After a bit of research given where I was staying and availability of airport transfers (none that afternoon) and proximity of buses I decided the best way would be to check out, take the shuttle into Venice with my luggage, leave my luggage at the train station, wander around Venice then take the bus to the airport (the cheapest and easiest to find option). Yeah, it worked alt...

My last morning in Florence. I had booked a train to Venice for 1.30pm that day so had a few hours to wander. I met up with Shiho at her hotel and we went to the food market. Think a huge market with stalls of fresh fruit, vinegar and oils, wine, fresh pasta, butchers and a few eateries. Beautiful! We got caught up at the balsamic vinegar stall especially after the vinegar we had the night before. I tasted an 8 year, 12 year and a 20 year. As the vinegar ages it ...

Shiho and I had an early start to see as much of Florence as possible. We started the day with walking to piazza del duomo and admiring the outside (as it was Sunday you couldnt go in until the afternoon). We then walked to Piazza della signoria where a number of statues live, including a copy of Michealango's David (hes so much larger in real life). This also next to the Galleria degli Uffizi (which houses a heap of priceless and immediately recognisable artwork...

Back in the big big city. Ive had about 5 hours of broken sleep on a bus and its been arranged for me to get off the bus on the Asian side of Istanbul due to the time of my flight and that I fly out of the airport which is an hour away from the Old City on the European side (if I went from the Old City it would mean cutting it fine to make the check in time and a horrendously expensive taxi). So at 6.00am I was cerimoniously dropped off at the most chaotic bus st...