Today we were off to Verona where we'd decided to stay for a couple of nights, but first was a slight 80km detour to make a morning stop in Pisa. There's not much to see or do here other than the famous leaning tower so we'd decided that a drive thru visit was the best option. Back on the road we pushed on towards Verona, again the generous speed limits allowing us to cover ground in good time. Must say though I'm a bit over these damn tunnels, we must have gon...

Today was all about exploring and hiking the Cinque Terra so we were up early and walked to the jetty ready to take the first boat around the coast line/bluff to the southern most town of the Cinque Terre. Unfortunately we found out that the sea was too rough today to be able to take the boats out so we headed off to the train station to catch the first train instead. The Cinque Terre means "five lands", these are the five fishing villages along this 9...

This morning we had to say goodbye to Nice make our way out of France as Italy was eagerly awaiting our arrival. Having already visited Monaco we decided to get on the toll roads and get some kilometers under our belts, there were nearly 300 of them to get through, before turning off at the town of Menton so we could cross the border next to the ocean. The border crossing was swift, the street signs simply change language, so we pushed on down the coast road with...

Our last day in Nice kicked off this morning by taking the free walking tour offered by the hostel (one of the reasons it's a top 10 hostel) and given that they only run on Wednesday and Friday we couldn't miss the opportunity. The tour ran for a little over an hour and provided a great insight into the history of the area and it's culture. Interestingly it's only been French for about 150yrs after being ruled by Sardinia before that, this Italian influence is st...

Our hostel in Nice is brilliant, easy to see why it's named by Lonely Planet as one of the 10 best hostels in Europe, and it has a car park! The staff are cheerful and friendly, the common areas are big and vibrant and you can buy dinner from the chef or cook your own meals. It's situated back from the ocean but they run a shuttle every 15-20 minutes (till 2am) to the tram which takes you down the hill to where the action is at a cost of only $1 euro. With all th...