I’m liking Florence already. It’s got the bustle of Sydney but a definite cool factor. We’re in the Hotel Medici, just around the corner from the Duomo. It’s 6 storeys high and has a roof terrace, but we haven’t got up there yet. Our room is small but has high ceilings and a window with shutters, so it has a nice feel to it.
florence day 1
Filed under italy
Venice – day 3
After finding internet last night we wandered through Cannaregio, which was a lot less frantic with tourists. I stopped at a mask shop to pick up a pressie for Mum and one for me (a swarovski encrusted metal filigree mask – niiiiice). Then we headed back to the hotel and had dinner at the restaurant next door. I had monkfish stew and rice. Not quite up to the standard of what the boys had (pizzaaaaaa) but very nice.
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Day 2 venice continued
Today we wandered back to Piazza San Marco in our efforts to find breakfast. My earlier idea about eating GF in Italy has taken a bit of a blow, as we ended up having gelato for breakfast as there was nothing we could find that wasn’t pastries!
Lunch was grilled prawns and polenta, which hit the spot much better.
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Venice – day 2
I touched down at Marco Polo airport in Venice after another 7 hours on the plane. Thank goodness I don’t have to catch another plane for two weeks!!
Lesson 1: there are two steps to public transport here – buy a ticket then you need to validate it! The girl at the bus stop was vehemently telling me something i didn’t understand, then repeated “stamp! stamp!” Apparently that;s what the unlabelled yellow box at the bus stop is for.
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Transit – Dubai
I just landed in Dubai. I’d forgotten just how warm and sticky it is here! We landed at 5am and it was already 36C and outside it’s like breathing soup. Inside the new Terminal 3 building is beautifully cool, and scarily huge. We had to go through security, then down escalators, then up three times the height of those escalators, right next to the first ones down! Not good for my fear of heights! 😉
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Gluten Free Travel
Since I’ve been gluten-free for over 10 years now, I’m getting pretty good at managing food overseas. A lot of the time I go without (at least there’s always chocolate!!) and I make sure I have muesli bars etc just in case.
Filed under italy
Istanbul again
The otobus from Izmir ended up taking a car ferry part of the way up to Istanbul, so even though we didn’t get a ferry ride all the way, we did get a boat ride!
Filed under turkey
Izmir
Izmir is quite interesting. It’s very cool that it’s a port on the Aegean, and there’s definite Greek influences! But we went to the bazaar today and got hassled a lot – still not quite as bad as Egypt, but worse than the Istanbul Bazaar!
Filed under turkey
Selcuk day 2 – Ephesus
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Two Weeks Away 
