Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse....

The Papal Palace and Avignon Bridge

Alex et Vanou

Perigueux and the Lascaux Cave's Prehistoric Paintings

Perigueux is a wonderful town, especially if like me you enjoy French culture's pate and foie gras. This town is renowned for the quality of its products. The best part of our stop in the area was for me our visit of some prehistoric caves that are so numerous in this part of the world. Lascaux II cave is a reproduction of the original Lascaux cave that had to be closed to public due to the slow decay of the beautiful and unique man-made paintings on the walls. The reproductions are so real you can't differentiate them from the real ones. Even the cave has been reconstructed to look like the original one only 200m away. Artists used the same instruments (wood, animal hair, etc) and pigments (red and yellow ocres mainly, charcoal, etc) to paint the figures. Other caves also showed original engravings and paintings, we even saw some pochoir of human hands!! I felt very special and lucky to finally be able to witness something our ancestors did thousands of years ago. Isabelle

Carcassonne, France

Venice, Italy

Welcome back! I know we have been terrible at this blog-writing in the past month, but believe me, it has become quite hard to find internet cafe that would let us use their USB port for me to plug my camera in. Hence the lack of posts published. Lots have happened since last time we actually "wrote" something, I believe it was in Albania at the time. Since then, we managed to visit Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Italy!! I guess that makes it look even worse, doesn't it? Well, at least I was able to post some pictures of all these places individually (so no one gets confused about where we went) in the past couple weeks. Budva in Montenegro was mainly a beach resort town, which was just perfect for us at that point. So we lazied on the pebbled beaches for a couple days before moving to Dubrovnik in Croatia, a beautiful fortified town. Tourist-o-plenty although. We got out the day after, wondering if we should have stayed longer but unable to bare the wave of people and the heat. Piece of advice for anyone who wishes to visit: Don't climb the fortress' walls at 2pm under a bright sunny sky, unless you maybe want to commit suicide by spontaneous combustion. On the itinirary that we had made up at that point, it was easier to leave Croatia now to go to Bosnia and plan to return later to see the Croatian islands. So that's just what we did. We stopped in Mostar for 2.5 days and were amazed at the place. Charged with history, we learned about the city's tumultuous past, especially during the Bosnian war. Mostar was the most bombed town of all Bosnia, causing nearly 90% destruction, including their beautiful 500 years old bridge (which was hit by the Serbs to prove a point). They had to rebuilt the entire town but left quite a few buildings standing up I don't know how so we don't forget. We had the best supper at a little place named "Hindin Han" where Nick had a mixed grill platter that was so big it was coming out of his ears (and that was the "half size"!?!) and I had 2 wonderfully barbecued fresh-water trout....Yum, I'm drooling just thinking about it!! So we left Mostar with a nice impression, especially after Dubrovnik... On we went to Sarajevo without knowing what to expect and I know that I left without feeling that I got into the grove of that city...The city is almost separated in 2, one part being the old muslim quarter with markets (mainly carpets, copper works and souvenirs) and then the modern city beside it. We had a tour of the tunnel that was gowing under the airport during the siege of the city (which lasted 4 years by the way) in the war. It served to bring food and ammunitions in Sarajevo. Without it, everyone would have died of hunger as the city was totally surrounded by the Serbs. Anyway, learned a lot about the war and the story of Sebrenitsa where 8000 people were murdered within a very short period of time. Makes you think about how good we have it back home....

After Bosnia, we decided to go to Korcula Island and Hvar Island in Croatia, somewhat to lift up our spirits from the heaviness of Bosnia. These islands' main town are very similar to each other in term of architecture, which matches the venitien period. Just beautiful. We basically relaxed for 4 days, went to the beach, strolled down the main streets, had good culinary experiences, etc... and then I had to decide what to do next...

Since I learned at the last moment that I was going home for my buddy Aaron's wedding (Good Luck Aaron on your wedding tomorrow, wish you all the best) for 1 week, I knew that this week would interfere with the time I had to see Italy, one of the places I was looking forward to the most. So it was decided that since Nick had already seen Rome, Florence and Venice, he would stay in the Balkans to explore more as I would go to Italy for 7 days to visit these cities. Well, I don't regret it at all....Italy is just so beautiful, and I've only seen some of the main cities!!! I just can't imagine what the country side is going to look like when we return later this summer. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I will let them speak. Just know that I enjoyed it very well and that no, I didn't get harassed by your stereotypical Italian male trying to get an easy one! I had a wonderful time, met some great people and gave me a new perspective of travelling as I did it on my own. Met up with Nick back in Venice yesterday for a few hours before my plane left to London. He is now in Seville, Spain.

Will post back later when new adventures are lived!
Until then, Ciao!
Isabelle

View of a small canal from another little bridge


Part of the Grand Canal



Another small side canal


Gondolas!!


Popular Murano Glass


San Marco's Basilica


View of the Grand Canal



Nick and I on the Ponte Rialto

Pisa, Italy

Florence, Italy

Ponte Vecchio, where all jewellers used to and still are


Ponte Vecchio at night


Do this guy need an introduction? The David, by Michelangelo


Gelato, anyone?


The Duomo, a beautiful cathedral


View of Florence from the Dome (hence Duomo) of the cathedral (next 2)

Rome, Italy

Trevi Fountain




Last 2 pics: View of Rome from the "Castel San Angelo"

For all asterix fans out there. A cool pub sign!


The Pope's Swiss guards


Michelangelo's first masterpiece: La Pieta


Inside St-Peter's Basilica


Vatican square


John Paul II's tomb inside St-Peter's Basilica


St-Peter's actual bones inside a stone casket


Sistine Chapel masterpiece by Michelangelo "The Birth of Adam"


Roman legionnaires (well, not real ones of course...)


The Colloseum


See how vast the Roman Empire was? Incredible!!

Korcula and Hvar Island, Croatia

Korcula fortified town. Very beautiful when viewed from the ferry and also viewed from the inside.

Hvar island, Stari Grad town. Man selling his "stuffed" fish mounted on a frame and behind, Nick's favorite little square.

Vorbroska town in Hvar Island, just a very nice place to walk around and spend couple hours contemplating the architecture and the fish (loads!) in the water.


Last two are from Hvar town in Hvar Island, BEAUTIFUL!!! That's all I've got to say. Oh yeah, and awesome food as well.

Mostar and Sarajevo, Bosnia

"A sarajevo rose", mark left by a shell that exploded on the pavement in that area. They are everywhere in sarajevo and some are filled with red paint to remember those who lost their lives.




Last 3 pictures where taken on the old muslim quarter in Sarajevo.


Natinal library that was burned by the Serbs just for the fun of destroying something beautiful. So many books were lost.




Last three pictures are from Mostar, Bosnia, which suffered the most destruction during the Bosnian war. Note that some of the buildings still have bullet holes in them and are practically falling apart. It is dangerous and therefore not recommended to go explore theses buildings as some mines haven't been found yet...food for thought...