Fez

It's cliched, but Fez is an overload on the senses: white skin means being a constant target for attentive shopkeepers; the windy medina is overbearing but fascinating with so many new smells, sights and sounds to take in. Overall, its's an efficient
and exciting way of life that is personal and environmentally friendly.

In the medina:

View from our riad:

After 10,000 requests, we eventually made it to a local tannery:

From chicken to chicken pastilla:

The rare sight of rain, caused a torrent down Fez's winding streets.

Communication was difficult - booking flights home through rain, calls to prayer, a computer with a flat battery and a dodgy skype signal .

Southern Tuscany

Not game to drive in Rome, we trained north to Chusi and picked up a rental car. From there we tiki toured to our digs near the UNESCO world heritage town of Pienza - postcard perfect! We had a couple of bonuses along the way - our very nice hosts offered to teach us to make pasta one morning and also when we went to Sienna, the Milga 1000 was taking place - a 1000 mile trek across Italy for those with a flash enough car and a fat enough wallet.

Sienna
View from Pienza

Staying at our agriturismo near Pienza
Making "pici" pasta, riding on the backroads (with our accomodation in the background), our gourmet picnic and the view from our window.

Roma

We had a good time in Roma. We got into the rhythm of the tourist walk, meandering through the headline sites of the Vatican, Forum, Colosseum & Palantine. We did head off piste and toured the back streets as much as we could. It was tough work in the unseasonally hot April weather at times - the perfect excuse for gelato, granita and beer. We found our favourite eateries quickly (big plug to La Famigla near Termini) but my lazy NZ accent got caught out when I ordered “One piece of bruscheta” and that came out as “One pizza prosciutto”(but it was good so we mowed it).

Raphael's rooms (Vatican City)
St Peters square (beatification of Pope John Paul II)

Trevi fountain

The Palantine

Colosseum Djokovic v Warwinka