We left Venice in the morning and spent the whole day in transit. It was the only flight that was on time, but we spent an age in the car park getting the rental car. By the time we got to the hotel it was getting late in the afternoon but we still had a quick swim in the ocean before supper. All of the photos are from the following two days.

We stayed at the Mare Pineta Hotel in Santa Margherita which was right on the beach. Then we spent the day at the beaches at Pula and Chia. Could easily have spent a week lying in the warm sun and enjoying the Mediterranean.

This is really what the colour of the water was like! Clear, warm and shallow far away from the shore - so different to the wilder coasts around home.

The beach bar was also a winner. We could sit in the shade and drink ice cold anythings and listen to 80’s music.

We stayed at the fairly ordinary Mare Pineta Hotel which is the sister hotel of the more upmarket Hotel Flamingo. For what we needed though it was just perfect. Close to the beach, nice pool and a bar that has kahlua. We spent all day out at the beaches anyway so it was just really a place to shower and sleep. We did land up going there for lunch on our last day. Parma ham and melon - yum!

We spent two nights here before setting off again to Golfo Aranci. Since we didn’t do very much apart from the beach I’ll stop the text here and just put up some more pictures of our stay.

We had such a super stay here, we really should have spent longer and driven to more of the beaches further south. Thankfully we were heading off to more beaches in the north.

After months of planning, trips to Schengen Visa offices and synchronisation of leave, we finally made it to Italy. We got off to a delayed start curtosy of EasyJet but we got there at last. Our first stop was Venice. It had received rave reviews from a number of friends so we decided to start our trip by spending two nights here. Once we had found the right stop on the river boat and navigated the maze-like streets to find our hotel, we set about exploring the place for the rest of the afternoon. This is St Mark’s Basilica with the Campanile to the right.

There are plenty of bridges over the water that offer beautiful views down the canals. The first thing you notice though is that not everything seems to stand upright.

It’s quite difficult to describe just how humid it was while we were there. One of our first points of call was to somewhere that would sell ice-cream. Gelato was one of the words we came to use quite a lot during our stay! The building in the background is the Santa Maria Formosa.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city, taking in some of the sites and testing our limited Italian vocabulary. We also landed up eating dinner at a French restaurant (with scary octopus starter snack things) and then wound down the evening hunting for more gelato. This is the Santi Giovanni e Paolo.

On the Friday we got down to get as much seen as we could since this would be our only full day in the city before travelling to Sardinia.

We started with a guided tour of the major locations in the city. Choosing to go with a guide was a great idea because we got a little more insight to the place and also got to skip the queues to see inside St Mark’s Basilica. On the left is St Mark’s Clock that tracks both the time and the luncar cycle so that the locals know when the tides will be high. Above are some of the other buildings surrounding the Piazza. Below are pictures of the mosaics of the Basilica and the columns outside the Doge’s Palace.

And these were taken of the Doge’s Palace on the right of the Basillica.

From there we decided that we needed to grab some lunch and then escape the tourists for a bit. Nearing lunch time the centre was getting pretty crowded. We had a quick look around the stalls in St Mark’s Square and looked up to see this walkway between two of the buildings.

We took a river boat across the water to Salute where we sat on some shady steps for a while. Me standing at the steps of Santa Maria della Salute. Around the corner from this at the end of the Dorsoduro peninsula (called Punta della Dogana) we found the statue shown above of the boy with a frog.

Getting away from the centre of Venice was the best part of visiting the city. On Salute and further south we found the most beautiful canals and walkways. There were trees growing in the (empty) squares and we could walk for blocks without seeing anyone.

Next we found some more space by taking the boats to the Public Gardens on the south-eastern side of the city. I heart shade!!

To round off the day we took a trip to the island of Murano which is famous for the glass made there. The streets are lined with glass shops and there are a few glass sculptures in the squares.

This is us on the Ponte di Rialto. We stood on the bridge to watch the traffic - amazing to think that the whole city runs on the water.

On the final morning we got our stuff packed up and headed off to the water taxi jetty for the trip back to the airport. This is the view of the Ponte di Rialto from the river boat station.

Some other photos from the trip…

Next we were off to Sardinia.

Richard suprised me by organising a weekend away for my birthday. Usually I do all the organising so it was such a treat to just be able to pack and go!

We went to Weston-super-Mare on the west coast. Despite the weather, it was great to spend some time together after Richard’s exams.

While there is not a lot to do there, we spent a lot of time walking on the beach and watching the world go by at the tidal pool. It’s always nice to get away from the city for a weekend.

We also found a group of locals acting out some historic event with long poles on the Saturday afternoon. But we preferred the locals that accosted us for the Haagen Daaz ice-cream taste testing.

This is the view from the bench where we watched some other locals dive into the icy waters. Even though it’s July it’s freezing here!

So nice to get away - we should do this more often (with less rain!)

On our final day we woke up to more apropriate weather for the highlands - ie, rain and wind and got ready for the drive back to the borders.

Above is the view from the dining room out over the Loch. Alongside that is Boris with the Chambers encyclopedia that we found in the hotel’s reading room. I’d love to come back to this hotel in the winter - the reading room must get so cozy when the fire is lit! Alongside is the view of the main staircase from reception to the rooms in the older part of the hotel.

We drove through Glencoe which is considered to be the entrace to the highlands. It certainly felt like the grandest part of the drive with the large hills and the vast expanse of bog. The view above was from one of our many stops along to the road to look at the view.

Before heading out of the highlands proper we stopped to see the view at Loch Tulla.

Our final stop on our way home was at Loch Katrine. Another beautiful walking spot and it was just unfortunate that the rain was driving so hard when we arrived. But we did find a sweety shop and take a small walk along the Loch.

It was a great holiday and really nice to spent time as just the two of us girls. Half of me is glad it wasn’t winter time because it sure got plenty cold in the evenings, but it would be nice to see this area covered in snow. Maybe next year!

After the collosal rain the night before, we woke up to a day that looked to actually be quite good weather. So we got straight to it and got on the ferry heading west over Loch Linnhe. This photo is of the hotel in Ballachulish (pronounced ballahoolish) taken from across Loch Leven. Below is the ferry.

We drove west aiming for Loch Sunart. Mom has come up to the highlands quite often and I thought it might be nice to head this way because she hadn’t been there before. I might have been more hesitant had I known how tiny the roads were, but it was so beautiful!

There are stopping places all along there road where you can park and walk off into the woods. At some spots you can walk along the river and at others you can walk on high ground next to the loch. I’m glad the weather was holding so well for us to be able to go walking around.

We drove along the A861 heading for Salen. The photo below on the left is the last photo of Sunart before heading north on the very narrow and windy road to Lochailort.

A narrow and windy road. The roads have only enough space for one car at a time. Every so-often there are passing spaces where you can pull over to let the oncoming traffic pass. There are also poles that line the road, apparently they are there to show where the road is when it’s covered in snow.

Loch Ailort and below, Loch Eilt on the A830 towards Glenfinnan.

Just before Glenfinnan we noticed that a few cars had stopped alongside the road. Between the map and the guide book we were using we figured that this must be a viewing point for the Jacobite Express (aka the Hogwarts Express), and we weren’t dissapointed!

At the top of Loch Shiel is Glenfinnan where we found the Glenfinnan Monument and the Glenfinnan Viaduct. The views from the top of the hill behind the tea-shop were well worth the walk.

At which point we stopped for lunch at the outdoor centre in Fort William. I can see why that’s my dad’s favourite shop! So much camping gear…

After lunch we took advantage of the continuing good weather to walk along Glen Nevis. Below is a picture of Ben Nevis peaking out from the clouds. I still can’t believe the good weather - I’m wearing a jacket here but I could have left it in the car!

This is the Ballachulish Hotel. We stayed in the more modern section of the hotel shown on the right.

We had dinner at the hotel in Glencoe and watched the sun set across the Loch. It’s not quite summer yet, but it’s already staying light until quite late.

These photos above are taken from the Glencoe hotel looking towards Glencoe. Tomorrow we’ll drive that way to head home.

And that was the end of an amazingly long but super day. I think we were both asleep before our heads hit the pillows!