Steve sayıng goodbye to Italy.

WARNING FOR CHILDREN - THERE MAY BE SOME BAD LANGUAGE IN THIS BLOG ENTRY!!!!

Well, Italy may have started off with beautiful scenery and awful drivers, but we can officially say Italy blows and sucks big time. Italians are rude, impatient and unhelpful. They drive as if the next location is there last and they must get there at all costs - running red lights, creating three or four lanes on a two lane road, changing lanes without indicating/looking (alright, that one is probably universal for bikers) and using horns insistently. While riding into Latina, Steve was nearly knocked off the bike by a driver who changed lanes without looking or indicating. Steve did a great job controlling the bike but ended up on the other side of the road. Luckily, there was no traffic either way and he could try to compose himself. It could have been a really bad accident.

Although it has been great to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Pompei, our time in Italy has been marred by the above and lack of any ATM accepting our card. We were fine throughout France but once into Italy, we came a cropper. At least petrol and hotels were accepting the card but cash is still required. We have spent numerous hours and miles walking the streets of towns in Italy trying to find ATMs to accept the card (gave up), getting a bank to do a cash advance or even getting a Western Union transfer. We have also spent numerous hours on the phone to the bank in the UK as we were told our card would work worldwide. They also told us any bank can do cash advances. We think they need to do their homework more thoroughly as it is very different on the ground. It has also been hard to find helpful Italians with our cash dilemma. Thank goodness we leave Italy Friday 2 March for Bar in Montenegro.

It has been difficult as were not expecting problems in a modern, developed country. However, by the smells and run down buildings, we could be in Thailand. Not being able to access funds when you have a nice bank balance has also been incredibly frustrating, stressful and headache creating! While this has been going on, Vodafone also cut our phones off so we had to use hotels phones (expensive) to try to find out why, and to also contact our bank. At least the phones are back on (after about a week and then complaining and advising we would close the account).

So as you can see, Italy has not been great for us. There have been some good points: some very good food at local restaurants, cafe owners interested in our trip but neither of us speaking each other's language, the sights of old Italy and the weather has been generally lovely.

If you are keeping an eye on the route, as mentioned in the earlier blog, we came into Italy along the Med coast from France into San Remo, then onto Pisa, Latina, Salerno and finally Bari. We will not re-visit Venice or go upto the colder climes of Austria and Hungary. From the ferry to Bar in Montenegro, we will travel through into Serbia and onto Bulgaria and then Turkey.

So here is to a much better time in Eastern Europe! At least in these countries we know it might be a bit difficult and are looking forward to the adventures as they happen.