The day after we returned from our trip to Saranda, my brother arrived in Tirana from Bangkok to visit me for an entire month. Although he was interested in seeing some of Albania, he also wanted to see a little of Europe as well, so we planned a two week trip travelling around Italy and Greece.

We began our travel on Thursday, August 22, taking the fast four-hour ferry from Durres, Albania across to Bari, Italy. Arriving at about 9:30pm in Bari, we struggled through Italian immigration in the very long queue of Albanians trying to enter the country. It is very difficult for Albanians to travel abroad due to tough immigration and visa policies of neighbouring countries, so we spent the good part of an hour waiting while every Albanian passport, document, and visa were painstakingly checked and re-checked. Once out of the ferry terminal, we shared a taxi with a group of friendly young Albanians to the train station at about 11pm and caught the 12:15am train to Rome. Arriving in Rome at 6:20am, with very little sleep, we wearily found a hotel room in which to stay, and set out to explore the city.

We spent nearly three days in Rome, spending the most part of Friday trudging around the great city on foot. We saw many large, beautiful churches and majestic monuments scattered around a city bursting at the seams with history and tradition. From the top of Paletine Hill, one of the seven hills in the city, the view of Rome is quite incredible, it's skyline dotted with steeples, domes, and other large monuments. On Saturday morning we took the local metro to the Vatican, and walked through St Peter's Cathedral and the large square that sits in front of it. In the afternoon we visited the Colosseum and ruins of the ancient Roman Forum nearby, both spectacular and haunting reminders of the ancient civilization that once blossomed in this very area. We returned briefly to the Vatican on Sunday morning again to visit the museum, the entry to which is free on the last Sunday of each month. When we arrived at 9:15am, the queue was already over one kilometre long, stretching right around from the museum entry nearly all the way back to St. Peter's Cathedral. Despite the queue, it took less than an hour to get inside, and we spent the morning wandering through the many halls and corridors of the museum, the highlight of which was the famous Sistine Chapel. Later in the afternoon, we headed back to the train station and made the two hour journey to Florence.

Arriving in Florence late in the afternoon, we found a really nice, clean, small pension (or guesthouse) near the train station and five minutes walk from the city centre. That evening we walked a little into and around the town to see what it was like. Known as the cradle of the Renaissance, Florence is another beautiful old Italian city that possesses great history and culture. From the towering white marble Duomo Cathedral that dominates the skyline, to the numerous galleries and museums housing priceless works of art and sculpture, to the narrow cobblestone streets that pave the city, Florence holds a certain charm that is unlike any other. Monday and Tuesday saw us wander through this medieval masterpiece, crossing the river and climbing up another small hill to Piazza Michelangelo (piazza is the Italian word for "square") to obtain a bird's-eye view of this quant old city. Our stay in Florence was marked by a sudden and violent thunderstorm that swept through the city on Monday afternoon, however despite all the rain, the city lost none of its beauty. Continuing on our journey on Tuesday afternoon, we again boarded a train, this time making the three-hour journey further north to an Italian city with even more water, Venice.

As soon as you walk out of the train station, you immediately notice the unique beauty and peacefulness of Venice. The hundreds of little islands, bridges, and canals create a timeless and romantic atmosphere that few other cities in the world possess, and it is not difficult to understand why Venice has been described as La Serenissma, the Most Serene Republic, a bastion of wealth and prosperity that lasted more than a thousand years. We caught our breath for a minute, just long enough to scout around and find some cheerful yet small accommodation in a strategic location near the station. Once settled in to our cosy room, we ventured out, walking the streets to see just what this city had to offer. One of the unusual beauties of Venice is that there is no vehicular access around the city, the only transportation is by boat in the canals and on foot on the streets. The absence of cars on the streets reduces the noise level considerably, and the only traffic you will encounter is pedestrian. Since the cost of taking a water taxi or a quant old-fashioned gondola through the canals is prohibitably expensive, we decided that walking was the best and cheapest way to explore the city.

During the summer, the number of tourists drawn to this city is phenomenal, and the few days in late August when we were there were no exception. The Piazza di San Marco, at the very heart of Venice, was swarming with both tourists and pigeons, who compete for standing room in the vast square. The majestic Basilica di San Marco (basilica is Italian for "cathedral"), the 15th century clock tower, the old Law Courts, and the Libreria Vecchia that surround the stone-paved square are all breathtakingly beautiful, and it's not difficult to understand why the piazza was described by Napoleon as "the finest drawing room in all of Europe." Away from the central tourist locations, its still possible to wander down narrow, tranquil streets completely alone. The sounds of water lapping lazily against the sides of old, colourful buildings lining the canals are constant reminders of the harmony and serenity that has remained in this city through the centuries. Although our time was limited, we managed to cover most of Venice's six sestieri (or sections): Cannaregio, where the main train station and hordes of tourists can be found, San Marco, the real heart of Venice and also tourist-central, Castello, where the streets are wider, cleaner, and generally quite pleasant, Santa Croce and San Polo, the older, darker, "ghettos" of Venice, where some structures look dangerously derelict and you can become lost very easy in the narrow streets, and Dorsiduro, the more conservative yet still interesting business district.

There is no hiding the fact that Italy is an expensive country, and the further north you travel, the harder your hip-pocket is hit. Also visiting the most tourist-oriented cities in Italy were not kind to our budget either. On top of that, most foreign exchange centres in Italy give very poor rates for converting $US to Euro, so after spending a week in Italy, surviving primarily on half-stale bread and heavily-chlorinated water, we were quite keen to move on to the cheaper, cheerful shores of Greece. Luckily, we discovered that we could take a Minoan Lines ferry from Venice directly to Patras, Greece, a journey of 665 nautical miles that takes 30 hours to complete. Departing from the port at 4pm on Thursday with absolutely perfect weather conditions, we sailed past the city of Venice for one last spectacular view from the liner then into the Adriatic sea, the evening sunset bringing to a close our adventures in Italy and opening a whole new chapter of adventure and misadventure.

From Venice, our ship sailed south along the Croatian coastline, although unfortunately night had fallen by the time we past such towns as Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik and we couldn't see anything. Strangely, the night seems much darker when you're surrounded by water than when you're on land, and standing on the upper deck of the boat peering into the inky-black sky with the cool sea breeze blowing in your face can be quite an eerie feeling. This particular ferry we were on was quite large, with eight decks in total; two restaurants, disco, casino, bar, quite a few sleeping cabins, and room for dozens of trucks and other vehicles below. We couldn't afford to sleep in a cabin, however we were able to afford airplane-style seats located inside the boat (the cheapest "deck" fare didn't even get you inside the boat, you had to set up camp outside on the deck exposed to the elements). Like many of our fellow passengers, we stretched out on the hard carpeted floor to sleep for the night, and woke early with the sun streaming in our faces through the windows. By this time we had made steady progress down the Croatian and Yugoslav coast, and by mid-morning I could actually recognise some of the rugged, rocky Albanian coastline that I had visited several weeks before. Late afternoon saw us call into the ports of Igourmenitsa and Corfu, and continue on our journey south along the Greek coast. After another magnificent sunset, we sailed into Gulf of Patras and reached our destination at 10pm Friday night, just over 2 hours late. Up until this point of the trip, we had not really experienced any setbacks or problems, however as soon as we landed on Greek soil, our perfect record was tarnished.