Wednesday 22nd October

Arose rather late – about 10o’clock! After lunch everyone else being either at work or occupied, went out walking alone – across the bridge and around the opposite bank, returning about 3p.m.

Tuesday 21st October

Arrived in Brussels about midday and phoned Jos.  I then proceeded to Temse by way of Mechlen , and arrived about 6p.m.  Enjoyed a very pleasant evening and most comfortable night.

Monday 20th October

Said farewell to Maurice in the morning, who departed for Paris by bus.  Left myself in the evening on the 6.14p.m. train from Menton to Paris and Brussels!  The train was empty – with only one other man in the conchette compartment.

Sunday 19th October

Idle day on the beach again!

Saturday 18th October

An idle day swimming etc. – got bitten severely on the neck by a large jelly fish!

Friday 17th October

Palace at Monaco

Walked into Monet Carlo and Monaco in the morning and saw the Palace, Cathedral and Harbor.

Thursday 16th October

*

* idle day bathing and swimming in Menton in the company of a young fellow from Birmingham: Brian Symond!  After lunch a frantic telegram to London for cash!

Wednesday 15th October

Hitched to Rapallo and then caught buses to Genoa and on to Ventimiglia.  A rather long walk then to the frontier and to Menton, where we had great difficulty in finding the hostel.

Tuesday 14th October

Unsuccessful day - reached point north of La Spezia and camped in bitter cold.

Monday 13th October

Leaning Tower of Pisa

We enjoyed a most successful day hitching and reached a point a few kilometers north of Viareggio, passing through Pisa with its famous tower. 






Awfully cold camping.

Sunday 12th October

After Maurice attended morning service at a nearby Church, we caught the bus to the outskirts of the city.  We hitch-hiked, rather unsuccessfully, for about 74kilometres and camped just north of Civitavecchia.  Although it rained during the night it was quite warm.

Saturday 11th Octcober

We commenced the day by visiting the Church of St. Peters in Chains to see the Statue of Moses by Michelangelo.  We then went outside the city walls to see the Catacombs of St. Callinto (St. Callixstus?)  - the tombs of various Saints and early Popes, including that of St. Celia.

Returning to the center of the city we saw the Monument to Vittorio Emanuel (II).  Again no mail for us at the post office.

We joined the crowds and filed past Pius XII laying in state in St. Peters Basilica.  It was most impressive!

I then managed to sneak a photograph of the Stuart Memorial, without being seen by the Papal guard!  Once again we returned to the hotel rather worn out!!

Friday 10th October

Coliseum, Rome

We commenced the day by visiting the Coliseum, the Forum, the Arch of Constantine.  We then proceeded to the River Tiber, St.Angelo Bridge, and Castle St. Angelo.


Roman Arch

Castle St. Angelo &River Tiber

Awaiting the body of the Pope

After lunch we gathered with the crowds outside St. Peters and waited until about 5.30p.m. to see the coffin of Pius XII passed by, into St. Peter’s from Castle Gondolfo (where he died).  Our long wait was rewarded, as we were quite in the front of the huge crowd, and managed to get some photographs as the coffin went slowly by.  It was most moving , with many hundreds of priests and monks preceding the hearse.




Funeral of the Pope



Pope Pius XII entering St. Peters

Utterly exhausted we returned to the hotel in the evening.

Thursday 9th October

We arose early and managed to get a couple of lifts, which took us to the youth hostel at Monte Sacro district of Rome.  Before entering the Eternal City we learnt the death of Pope Pius XII, earlier that morning.

After leaving our kit at the hostel, we visited the tourist office, the post office (no mail!), and St.Peter’s.

I had great pleasure at discovering the Stuart Monument in St. Peter’s, together with a monument to Clementine Sobieski.

The death of the Pope does not appear to have greatly affected everyday life here!!

Wednesday 8th Octcober

We left Naples and hitch-hiked north via Terracina.  We were unable to reach Rome that night so we pitched camp on a site 90 kilometers south of the Eternal City.  The site was allowed us by a family living in a large red house quite close to the road.  They kindly supplied us with cakes and washing facilities, but forgot to warn us about the rats.  Their rats, very large and hungry, soon made an appearance and tore our shopping bag to shreds and made off with our bread.  They almost made off with my washing kit!  This was too much so we de-camped and made off down the road.  We managed to find a petrol filling station, where the attendant allowed us to sleep on the office floor.

Tuesday 7th October

We visited the ancient city of Pompeii today.  Greatly impressed by its great size, fine streets and theatre.  Pompeii lies almost 26 kilometers south of Naples, and we reached it by train.

Monday 6th October

We landed at about 11a.m., and following an excellent lunch proceeded to the youth hostel in the Posillipo district. Naples is quite a beautiful city with an excellent bay, with the Isle of Capri quite close, and Mount Vesuvius dominating all.

Mt Vesuvius, Naples

Sunday 4th October

Felt frightfully ill all day! 

In the evening we passed through the Straits of Messina.

Saturday 4th October

At 7.45a.m. we passed Cape Sounion and could see Minerva, the holy place, quite clearly.

Later as we steamed into Piraeus, we could see the Parthenon, huge and clear, from the ship.

We docked at about 10.30a.m., and at 11o’clock we went ashore for about an hour and a half.  Unfortunately our complete lack of Greek currency prevented us from going to the Parthenon, so we contented ourselves with a stroll around the shops and park.

Friday 3rd October

We arrived at Istanbul at 6a.m.  After visiting the post office, and the Grand Bazaar for presents, we caught the “Adona” for Naples at midday

Recap Akköy suffers from earthquakes every year and there are not 2 storey houses in the village, as a single storey ones stand up to the vibrations far better!

Unfortunately something went wrong with our bookings, so we had to sleep on deck until Piraeus.  Fortunately we were given quite a comfortable sofa each to sleep on, in one of the lounges, together with pillows.

We joined company with a young Canadian travelling to Greece.