✈️
Wheels up
Emirates out of Auckland at 8:30pm, bound for Dubai.
🛬
Buongiorno, Roma
Through Dubai and into Rome at 1:25pm. Home for the week is a flat in Prati, two minutes from the Vatican walls.
Vatican City
St Peter's Basilica at 8:30am, then up the dome for the best view in Rome.
The Colosseum
Inside at 1:15pm, then the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill on the same ticket.
🍝
A day to wander
Nothing booked. Probably the Pantheon, Trevi, and dinner across the river in Trastevere.
Off to Sicily
A short hop from Rome, landing in Catania at 11:25am. Six nights with the whole gang.
🌅
Settling in
A slow one after a week of moving.
🏛️
Taormina
Clifftop town with a Greek theatre looking straight at Mount Etna.
🌋
Etna, or the sea
The volcano one way, the coast the other.
🐟
Catania
The fish market in the morning, granita and brioche for breakfast.
🎂
Joel's birthday
The reason for the whole trip. Everybody in one place.
On to London
An evening flight out of Catania, into Luton just after 11pm. Shanna heads off and meets them again in Spain.
☕
Dalston
A slow start, and Joel and Esther are four minutes down the road.
🦕
Out and about
Museums, markets, and a lot of walking.
💐
Columbia Road
The flower market runs on Sundays only, and it is eight minutes away.
Hola, Sevilla
Gatwick to Seville, landing at 8:25pm. A villa in the hills outside the city for six nights.
🌞
Villa day
Doing very little, on purpose.
🕌
The old town
The Real Alcázar and its gardens, then the cathedral.
⛲
Plaza de España
Enormous, shaded and free, with a park attached.
🚗
A day out
Córdoba and the Mezquita, or the white villages up in the hills.
🫒
Last Spanish slow day
Triana across the river, and tapas in the market.
Train to Madrid
Fast train up from Seville, arriving 6:24pm. Two nights by Atocha.
🎨
One full day
Retiro Park, the Prado, and Plaza Mayor. All within a walk.
🌙
Last day in Europe
The whole day in Madrid, then a late flight out at 10:10pm.
🐪
Through Dubai
A few hours on the ground, then the long one home.
Home 🏡
Landing at 10:55am. Milo will have seen five countries before his first birthday.