The Adventures of Zoe

Today we had booked to do some snorkeling in Sorrento. Victoria (our snorkeling guide) picked us up from Sorrento station quite early in the morning and took us in her van to where we would snorkel. Everyone else was diving so we had a guide to ourself.

After a fast and fun (but terrifying for some people) boat ride we got in our snorkeling gear and started exploring the reef and fish around some rocks. Our guide was experienced so he swam down and picked up a starfish for us to touch. It was soft to touch but I am guessing out of water it wouldn’t have been. After he put it back and we kept on exploring.

After our first snorkel they took us to another amazing place where we were allowed to snorkel through an arch into a cave where hundreds of fish lived, they were so beautiful!

After they called us back they took us to another spot, not to snorkel though. There was a little waterfall and they pulled the boat up really close so it splashed on us! We were also allowed to jump in so Zac and I had lots of fun doing bommies and diving in.

After a lovely day out we headed home to get a long nights sleep.

Today we decided to take a walk into Sorrento (still in Italy) as we have been doing a lot for the past few days. We first found a little lane where we came to a lemon shop that sold ice cream, coffee, and many other things for a very cheap price. Zac and I got ‘delicious lemon’ which was absolutely fantastic. It was a creamy ice cream with real lemon bits in it that was sour but sweet at the same time.

We the. walked about a mile until we came to a back street that we decided to walk around long. I needed a wide brimmed hat so mum bought me a navy blue one so I could keep cool with the heat. I later also found a cap that I loved so I bought that as well!

We had lunch at a nice resturant and I had a lovely cannelloni that tasted AMAZING!

After walking for a while more we decided to go back to the lemon stall to get another ice-cream as we were so hot. This time I wanted to try something new flavour so I got strawberry which was as good as the first. We ate these ice-creams while walking home and soon we were relaxing at home.

Today we went to Pompeii for a tour. We all woke up early as we had set alarms and went down for a quick breakfast before heading to the train station. There is a machine where you press what you want (hot chocolate, coffee, tea) and we all had fun using that!

Once we were in Pompeii with our tickets we met our tour guide who took us on a private tour. She showed us around and told us some amazing facts. Did you know they used fresh urine for washing clothes instead of soap?! They all knew so much and I wonder how they found it out?

There was also an amazing view of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano. It was very close so you can see why Pompeii was completely buried in ash.

Afterwards we went for ice cream at a store we found. We all expected the best as we were in Italy but it was the worst ice cream we had had for our whole holiday! Zac’s choc-mint tasted the same as my peach and mango!!

When we came home we went to check out the pool outside our hotel. It wasn’t that big but it was warm and we had so much fun playing in it. Half way through a man floating on a pool toy got in so we had to not splash as much after that.

We all later enjoyed a dinner at their resturant and afterwards went to bed.

Today we all woke up really early so we could get to the airport in time for our flight. We arrived at our terminal with plenty of time so we decided to buy breakfast there. I had a croissant and a juice and mum had a pastry and coffee. Zac decided that he didn’t want and breakfast.

We went through services once we had finished breakfast and then sat and waited for our flight. In around two hours we were on the flight and waiting for it to take off. Once it had we all were looking out the windows as the view was so good! Zacand I played on our iPads for a bit and the rest of the time was spent looking out our window.

Once our plane landed we all put our attention into looking at our ha d luggage as we didn’t want anyone to pickpocket us. We soon collected our bags and took a taxi to the hotel we were staying in.

Once we were settled we went to a resturant near our hotel and had a nice meal there. As we were all tired we went to bed soon after that.

Today is our last day in Barcelona! Today we got up early as we had plans to go and see the Segrada Familia. I have heard from many people that it is ABSOLUTELY amazing so I was very excited as we made our way there. When we first walked out of the train station and saw it we all just stood there as it was so beautiful! The designs were so intricate and amazing that they would have taken ages to do!

After we showed our tickets to the entree person we grabbed our audio guides and walked in. There are no words to describe it. It was like a canopy of stone trees were growing in there. The pillars were the trunk and the amazing roof was the leaves.

After visiting this amazing building I don’t think we wanted to leave as we were all blow away. When it is finished I will definitely go and visit!

We took the metro home and walked back to the flat so we could finish  getting packed. This time we had to turn eight pieces of luggage into five as we needed one hand luggage each and to save money, one to go in the main section.

We were to leave for the airport the next morning so I was really excited!!!

Today Ian and Charlie (the people staying in the place with us) took us on a walk on the hills above Barcelona. First we caught the train to the bottom of the hill and then we caught a funicular to the track.

I think we spent about half an hour walking in the heat until we stopped for a rest. Zac drenched himself in water and we all drank a lot. After another five minutes of walking we reached a track where Zac, Mum, Ian and I went down a track and the others went on the path. We then reached a nice cafe with a great view where we had lunch. I had cannelloni and everyone else had tapas (an assortment of dishes).

After we took the bus back and had ice cream on the way. I ordered two scoops and had the longest cone ever!!

Afterwards, I went for a 4.6km run with Ian while Charlie did a 6km one. It was so hot so even though the run wasn’t hard, I was red faced and puffed.

For dinner, Ian’s friends came over and we had bruschetta and burgers (homemade). They were very good!

Today we all woke up late (again) to find two more people had come to stay! (Not really). The owner of the flat and his friend had come and slept on the couch while we slept in the bedroom! We knew they were coming as they had told us and they are both friends of ours (the owner went to university with my mum and both of them came to dinner at the fish restaurant).

First we walked to a market close by to buy food for our BBQ on Sunday. We decided we would have burgers and salad so we had fun choosing what we would get. Afterwards, we came home so we could spend many hours reading and I managed to get through two books.

We then took the train to this Gaudi Park where it was filled with his style of building. We had been told you didn’t have to have tickets but they told us we did when we tried to get in. We could sort of see a little from the front but we decided to leave and get some ice cream.

Zac bought one at the first shop we saw but the rest of us waited and then we found the most amazing one! Zac ended up regretting it and the rest of us gave him licks from ours!

The photo is of part of Gaudi’s Park.

Today we all slept in and decided to have a chill morning. We only left the house around 10:30 and made new plans to just explore.

There is a famous street called Las Ramblas that we decided to walk down and on the way we saw a market. It was filled with fresh produce and nearly every store had drinks made with the fresh fruit. I had dragonfruit and coconut. It was a bright pink and looked fake but it wasn’t!

After looking around for a while we decided to buy some lunch. Both mums had quiches, Zac had fruit and I had this pastry that was filled with potato.

Later we went to see a building made by Gaudi. It was so different to the other houses and stood out. There was lots of mosaics on it and it was so colourful! After seeing that amazing building we walked back home.

Today we are catching the train from Paris to Barcelona. I am really excited to be able to have new adventures but also sad as Paris was one of my favourite places we have been so far.

We left the house after eating breakfast and finishing packing. We caught the Metro to the station we were leaving from and left our bags in luggage services. We still had lots of time until we left so we decided to have a walk to spend our last few hours here. We found a park along the way that was filled with many beautiful flowers. My favourite bit of the garden was where flowers were trained to climb up posts. They were so beautiful!! After we had left, mum spotted a crepe stall and we bought one each. I had Nutella and banana, Zac just had Nutella and both mums had lemon and sugar. They were sooooo good!

Afterwards we walked to a supermarket where we bought our dinner for on the train. We then caught a bus back to the station.

A few hours later we were on the train and heading to Barcelona. We had big seats so we were comfortable and a table in front of us which we used to play board games and eat lunch. The view was also great so we were constantly looking out the windows!

Arriving at our station was a relief as after six hours of train, we all were stiff and really wanted to get in bed. It was a short walk to our friends/godfathers apartment but it was dark and and we hadn’t been there for a while so we took a while to find it! After arriving, we were almost immediately in our beds and asleep.

I wasn’t expecting much when mum told me we were going to the cathedral of Notre-Dame, but I was blown away.

Today we all woke up later as yesterday was quite busy. Breakfast was a bowl of cereal and soon we were out the door. First we walked for a while until we reached he cathedral of Notre-Dame.

It was so AMAZINGLY built even though it was made in the 13th century. It was so beautiful on the outside but the inside was even better. There were hundreds of incredible stained glass windows and statues of people. The whole building took around 150 years to build and I think that the windows and intricate designs would have taken the longest to complete.

After we went there we walked to the park behind to have lunch. We had bought cheese and tomato’s to have in bread for lunch and we sat and listened to two people as they played instruments as we ate.

Both mums water to go to the Picasso museum so we headed over there. They went last time so after we walked through they said it didn’t live up to expectations but we all still thought it was pretty good.

When we were walking back to the Metro station we found a crepe stall and we couldn’t resist having one. I had Nutella, banana and coconut which was AMAZING!

After that we headed home after a great day out!