Amalfi and Napoli

Bit of cloud this morning and it thankfully brought the temperature down a little for our drive around the Amalfi  Coast.  Nice drive, maybe it was because it was Sunday so there wasn’t much traffic.  Buses were the only real problem, they take up so much room on the, already narrow road it slows everyone up.  We don’t mind slow, gives us time to have a look around.  Not many places to stop and take photos.  We did intend driving it both ways but ran out of time because we had organised with one of the blokes at the motel to drive us around Napoli and take us to an old pizza place for tea tonight so we had to get back.  Next time we will do it both ways – mainly to get a look at it from both directions, saves us turning back to look at the view behind us.  Took us well over 4 hours from our place at Torre del Greco to do the round trip, the coastline itself would have taken at least 3 hours.  Great drive with excellent views – the cloud made it a bit dull for photos but you’ll get the idea!!

Very relaxed before the drive.

Castle on the Amalfi Coast.

Surely we're not going up there????

I'm sure two cars can fit through there?

Easy...is Italy!!!

Beach under the bridge.

Positano.

Positano

That's where we are heading.

Good idea - follow a bus.

Road out of Maiori

Beach at Maiori.

The road traveled.

Bridge across another gorge.

Another gorge, another bridge, another beach.

Great driving.

The road hanging out over the cliff.

The best way to navigate the Amalfi Coast - use a helicopter from your tennis court.

Well that was very interesting.  Our friend from the hotel, Maurizio Guida, took us to Napoli for the night.  Nice to sit in the passenger seat and not have to worry about driving.   He told us a lot about the history and culture of Napoli.  In particular he told us about the ‘music’ of the city – car horns.  He also let us know about the red light policy – if it is ‘illogical’ they can drive through a red light.  In other words – if nothing is coming and there are no pedestrians within about 30 centimetres – drive though – not sure I’ll be testing the theory. 

The first couple of hours was good, there was a football game on and the streets were deserted.  Had a great trip into Napoli with a local, he has lived here all his life and has been at the motel we are at for 22 years.  He speaks English, French and Italian.  He gave me his card at the end of the night and it turns out he has a Doctorate of Languages and his correct title is ‘Dr’.   He took us to some significant churches and landmarks.  We walked around the inner city area, he warned us to keep cameras handy because ‘some people…you understand….’.  Not many photos because we understand.  Photos wouldn’t have been too effective anyway, the streets are made of black volcanic rock and the houses are either made of black volcanic rock or are blacken from the exhaust fumes.  The streets are so narrow and dark no photos could depict the scenes.   Walked past some very dodgy areas but the guide was very confident and we followed along as if we were locals.  He took us to a very popular local Pizzeria, got there about 8 o’clock.  It is 3 stories in an old building and by the time we left they were opening up the top level.  Apparently by about 9 o’clock people are waiting in the street for a table.
If you ever go to to the Napoli area - look up Maurizio - he knows all the locals!!!

Got home about 9 o’clock after eating too much.  Ready for Roma tomorrow.

Napoli at dusk.

Entrance to the Gallery.

Water at night.

Napoli harbour.

Pompeii

Hottest day since the start today and we decided to go to Pompeii where there are stone ruins and no shade.  Good planning!   It did come up cloudy about 2pm and everyone was hoping for a storm – looks like all the cloud has gone again and the heat is here to stay for a while.  Not sure where the weather experts are from – we checked two weather sights for next weeks weather in Roma – one said rain all week, the other said sunny all week.  Think we’ll just look out the window in the morning and make plans from there.

We picked up our laundry today after it had all been carefully washed, dried and ironed.  The people at the laundry couldn’t speak any English but we worked out there was a sock missing…isn’t there always?  We got in the car and it was on the floor, bugger.

Went on to Pompeii, fascinating place, we thought it would be a little town square and a few houses excavated.  It is a whole town, with theatres, palaces with mosaic floors and painted walls, town squares, a brothel and kilometres of streets full of little houses.  Lots of public areas baths, fountains and temples.   The authorities have stopped excavation at the moment and are in the process of trying to preserve all that is uncovered to date.  Walking the streets of Pompeii was very hot and we stuck to shade along buildings when we could.

Rounded off the day with a drive around Vesuvius where all the ash and devastation came from a couple of thousand years ago.

Relaxing siesta at the unit and we’ll be ready for an afternoon drink soon to wash the Pompeii dust away.

It really is a whole city.

Vernon, ruins and Vesuvius - in that order.

The Grande Quadrangle.

The Quadrangle from higher up.

The imposing sight of Vesuvius in the background.

Looking for bodies in downtown Pompeii.

Someones' house circa 79AD.

Looking for shade and a cold drink.

Found a body at last.

Stuck in a room with all the other stuff that's been excavated.

Pregnant woman housed in a glass case.

Crouching man.

The first pizza oven perhaps?

Painted walls.

Statue in Casa del Fauno.  It's only about 40 centimetres tall and looks like it is set in a fountain.

Some shade and some green grass in Pompeii.

Hoping for a 'Chevy Chase' moment.  Pam made me do it.

Isle of Capri

A great nights sleep after our relaxing day yesterday.  Up and off to the Isle of Capri today.  Drove to Sorrento and caught the ferry to Grande Harbour on the island.  Got straight off and booked a boat tour around the island and to the Blue Grotto.  Got home late and exhausted...again...

I told you there would be photos!!!!

On the road to Sorrento, over cliffs and valleys.

Looking down at the beach near Sorrento.

The water is so clear and blue everywhere we go.

The parking garage on the right where we left our car...we had to leave our keys, it was so dodgy we thought we wouldn't have a car when we got back.  They gave us a receipt for our car so we would have something for the insurance company when we couldn't find our car again.  All ended well - they had our car when we got back...phew.  This is a two way street with a pedestrian walk on the left.  Lucky we didn't run over a scooter or pedestrian coming or going out and lucky we didn't get run over by a bus either way too!!

Saying goodbye to Sorrento from the boat.

And hello to the Isle of Capri.

Blue water, white cliffs and little grotto's everywhere.

Here is one just of the island, maybe the boat will fit through it??

Yep, sure did, straight through the middle.

Lighthouse on the peninsula.

I made this one big so you can see the zig-zag road up the middle to the hotel.

Huge cliffs dwarfing all the boats.

Another grotto - the White Grotto I think.

House on the hill?

Beach chairs at the motel on the water - swim anyone?

At the Green Grotto.

Clear blue water.

People swimming through the hole in the rock at the Green Grotto.  You can see the shadow on our boat on the sea floor.

This is the chaotic scenes at the entrance to the Blue Grotto.

We have to get out of our big boat and get into a small small row boat to fit through the small hole into the Blue Grotto.  We had to lie down even lower to fit through the hole in the rock.

The entrance to the Blue Grotto - it just gets smaller and smaller.

Inside the Blue Gotto - the sun reflects off the white rock and the whole area lights up blue.

A little cramped for the photo.

Another blue shot with the boats and the bright opening in the background.

Out at last, back to our huge white cliffs.

Taxi - Capri style.

Pam still looking for a fishing spot.

Beach on Capri - at least if it's windy you can use rocks to hold your towel from blowing away.

Leaving the Isle of Capri.

Another one on the way home.

Leaving the island in the sunset.