The drizzle is still with us, but we headed off to see the island of Capri...the famous vacation hideaway of the Roman emperours Augustus and Tiberius...The "Island of Dreams"...and described as "overrun with tacky low-grade group tourism ast it's worst"... That's OK, we were off to see it anyway. Just around the corner of the campground is the train station to Sorrento, so that was step one. Arriving in Sorrento we decided to have lunch, because we had heard how totally un-real the prices were in Capri. Enjoying a split pizza, we headed down to the dock to catch our boat. Arriving at the ticket counter we found that they no longer ran the "slow" boat to Capri, so we had to take the "fast" boat if we wanted to go. The difference in price...$15.00 Euro for the slow boat, and $25.50 ea for the fast... well, with the weather the way it is "RAINING !!! ", we opted to just enjoy a short afternoon in Sorrento and catch the train back. Right now we have lightning and thunder crashing all around us...it's time for a goodl book and maybe a movie on the computer. Tomorrow...sun I hope...
7 October '05, Friday.
The drizzle is still with us, but we headed off to see the island of Capri...the famous vacation hideaway of the Roman emperours Augustus and Tiberius...The "Island of Dreams"...and described as "overrun with tacky low-grade group tourism ast it's worst"... That's OK, we were off to see it anyway. Just around the corner of the campground is the train station to Sorrento, so that was step one. Arriving in Sorrento we decided to have lunch, because we had heard how totally un-real the prices were in Capri. Enjoying a split pizza, we headed down to the dock to catch our boat. Arriving at the ticket counter we found that they no longer ran the "slow" boat to Capri, so we had to take the "fast" boat if we wanted to go. The difference in price...$15.00 Euro for the slow boat, and $25.50 ea for the fast... well, with the weather the way it is "RAINING !!! ", we opted to just enjoy a short afternoon in Sorrento and catch the train back. Right now we have lightning and thunder crashing all around us...it's time for a goodl book and maybe a movie on the computer. Tomorrow...sun I hope...
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6 October '05, Thursday. I must say, we have had a few nice days, very few great days, and way too many wet days since we arrive here19 months ago. Italy this time of year, we knew could be a little wet, and wet it has and continues to be. We have to force our way out once in awhile, but most of the time we just take it as, "it could be worse..". This morning we started out with a few clouds, with some of them off in the distance being pretty dark, but we still had to do a load of whites, come hell or high-water. By the time we washed and had them hanging on the line, we realized that we were in for a shower. Off the line the clothes came, to the office for a dryer coin, and start the drying process in a machine. By 1 in the afternoon we had the wash done, folded, and put away. Seeing as how we could see the top of Mt Vesuvius from the campground, we decided to grab one of the city buses that would take us up to the trail. The ride up was just about as good as the ride along the Almalfi Coast. About 2/3rds the way up and just out of the tree line, we came to the point were the hiking trail takes off for the summit. You have to get a "Guide Pass" to go up the trail, and I thought it ment that we had a guide that would take us...wrong. I guess the $6 Euro charge is to help maintain the trail...anyway, it was OK. They hand us a walking stick as we walk through the gate and start the accent. The trail was about 4 feet wide and made up of the rock and dirt from the volcano. The rate of climb got your heart rate up pretty quick, but you could make it to the top with out trouble. There was a high cloud cover, but it didn't hurt our view into the crater or down the slopes to the cities and towns circling the mountain. The last eruption was in 1944, and the lava flow was very visable. Inside the crater there were a few steem vents that were active, but that was all. The trail took us up to, and then about halfway around the craters edge. There is no OSHA around here. The punny litte fence, now only was missing in a few places, it was pushed over in a few others. After about 2 hours of hiking and sightseeing at the crater, we headed back down to catch our next bus back home. I mentioned that the ride up was just about as good as the Almafi Coast ride, well the biggest difference was, this time we were climbing or decending a mountain. On the way down, our bus driver was doing what any good Italians bus driver who is driving and honking his horn at every 180° corner would be doing...TALKING ON HIS CELL PHONE !!! It rang 3 separate times, and he answered it 3 separate times...fact is after the first time, the bus passengers started laughing when it rang next. The only thing he was lacking while talking, was the usual Italian waving of his hands. He made up for that with his animated conversation and facial expressions. He also was quite vocal to pedestrians as he wheeled this big bus around them before they jumped away in fright. What a day...there is always something to experience, and this was just one of those special days. Tomorrow...Capri PS. Please remember that I don't have spell check on this French computer and I need a lot of understanding... 5 October '05, Wednesday. 8:30 am, "What do you have for a plan today?" "Welllll, nothing, let's just stay around home?" "Sounds good to me"....So we just hung out. The only constructed thing I did, was catch up on my journal and post it. Oh yes, we did walk about a mile to a grocery store (as you see, I'm trying to fill a little space.) Tomorrow...haven't talked about it yet... 4 October '05, Tuesday. I've just added more pictures to the Italy Photo Gallery if you would like to see them. Another train ride south to Sorrento, then jump off quick to beat everyone that is heading across the street to the Amalfi bus. What a game we play... The famous bus ride along the Amalfi coast is done on a public transit bus, so you are mixing the aggressive tourist wanting to find 2 seats on the right side and the aggressive local that has had to fight to get on "their" bus to get home. I'm sure this ritual has gone on daily for a long time. Louise and I weren't the first in line, but for a short while, the last... Each bus holds 49 people...ya right...that's not counting the 59 more standing. We of course missed the first bus, but that put us within 6 or 8 from the front of the line for the next one. Funny thing happened when the next bus arrived...it stopped about half way back and opened it's doors. Of course we just stood by and let everyone get on...WRONG... the fellow behind us (from Portland) and I went scampering back to put a plug into the doorway stopping the flow of line jumpers. I must say, we were quite successful (my new big umbrella helped). At least John and I were able to get on and get our "rightful" seats at the front and on the right hand side for "the" best views. A little later, the ladies found their way up the stairs and into the wonderful seats that their brave husbands had fought hand to hand for. I forgot to mention, we are still taking the trains, boats and buses on that same 3 day pass, and we are really getting our moneys worth. On this bus ride we are going to see some stunning scenery and a few historic ruins. But, the big draw is the "white knuckle" bus ride that takes you on a very narrow, twisting, treacherous, absolutely beautiful drive along the coast for about one and a half hours. The bus has a horn that would make any man proud to own, and it is constantly blowing as you approach the next corner. You wonder how the driver has enough hands to hit his horn and handle the steering wheel at the same time. There were many times when we had to come to a complete stop and then inch along as we passed on-coming traffic. Twice we had to back up. The loadest horn wins the right-a-way. All along the Amalfi Coast we came upon small villages hanging onto their little piece of very steep cliff. Way down the cliff from the roadway you could see a wonderful little beach that was only accessed by stairs that seemed to appear out of thin air. Most of the beaches are private, and for those that own these very expensive homes or one of the hotels along the way. It was fun to see the Mediterranean twinkle from 500 feet above this great swimming pool, or look back across to the last turn you had just made and see this little village plunging down the hill to meet the beach below. Every once in a while, you would see the village of 10 to 15 homes, their fishing boats pulled up across the sand, waiting for the next tide. It was worth the fight to get "our" seats, but I wish there was some way that the locals could get their lives back, I feel a little guilty... Arriving in Amalfi, the end of the line, we wondered up the hill to find a lite lunch, window shop, and take a few photos before finding the boat ride back to Sorrento. Again using our wonderful ticket, we boarded our boat, headed straight up the stairs to the upper deck, found our "perfect" seats and settled back to see the Amalfi Coast from another perspective. The weather held and the ride both ways was excellent. Back to the train station, train waiting, and head back to "Bumble Bee". Tomorrow...No plans yet... 3 October '05, Monday. Herculaneum, smaller, less ruined, lacks the "grandeur, and is less famous than Pompeii, but it came out of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in much better shape. As I mentioned in yesterdays journal, Herculaneum was destroyed in the same eruption of Mt Vesuvius as Pompeii. The major difference was that Herculaneum was completely covered by a red-hot avalanche, or pyroclastic flow, that sped down the mountain at over 100 miles an hour. In about 4 minutes it completely over-took Herculaneum and buried it in nearly 60 feet of hot mud. In cooling, it turned almost to stone, and froze the moment in time. Again, like Pompeii, Herculaneum was a small seaport, but now the sea has recessed about 1/2 mile out. Because of the type of covering and the speed of it, there are more buildings that are intact, with a lot of detail, just as they were in 79AD and before. As we looked down into the base of the mud wall and the revived site, we could see the arched areas that were the boat houses. From that point, it was all rising up the hill from the shore. Some of the buildings were single story, and many others were as much as 3. A funny thing that Louise pointed out to me, was "if you look at the "ruins" and then follow upward into the town of Ercolano it is hard to tell where Herculaneum ends and Erolano starts". From the style, color, and feel, it is like they are still "one". As Herculaneum is much smaller, it only took us about an hour and a half and we were heading to the train again. This time we were heading into Naples. First, I've just got to say, "this is the dirtiest cities we have been in" !!! Not only the city of Naples, but all the surounding areas as well...trash of ALL types, graffiti everywhere, smells, "old", ... Now having said that, when we arrived in the city center we found nothing has changed from what I have just pointed out, but it came "alive". This is the most "Italian" city we have or probably will enter. Everything is "Italian", and that is wonderful !!! They wear their lives on the sleeves. You always know where you stand, and it is mostly just where you want to be. There is no doubt, they do have areas where you don't want to be on a dark night and by yourself, but they also have some of the most colorful and delightful "streets" (I would call them skinny alley's). The trains are very plain, dirty, painted with every color and design of graffiti, noisey as hell, shakes like it is going off the tracks, and harbors every type of individual you can imagine on each car...yet, they have a feeling of "your safe"... Now I do know that they have a lot of people out there looking for the "easy pick", but if you keep your self "aware", chances are you will be just fine. Arriving in Naples by train, riding the esculators up for ever, walking in corradors that have half the lamps burned out, and finally finding yourself outside and every car, vespa, and bus trying to run you down...hell, aint it great !!! You learn to addapt real quick. Red lights mean nothing to those that want to go, and that is just about everyone in a vehicle and vespa. Crossing a street reminds us of Cairo...it takes guts and street smarts... otherwise, make sure that you have a "local" on the on-coming side as you keep pace with them as they cross. That way, if someone gets hit, it unfortunately, will be them first. We pulled out a "walking tour" in one of Rick Steves books and headed out. Unfortunately we were wondering through Naples in the rain. We were dressed for it, but it would have been nice to not have the rain. We walked our legs off, and had a good time doing it. I was not really looking forward to seeing another "big" city, but I'm glad we did. We saw some incredible buildings, most from the very early to late 1800's . The Piazza Principe Umbrerto, the Galleria Umbrerto II, the Palace, and the Castle Nuovo are some of the most interesting stuctures I have ever seen...absolutely wonderful !!! We also found one of R.S.'s favorite haunts for "special treats"...it's called Gambrinus. They have some very fancy delicasies of which I had to try two...all I can say is THANKS R.S. !!! It's getting dark and we've got to catch our pumkin back to Pompei. It is amazing how when you just seem to be getting the hang of things, they turn right around and kick you in the butt. We "thought" we caught the right train, but we didn't...it fortunately went in the right direction for about 6 or 7 stops, and then it stopped...we still had a long way to go, and it stops??? Well another train came along, so we jumped on...things are good...wait a minute, it just felt like we took a turn to the left and we should be going straight...hell, we've got to get off. A half hour later, we were heading back to the last station and looking for a train to carry us to Pompei. Making a shorter story of this, about an hour and a half later and we finally were walking down the path towards our campground...and dead tired !!! Tomorrow...The bus ride along the Amalfi Coast 2 October '05, Sunday. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, and stopped all life in Pompeii, and Herculaneum. With the re-discovery of both Pompeii and Herculaneum in 1748 the archaeologists were able to put together the best look at what life must have been like in Rome 2,000 years ago. When we camped here last January, and with the Pompeii site right across the street, we really felt that we would like to return. What we saw today was a complete city, well preserved, and worth the 3 1/2 hours we took to explore it. Pompeii was first caught in the gray-white ash from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, that accumulated so fast that it started collapsing roofs and floors. Just a very short time into that, the gases from the eruption came and finally took 2,000 of the town's 20,000 residents. Those that were killed were buried under eight feet of the white power. Walking the streets of Pompaii was like stepping back in to time. Yes, they have recreated some of the garden areas of the individual homes, and rebuilt a few roofs. This was done so that you could really get a feel of how they lived. There were a lot of shops, restaurants, and some very small to some very large homes. The Tyrrhenian Sea used to come right up to the city, but now the water is a couple of long miles back. As might be expected, the "bounty" of these two cities was all put together and taken to the National Museum in Naples, but for just the right look, they may have put a copy or two of a statue in the ruins. We were able to see a lot of the tile mosaics on the floors, and some frescoes on the walls and ceilings of a few homes and businesses. We even saw a couple of homes that had an opening in the ceiling to collect light into the atriums, just like the skylights of today. One even had drain spouts that let the water drop into a pool in the middle of the entry area. Built into the pool was a drain that lead out to the street for the over-flow. Of course like all the major areas that the Romans lived, there was a forum and a large and small ampitheater. The ash was so hot, that when it covered a body, it vaporized it. This left a shell in fhe form of the person, in which the archaeologists filled with plaster to recreate the image. For some reason, Pompeii had by far more sexually exotic frescoes and carvings than any archaeologal site yet. There is even a "special" room for this material at the museum. There was one fresco (painting on a wall) that showed a man with a very large erection. This is not pornography, but a way of showing wealth and fertility. The penis and the sack of money balance each other on the goldsmith's scale above a fine bowl of fruit. The meaning, only with a balance of fertility and money can you have abundance. There was a lot to tell you about, but it will have to wait until we get home. After a bite to eat, we grabbed the train and headed for a short visit to Sorrento. We had taken the advice of Rick Steves again and purchased a 3 day ticket that would get us into 2 major sites, all the train, bus, and boat rides we could put into 3 days, and 50% off the other sites we wanted to visit. So now we have visited one major and taken 2 train rides...all in the first 6 hours. We didn't spend too much time in Sorrento today, but we will be back. Sorrento looks really great, but diffenately will take more time. Tomorrow....Herculaneum...the "other" city 1 October '05, Saturday. This morning we drove out of our campground north of Lido and decided to "go the coast road". Yesterday we drove it most of the afternoon and everything went very well. Today was even better. We have also noticed that a lot of the campgrounds are begining to close. Yesterday we pulled into 2 that were closed and saw at least 4 or 5 others that were too. Winter has arrived, campgrounds are going to become more challenging to find. October is differently here. We also made a dry run into the Rome airport just to check it out, seeing as "Aunty Ann" will be arriving there in a couple of weeks. From there we were just a couple of tourists checking out all the beach towns as we went through. Every once in a while we encountered heavy traffic right in the middle of the larger towns, but with "Bumble Bee", they just move aside and let us through. It is kind of funny though, the Italians have picked up some of the habits of Turkey, where they pull up and double park at the drop of the hat. At one point there was a double parked car about every third spot and with the incoming street already coming down from 3 lanes to 2, this made it really a single. On top of that, there was 2 other main arteries coming into the same "main" street. Add a couple of buses, a small delivery truck or two, and us,... let the show begin... I love this kind of challenge,,,Louise is all white knuckles. We have had some off shore wind the last couple of days that has cleaned the air, and the mountains have come alive... You can see for a "hundred miles"...the sky is a wonderful light blue and the fresh air is great !!! Pulling into the Sparticus Campground in Pompei about 5, we went to the grocery store down the street, made and ate dinner, and now will head to bed after a little catch up on some reading materials. In the morning we will go across the street and visit the ruins of "Pompei". Mount Vesuvi is just in back of us, sitting there looking so wonderfully peaceful. One of the days while we are here, we will take a hike to the crater of Vesuvi, just to see what is there. But, tomorrow...Pompei 30 September '05, Friday. This morning we left the Cinque Terre and headed south. Fact is, we finally found a campground just outside of Rome. Luckily we didn't take the same route out of from Levanto as we did going in. Todays trip was long, but comfortable. About 3, we started looking for a campground to spend the night, but the first 2 we stopped at were closed for the season. Now, the question comes to our mind, is this going to be a big problem...are we going to find a place to stay tonight??? Another hours driving along the coast and getting right to the door step of Rome, we find a open campground. We are the only campers here, but not the only people staying here. Apparently they rent a lot of caravans out, because there is a large number of Turks and other nationalities renting here. Lots of young families...kids everywhere, all having a good time. Seeing as it is Lou's birthday, we walked into the little village just around the corner, to see if we could find a nice dinner. HaHa, not a chance...it is a small village, and right on the beach, but nothing but one small pizza place that looked like it hadn't had any business for a while. Sorry Lou, but we will have to Barbeque something tonight... By the way, I know that we have written about the different toilets we have encountered, but let's recap a little. We had a new one at the last campground... first we have the standard toilet with a standard toilet seat...second, we have the standard without a toilet seat, then the what looks like the standard, but has a seat that rotates after you flush and completely sanitizes the seat as it goes around, the one we have heard so much about when everyone heard we were going to Europe, the European "squat" toilet...(the toughest part with one of these is your thigh muscles start to burn if your there for a while, and if there isn't any toilet paper, what do you do with the roll you brought with you while holding your pants up and out of the way, and what is that hose hanging from the wall going to do for you...you squirt it where ???...and make sure that you get ready to jump when you flush, because of the power of the flush...), finally the last one...standard toilet with seat, but the seat is raised when you walk in. The instructions that are stuck on the wall tell you that you should lower the seat, sit, and then when done, the seat will raise automatically while squirting a disinfectant. Let me tell you now, you had better get away from the toilet quickly, or else it will disinfect something else besides the air with a sweet smell...Stay tuned for any additional important information on toilets... Tomorrow...Pompei... 29 September '05, Thursday. Boy is it good to find some more peanut butter !!! We were out of it for better than 2 weeks, and it was just about getting to us. About every 3rd morning or so we like to have toast with peanut butter (and jelly for me...) and coffee to start our day. You understand, a full nutritious start for our day... Anyway, we found a small jar in the camp grocery store for $4 Euros ($5.00 US) and we are eating well. I mention this because this was our breakfast this morning before heading back to the train station. We also had to say goodbye to a couple of Aussie's that we met here. Zack was going to Antibes to see if he could find a sail boat to crew with, that he hoped would sail to some exotic areas, and Jane had to head back to Australia. For us, it was Monterosso al Mare, our last stop in the Cinque Terre. The other 4 villages now behind us, we just couldn't leave without seeing Monterosso. Out of the 5, Monterosso is the only one that has vehicles and vespa's on their roads. The train dropped us off right between the old town and the new, and right on the beach with a great boardwalk. Well, do we go right, or do we go left? Left won, so down the boardwalk we went looking like the average tourist...shorts, backpack, umbrella (looked like it could rain), and a copy of Rick Steves "Italy 2005". Once we got to the end of the boardwalk (about 100 yards), we had to go into a tunnel that took us under the train tracks and into the old town. Wouldn't you know it, they had a "Farmers Market" going on. Not needing anything, we took a tour through it, checking out many items that we just knew we would buy if we had a larger motorhome. It is great fun to just look,think you could use it, and still walk away with out spending... Done with the market, our first stop was a 13th century church, and then we went next door and went to...church (another one next door), and then found the "yellow brick roadway" (really they were terracotta bricks, Rick called them yellow), and climbed many many steps to the top of a hill were we found another church (part of an old convent, but now the convent is a guest house). A little further up hill ???, we found an old castle where the interior was turned into a cemetary back in the late 1800's. It is still in "new" use today...not only that, but there were fresh flowers throughout, making it very attractive and fresh. We were thinking of the processions that must have taken place many years ago, where all the mourners had to climb that hill for the grave side service. Tough people... Well you know what comes next don't you ???... Lunch... In reading Rick's book, I had 2 places out of 5 in his book that I had to choose from. Finally I made my choice, "Miky".. It was the "Pizza Pasta" that did it. The choice we (I) made was ravioloi stuffed with sea bass in a "pink sauce", baked with a very thin pizza crust draped across the top of the croc, and then they cook this concoction in a wood fired oven. Boy can I choose them...it was better than good. Seeing as how Louise is having her 29th Birthday tomorrow, we had a special bottle of "Cinque Terre Blanc" wine, and a very unusual Tiramasu. We'll wait for that diet program a while longer. Not wanting to walk any more hills and stairs following that lunch, we headed back to the train and "Bumble Bee".. This has been a good stop. The rain has held off (except for a couple of drops on and off), the sun has made it's self known, and just when you might need a little shade, the clouds have come in. Tomorrow...South 28 September '05, Wednesday. After finishing an American breakfast of sausage and eggs, we headed out to catch the train. For $2.75 we bought train tickets that would take both of us to visit the 5 Cinque Terre villages and return, as long as it would take less than 6 hours...for today, it did. We will have to go back to the last village tomorrow, as we just wore ourselves out doing the first 4. Levanto sits north of the Cinque Terre, so we decided to catch the train and ride it to the furthest village of Riomaggiore and make our way back. Most of the train ride was inside a tunnel, so it wasn't the view that you ride this train for. Arriving in Riomaggiore, we immediately climbed the hill to reach the center of the village and then work our way down to the sea. I'm glad we are making this trip to the Cinque Terre in the off season. There is enough tourist traffic as it is, once you get into the village. These villages really don't offer the tourist anything but a chance to kick back and do nothing but relax, pester the fishermen, walk the hills that surround the towns, or walk between the villages through the trail system that the state has put together. We did a little bit of it all in Riomaggiore and then headed out on the hike around the hill to the next village, Manarola...about 30-40 minutes walking the trail above the crashing waves of the Mediterranean. It was like walking down the sidewalk of any street in any town in America, except for the view and the fresh air. Arriving at Manaroloa was again like before, very picturesque and a joy to walk the streets. A little people watching, having lunch at one of the outdoor waterfront restaurants, and testing our leg musles by walking the stairs that are at every corner (why is they all go up higher than they go down???). Having settled our minds that we had taken in just about every little nook and cranny, we found the next leg of our hike and headed out to Corniglia. This trail wasn't quite as "polished" as the last one, but besides being 15 to 20 minutes longer, it was a wonderful walk...that was until we got to the end of the trail and then we had 400 stairs waiting for us to walk up to see Corniglia...OUCH !!! We did have another option beside walking the stairs, like taking a shuttle bus to the top..."Who Us???" That wasn't a picnic in the park, but we took it like the "Champions We Are"... Once we got to the top, we felt we had earned a treat, so we found the gelloto shop and had a double scoop on a cone...well, we are deserving once in a while... Besides, we had to walk a lot more stairs once we got into Corniglia...these people must be stair climbing champions at an early age. These staircases that they have to travel day in and day out are not only very steep, but extremely narrow. Impressed as we were with the locals, and ourselves, we headed back down the 400 steps that we climbed in the beginning and went to meet the train for the next leg of our village tour...Vernazza. We had read that Vernazza was the most picturesque of the villages, and it really is. Located right at the waters edge, and then climbing directly up the side of the mountain, it just seemed to have all the photo opts a person might want...It was very nice. A beautiful little harbor, a nitch formed between the mountains coming down to the sea, the village built to follow the slight twist upward, a small castle on the top of one of the crags coming right out of the sea, multi colored buildings with laundry hanging from the lines or from their windows, the hidden steps going here and sometimes no-where, a little door left open a jar lets us peek and see the grapes that have been cut from the vine and hung from the ceiling of these rooms to dry for another 2 more months...they are for a special desert wine called Sciacchetra. 10 kelos of the grapes only make up 1 liter of Sciacchetra where the same 10 kelos of fresh grapes will make up 7 liters of local wine. We found a place that sold Sciacchetra, and it sold between $38 and $85 Euros a bottle...but no tastings... Disheartend, we left...we left for the train to take us home ("Bumble Bee"). We still have another day to be here, so maybe, possibly, we will find a tasting somewhere. Back home, we still have one more Cinque Terre village to see...Monterossa al Mare, and that will be our first stop on the train tomorrow... |
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