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Published: September 13th 2007
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That's right "The Mummies" arrived safe & sound in London & we dragged them off to enjoy the sun drenched coasts and charming swarthy men of Amalfi. Well, perhaps they just enjoyed the men's flattery, as remember "the Daddies" were stuck in the office at home.
Mum, and her close friend Mary travelled over to this side of the world to celebrate Mary's 60th and visit their 'babies'.
‘The mummies’ arrived in London & took a taxi to our home in Clapham on Tuesday 14th August. I took Wednesday off work and had a lovely day showing them around our neighbourhood. They loved Abbeville Rd shops & cafes, and enjoyed being dragged (mum) around Clapham Common. Wednesday evening was a lovely extended family reunion where Chris & Ali came around and Mary's daughter Tania came around with her partner Simon. Eight of us who had caught up for birthdays & Christmas Eve 'family' dinners every year since I can remember, back to when Tania, used to spend 4 days per week at our house after Primary School. David grew up thinking he had two sisters not one.
Thursday night (after work :-( )we went to the Covent Garden
Work? What work?
Brendon enjoying a buffet breakfast at our Hotel Onde Verde in Praiano on the Amalfi coast. summer night markets & Friday night was spent packing for Saturday.......
At last we were leaving England, the country summer forgot, to a holiday in the sun. Mum, Mary, Brendon & I packed into a taxi at 9.15am off to the airport. After a stopover in Milan and a delayed flight we arrived in Napoli at 19.40. Good thing our driver Luigi met us as planned & took us on the drive through the streets of Naples at sunset. After Naples we drove past Pompeii, and the magnificent Vesuvius and climbed into the heavens. Hairpin bend after hairpin bend our van rose through the night. The roads were tiny and turned into lanes and still we rose with the cliff on one side, a wall & vertigo-inducing drop on the other. Brendon & I sat in the front & feasted our eyes on the gorgeous villas clinging onto the cliff - and the vista below. As the night sky deepened, the number of mad drivers increased. Our driver seemed to thing it was perfectly fine to drive a 12-seater van round a goat track at high speed with one hand on the wheel, the other on the phone which
View from our hotel balcony
How to guarantee every hotel room has sea views.... build onto a cliff. Not good if you're in a wheelchair, but perfect for us & we got to wake up to the sun rising over the ocean every morning. was stuck to his ear most of the trip. Of course that was preferable to the times where he had a break from the phone and was busy turning on the inside light to show us photos of his son, the quality of paper his friends produced & anything else that possibly could - and did - distract him from the task of watching the road & driving with two hands on the wheel. Good thing Mum & Mary were down the back and couldn’t see. Uhh, maybe not. When we finally reached our hotel - or at least the car park & lift which are all that are at road level, their variously green and white faces showed that the silence in the back was not two sleeping mummies, but two very sick mummies. Still they wanted dinner as it might settle their tummies. The kitchen was reopened for us (it had closed as we were so late arriving) & they prepared a specialty dish, presented with mum aplomb. When the pungent aroma wafted away and mum turned a whiter shade of pale, we realised that the food they prepared especially for us, was none other than a very
The whanau
Dinner at the Reid's. Left to R, Chris, Tania, Mum, Brendon, Ali, Mary & Simon. Lovely to get everyone together - now all we need are Dad, David & Darryl! strong, fishy, local squid. Uhh, did anyone mention that I’m the only one who eats fish?
Not the best start to the trip, but everything was just fabulous after that. Our rooms were reached by a single lift inside the cliff. The lift doors opened, you walked through a tunnel out of the cliff & into the beautiful night air. Up some stairs and to our glorious, impeccable room. Mum’s and Mary’s room was even grander. Italy we have arrived!
After a day of travel, Sunday was spent strolling around Positano (checkout my lovely leather belt - thanks Mum!), a quick dip in the ocean followed by gelatos & resting. Ahhh, this is the life.
Our hotel is in Praiano, halfway along the Amalfi coast between Positano & Amalfi. Our accommodation deal included half board, which includes brekke & 3 course dinners (plus a side). Dinners were freshly cooked & totally moreish. Not too good for the old waist line but great for the taste buds.
Monday was a 6.15 start physio / pilates stretches for Br & me, buffet breakfast at 7am in time to clean our teeth and catch our 7.30am ride to
Ladies shopping in Positano!
Mummy & me strolling down the road towards the picture postcard town of Positano. Amalfi, for a tour group and ferry to Capri.
Capri was crowded and touristy. My highlight was the ethereal climb to the top of the island in a tiny little gondola. We started in the hot sun & ended up in the cool cloud. Dangling there in mid air, journeying up over orchards and gardens was a refreshing and peaceful retreat from the world. Anacapri, a tour of Axel Munthe’s villa & gardens, lunch & then down to Capri shops, tourists and the lovely Augustus’ gardens. A big day we returned to our hotel at about 6.30pm. Time to explore the walkways and beaches below our hotel. Another delicious dinner (we could select our (non-fish for the rest) choices from a menu at breakfast) of salad or fish or chicken, fresh pasta and sauce from lovely fresh vine ripened tomatoes and a side of veggies. And off to a sound night’s sleep.
Up at dawn again as Brendon, Mary & I prepare for a day in Pompeii. Mum had already been to Pompeii (as had I) and was so put off by the terrible journey to the hotel that she gave it a miss & had a lovely
Is that the beach???!!!
The water is beautiful, the homes rising out of the cliif are awe inspiring, but the beaches. Well the beaches leave a lot to be desired....
If you're a kiwi, brace yourself: These world famous beaches that people flock to don't have any sand! What's worse, they've got big, hard pebbles. Oh, and they're tiny. And crowded. and share the tiny beach with a whole lot of boats, so large parts of the beach and sea are out of bounds for swimmers. What am I talking about? Well check out where the water touches the shoreline. See those boats - and those rows of umbrellas and deck chairs that you have to pay for. It's either sit in a bright orange row, or brace yourself for an attempt to find a comfortable way to sit on the hard peoples - and a bruised bottom afterwards.
relaxing day exploring the coast instead. Pompeii was fabulous and not as hot or crowded as my last visit - although we still chased the shade - and the slight respite it bought from the heat. We saw the ancient forum, baths, private people’s homes, brothels, the Greek amphitheatre & so much more. It is just bizarre to think that Caecilius and his family, lived, worked, played and died here nearly 2000 years ago.
After lunch we drove up the still active Mt Vesuvius & climbed up to the peak & peered into the crater. Mental note: jandals are not advisable for climbing up scoria. Still I made it up - well before the overweight & unfit Italians on our bus. Well another 11 / 12 hour day of sightseeing & we are ready to hop into bed.
Final day in Italy & we spend it at the local area that passes as a beach. For ’beach’, read small cove, crowded with people, sun loungers (5 Euro each for the pleasure of not killing yourself on stones) and boats. The pebbles here were bigger and way more painful than at Positano & the small roped off swimming area
Looking, looking, shopping, shopping
Admiring the wares on the way down to the beach. I'm (with the grean shoulder bag) enjoying the shade from the canopy of bougenvillia. Ahh, now I feel I'm somewhere exotic! was full of the flotsam & jetsam you’d expect from a cove full of fishing boats. Nothing makes you appreciate the beaches back home ‘til you see how much people flock to & rave about the European ‘beaches’. Still it was warm and I was in the sea. And relaxing instead of working. And with Brendon & my Mummy. Life’s not too hard.
We had our final early breakfast, said our sad farewells to leave Mum, Mary & Italy & were picked up by Luigi at 8am for the drive back to Napoli airport. We flew to Rome, where Brendon managed to have a haircut, before we caught our Croatia Airlines flight to Split, Croatia and we began the leg of our summer holiday.
Watch this space to find out all about Croatia.
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