Rome & The bay of Naples

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Hi all,

Friday 6th May.
Our drive out of Tuscany and into Lazio took us through the Le Crete area, we passed the eye-catching site of Monptepulciano before we arrived on the northern outskirts of the city at Camping Tiber. After a fairly long drive we decided to relax by the pool for the rest of the afternoon and plan the days ahead in Rome.

Saturday 7th.
That morning the camp site shuttle bus took us to Prima Port station from where the train went direct to Rome and to the Piazza Popolo. The plan was to just wander around the town all day, get our bearings and decide what we'd like to see and visit when the weekend crowds had headed home, so off we went.
We walked around all afternoon and got our bearings seeing many famous landmarks during the day (but I'll mention those later). The one thing we did do was try and gets tickets for the match that day Roma v AC Milan but they were charging tourist rates at 92 euros per ticket so we didn't bother. (It ended 0 v 0 anyway). We watched the game back on site in the bar that night along with more animated Italians, the bar at Camping Tiber was very busy with a mixture of campers and backpackers of all nationalities and the pizzas and beer were first class.

Sunday 8th.
As the crowds in Rome would be huge on a Sunday and I didn't think the Pope would miss me we decided not to venture in for mass that morning instead we relaxed on site in the sun by the pool.
Later that afternoon as we went back to the van we found all the campers in our area running around in a panic, what had happened was that all the spring blossom that had fallen from the trees and collected on the floor had caught fire and the fire had actually spread under our van, thankfully a kind Dutch gent hosed it down and saved the van, we missed the whole thing but it seems we were very very lucky.

Monday 9th
Having decided what our route round Rome was going to be and which sites we wanted to visit we headed off for our Rome city tour part 1.
I'm not going to go into great detail, history etc. about everything we saw or visited you might as well buy a Rome guidebook for that, I'll just summarize our wanderings.
First stop was the Vatican City (another new country), we went into St Peters Basilica and although I'm not a religious person I thought it was quite breathtaking, then we sat in St Peters square at the obelisk and counted Bernini's saints on top of the doric columns.
Back into Rome we walked via Castel and Ponte St Angelo and on into Piazza Navona. This Piazza is huge, laid out on the site of an old arena it has 3 fountains, the central one depicting the 4 great rivers of the time, it's another place to sit and people watch, tourists mixing with artists, hawkers and street acts.
A short stroll through the Centro Storico is Piazza della Rotunda and the Pantheon. Built by emperor Hadrian and standing for nearly 2000 years the outside of the Pantheon looks pretty tatty as it's been stripped of it's coverings over the years but the inside is an amazing place. As you enter through the huge doors you look up to see the Oculus, the 8.7m wide hole in the ceiling that lets in a huge ray of light (and water when it rains) that sends a spotlight around the interior. Housing the tombs of 2 kings of Italy and the artist Raphael it really is a spectacular building.
Through more piazza's and via the gelateria we made our way to the Trevi fountain. Another packed place (it was only Monday!!) so we joined the crowds sat around the fountain to take a look.
Onwards towards the Piazza Barberini and for lunch at another Hard Rock Cafe (Rome no. 6 so far).
Once fed and rested we made our way to Piazza di Spagnas and the Spanish steps. Built in 1725 the steps are THE place to people watch in Rome. Our entertainment was watching the rose sellers literally forcing roses into women's hands then trying to extract money from them, there were all sorts of reactions, very entertaining.
After a bit of shopping we made our way through piazza Popolo and I took a walk around the Chiesa de Santa Maria del Popolo. Remember I mentioned about film locations, well if anyone's read or seen Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and you know all the murder locations well we visited most of them today.
After an 8 hour tour of the city I gladly sat in the bar back on site with my feet up and had a few more Peroni's.

Tuesday 10th
Another rest day due to aching feet and history overload so more time spent by the pool and in the bar.

Wednesday 11th. Part 2 of our Rome city tour.
Refreshed and ready to go we made our way directly to the Colesseum.
The Colesseum has had a varied history, it's not always been the scene of slaughter but that's what's it's famous for. Standing inside and having watched the film Gladiator the night before you really got a sense of what it would have been like sat watching the bloody battles being played out in the arena below.
Out of the Colesseum we walked passed the Palantine once ancient Rome's affluent area, home to emperor's and aristocrats alike, then through the Circo Massimo which was once Rome's largest arena, it could host 250,000 spectators for it's chariot races, today it's just a hollow in the ground with not much to remind you of it's past glories. Onto the Roman forum, the old centre of ancient Rome which still has a large number of ruins standing. We finished after a stroll up the Via dei Fori Imperial at piazza Venezia where we made our way back up the busy Via del Corso for ice creams and more shopping.

Thursday 12th
Having had a great time in Rome it was time to head off on a fairly lengthy drive and another hectic sightseeing spell ahead.
Heading south on the toll road (by the way the minor roads in Italy are terrible so it's best to us the toll motorways) it was nice and steady drive through some varied but always green landscapes, we drove by Montecassino the mountain top location of St Benedict's abbey and the scene of a major German stronghold in WWII until the allies bombed it. We also drove by more hillside towns with houses clinging to the cliff faces.
Our destination was Camping Zeus in Pompeii. Just a few hundred yards from the entrance to the ruins and also next to the train station, it's an ideal base for visiting the bay of Naples area.

Friday 13th
With the ruins at Pompeii on the door step we decided to go there first.
After suffering first an earthquake then the eruption of Vesuvius just 14 years later Pompeii residents didn't have the best times, first the town was seriously damaged and most people evacuated in AD65 then nearly 2000 died in the ash fall from the eruption in AD79.
Now 65% uncovered after many years under the 3metre ash fall old Pompeii is a tourist hot spot.
The ruins are spread over a wide area and there is a lot to see but with a decent map and taking it fairly easy we saw everything of note in about 4 hours and that included stops for drinks and food (and me trying to work out where next!!).
There are ruins of houses, shops, temples, theatres, amphitheatres, baths, villas, vineyards, statues, frescos, mosaics and not forgetting the plaster casts of humans and the dead dog, so plenty to see.
On arriving anyway near the place be prepared to be inundated by hawkers trying to sell you anything you can think of.

Saturday 14th
Another long day ahead, on the train early and around the coast to Sorrento. On arrival in Sorrento we bought tickets for the bus to Amalfi and joined the very large queue. Getting on was fine for us we got a seat but at least 10 people had to stand and standing for that journey wasn't easy, it was bad enough sitting down. For appx 1 hour and 20 mins our very large coach somehow navigated the winding road that is the Amalfi coast road.
Having a seat next to the window on the coastal side was an experience, watching us speeding around hairpin bends practically scrapping the road barriers above the great drops to the sea below was bad enough but when we met another coach coming the other way most people on board probably closed their eyes and prayed we'd make it.
For all the sheer drops and near misses we had to experience we also had fantastic views of the towns of Positano and Furore before we came to Amalfi, an unforgettable journey. Sometimes kids don't really appreciate what they have just experienced do they, Harry's comment on getting off the bus in Amalfi, “It was a bit up and down and stop start wasn't it, I got bored”.
Amalfi is a busy little place with loads of day trippers, they pack the towns piazza's buying their tea towels and madonna statues then all disappear again late in the day. We stayed for a couple of hours, time enough to see the place and have lunch (A Harry classic whilst eating his Margherita pizza, “it's a bit too cheesy and a bit too tomatoey”?? what did you expect?) We then made the equally exciting bus ride back to Sorrento.
Back in Sorrento we took time to walk around town and down to the viewing areas that look out across the bay of Naples. Although a bit hazy that evening we could see the isles of Ischia and Capri and the top of Vesuvius across the water and also the many boats ferrying people around the islands.

Sunday 15th
A complete rest day, I did another wash whilst the kids got wifi and caught up with friends on facebook.

Monday 16th
Our last excursion whilst staying in Pompeii was a bus and 4x4 trip to the crater of Vesuvius.
Heading out of the Pompeii's sprawl we were soon into the fertile green lands at the base of the volcano and heading steeply up hill, you can walk this route but sod that we were getting driven to the top. Well almost to the top, we had to walk the last few hundred metres but it gave us a chance to take in the views on the south side of the mountain looking across to Sorrento and Capri.
At the top more stalls selling fake this and that await you but bypass them and you get to walk around the west side of the crater at your own pace. Dan was a little disappointed Vesuvius wasn't spewing red hot lava out and that all he could see were a few rocks that had rolled down to fill in the hole. There was some steam coming from the craters edge but thankfully nothing more than that.
Apart from looking into the crater the views on the north side of the volcano looking across Naples and back up the west coast of Campania were great. After our 3 hour trip it was back into the army style 4x4 and down the hill back to site.
A walk into new Pompeii that evening for a few supplies rounded off our stay in this area and it's as far south in Italy as we will be heading. Our next route was to cut across the country to the east coast and start heading north.

Take care all

Neil Dan and Harry
x

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Photos

St Peters
My favourite pope