16 April 2008 A long, tiring but unexpectedly good day in Naples. We set off early to catch the train and were serenaded by our first violinist of the day on the journey. Alighting at Piazza Garibaldi we navigate our way through the constant traffic and busy local street market to find the long narrow main street of the old town, Via Dei Tribulani. The street had shops either side whose goods spilt onto the pavement. Thankfully bollards protected us from the many scooters. Our first stop was the Duomo, set slightly back. Although originally gothic from the early thirteenth century, it has been ornately decorated by subsequent generations. It has a large and heavily frescoed chapel dedicated to its patron saint, San Gennaro. We next visited a much more interesting Gothic Church, St Lorenzo Maggiore, ... read more

14 April 2008 Yesterday was the London Marathon. Today we did our own marathon with an eight hour trip around the ruins of the Roman town of Pompeii which was engulfed by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD. It is a huge and most interesting site with the forum, temples, theatres, an ampitheatre, a market, a brothel (the pictures of this are censored for the blog!), necropolis, baths, gardens and many houses. We would have taken longer but several of the buildings were closed or being renovated. All the statues and some of the mosaics, frescoes and loose objects have been removed to the Archaeological Museum in Naples. So this will be our destination for another trip later in the week. ... read more

12 April 2008 After a night of heavy rain we woke to a rather dull morning but the weather improved to a sunny but breezy day. A stroll along the beach led us to a small marina and from there to the newer part of town where we did a little essential shopping. Then it was time to explore the old town which sits on top of a rocky outcrop. With narrow stepped streets it is rather like a Spanish white village. Form the view point we could see our campsite but not the van. After lunch of olives, salami and mozzarella, we walked along the beach in the other direction to the Villa of Tiberius with its fish farm and sea grotto. ... read more

10 April 2008 Today was Vatican day. I had always thought that the Vatican would be in the middle of Rome, but in fact it’s a little away from the centre, the other side of the River Tiber. We started with a visit to the Vatican Museum, the highlights of which were the Galleries of Candelabra, Tapestries and Maps, Raphael’s Rooms and of course the Sistine Chapel (no photos of the Sistine allowed). The whole visit took nearly 4 hours. After lunch we went to St Peter’s Bascilica which is a vast baroque structure and after looking around the inside, climbed up to the top of the dome. We now feel we are Romed out and tomorrow plan to continue our journey southwards. ... read more

8 April 2008 We had an easy trip into the centre of Rome by way of the campsite bus and the train. Unfortunately as soon as we got into the city it started to rain but this did not deter us from commencing our exploration. After getting our bearings, making a trip to the tourist office and managing to buy an Italian camper stop guide that I wanted, we headed for one of the larger squares, Piazza Venezia and ascended the Vittorio Emanuele Monument to get a good view of most of the city. We then had a look at Capitoline Hill and spent the rest of the day wandering around the narrow streets of Centro Storico, the historic centre of Rome. We visited the Pantheon, the most complete Roman structure in the city. It is ... read more