Reggio di Calabria 1

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Wednesday, 5th November, 2008.

Plan for today, move from Ladispoli to Agropoli.

We both woke up fairly early today, and were ready to leave by about nine.

The weather was bright first thing, so we checked out, and drove about 10 meters to the seafront to have a look.

The beach is very fine volcanic grain, with the odd lump of pumice type stuff, and very dark, almost a grey / black.

We toured the small town of Ladispoli, because we needed to get some cash out to pay for the apartment. Couldn't see any Banks or cash machines, so we resorted to Plan B, which was to pop into one of the airports near Rome. Our thought was that they would be used to Tourist cards and let us have some money.

We found our way to Leonardo Da Vinci airport, which is west of Rome, and not far from the coast. I have to say that driving towards the airport was very light in traffic. We headed for Arrivals and parked the car Italian style, i.e. where we could find a spot. It wasn't a designated parking spot, but then all the other cars do the same, we did pay for a parking ticket, just in case.

There was a cash machine sited just as we went in. We tried to get some money, unsuccessfully. Pat then figured out that we where asking for amounts not on the initial screen, and as soon as we used an amount that was preprogrammed, it allowed us the money. So by using a number of our cards, from our various accounts, we were able to gather together the full amount that we needed.

We needed to pay for a cash refundable deposit as well as the rent for the week, which is why we needed an amount slightly greater than the machine's usual amount, which turned out to be the problem.

Anyway, what with the simple access into the airport and now having our apartment money, the day was off to a good start.

We had a coffee and brioche (the Italian for croissant) and headed back out into the world.

The road was a lot busier on the way out of the airport, I guess, because it is heading for Rome, but also there had been an accident, and it looked like a big van had tried to alter the crash barriers on the inside lane. Didn't see any other vehicles and looked like they were beginning to tidy up as we went through.

As we approached the accident there was a van which had a electronic display board showing that there was an accident ahead. We both thought this was an excellent idea. Our Motorway signs are sometimes farcical.

The rain came on again and made it quite an unpleasant drive at times. We were never in that much of a hurry so we took things steadily. As we drove along there were many mountains, and we drove alongside Mount Vesuvius, towards the end of the journey.

Just ahead of us at one stage, a lorry had a tyre blow out. The tyre bursting was one hell of a noise. He was on the inside lane and we were well clear of him, so no problem to us.

We arrived in the Agropoli area, at about two thirty. The arrangement was to meet Raffaele at four o'clock.

We did a slight detour to a place called Paestum, which turns out to be an enormous area of Greek and Roman archeology. There seem to be fairly complete temples and big city walls. I have never heard of this place, but from the sheer scale it ought to be much better known. The rain was hammering down and lightning was going off, so we just pootled around. This is somewhere that we plan to visit properly during our week in the area.

After, the brief journey round Paestum, we headed into Agropoli and found our designated rendezvous. The IP petrol station on the seafront. We were a little early and tried to find a supermarket, with no success. Most places were shut anyway, because of siesta, by the looks of it.

We then did our mad English people bit and walked along the promenade in the rain, ah, so much like home. The only real difference is the temperature, which was 23°C on the car, at one stage. So walking along with a little rain in the warm wasn't difficult, especially considering the date. This is what we want!

Shortly before four o'clock, we telephoned Raffaele, who said he would be down in ten minutes, to guide us to the apartment.

He arrived and asked us to follow him. I asked him not to drive like an Italian. He smiled. His English is excellent, so no communication issues.

We followed him up the hill overlooking Agropoli to the apartment block. The place is lovely, the rooms very large, spacious and airy, with a view overlooking the bay. We have found another wonderful place to stop.

Raffaele was very helpful, navigating us around the apartment and providing information about the things of interest to do locally. Also, about supermarkets and more general stuff, as we needed to stock on some food for the next few days.

We then unpacked the car, no small job, and headed straight to the supermarket, without too much difficulty.

This was our first real foray into Italian supermarkets and we managed to get all sorts of things, to start us off and get us fed. You shouldn't ever shop when you are hungry, they say. This we did and bought all manner of stuff.

Mozzarella cheese seems to big around here, as it is advertised everywhere. Not sure if this is the home of Mozzarella cheese or something, I will let you know.

Made it back to the apartment, we relaxed for a while and Pat cooked a Spanish Omelette.

The view from the lounge window overlooks the old part of the town and we can see the lighthouse.

We haven't forgotten that today is 5th November, Guy Fawkes, Fireworks, and all that. I guess the Christchurch Park, Ipswich Firework display would be this coming Saturday, we usually went and got soaked in the last few years.

Thursday, 6th November, 2008

The day started with a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain. We don't seem to have slid down the hill or anything, so for us, all is OK.

We planned on a lazy day today, and the rain certainly is keeping us to that.

At one thirty the rain had stopped and we made a move into Agropoli. We can see a Fort overlooking the bay and we went to find it.

That end of town is pedestrianised so we parked the car, and walked. We went up and up and found the castle, which seems to be privately owned and was shut. There were some lovely views and we saw the port the other side of the headland.

We walked back to the car and drove round and parked again, We spent a pleasant couple of hours ambling around looking at the boats and doing some people watching. The weather is still warm and the sun shone for some of the time, which made it even better.

We walked right to the end of the breakwater and could see round the headland and we were able to work out the apartment building where we are staying.

Four o'clock ish we decided to head back and spend another evening chilling out.

Pat cooked a pasta bolognaise with some of our supplies from yesterday.

Hopefully an early night and a good night's sleep after the storm of last night.

Friday, 7th November, 2008

Plan for today, visit Herculaneum.

Pat caught up with some washing first thing and we were ready to leave about eleven forty five.

We had a minor problem leaving, in that the remote controlled gate to the property wouldn't open, Raffaele had mentioned it had been damaged in the storm, but it would open manually either. I phoned him and he must have been around the corner because he arrived within minutes and used a special key to open the gates.

We used the motorway most of the way. The lesser roads in Italy are not that good for travelling distances. It took us about an hour, hour and a half to get there and we found our way straight there.

The town of Herculaneum was destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption in AD79. Destroyed is probably the wrong word, because what actually happened that it was totally covered with lava and debris from the eruption. Some of the buildings were damaged and or caught fire in the process, but a lot survived enough for large parts of the structures to have remained. All be it under 16 metres of volcanic debris. The debris and lava also increased the coastline 400 metres further in the sea.

During the 1700's people began to tunnel down and removing all the antiquities and artifacts that they could find. In the 1800's full removal of the volcanic debris begun and now a part of the town is totally uncovered with almost full public access.

The entrance is a tunnel that drops you the difference in height, from the present to the past, and you start your visit to the site, on what was the coastline in AD79.

They have found remains of over three hundred people in this area, who were trying to get away, but never made it.

The town of Ercolana, grew above the old and there is much of the old that will not be uncovered, because of the this. There are other tunnels, but they are not open to the public.

We saw a small part of Ercolana as we drove in and the guidebooks we have read aren't complimentary and we would have to agree.

The site isn't that big, but contains one hell of a lot of stuff and It all seems very real. We had an audio guide and had both read information about the site before we went.

The houses and shops and all the things of a small town are very much in existence. It is a truly fascinating place and well worth a visit. You do get a very good feel of the everyday existence of a Roman town.

We spent about two and half to three hours wandering around taking things in, and then decided to head back.

On the way back we stopped at the Spar supermarket and picked up some more supplies.

We bought lots of picky things as we hadn't eaten much today, and didn't want to wait for a meal to be cooked. So we had lots of hams and cheeses and olives and bread.

After that we put our weary feet up and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Today's interesting insight into a part of Italian life and my perception, will be pedestrian crossings. They are in abundance and all over the place. I am not sure, what the actual law states, regarding who has right of way, the car or the pedestrian, but actually it probably doesn't matter, because they don't use them. It seems that if you stand at a pedestrian crossing nobody will stop their car. If you walk across the road just anywhere, they will happily let you cross. This can be unnerving as a non Italian driver until you get used to it. When you stop to let someone across a pedestrian crossing, you might get overtaken! The pedestrians aren't sure of you either. But you might find people walking straight out into the street and fully expect you to stop.

Saturday, 8th November, 2008

Plan for today, visit the Amalfi coast.

We were up and out in good time, probably on the road by about ten o'clock. Our plan was to take the coast road, all the way along and see what happens.

The road between Agropoli and Salerno, which does almost follow the sea, is a much better road for us than the main road down from Battipaglia, because you haven't got everybody trying to overtake you at great speed.

The road is set back from the sea by about 100 metres and the gap between is filled with pine trees which hide the lido's or private beaches. We did drive down to one and this time of year it is deserted. We walked onto the beach, which is sandy here and not the volcanic grey / black, but a browny colour. The bay is very open and the beach stretched for miles in either direction. The wind was a little cool, but neither of us are uncomfortable in T-Shirts. You could still feel some heat in the sun.

A pleasant stop before we headed off and made our way following this road all the way into and through Salerno.

Salerno is not a small town, and this was Saturday morning, so basically chaos. I won't go into to much detail, other than to say we will always use the Motorway in future.

The Amalfi coast direction is well signposted and we managed to find the way with little difficulty.

The coast is a long stretch of cliff's and the road follows them along. Going up and down and in and out of the points and headlands. It is stunning scenery and a drive that we are glad to have done. It took us a considerable time, to go quite a short distance.

There was an accident, and we were stopped for a while, which was actually pleasant as I stood outside the car getting some sun. We didn't seem to wait to long before we moved on and went past a crunched motorbike being loaded onto the back of a tow vehicle.

We saw several groups of motorcyclists, as well as lots of individuals. The coaches come this way as well, public and tourist, and they make life interesting as well. Some of the road is hardly two car width and the Italians do use as much road as possible.

We stopped at a town with a beach called Maiori, just before the town of Amalfi, surrounded by cliffs. We walked for a short while and had a ham & mozzarella panini for lunch, in a little beach cafe. The weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining and only a slight breeze here.

There is a road sign, printed in several languages, including English, telling you to let overtaking vehicles pass. I guess if you are a local and have to use this road everyday, you would get fed up with the tourists, pootling along looking at the sights.

We drove almost to the point of the headland and then headed back on the other side towards Sorrento. This road is a lot flatter and much quicker to drive.

As you drive this way, you see Vesuvius, with Naples and the various other towns that sprawl on the slopes of the Volcano down towards the coast. In here are also Herculaneum and Pompei. Will history repeat, one day?

You can see why the Italian government are trying to pay people to move away from the area; but apparently without much success. Apparently, there are 600,000 people who live within seven kilometers of the Volcano.

Anyway, we headed back via the motorway and made the journey back in good time. We stopped for petrol along the way, and they fill up for you and clean the windscreen. I'm not sure if you are supposed to tip, but I did anyway.

We stopped at the other Spar supermarket, that Raffaele told us about, as we had found it on the way out of town. We were exploring more than anything, but picked up some bread and bits and bobs.

We arrived back at the apartment about five o'clock.

With regards to the Amalfi coast, we have ticked another box, but I prefer to walk onto beaches, rather than fall onto them, from a great height, given a choice.

I haven't mentioned for a while but the police sirens still keep going off when we arrive home.

Pat cooked the pork and sausages, with some chips for our tea.

Sunday, 9th November, 2008

Plan for today, catch up on some washing. The washing machine has a mind of it's own and the related plumbing doesn't help. So Pat has to keep on eye on it and encourage it to move on to the next cycle.

The weather was wonderful. The sun shone all day, with hardly a cloud around. We both sat out enjoying the heat. At one time this afternoon our little thermometer said it was 38°C on the balcony.

We snacked on crisps and stuff for lunch.

Dinner was leftover bolognaise and pasta.

A very lazy day, but Pat managed to do most of our washing so a successful day.

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