1. Field of poppies outside Bergamo - Veneto region. Italy
2. Pigeons in Samarco piazza - Venice. Italy
3. Briar sunbaking on the baech at Bellaria. Adriatic Sea - Italy
4. MC - fodling Juliets right breast - Verona . Italy
5. Mainstreet Venice - The Grand canal
6. Briar & MC - doin the gondola thing
7. Briar & MC - in St.Peters church - Vatican City
8. Briar - bus tour- Roma - Mounment to the unknown soldier in backround
9. MC & the Pantheon - Roma
10. Trevi fountain - Roma
11. Briar & the Spanish steps of Roma
12. Briar & MC in the Colosseum
Mid May Update 2009
Roma – The centre of the Earth many centuries ago, one of the most fascinating and influential places in the world as we know it – especially if you’re a Catholic.
We awoke the following day after our saussie & chip saga on the beach(have pics to prove it) with the female gender in our rag tag tour party feeling decidedly worse for wear. After chinque (5) bottles of vino – I’m not surprised. I did give them a hand but – I’m a seasoned campaigner now.
Once again the sun shone and I packed the camper up mostly on me own and we hit the road for Roma – Tarquinia is around 50 km’s north of Roma and sought of acted as the port town for Roma in it’s heyday. Being a public holiday weekend we were fortunately heading in an opposite direction to the majority of the traffic.
Roma has a huge ring road right around it – in fact many of the major cities in Europe have ring roads around them – gives good access to a particular part of the city where ya want to go I suppose. While every one was heading out of Roma we were heading in – we did do a supermerkato stop on the way in at my first Elerlerc superstore next to a very dubious looking power station ( Briar & me thinks it may have been nuclear – had several of those funny concrete domes ). Having only had to travel 56km’s to our target destination we did so without much fuss and were duly booking ourselves in at Camping Roma before midday even. This would be one of the better run Campgrounds we have experienced yet and probably the busiest so far. The site is very good – very central and good access to Roma and all her sights .
We found our spot and next to the piscina(pool) complex and set up Hugo for a weeks stay – Trace did a couple loads washing – and the 22 degree sunny warm and breezes would help dry them out in no time. Briar and I shot down to use the internet (free Wifi – bonus) at their information centre ( very well run and very helpful with lotsa useful info. on all there is to see and do in Roma). Had a bit off a look around the camp- well stocked market store / excellent bar and restaurant and well-priced – and the ablution blocks were first class .
After feeling pleased with ourselves with finding a good camp we off course did the anti-pasto bizzo and some vino believe it or not – girls on the rebound had some delicioso chena ( Fettucine MC – hey we’re in Italia) a DVD and off ta bed. Early start in the morning – have an appointment with the Pope & the Vatican museo’s tmoro.
Sadly woke to a grey day with little spells of spitting now and again – the weather was due to improve over the day – we were shit showered shaved breakfasted and ready to rock and roll by 7.15am – good effort everyone – Briar included. We caught the 246 into Cornelia where we had to catch the Metro treno into Ottavania (Vatican city stop) – we jumped on the bus with around 40 or so campers also no doubt visiting the Vatican City or San Pietro Bascilia ( being the last Sunday of each month makes it FREE giorno for visitors- reason us being up this early. Trace & Sam decided to stay in St.Peter’s piazza (the pope does a service to the public on the last Sunday also)
Briar and I would have been bored shitless and we came to visit the museum anyhows – so we queued up with 10,000 others so it seemed – fortunately because we had decided to go in early we were in the first thousand to go in – we had around ¾ hour wait once the doors were open – but well worth the wait – once again Mum would have been in ecstacy – the quality /the quantity the line up of artists/ the subjects – all would leave the most doctrined artist enthusiaist salivating at the mouth. No wonder the Vatican City is a country on its own (its probably got as much wealth and riches as Italy itself) – again of course being in the centre point of Catholism the majority of the art revolved around christandom - there were some impressive Egyptian, pre-Roman and Roman artefacts thrown in for good measure.
We did the art first – where we saw 10mx20m tapestry wall hangings with unbelievable detail and not just one or two but 30-40 of these some were even bigger – all done in the 15th century- can’t had much ta do in that century –must have taken about half a century to do each one – impressive. Then some Leonardo Da Vinci and Lippi paintings/ a replica statue of Micheangelo’s Pieta done by Micheangelo himself.- bloody amazing . because we were on limited time we shot outside to one of the courtyards for a quick bite and drink – before heading back into the Hall of maps ( the maps were all frescoed on the walls) – but equally the frescoed ceilings all the way through these halls were even more impressive.
Once again the detail was truly amazing – hats off to the artistes who had to get crooked necks painting this stuff on the ceilings – the time it would take – years – mind you these guys were mostly masters at their trade. We followed the signs and the first thousand visitors – being herded through like cattle into the next part of the museum – through a door – down a corridor ..frescoed ceiling all the way– out along a balcony – up some stairs – through some alcoves of contemporary modern artworks and pieces and then suddenly we were in the Pope Julius the 111’s apartment which he had commissioned Raphael to paint the rooms – if ya think Micheangelo’s pretty good – this chap Raphael is definitely his equal – once again I’m overawed by the exactitude to the quality of detail, precision, meticulousness and the brilliance of these guys in regard to the 3D perspective they could achieve 5 centuries ago – thank god they hadn,t let any cleaners in here – the colours were as vibrant as the day they were painted I reckon – lotsa piccies – whilst being told no photos no photos- but everyone just ignored the security people and snapped away.
Once again after wandering through several rooms of Raphael’s sublime work we were herded on through some more stairwells and corridors – but with signs saying Chapella Sistina and then through an ordinary looking old wooden door and bang we were standing in the Sistine Chapel – ones first thought is for me… this is like I’ve gone to heaven – smack ya self a couple times so reality sets back in and we’re back down to Earth or supposedly so – ya know when ya been gobsmacked – well this is one of those times.
The brilliance of Micheangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel will be riveted in my memory till the day I return to here or to heaven. Ya read all about it , ya get told all about it, but its not until you see it in the flesh what all the fuss was about – you can see why this guy Micheangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci were in the genius catergory. Micheangelo’s frescoed ceiling with the Creation of Man and his end wall frecso Judgement Day are absolutely magnificient – up there with Picasso’s Guernica – once again we were amongst around 500 others crammed in snapping away and being told – no photos no photos – got lotsa photos- sweet as.
After 15 mins. or so of marvelling we decided to get out as more cattle were pouring in than out and there was only one tiny door to get out as well as in so it seemed. There was a big double door at the end that were shut – perhaps that’s the popes entrance – anyhows 5mins or so later we were once again being herded through more corridors and stairwells and then we again came into a magnificient frescoed wall and ceiling hallway which also beared many sculptures / ornaments. Etc. etc that had been gifted to the Vatican by visiting dignitaries and heads of state – presidents, prime ministers etc.etc.
We came across some more Chapel like frescoed ceiling and walls that had been roped off from the public. We did have entry into the personal/private storage locker rooms of the popes who each had their own locker to store personal and god knows what else in their – perhaps god does know whats in there. There were surprisingly all the way through, numerous stalls and counters selling anything and everything ta do with the Vatican museum – the treasures – christiandom – the San Basicilia De Pietro etc.etc. We did get in for free – so we did buy some postcards of the treasures of the Vatican museum.
We then hit the ancient Eygyptian museum – fascinating array of artefacts- Statues (stat-u-bro) relics and even mummies tombs complete with the mummy still in it ( hav the piccies). Then on through some more fascinating rooms and an octagonal courtyard with statues in each section of the octagon. After 5 hours around 2.30pm of the Museum we were kindly ushered out through the museum – we did manage to write a short message on the back of a postcard to Briar’s mum and post it from the Vatican Postshop so it will be stamped from the Vatican City – the exit all so being a little special down through a 4 storey spiral staircase. Fantastique – another big tick done – with the highlight of course being the Sistine Chapel.
We did search for Trace & Sam back out in the San Pietro Vaticano – being around 3pm we gathered they had long gone. We hit the metro and then the 246 back to base camp – where the girls had been chilling for an hour or two. They swathe pope and were rapt as it was Italy’s Independence Day it was pretty special as he wandered through the crowd.
The anti-pasto and vino flowed freely along with tales of the days escapades until dark – some chena – DVD and off into lala land.
The sun shone brightly as we awoke the next morning – with some cloud about – Briar and I were hittin the Colosseum & Palatino today – whilst Sam & Trace were bound for the upmarket shopping suburb of Roma – Spagna. We did all catch the same 246 and metro train into Roma but the girls got off before us . We caught the line b for two stops and as we walked up the stairs and out into the daylight – there straight in front of us in all its glory was the Colosseo ( ya can see why its called the colosseum) its bloody huge. By 10.00am the queues are long so we jumped the queue and bought a 2 day pass with a tour guide which cost only $4.00 euro’s more and we
had a queue of only around 20 instead of 400-500 hundred .
Five minutes later we were walking up some of the original steps toward the arena ( I could almost hear the sound of steel blade and shield clanging) and then the sound of our rather attractive tour guide broke the thought – just like that ( power of the female gender ) downfall of any and many men. I will admit she knew her stuff being an Archeaologist who was passionate about Rome and all her ruins – the informative tour which lasted ¾ of an hour was excellent and gave an insight into more than just the Colosseo itself. We did find fascinating that the Colosseum was once covered completely of marble sourced from Italy, Egypt and Africa – as a show of wealth by the then emperor Vespasian. It of course has been completely stripped of its marble –which ahd been done so by the 5th century and used for decorating Christian churches throughout Italy.
We spent another hour or so wandering through the Colosseo – which all so had an exhibition about the building Vespasian the instigator behind the building of it. Once again very informative . We then wandered up the road to the Palatino Hill and Roman Forum – our colosseo ticket gave us access to this also – bonus.
Once again we queue jumped – all though this queue was only 30-40 or so. This area is basically Rome in its early heyday but in ruins of course – after two thousand years of weather and man one is not suprised at its state - but then one is also surprised at the remarkable state that it is still in regarding its age.
The house of Augusto / Foro Caesero / Circo Massimo / Fiori Imperali etc.etc – one could imagine what daily life might have been like here 2000 years ago – certainly the buildings that still exist even in the ruined states lay testament to great building deisgn & skills, but then the romans were not only pioneers in that area but way ahead of their time also. It was around 3pm almost and we hadn’t eaten since brekkie – so we found a café had some sandwiches and an Americano coffee each and hit the metro and 246 bus back to camp again – once again the girls had beaten us home – they enjoyed their browsing through the shops of Spagna.
No anti-pasto tonite – straight into chena tonite - DVD and hit the hay . The day started as it had been most of the night – raining but after brekkie it had cleared up to at least cloudy with the odd shower ( definitely raincoat and umbrella day today) still that was not going to deter us. Once again that 246 bus and metro into central Roma , we got off today also at the Spagna stop – but we headed to the infamous Spanish steps ( called so because the Spanish Embassy is almost next door) – made famous in some old movie. There was of course a thousand other tourists there also – seen more impressive sets of stairs in a park in Benidorm.
After that we headed down to the Pantheon and the rain started again. By the time we had navigated to the Pantheon it had stopped – The Pantheon is the best preserved building of its time in Roma – built in 27BC – the dome is an architectural marvel in itself – Many Italian kings and Raphael are buried here. Once again lotsa piccies – the outside of the building is nothing to look at but the inside certainly is. Ancient architecture at its finest. We then circumnavigated our way through alleys and lanes to find the Fontaine De Trevi (Trevi fountain) also made famous in some movie. We along with 5 or 6 hundred other tourists all thrown coins in and trying ta get snaps – so we also joined the party and muscled our way through to the front. Got our picks – threw our coins in and made our wishes and then muscled our way out across the road to take a piccie of the crowd. Can’t imagine what it would be like on a really sunny summers day.
We found a overpriced trattoria somewhere down a backstreet – had some pranzo – both had pasta dishes were no way as good as what we could have made for a third of the price. Once again the usual metro and 246 bus home to camp- we were becoming experts at this path now. We stopped in the supermerkato across the road from camp and bought some Manzo il Bistecca (beef steak) – our first steak in several weeks if not months it seemed. There were certainly no complaints after chena – and everyones plates seemed almost licked clean enough not to wash. Supermarket tiramasu for dessert – we were really treating ourselves. After a DVD we all hit the sack bellies full and content.
If yesterday was yuk this morning was a direct contrast - outstanding – clear blue skies warm sun beating down ah summer is finally nearly here. The girls decided to bum around in the morning but were keen to meet us for lunch at a Chinese restaurant they had found the day before which they were both keen to go back again – Briar and I were also keen to have a feed of Chinese – last one being in Alicante in Spain on me Birthday 16th December. We were off to see the Catacombes of San Sebastiano via Apia Antica one of the main roads that lead into Roma back in tis heyday – didn’t see any bodies or bones – but the tour was interesting enough and ya did get to wander through the catacombs and caves or grottos as they are called in Italy, going three levels below the ground in what looked like regular old soil. We made the 1.30pm appointment time for lunch with the girls with 2mins ta spare – we met the girls on the Spanish steps and wandered off down the street towards the Piazza De Popolo – the restaurant was in some back alley and looked rather dodgy – always fascinates me Asians speaking a different language other than there own – doesn’t seem right. At least they knew English – the menu looked appetising and the smells wafting from the kitchen was enough to get the worms moving. The appetizers/ main dishes were great and while not quite as good as what we would get at home in NZ or Aussie both Briar and I thoroughly enjoyed the different flavours for a change. We all headed back to camp – earlier than normal but all headed down to the info. centre and spent several free hours on the internet. We had a rather light pasta meal for dinner, the usual DVD some choice a cuppa and off into zzzzz land.
Once again Roma had turned on the great weather again for us.
Trace and Sam were havin a camp day today – they were sorting themselves out for the following day’s journey to Athens. So washing, packing, last minute arrangements etc.etc . – Briar and I decided to do the two day bus tour we had sussed out earlier in the week – we have done these tours with the same company in Madrid & Barcelona and would recommend them to any tourist wanting to get around a city and for just viewing the city from the top deck of a double decker is rather rewarding as we have found and basically that’s allwe did for the day – sat on the top decks of both tours and city watched around the streets of Roma for 4 hours – got off once for a coffee and pee stop – had made some rolls for lunch so we ate those as we were touring. We all ate in the camp restaurant that night and had an early one as the girls were away at 7.00am in the morning.
We awoke to another sublime roma morning – the girls left – all did our hug’s, hooray’s and best wishes and waved them arrivedeici – ciao ciao
We had decided also to head in early in the morning to try and beat the massive queue’s lining up for the San Pietro De Basicilia– worse than the museum or colosseo
It was also a May day holiday (similar to our labour day holiday) in Italy- so bus and trains were running on half measures – we got down to our camp bus stop to head into
Town to find around 150 other campers and a few locals waitin for the 246 – we waited for ¾ an hour before flagging a taxi down to the metro station Cornelia our usual bus destination for catchin the metro into Roma central.
Once of at the Ottavania ( Vatican City) stop we raced to the San Pietro Vaticano piazza – to our delight the queue was still only a two or three hundred ( at 9.00am) so we didn’t have much of a wait – on our bus tour we had visited the Santa Maria Maggiore yes another church – but we were both looking forward to this – The church was astonishing on the inside it was mammoth in proportion and the central dome designed by none other then Micheangelo was magnifique. Also inside St.Peters church was Micheangelo’s La pietra statue ( the real deal one) . This was by far the biggest cathedral we had been in yet ( Seville Cathedral and Firenze Duomo are big – but not this big ) the gold plated central altar is resplendent as is the leadlight dove.
We did go into the treasury room for a sneaky look, where there is a list of all the popes who have presided – we did not go into the rooms that hold the treasures as they wanted $6.00 euro each and you would only see about a 1/5 th of what they really have stowed away in the depths. After visiting the main chapel we queued for the dome entry which was around a half hour wait – but as we were to find out truly worth it. The dome itself is massive and the circumference around 8 storey’s up has exquisite moscaic tiled pictures – and their were 16 fresco painted apostles also on the dome ceiling – not done by Micheangelo I might add – he died before even the completion of the Dome to the San Pietro basicilia. We took lotsa pics once again and we took more once we ascended up the 330 steps to the top of the dome which has spectacular 360 degree views over Roma – fortunately for us it was one of the more clearer than the hazy sunny days we have experienced in Italy. The camera got put in overdrive as we snapped ourselves silly up there. We even stopped for a coffee and a pee in a café on top of St.Peters church – how bloody amazing is that. We can both say at least we have drank and peed on sacred ground or roof so to speak. Mind you there was a couple hundred other visitors like us up there as well and more so each day doin the same probably – doubt the cleaning lady would think it sacred though.
Wow another huge tick for us both – we did also journey through the tombs of the dead popes underneath – interesting. Plenty more space down ther for more. We left that church and caught the bus tour again with the Basicilia San Pietro De Vincoli in mind where Micheangelo’s MOSES is , we stopped in their for a bit once again with a few busloads of tourists also gobsmacked at the lifelike statue of Moses which was carved when Micheangelo was only 24 – simply amazing. After a gelato we headed back to camp , did some more internet stuff and once again dined in the camp restaurant – had the spaghetti tonite.
We also spent the evening in the deck chairs under a starlit sky listening to the Pink Floyd review that had been advertised allweek at the camp. Had the light effects and all – hard case all sung in English as well.
Briar and I only awoke to a hot sunny Roma day – missing the girls abit – but hey have ta move on and the extra space in the van again is welcoming. Today was camp day for us – preparing Hugo for the road again – airing mattress and duvee’s – several loads washing – giving the inside of Hugo his bi-monthly spring clean etc.etc – also stocked up on some groceries so we could hit the road early . We were both looking forward to once again sleeping above the cab on our comfy bed that we had relinquished to the girls during there stay with us. We did do a bit more internet stuff- checking out camping grounds in Sorrento/ Puglia/Marche/ Abruzzo – we also purchased tickets to see U2 at Olympiastadii in Berlin on July the 18th – Briar’s birthday – will stay in a 4 **** hotel for the night as well ( $500 pound later) – at least I will be able to say to the grandies we saw U2 in Berlin. Another huge tick . (and I will be able to get out of bed secretly…instead of my usual climb over MC or lie awake thinking about that cuppa I would’ve had)
We had a really nice chena con desert – both showered/ a cuppa/ a DVD hit the hay.
We were on the ball early and arrivedeiced Roma in the sunlight, Napoli bound.
We would recommend anyone to camping to stay at Camping Roma . Molto Benne.
Big day driving today – we followed the coast mostly toward Napoli with high mountainous and rocky terrain as we approached – it was also dark and gloomy
With cloud building up from the warmer sea air forced up and one could not see the tops of the mountains. Still we stopped for lunch in light drizzle about 50k’s out from Napoli at a seaside town Mondragone – had uninterrupted seaviews.
After lunch we headed towards Napoli – the roads were appalling for main autostrade’s as was much off the look of Napoli from the motorway – we made a split decision then and their to carry on to Pompeii for the night – which we did – found a hard case Italian Aire de stationment – parked up with 20 or so other touring buses and 4 other campervans – whilst the facilities left a little to be desired – at $18.00 euro’s for the night and parking to 5.00pm the next day - no problemo. It was safe – secure parking so the sign said and we were right across the road from the ancient former buried city of Pompeii entrance almost. We had electricity but the ablution block was something else – we certainly weren’t gonna be showering there the next day – Pompeii would have to put up with a couple smelly kiwi’s- nothing a bit of deodorant & eau de cologne can’t disguise. By 8.00pm there were only about 4/5 campervans left in the parking lot. I did here one other roll in around 10.00pm. We had some chena – my usual DVD and hit the hay .
Awoke around 7.30pm to the sound of the first bus pulling in and from there on it was a constant stream until we left for the ruins of Pompeii. Some brekkie, couple squirts deod & cologne and we were off to the sights off Pompeii – around 9.00am, amazing how much quicker you are to get ready without showering in the morning. We had about a 500m walk to entrata gates to Pompeii – paid our $11.00 euro each and headed through the turnstiles. Prior to there we did pick up a map and guide to the ruins of Pompeii from a stall hawker – he wantd to charge $8.50 euro for it- we started to walk and then I offered him $5.00 which he happily agreed to. One to the kiwis. I also forgot to mention that it was a superbly clear day – without the typical Mediterranean haze we have become accustomed to. Mt. Vesuvius was standing proud in all her sunbathed glory. Ya can see why Pompeii got buried – the mountain is only around 20-30 k’s away at the most.
The complete city was once again built inside a wall which ran around the entire perimeter almost– probably around 6/7 km’s. We hit the Mini amphitheatre first off – which was amazingly still almost in its original state with the terraced seating and the patterned marbelled floor of the stage area. Then onto the main amphitheatre and large palaestra – both these were grand in size – wandered into the main arena – did the ol Gladiator Maximus call & salute which echoed around the amphitheatre – got a couple queer looks when we walked out as a couple gay looking chaps walked in. The amphitheatre would have easily held 20,000 people plus and was built around 80 BC – making it probably the oldest on record. The old italics sure loved their bloodsports. The palaestra unfortunately they had blocked off – so couldn’t go inside but could see through several openings – a large grassed area with a portico – columned around the 4 sides – the size of a football field. We then started to walk through the maze of streets with our guide book informing us of who’s house that belonged to – the entire city has been preserved extremely well by the eruption back in 79 AD. Many of the houses still have their wall frescos still evident almost in entirety. They varied from the grande to the poco obviously dependant on your wealth and position in the then community. Some of the wealthier had nice big courtyard’s with water features/pools and gardens with the rooms positioned around the court. The one thing that stood out beyond anything else were the deep ruts in the stone roads - obviously from chariots , carts etc – but for the ruts to be that deep there must been a helluva lot of traffic – mostly on the main thoroughfare’s (got a photo) off course and these weren’t just pebbles they were boulders that had been worn down. – another amazing thing.
We spent another 2 hours wandering through the streets of Pompeii – The Temple of Apollo & Zeus –the Bascilia- the Forum bath house – even had a couple badly burnt but well preserved human corpses in glass cases just ta prove that there was actually an eruption. As the worms kicked in and we’d had enough of wandering and the sun was now beating down at around 25-26 degrees – we headed back to Hugo for some pranzo. There happened to be a supermerkato a couple hundred metres from our park- so good opportunity for both of us to walk and do a shop together for a change. An hour later we were on the road again to Sorrento – about a ¾ - 1 hour drive further around the coast. Had researched a good camping ground earlier in the piece and popped the GPS coordinates in an we made a beeline for Camping Fortunato. We stopped at a lovers headland viewpoint we spotted as we were driving to Sorrento where there were probably around 5 or 6 hundred padlocks- padlocked onto the guardrail/fences around lovers lane – there were even three or four couples doing the pash thing while we stopped and took piccies. Didn’t have a spare padlock for me n Briar unfortunately – we jus had to seal our devotion to each other with a quick peck and back on the road again.
We arrived at our destination with a quick ATM stop on route to camp in Sorrento – the camp was in a great spot with terraced sites with views back toward Sorrento, Napoli and the coast – fantastique. We found our spot and manuevoured our way between the trees – we had a prime view (with piccies) and immediately got the table & chairs out – had an anti-pasto & vino rosso and watched the sun go down – whilst booking into the camp we had also prebooked a boat trip to the Isle of Capri domain ( tmoro) and bought some autobous tickets for a bus trip around the Amalfi coast ( decided not to attempt the infamous Amalfi coast road in Hugo – had been advised not to by several people) . So a couple of full days of sightseeing ahead – we had a late chena – fell asleep watchin a DVD – but we both woke early the next morning unfortunately to discover a rather bleak cloudy lookin day – it had drizzled off an on during the night also –not what we were hoping for – but we had paid already and we had to be at the camps private spiaggia(beach) to get picked up by our tour boat – which promptly arrived at the due time it was supposed to – bit of a first for us in Italiana and their timetables. The weather was still a bleak – we hopped on board (boat pulled up to the rocks and we scrambled over their wee ramp rolled out from the boat) with another 5 couples all from various countries – a real smorgasbord. We then headed further around the Amalfi coast to a small fishing village to pick up another 40 or so tourists – so had a reasonably full boat – one good thing though the further we got around the finer it became and by the time we chugging out to Isle of Capri there was blue sky and the sun was beaming down between the clouds – yes yes ( seeing the Isle of Capri in the wet would have been a real bummer) had a bout a forty minuto trip across from the Italian mainland to Capri – there were was a constant stream of ferries coming to and fro and tour boats also heading for Capri as well.
We cruised past the backside of Capri villagio and started circumnavigating the Capri isle itself. We headed past some clifftop hotels and the main clifftop road from Capri villagio to Anacapri villagio – scary lookin road – we actually caught the bus later – on certain section of the road which cantilevers out over the cliff – if ya standing in the bus and lookin down around 500m at least I would say the view is amazing.
Still our first stop was the blue grotto which is best reached by boat – saw a couple postcards later & yes it was an amazing blue – more so than the the coast – it is ta do with the limestone rock a special seaweed on the Isle and the sunlight of course which gives the Isle its amazing azure colours . The setup at the blue grotto(cave) is a real hardcase – there were around 10 or so of these special dinghies which ya have to sit on the bottom of and they have special oars and the guide has to pull on a rope to pull you into the grotto. So we had all these little dinghies lining up for all the suckers wanting to spend $10.50 euro for a five minuto look at a cave – bloody Italians know how ta make deneiro from almost anything and anyone – mind you they are one of the oldest breed on the planet so I guess they been riping off everyone for centuries. Being tightarse kiwis we with around 8 or 9 other dutchies (don’t really know what nationality they were from) also did not pay the $10.50 euros- a postcard will just have ta do – took a few piccies of this Mafioso I mean Italian rip-off for record and once all on board off we headed on our way again – we cruised around the isle for another half hour to a tiny little beach villagio called Piccolo marina appropriately where we docked and all disembarked and told to report back at 4.30pm for departure. Some decided to take the bus up while dumb arse idiots like me chose to walk it – took twenty –five minutes but those bloody steps again (probably around 400 or so) – had ta have a couple breather stops on the way up. I’ll be making sure I enjoy the downhill walk on our return ta catch our boat back to the mainland.
Anyhows we got to the village of Capri – along with 2/3 thousand other tourists – made a beeline for the info. centre and the toilets ($1.00 each –more Mafioso rip-off ?) Once we had a map in hand we began to explore the island – well certainly the shopping area firstly. We then headed to Krupps walkway and the Augusto gardens where we stopped for a bite to eat – (prepared filled rolls & a muesli bars) where we had an awesome vista of the azure coast as we munched away. When ya get up above and look down at the colours of the sea – no wonder its called the azure coast. We passed several hotels and a perfumeria factorie to get to the gardens and Krupps walkway – this monumental piece of engineering built back in the mid 19th century around 1850 it weaves/cantilevers its way down a sheer rock face – this was done at a cost of $25,000.00 lira (equivalent to around $1000.00 euro today) .
We decided on our return from Anacapri we would walk the pthway down to piccolo marina to catch our boat later on. We headed back up to the main Capri town where we caught a bus to Capri Isle’s sister town- Anacapri this sits above the blue grotto but on a plateau area – so its a lot flatter than Capri town. We got to drive over the cantilevered road section built once again on a shear cliif face – the buses are about half the size of normal buses but they seem to cram the same amount of people in them- we were packed in like sardines (no such thing as personal space here) not the place to have BO or let one rip. After a 15 minuto ride we arrived in the tourist centre part of Anacapri – one of the things with both Spain and Italy are the stall holders – they must spend 1 hour a day setting their wares on display and an hour putting it away each day . There were lot of restaurants also – as we had eaten already we kept wandering the village and countryside – we eventually walked back to the chairlift to the top of Monte Solaro and jumped on ($8.00 euro each) this had been operating for a few years by the look of the age of the chairs – no safety lock – just a bar comes down in front of you – no lock mechanism on it- so if ya leaned to far forward – ya would fall out. It winds its way up around 1100 feet up – got some excellent piccies on the way and down as well as some from the top of course – the views up the top were spectacular even on a hazy day. I thought Briar was very brave going on the chairlift – well done girlfriend.
After that we caught the bus back to Capri and then had a casual walk down the Krupp walkway to Piccolo marina where we had a gelato each and waded in the azure clear waters of Capri – fantastique. The boat once again was right on time and we left Carpi Isle but had a couple more spots further around that the capitaino took us too first – a hole in the rcok which we drove through (got piccies) and then to see the Parco Naturale. –all pretty amazing stuff ( stuff you won’t see in NZ). Then we arrivedeiced Capri bathing in the sfternoon sun and back across
the channel to the mainland where the sky was once rather grey and as we pulled into our disembarkment point it began to spit – didn’t bother us as we had seen Capri Isle at its sunny best. After a big day it was showers and some chena, a DVD and hit the hay. One thing I gotta say about the Italian weather its about as predictable as a woman (not) so we awoke to a spectacularly clear sunny warm morning – fantastique for our bus journey around the Amalfi coast – we were washed brekkied and at the bus stop by 10.00am – caught the bus into Sorrento first where we had to catch another for the coastal trip- half an hour later we were weaving our way up the mountains behind Sorrento ther were two buses as there were so many people on the trip – fortunately (secretly planned by me) we secured window seats on the coastal side of the second bus – which also had air-con (great because it was a warm bus trip ride – which took around 70 minutos. There were only 4 stops on this trip which is a normal local trip not a tour trip. Not only was the coast along the route amazing the bus driver as well as the route was also amazing – never would have done it in Hugo – sorry Hugo. So glad we decided to do this bus trip instead – as it was we never saw a single campervan on the route and not surprised. The bus we were on was a normal tour bus size – so our driver had to squeeze this through some amazing squeezes along the way – with a few Italian verbal aloquences and hand signals to go with them. We arrived in Amalfi – we chose not to get off at Positano.
Once again the usual wandering through the streets and stalls – they had had a market day also which we managed to peruse through without spending. We had earlier stopped for a coffee Americano at a pasticerria and asked the owner to recommend a trattoria for a good pizza, which he did so. We were hearing a lot of American and pommie accent s here as we sauntered the shopping part of the olde town. We found our trattoria where we both ordered a pizza each – and both really enjoyed our Napolese pizza’s. Even some aussies showed up for a bite as we were leaving. After some more strolling we sat out on the breakwater and pinched ourselves for the fifth time in six weeks – basked in the sun and waited for our hydro-foil ride back to Sorrento – this was a spectacularly fast and excellent way to see the Amalfi coast from the sea. Arrived back at Sorrento – where we hit the local supermercado for some carne for chena- caught the bus back to Camping Fortunato - dinner , DVD and sleep.
Again the Amalfi coast turned on the good weather and we left camping fortunate bound for the eastern Adriatic coast of Italy – today was a travelling da – on a mission
we had decided not to venture further south as we would be pushing it to get up to Pim’s by the 21st, as we had promised.
Still we were looking forward to seeing this side of Italy –which seemed a lot quieter on the roads once we got out of the mountainous regions of Campania – the hills were more rolling and lush green fields – many with poppies bursting up all over the place.
Some were intermingled in fields with purple and yellow flowers – magnifique.
We were aiming for Manefredona but by the time we had reached Formaggio and stopped at a supermerkado to boost up the supplies we decide to head further up the coast around Termini. We stopped at a trucker stop which had a view over the fields of poppies etc. for some pranzo – as it was around 2.30pm by now and the worms were certainly making noises – half an hour later on the road – as it is a quieter coast than usual a lot of the campgrounds are still not open or have just opened at the beginning of may , so I guess we were lucky to stumble across one with prime beachfront sites for $12.00 euros cause the Calda(hot) water was still not on yet – hey it was 25 degrees outside who cares about hot water. The beach was San Salvo and we were his second customer for the season beginning and we were his first ever from NZ ( oh -we to be so privileged) – what a superb way to experience our first look at
also azure Adriatic sea. We did have to share it later with another german couple and their campervan – we ended up having a chat – pried a bit of info out of them for Germany – so didn,t mind sharing and by the time we awoke the next day they had packed up and left us for dead. Mind you we didn’t rise till about 9.30pm – it would be very easy to be accustomed to this lifestyle as we are finding out. Still we did head out of camp around 10.45am on the road again heading north.
It was all about scooting up this coast to Venezia –being the main goal – we decided to use the Autostrada again as the time difference between that and the coast road is about twice the time – as you pass through lotsa villages and towns along the coast which generally means you are travelling at around 60-70 k’s on average compared with a constant 100 k’s plus on the autostrade and Hugo tends to cruise nicely around 110 k’s.- once again the lushness off the countryside – both reminding us of the rolling hills of NZ was marvellous – once again saw many fields of delightful red poppies blooming vibrantly under the sunlight. We were also in Marche country where the size of the villas in the countryside smelt of affluence like Tuscany. The backdrop of snow capped mountains against lush green rolling hills – bellissimo.
We did have a fuel & coffee stop before we got off the motorway closer to our destination – stopped to pick up a few groceries in Pedaso for tonite and on up the coast to Porto Sant Elpido where we arrived around 1pm – had a little bit of mish trying to get across the railway line to Camping Ricassa ( has its own waterpark/pool complex – also open to the public . This was a huge camp once again beachfront – and this time we were definitely the only campervan right at the beachfront – we even had a whole ablution block to ourselves – Briar very happy bout that. We did do some a couple loads washing – set up some lines we had some lunch and then spent the arvo on the beach working on a suntan. Later on we did Wifi thing as it was cheap –
as is not always the case in Italy – the variation can be quite a bit from one camp to the next and internet cafes are a rip-off. Had a real nice dinner which we ate outside on our camp chairs looking at the Adriatic as the sunset, wondering what people such as yourselves reading this were doing back home (hehe).
Did a bit of catch up writing on the blog update before hittin the hay tonite. We both would have enjoyed staying another day & night there but we were on a mission and we were once again on the road north – Venezia bound . Once again we decided to use the autostrada to get us past Ancona which is the major seaport of Italy on the Adraitic coast and none of the write ups about it were all that favourable – so we bypassed it – anyhows we enjoy the smaller towns and villages more. Once again we only had about a 2 hour trip up the coast again with Camping Happy at a coastal town called Bellaria, a camp I had researched on a bit. We rolled along some very picturesque countryside easily rivalling Tuscany and Umbria if not more bello, if we were gonna come back we both thought we would spend a bit more time in the Le Marche/Abruzzo regions. We pulled into Camping Happy once again early arvo – 1.00 pmish – booked in for two nights – alas we surrendered to the Adriatic coast weather which was really turning it for us now –temp. today was again around 26/27 degrees – everyone in camp was wandering around in cossies – even the fat ones – mostly women I might add – most of the blokes are slim and budgie smugglers are definitely the rage around here . So after lunch we did as the locals do got into our cossies and as the camp has its own access and beach area, complete with sunloungers we too spent the later arvo once again working on the suntan. Again we were almost beachfront, had a small block of change rooms and a fence partly blocking our view but only 30 metres or so from the gate – as we lay on the sunloungers we both thought of Trace & Sam who were down in the Greek islands hopefully doing much the same as us. We went for a walk later at night to find all along the beach which has breakwaters for km’s along – we noticed also as we were driving along the coast road in several areas – there were hundreds if not a thousands of sunloungers strewn along the beaches – all out in front of hotels/camps/apartment blocks/ restaurant-cafes/bars etc.etc. We woud have walked at least 2k’s along the beach with only few bare spots – we were sure you had to pay for a sunlounger – ya have to pay for just about everything else in Italy (especially if you’re a tourist) . We were also relishing that we could sit outside in the evenings with t-shirts & shorts on to have our anti-pasto,vino’s and chena. Both hit the hay early knowing a camp/chill day tmoro and the weather forecast was for another beaut day – which when we awoke it was – still very hazy but around 20 degrees at 9.00am.
Being a Sunday we thought the place would get packed, but as it is only just spring here only the locals, early birds and exhibitionists are here this early. We both thoroughly enjoyed not having to fight for a sunlounger and sunbaking, I even put me speedo’s ( not a good site I’m sure) . Even had a dip later in the arvo – the water was a wee bit cool perhaps 16-18 degrees - about the same as the mount in mid-summer. Briar spent a bit of time working on her research papers – while I worked on my suntan – neither of us used any sun-tan lotion and by the end of the day we were both quite pink – certainly felt it under the hot water in the shower later – at least I know I will just brown up in a few days– not so sure about that pakeha honky Briar. It is always great to have a chill day when ya clocking up the k’s on the road – refreshes ones soul and bones – so that this goddam arduous adventure where on doesn’t stress us out to much (yeah right!). We had a pretty late dinner – both watched a DVD and crashed to the sound of the sea lapping the shore.
We crawled out from under the covers about 8.30am to another sunny day in Bellaria,
The usual 3 x S’s some brekkie paid the Il Conto (bill) and we were once again road bound for Venezia – but today we would make it to Venice. But first we checked out a little seaside resort town of Cesenatico about 8k’s north of where we were camped at. The place was like the Noosa of the coast and quite upmarket by the clothing shops and brands, but very beautiful tree lined streets and everything looked clean and nice. It also had canals running through it very similar to Pavalos Le Flats on the (French Riviera) – definitely would like to come back here for a stay if the opportunity arose. Different countyrside today as we were gonna head through some very flat plains – where the mighty River Po runs out to sea at – so the ground level only gets a few metres above sea level – you can tell and could see this is a very flood prone area.
Still no autostrada today but we only had a 2 & ½ hour drive to Venice – we stopped for lunch at a parking bay overlooking the bay and port of Sottomarina – where we ran into a cheerful pommie couple who we had a wee chat too. If we thought it was hazy down the coast it was even hazier up here. Had relaxing lunch bid our pommie couple adieu and drove threw the old part of Sottomarina – Briar taking pics out the window as we drove through – 35 k’s to Venice the sign said. We stopped at a shopping centre outta town where we restocked the fridge again for our Venice sojourn – we also aquired ourselves a little fold-up camp table and a small grill barbeque ( we had smelt, stared and fantasized at everyone else’s whilst in campgrounds of late – enough is enough ) we spent about $30.00 euros on one that could pack away into a small bag enough to put in Hugo’s garage. We were both eager to try it out and bought lamb chops and sausages for the next couple nights chena.
We pulled into Camping Venezia around 3pm – it is one of the closest camps to Venice it is well shaded and reasonably quiet from motorway,traffic and train noise – it is also on a bus route into Piazza Romale in Venice, the main drop-off point before ya have to catch aVaporetto or water-taxi or Gondole – or you can walk the streets too.
The whole camp or at least 80% of it had the ground covered in poplar tree seed pods – like cotton wool – obviously from the heat – the stuff just floats around the place like snow falling and its everywhere and I mean everywhere – ya even have to keep the campervan doors shut otherwise it just floats in there as well – we saw this in several campgrounds and towns in Italy. In some parts of the camp it was couple inches thick – the camp owner was every nite spraying it with water to keep it down on the ground. We settled into camp for the night – had an early anti-apsto & vino’s and fired the barbie up for our lamb chops (briar’s favourite) – had a insalata some barbequed peppers and corgette (bellisimo) and we savoured each mouthful – definitely gonna be havin more barbi’s for sure. We hit the hay early – 11.00pm is early in our books. We had a big day in Venice tmoro. As the sun shone through the haze & clouds we purchased one way tickets for the bus into Venice and I will tell you why – we discovered in Italy that the only people paying for public transport in Italy are the tourists who I’m sure subsidise the locals – most buses & metro trains so far – no one swipes or enters their cards/tickets into the slots provided- except of course the tourists or out of country businessmen. We hardly ever saw conductors or guards checking as we did so in Spain and Portugal. So, we too followed the trend here in Venice we had 6 bus trips and paid for one keeping our unused ticket in case we did get asked for it. We had done this in Roma on the buses also. The drivers don’t even bat and eyelid or care .
The bus took us over the only land connection the mainland has with Venezia and dropped us at the Piazza Romale – a very busy place (buses, tourist buses,taxi’s etc.etc) and many many people. We paid our $6.50 euro each for the Vaporetto for the grand canal ferry ride to Piazza San Marco – Venice’s main square. We both managed to score outside seats at the front and on the side of the boat – choice bro and away we went off down the Grand canal of Venice .- furiously snapping at anything & everything that looked worthy. The boat or vaporetto trip takes around 30-35 minutos
to piazza San Marco with 4/5 stops along the way. Most of the casa’s /apartments are three to four storeys high max. – a lot looked very old run- down aged and need of repair – or whether that is supposed to be the look. Some were done up nicely – a couple had magnificient tiled mosaic pictures on the walls – others had window flower boxes. But when you have only ever seen this place on the TV, seen it in glossy brochures or in mags- ya can never beat the real thing in person. After a leisurely cruise down the grand canal we reached our stop- Piazza San Marco- where it seems every man and his dog or tourist congregates – it is the centre of Venezia after all – it is certainly the biggest open space in Venice. It is ringed with The Basicilia San Marco at one end & the Palazzo Ducale – then offices around the other three sides with – shops & cafes on the ground floor – there were lotsa tables and chairs – you can chill with a meal, a drink , a coffee or just sit and be serenaded to by each individual cafes 5/6 piece orchestra – great stuff. There were also as many pigeons here as there were tourists scavenging for a crumb or two. We did not share any of our rolls with them however. The San Marco Basicilia was as impressive a many of the others we have seen so far – this one had many more tiled mosaic patterns and pictures than any other apart from San Pietro in the Vatican city. Did the usual snappies and then we headed thorugh the maze of backstreets and pontes(bridges) of Venice – there are endless shopfronts with ticky-tacky souvenirs,Murano glassware, Venetian masks and also fancy dress costuming – and then at the other end of the scale every Gucci fashion icon or brand name including Gucci also had their shops. Amongst them were the carteria’s (cardmakers) the pasterceria’s, the chocolteria’s, bookbinders (very big in Venice) and of course lotsa art galleries – and of course in the main piazza’s and along the main promenade the street stall hawkers – selling their tick-tack toe. Good guys to buy cheap postcards off.
After and hour or two weaving the backstreets of Castello area we stopped for a coffee in Piazza Giovanni se Paolo. We shared a nice coconut tart thingy and used the loos as you have to pay $1.50 euro for the public ones. We then continued venturing through the San Polo & San Croce areas – stopping for a peak ath the odd basicilia – you have to pay for everything here – even to have a look in the churches. We stopped for another roll in the Piazza or campo marghuerita before continuing our weaving through the dorsoduro area until we came to the Santa Maria Della Salute( a church that guards the entrance to the grand canal – another impressive basicilia. Had spotted this early on our vaporetto ride – we finally wandered back to San marco Piazza for some more piccies and then bartered with a few gondole chaps – eventually getting our 35 minuto ride for $60.00 euro. (not bad) – the chap was a wee bit older born & bred in Venezia – fairly knowledgable with the city & its landmarks or should I say buildings ( which all Venice is really) – still if ya came to Venice and left without havin a gondola ride – ya wouldn’t have experienced Venice. Tried getting romantically fresh with Briar as we were crusin but she was to embarrassed in front of our gondola guide. As it was around 4.00pm he wove us through some canals we hadn’t seen during our discovery walk – it was really nice & quiet with several bridges we passed under – reminded us both of our gondola ride on the river Avon in Christchurch. Tres magnifique – did the usual piccies thing and it was all over too soon. We hit the vaporetto back to Piazza Romale – managing to score outside front row seats again on the opposite side we came down on this morning – cheer bro.
Caught he bus back to camp and showered sat outside with vino and anti-pasto again enjoying the warmer weather – with the poplar seeds still floating/drifting about the camp. Fired the Barbie up again and had saussies with veggies tonite – yummy – most
Enjoy a good sausie but ya can’t beat a barbequed one – no contest in my book. It had been a big day so by the time dishes had been done we hit the sack. Awoke to a gloomy day for the first time in a week or so – it wasn’t raining – today we decided to do and island hop to see some of the other Venetian islands – we had spotted a tour which we had sussed out with the chap trying to sell us a tour – we be back tmoro we said hey and we were – we figured their were only a few streets in Venice we hadn’t walked from the previous day – yeah right. Not so much walking day today – we caught he bus back into Piazza Romale without paying again – did pay for the vaporeeta to San Marco piazza where we paid and caught our boat tour which left around 2.30pm – the odd patch of drizzle had hung about throughout most of the arvo – but we didn’t even have a raincoat or umbrella and we never got wet enough to worry about it. The first stop was Murano island (famous for its glassware- a bit like Hogland glass in Nelson) where we were ushered through a glass blowing factory, to a presentation by one of the masters at work – he was all of 34/35 and he was pretty good – certainly no master.
After the display we were then ushered on through to the showroom – store where we could look – but don’t touch or take photos – but certainly buy - obviously a backhand deal with the tour boat operator. There were some great pieces and a couple I could see in my minimalist retirement home – but overpriced for boat loads of tourists like us. Onto Burano (famous for lacemaking)- we both found this little fishing island –villagio far more enchanting with its brightly coloured homes and I mean brightly coloured and all different off course – had canals going through it as well. Didn’t bother with the lace stuff – Briar had a look even took some piccies ( girly stuff) boring. We had a 40 minute stop here so did a bit of wandering through the town – lotsa tourists here on their tour boat trips as well. Saw some local lads in their form of lowered car and boom boom speakers only they have it all set up in 12 foot dingies that they scoot around the islands in…we laughed but I miss the piccie on that one). There are marked canals that all lead from the centre Venice to the islands and Lido and all the traffic travels along these marked canals – everything from dinghies to storage boats/ tourist trip boats/ ferries and off course fishing boats. After Burano we went Torcello the first inhabited island of the Venetian islands back in the 15th century. Nothing much here except a walk into the old part to look at an old church a museum and a couple of old statue’s (stat-u-bro) – the trip back to San Marco piazza took around 1 hour – it was good to have seen the outer reaches of Venezia to get an overall picture. We managed to snabble our way onto the vaporetto for free back to the piazza romale to catch our No.5 bus back to camp. We had chatted to a couple of Aussies at the bus stop on our way into Venice earlier in the day and had promised to catch up for a vino later that day – so as we walked into camp Briar went searching for their van – which she found and after a shower we wandered over with chairs/wineglasses and bottle around 8pm – the night was OK enough for us to sit under their awning and we chewed the fat till around midnight – all ways good to chat with the goodfolk from downunder be it kiwi or aussie – we all know how to have a good time and a laugh. – We all shared stories – I didn’t even get to know their names – but that doesn’t matter – we did go get a second bottle of vino during the nite – 4 hours x 1 bottle - for me n Briar that just doesn’t equate. We hadn’t eaten apart from some nuts our hosts had generously supplied, so toasted ham & cheese sangers were the order for a midnight snack and then we crashed.
Awoke to or should I say awoke late ( 9.15 am) to a sunny hazy day – bloody unpredictable Italian weather. A leisurely 3 x S’s this morning and finally around 11.00am we bid arrivedeici to our long lost aussie best new friends ( didn’t swap addresses or emails) who also were in no hurry this morning. Drove outta Camping Venezia leaving behind the floating Poplar buds and some cool memories of Venice.
Only a couple more days through the Lakes/Alps region of Italy and we would be in Switzerland soon – but that’s another story.- till the next update arrivedeici for now.
