Bonsway!

Today we left the Amalfi Coast but not before a lovely meal at the restaurant just next to our hotel.   Our travel to Roma Termini was uneventful, apart from the local express train from Sorrento to Naples.   The platform was packed with people going to visit Pompeii, but when the train arrived, only the first and last carriage doors opened.   It was a mad scramble to get on the train and then, with our luggage, file back through the train for some space!   We have come to expect the unexpected. Rome is much the same as it ever was, but we notice that drivers seem to now obey lights and pedestrian crossings. Tomorrow we will start exploring in earnest. Ciao 

This is our last day on the Amalfi Coast, so we had a late and leisurely breakfast, before we hopped on the bus to Amalfi. Although we have been to Amalfi every day, we haven't made it a destination of itself.  We enjoyed strolling from shop to shop along the streets that run away from the coast and being in the piazza, dominated by the town's Duomo.  We met a woman from Sydney who lives in Amalfi permanently. She says she never feels lonely here, as a single woman, because all the locals stop to talk to her and chat.  On an average day she speaks to 30 local people.  I can really understand her point of view.  She says that older single women in Australia are invisible, but here you are part of something.  She also told us how hard many of the local people work, from a very early age, 7 days a week with no intention of slowing down. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Praiano, especially our balcony overlooking the coast, but on reflection, feel that A...

It was another early start for us as we waited at bus stop 10 at 7.20 am to catch the bus, once more to Amalfi.  We signed up for a boat tour of Capri and a guide with transport for a tour of both Capri and Anacapri.  The day was cooler and more overcast than we have experienced since our arrival in Italy, but it was still warm.  We really enjoyed seeing the land from the sea, it gave us a totally different perspective of the towns and their relation to one another.  From an historical perspective, we could  see the towers and lookouts dotted along and throughout the rocky, inhospitable coast and many local pathways, tracks and tunnels, that were used by locals to defend the coastline not only in WW2 but throughout history. At Capri we were bused up to the shopping precinct and left to our own devices.  We were very grateful that the day was comparatively cooler and a Monday as the crowds were manageable.  Unfortunately, everything to visit on the isl...

We have had a more relaxing day today.  Firstly, we caught the bus to Amalfi and then another, to Ravello which lies 7km above Amalfi.  Ravello is a very beautiful town with two exceptional villas, Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone.  We visited Villa Rufolo which was magnificent, set high over the Mediterranean, the building and its exceptional gardens were a feast for the senses.   In the afternoon we returned to Amalfi and relaxed at the beach. Ciao 

We rose early to catch the SITA bus to Sorrento at bus stop 9.  Every bus trip here is an experience, the drivers are all characters and the vistas are fabulous.  We were early and had time to walk to the arranged pickup spot.  Our tour guide and driver were two young, attractive Neopolitan guys.  The Neopolitans don't speak Italian, it is a different dialect and they are very proud of this.   The ruins of Pompeii are in the middle of a sprawling town.  Here we had a glimpse of the public life of the people in 79AD.  Roads, public baths, the forum, altars, brothels, statues.  Pompeii was a thriving commercial centre with every class of person from slaves to nobility.  It was covered by 5-6 metres of volcanic ash and   no organic material survived.  The poor people died slowly from gas and suffocation.   In Herculaneum, a resort for the wealthy and powerful (read Romans), we saw more of the private and domestic lives of the...