Day 20 - Saturday 24 April - Praiano to Spoleto

Travelled up to Umbria - left Praiano about 10.30 after buying souvenirs at the ceramics shop - and managed to negotiate through Positano and Sorrento to find the A1 - from there it was pretty straightforward.
Arrived at the Orte turnoff and contacted Laurie - pouring rain so a bit hard to hear… The GPS was actually working and we found the Conad shopping centre easily - did our shopping and then connected with Laurie who showed us how to get to the apartment - he and Norma live in the same building - beautiful terrace, lovely sized rooms - everything looks great… even had a welcome pack of wine, pasta and pasta sauce with cherry tomatoes, bread and cereal left for us from Laurie and Norma. Paid 50 Euros for parking in the place - worth every cent (then Laurie discounted it anyway, so all up only paid 600 euros for the week, parking included!)

 Our terrace in our home for the next week - Terraza Splendida indeed!

 Different views from our terrace

 Making ourselves at home - wine, cheese and bickies on our terrace - very civilized.

 The view across the rooftops - the church is down on the Piazza Garibaldi

And we even get to see across the rooftops to the mountains beyond!

Dinner in a place recommended by Laurie - no menu, so had to choose from whatever the waiter offered - ended up with Antipasto of proscuitto and cheese and ravioli for both of us…. Combined with house wine. OK but fairly ordinary - lots of oil…. Red house wine better than the white.

Near a church, so we get to hear the time chime every hour and then a reminder on the quarter, half and three quarter hour….. Exactly as described on the website (actually better...!!)

Day 19 Friday 23 April - Praiano (Amalfi Coast)

Basically spent the day in bed reading - wet weather meant we couldn’t enjoy the terrace - and the TV is so awful we caught up with reading - nothing is charging, so Graham couldn’t even listen to his ipod (which is now working after its disaster of going through the wash in Rome!)
Walked down to Bar del Sole about 5.30pm - Graham had some drinks while I went down to the internet shop and did some catching up - then we wandered down to Il Pino for dinner - a bit early, so we chatted with the waitress and had a few drinks at the bar before having dinner - the fish degustation - very gorgeous meal - one of the best we have ever had - also enjoyed a very fine white wine as the last one - asked them to write it down for us - Fior D’uva - Marusa Cuomo - whatever that means! Will try to find it again. A lovely finish to a great week on the Amalfi coast.

Day 18 Thursday 22 April - Pompeii

Pompeii - caught the bus to Sorrento - the bus went right along the peninsula and we could see Praiano most of the way… great for both of us to enjoy the view without having to worry about the traffic - some hairy moments on the bus when we had some close shaves as two buses (or a bus and a truck) met on a bend…..


Train to Pompeii was very straightforward and when we got there, even better - it was culture week and the entry was free!!! Bargain.

Pompeii is the most amazing place - so hard to imagine life as it was back then, but quite remarkable the excavations…. Took a few photos….. Very long day and by the end of the bus trip back, was feeling a bit queasy!!

Imagine the two sides meeting at the top - that's how tall it was, before it blew away!!!

 No wonder the devastation was so great...... and no one really had a chance.

 Of course, the obligatory school children...

 These stones in the road meant that they were pedestrian walkways - just like the cobbled streets in Rome

This gives a sense of how big the town was - the road is at least a kilometre long - shops and houses would have lined both sides.

 There are so many artefacts still not properly catalogued (and there are more in the museum in Naples...)

 Plaster casts of the way the people died - taken from the excavations.

 This is an actual dog that died in agony

 Taking shelter somewhere didn't help.....

 The bath house was lined with frescoes and statues

 This was a takeaway food bar - the pots would be put into the holes and kept hot for passers by

An example of the frescoes in the houses - they didn't have windows so they painted the walls with outside scenes

 One of the house kitchens

 Another view to see how long the streets were....

The stepping stones were so that when the streets were sluiced with water, people would not get their feet wet. An irony is that even the ancients sluiced down the streets for hygiene reasons, but now in Rome the whole system banks up in the rains and fill the river with shit!

 Just one example of the art and statues to be found all around the site

Using these gorgeous coloured tiles in lovely patterns is a feature of the architecture

 Some of the houses were enormous....

The frescoes on the walls of the brothel left nothing to the imagination - although the stone beds and pillows would have been a bit hard!!!!

Some examples of the types of food sold at the local markets.

Had a few drinks at Bar del Sole - if we had discovered it sooner, I think it would have become Graham’s local in Praiano. Picked up two lovely pizzas for dinner - total cost 8.50 Euros! Bargain day…….. Even have enough pizza for lunch or dinner tomorrow.

Day 17 Wednesday 21 April - Amalfi (Amalfi Coast)

Bit of a rest day - slept in and then read in bed until late - got up and spent some time on the terrace - lovely in the sun. Late afternoon bus to Amalfi. Only just caught the 3.10pm bus - (had to run to get it) Got a bit caught with the shut down from 1.30pm-4pm - didn’t know where to buy tickets!!


Amalfi is beautiful - some flat sections along the harbour and then the more steep sections sloping up the cliffs - had a walk around the town and some drinks along the harbour and then in the town square, outside the beautiful church.

 The church really was lovely - gold leaf and tiles

 Inside was even more beautiful

 we had a drink here - and watched as the attendant swept the beach (Spiaggia) with a broom.....

 The view back to the beach, from the harbour wall.

 This is one of the flattest areas on the whole coast, I should think..... (yes, a 'Kay fact'!!)

 The main piazza - had coffee and pastry and watched the passing parade (of school children - what else?)

The view of the town from the end of the harbour wharf - this section is quite flat..
Tried to find the police to report the vandalism on the car, but even though we asked three places, still couldn’t find the right place! Decided to give up and have an early dinner - lovely little place on the harbour - we were invited to have birthday celebration cake with the owner’s mother - traditional cake with a pastry bottom, cake layer, then filled with fresh Ricotta and cream mixed with peel, then another cake layer and finished with pastry - I will need to look up a recipe - it was magnificent!
Lovely meal, lovely time - caught the bus back home about 8pm. So much for a ‘rest’ day!!

Day 16 - Tuesday 20 April - Capri

Capri - beautiful day - glorious weather - not too hot. Caught the local bus to Positano and then the ‘fast’ ferry to Capri - met an Aussie couple on the bus who had been at the same television trade fair in Cannes as the girls from Toronto we met on our tour in Rome!

 The view of Positano from the water

 The town hugs the rocks - no wonder the road is so windy..

 There is a mermaid statue on the rock welcoming you to Capri

 The harbour was truly gorgeous although the Blue Grotto was closed due to high tides :(

Capri truly beautiful - walked around the shopping area and down towards the views - found a lovely place overlooking the views for lunch - it seems that we are eating and drinking our way around Italy - I need a rest!!!!

 We got the furnicular tram up to Capri town - glorious views from the top!

 Just to prove I was there....

 A lovely mosaic of the island

 All of the shopping streets were like this

The view from the restaurant where we had lunch - others walked around to Anacapri, but we went with our strengths!

These are the rocks that you can see in the distance when looking at the island

Just to prove Graham was there, too!

The footpath down to the marina on the other side of the island - we didn't go down, because we would have had to walk back up!

We had lunch in the building in the middle of the photo - on about the third level down. It was a hotel built down the hill.

The afternoon sun glinting on the water was lovely - the colour too hard to get on our camera :(
Checked out the Prada store on Capri to see if we can find a present for Sarah - no luck. Bought some Murano watches instead and tried to find the perfume for Sophie - again no luck, but Graham bought some perfume for himself - one of the oldest perfumeri stores in Italy….. And using mostly flowers from Capri..

Ferry got stuck on its own anchor and we were late leaving Capri by about half an hour - the ride back to Positano was definitely more bumpy than on the way out (on the Friday night we met people who said the ride was so rough they thought the boat would sink and they had spent the ride at the back of the boat being sick!)


Bought a jacket in Positano while waiting for the bus - the shop looked like a flower shop, but it was all material - made in town in Positano.. Beautiful.

Came back late to Praiano and had dinner in one of the hotels in Vettica - very disappointing - average pasta - Graham described it as the hotel for old people - it did feel like that - almost could gum the food!!!!