Sorrento, Pompei, Capri & The Amalfi Coast

The beach at Villagio Nettuno
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Our BA flight to Naples from Gatwick Airport was uneventful.  The new phrasebook was already much in use (although with only limited success) as we sped out of the terminal on a transfer bus to the Naples Garibaldi Train station.  Taking the Circumversuviana train we then headed for Sorrento - a charming resort village about an hour away (Naples we decided was too urban and too dreary to spend much time in - Sorrento and its environs are truly spectacular).  First impressions of the area - hundreds of lemon and orange trees with amazing scents!

Pompeii in the rain with Vesuvius in the background
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Taking a local bus from Sorrento we arrived in Nerano (very small but picture-perfect Italian coastal village) about an hour later - and checked into our mobile home at the Villagio Netunno.  First Italian pizzas for dinner - mmmm!

We had planned to take the boat to Capri the next day but it was overcast and drizzling so we headed back to Sorrento and caught the train the Pompeii instead.  It was everything I had always hoped for and much more - 66 hectares of 2000 year old Roman city (44 hectares excavated).  We took the Audio Tour and for 6 hours walked down the streets and alleys which the Romans themselves walked before the time of Christ.  It rained on and off but did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm - highlights included the House of the Dramatic Poet (the famous Cave Canum - Beware of the Dog mosaic); the Forum, the theatres and baths, brothels, the city walls and the House of the Vetii.  I pressured Denise into rushing back to the entrance early when I thought it was 6pm (we had to return the audio guide but for nothing - I misread my watch and it was actually only 5pm).  Our original plan was also to see Mount Versuvius on the same day but the rain meant that the summit was shrouded in mist so we chose instead to spend the full day at Pompeii - and it was an unmissable experience.  Took the train back to Sorrento, ate some more pizza (and tried Limoncello - the local lemon liqueur at 35% alcohol!) also found a super Gelateria (ice cream store) in the town square that serves more than 75 different flavours and has a very raunchy chocolate statue of a nubile life-sized mermaid.

Walking on 2000 year old streets!
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Sunday was our day for exploring the Amalfi Coast - a series of small coastal villages nestled amongst the twists and turns of one of the most scenic roads in Europe - with steep plunging cliffs, small islands just off-shore and the sparkling waters of the Med all around.  We hired a small scooter in Sorrento and after a few false starts in the early morning traffic we crested the hill and began the trip along the very narrow and winding Amalfi road.  It is a lot like the Chapmans Peak drive in Cape Town.  The great things about the scooter is that it provides the freedom to stop whenever you want and on the Amalfi road you want to stop every few hundred metres the views are so great.  We got stopped for an hour just outside of the first town [Positano] by an Italian national cycle race, with about 20 other cars and scooters, but it was just a good excuse to take more pics.  We drove down into Positano but didn't stay long since we had to get to our lunch reservation high in the hills above.  It was a typical Italian family lunch - as recommended to us by Jons flatmate Gaby who had been there herself before - with a single price per person and then course after course just carried out and placed in front  of you until you have to shout Basta [enough! in Italian].  The food was amazing, the family who runs the place were perfect and even the House wine was excellent - but the best part was the unbeatable view and the cool breezes coming in through the wide windows from the Med below.

Denise in fashionable olive...
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After lunch we continued to Smeraldo and Amalfi - the other two major towns on the route - and Denise decided she wanted to try driving the scooter, but chose the busiest intersection in Amalfi to try it.  Within a minute we were stopped by two local police and she was politely asked if she had a license! She did take over again a little later and was fine, but it was a comical moment.

On Monday we were on the 9am ferry from the nearby fishing village to the Isle of Capris - about 45 minutes from our jetty.  What we loved was that our ferry was not one of the main commercial ones with a fixed route, but just a local service with a much more flexible captain who took us all around the island - including the famous Blue Grotto (see pics) a natural cave under the cliffs that you enter on a small rowboat lying flat so you don't hit your head - the light on the underwater sand makes the most incredible blue glow, and the boatmen serenade you with sonorous Italian opera inside - ah this is the life.  We also hiked from Marina Piccolo to Marina Grande and into the town - Capris is a real paradise! We even swam in the Med - although not for long as the water is still about as cold as the Cape Town beaches :)

...and Rob too! Useful these raincoats
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Tuesday was our day of rest.  Slept in late, did some laundry, checked email (briefly since its so expensive here) and went down to our own little beach (pebbles not sand).  I swam again and took the camera in its underwater case - too cold to hold it really steady and not much to see in our cove, but still fun.  Denise lay in the sun reading.  Laundry takes longer than expected to dry!!  Walked to the fishing village nearby for our dinner on our last night in the area but were very disappointed by prices and food quality (small portions and really nothing great - risotto was really just moist rice!).