Pompeii & Amalfi Day

Another great day of driving and exploring. The morning started frozen, both with the temperature and in my brain. I set off at 7.30, had a faff with reading the Twatnav as it was sending me in circles in the village, then once that was sorted, I got a funny smell from the Landy, so stopped at a garage. Couldn't find anything so had coffee and a weird custard filled croissant. 

Next up was mini Katmandhu driving through the outskirts of Napoli towards Pompeii itself. The roads would have been smoother without tarmac, the driving standards, the smell, the dogs, the rubbish and the squalor followed by the clothing quarter all left me confused as to which continent I was driving on!

Then Pompeii is like crossing a border. Utterly pristine tourist ville. Good roads, clean streets, well dressed folk and cafes everywhere.

I somehow managed to find the car park that was a mere 100m from the front entrance of the main site. 2 euros an hour. So, parked up, I wandered in, paid my 18 euro entry fee and was instantly transfixed. 

Once through security, ticket purchase and the electronic gate, you come to two buildings. Left is a square thing with some fab mosaics and scale models of a house. Right is the Gladiator Arena, with it homage to the Pink Floyd concert whenever. Slightly surreal!

After this it's off into the streets. I was fascinated by the pumice walls, the huge well fitted boulders that made up the street road surfaces. Interspersed by stepping stones and worn wheel tracks.

Slowly, many of the houses are being rebuilt, but the ones claimed back from the 3.5m of ash, pumice and fiery debris each show a story of life around 79AD. 

I visited both the theatres, what looked like a lutus and so many other sites. 3 hours flew by. 

I finished up looking at the rather macabre plaster of paris bodies that were copies of the originals exumed from the ash. What an awful way to die.

Outside, I had some slightly dodgy cold pizza before taking the half hour drive along to the peninsula to where the Amalfi drive starts. I dropped into a small fishing/pleasure boat port, where an old boy nodded at me as I parked up. Both of us just enjoying 10 minutes of calm sea peace, before getting on with the rest of our days. 

The Isle of Capri sits just off this place.

Next up was to the high point of the peninsula, via a small chapel, then down to Amalfi.

This was the third of my aims for Italy ticked off and I was lucky enough to catch just the right time. Virtually no other going my way until the end of the coast road. This meant I could dawdle, cruise, take pics, oggle the huge limestone cliffs above the road and get dreamy about the sea view without any bother at all.

I'd never live there, probably won't ever come back, but I'm glad I got to drive all those twisty bends once in a lifetime!

After this, it was nearly 5pm, so I hot footed it to the arch of the foot of Italy's boot shape. To park up next to the sea in a weird little hamlet, which was virtually empty. 

That journey south was mainly motorway, but it sure as heck climbed over a high pass. I was well into the snow line at first, then the clouds, before dropping almost to the sea shore. Have no idea what that range is called, but it was resistant of cruising up through the Scottish Highlands on a cold winters night. 

Now, its wine time and read a book before sleep.