Today was a long day to say the least! We trained it from Monterosso to Pisa, to Florence, to Naples, then we were picked up at the train station at 5 pm to be driven to Positano, one and one half hours away. Phew. The road to Positano was long and very windy but totally awesome in views. We stayed at the Hotel L'Ancora, a small delicious hotel facing the sea, and of course we had a sea view room! My goodness gracious me, I was in love with this place. Angie and I had a super large room but the staff thought we shared a bed. Laugh, I said we weren't lesbian after they said " you married",!! We went down to the attached restaurant for dinner while they fixed the bed situation! Wow! The restaurant was perfecto. Bonus, it didn't cost the earth for a truly sensational small meal. Back at the hotel, we collapsed , slept deeply and decided to skip the planned trip to Capri and AnaCapris, we were exhausted. A day was spent browsing and caught a bus to a local phone card shop for me to buy a sim for the iPad to allow browsing in Italy. As usual all things Italian don't necessarily work, meaning, this sim doesn't work much at all. I spent a good amount of time with the hotel receptionist to sort it out- still doesn't work!! I don't know how these people get on with this technology! Another bonus, made friends with the lovely young receptionist who was 35 yrs old and still single but wanted to be married with kids! She helped us enormously over the following days. Meanwhile, I wanted to find friends in Perth who were also here. They only had this day, the one day to catch up as they were leaving the next day for Florence. I didn't have their phone number so it was a case of keeping the eyes open! I got Angie to look for a balding man with a pretty, blond wife! I had to return my iPad to the hotel and blow me down, coming up the hill a man said boo. It was Bruce!! Talk about wonderful. We all had our greetings, then went to a restaurant for lunch, then had dinner with them that night at a restaurant of their choice-- lovely, overlooking the bay with the lights of Positano glittering in the background.
Next day we were picked up at our hotel for our booked Pompei and Vesuvius tour, an all day affair. The bus picked up various people along the way around the Amalfi coastline so we got a good viewing of these magical towns embedded into the mountains. Lots of photos were taken! Pompei is behind the coastal mountains, next to Naples. The city of Pompei was in existence well before Christ was born and was a thriving modern city of over 30,000 people when Christ died. The people had a sewage system, road rules, drinking fountains and bathing facilities and was very clean. They also had brothels as they had no inhibitions and believed in sex as a natural thing. There were many phallic symbols, mostly carved into the road , to indicate the home was a prosperous one with children! No one believed that Mt Vesuvious was a volcano and life was good, rich and ordered, but paganism was the order of the day. Christianity came later. In 79 AD Vesuvius blew out of its side and the whole of the city eventually was to die. Many people escaped but those that stayed were covered in a thick layer of ash which hardened and the people suffocated. They were not destroyed by lava. We walked the most of Pompei listening to our excellent Italian tour guide , but, boy was it hot!! About 35 I guess. I remember the last time I was in Pompei in 1974, it was also hot!! There's more excavation since there. After a typical tour lunch at a typical restaurant for tourists we all hopped back on the bus for the long climb up My Vesuvius. Up and up into the clouds we went until it was cloudy and cold. The view from the top overlooking the Bay of Naples was awesome. We saw lots of old lava flows and old dead twisted trees and we saw where the volcano blew its side out. Some people climbed to the top to see the new crater forming for the next big blow out. The last one was in 1944, so any year now!!! After another long but satisfying day we tidied up and went out for a light meal back at the lovely place we went to the first night by the bay of Positano. I know why people keep coming back here, it is magic.
The next day our last was to be restrictive as the heavens opened and it poured and lightening and thunder was to be had! I took some sensational pics of the thunderous skies. We did venture out for a bit to buy some providores for our in room snacks. Bottle of local wine, and ham,artichokes, olives etc to be dinner! Off to nigh nigh, another big day travelling in the morning.
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