Hello everyone
We drove north along the coast to Tropea, and then picked up
the motorway to make headway. Some stretches of motorway are built on high
concrete stilts to cross the many hills and valleys – the scenery was beautiful
with villages and towns built on the hillsides.
We stopped at Paestum and the ancient city of Poseidonia to
visit the Greek temples – made of local stone rather than marble as in Greece –
which were remarkably well preserved. There are 3 temples with The Temple of
Hera being larger than the Parthenon in Athens, an amphitheatre and a
coliseum-type building partly buried beneath the modern road. Within the museum
were finds from nearby tombs with ‘The Diver’ being the most famous. It was
fascinating.
From here we drove along the Amalfi coast - it’s a
white-knuckle’ drive according to our guide books! The road twists and turns,
is very narrow in places and is full of Italian drivers who are only half
concentrating – they are invariably on their mobiles – whilst overtaking,
pulling out in front of us….. – quite like Sicily really! The scenery is
breathtakingly beautiful with the small towns clinging to the steep-sided cliffs.
From here we based ourselves in Pompei. The archaeological site is large and took a day to explore. Only the ground floor of buildings survived the Vesuvius eruption in 79AD, but some have exquisite painted frescoes on the walls, mosaic-tiled floors and mosaic decorations on the walls. It’s amazing how these survived.
From Pompei, we took the train to Herculaneum which was also
devastated by the same eruption. Here, the archaeological site is much smaller,
with more complete ruins – charred wood of floor joists are visible. Again
there are beautiful frescoes, mosaic floor and wall decorations.
Our trip up Mount Vesuvius was excellent. Part of the
journey was by bus, and then 4x4 jeeps through the Vesuvius national park and
finally a 20minute walk to the crater. You can walk about half the way around
the crater top – steam is visible from the inner wall which is ‘normal volcanic
activity’ according to our guide. The views of Naples city and the Bay of
Naples were stunning.
From here, we’re continuing northwards.
Will post again next week - love to all
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