10 October

Three train rides took us to St Agnello, which is basically just up the hill from Sorrento. Quite a debacle at Naples Centro as the Circumvesuvinia was late, and there were hundreds of people on the platform. The graffiti and run-down appearance of the station and the trains and most of the trip gave some concern.

Also our host didn’t have any credit on her phone, so wasn’t able to receive the message she’d asked us to send regarding arrival. We grabbed a taxi, and of course he couldn’t find her address because it isn’t actually on the map. At least he could phone her with the number we provided and it worked out in the end.

The apartment was pretty primitive but it’s only 3 nights and we’ll be out all day for the next 2 days. Having said “pretty primitive”, because there’s hardly any cooking equipment, no kettle, no toaster, no microwave, no oven, no dining table, no dishwashing liquid or tea towels, no soap or anything else in the bathroom, and it’s the absolute worst bar a 1-star dig we once stayed at in Vietnam once, it has decent wifi, a king bed (lousy mattress) in a very large bedroom, and our own patio with sea glimpse, even though apparently we are sharing it with badly-cared-for cats (maybe 4 or 6). It’s still better than most hotels, but it’s not one of our most comfortable stays. A saving grace was our lovely host Vincenza.

11 October

We visited Pompei and were blown away by the size of the place and the quality of preservation, even though like most ruins most of the marble was looted long ago. Incredibly interesting to see how both rich and poor lived, and the lifestyle that all experienced. For a town of only around 20,000 people, it had something like 150 taverns (because hardly anyone cooked) massive number of bathhouses, and also public communal toilets. Pompei dates from over 500 BC and was originally Greek.

Vesuvius loomed seemingly overhead and it was obvious how much of the mountain top had been blown up into the atmosphere (12 miles) before heading back on down to Pompei. The poisonous gases that drifted down and blanketed the town seem to have been responsible for most deaths. It looks like it was a lovely town, really beautiful and with terrific facilities. You get the idea that life would have been pleasant for most people.

12 October

We took a bus tour to the Amalfi Coast visiting several cliffside towns including Positano and Amalfi. It’s clear why so many wealthy people (eg Sophia Loren, Gina Lollabrigida, Roger Moore, etc etc) chose to build villas in this stunning location. The tour included a brief trip up and down the coast to get another perspective of the beauty of the place.

Bus or boat are really the only way to travel there. The roads are completely clogged with parked cars for kilometres away, because there is nowhere for tourists to park in any of the towns. Public buses drop people at the top of the cliff and they have to walk down before walking up again to get the bus back home. The minibus for the tour was able to drop us very close to the beach, and we think we made a good choice. Our guide Lou was a hoot and had great info on the area, the people, the culture etc.