Amalfi on to Rome

Snack bar @ Herculaneum

It rained on Sunday, which took everyone by surprise. Our plans to be at the pool by 3:00 p.m. had to be postponed for a few hours so we decided to go check out Sorrento on our way back from Herculaneum, which we really enjoyed as it’s much better preserved than Pompeii but is only about 1/16^th of the size. It’s amazing how advanced the citizens were way back then – they even had snack bars!

Herculaneum

Sorrento seems like a really pretty city, perched on a cliff with lots of parks and flowers everywhere, but it’s really busy with tourists. Walking back to Sant’Agnello, we walked by the football field where a match was going on between Sorrento and Verona. There were about 50 riot police, even some from as far away as Firenze, waiting for the match to end. I guess they’ve had enough experience to know that they need to be prepared for the worse. After the game, looking down from our pool, we saw one of the buses taking out one of the teams and it was escorted by 3 police vans in the front and 2 in the back. It was hilarious listening to the traffic controllers screaming at the motorists who wanted to turn right and were prohibited. It calmed down after they parked a police car there. And our flag people think they have it rough!  We’ve noticed that the Italian people are very passionate in everything they do.

 Ira got up at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning and went downstairs to listen to the hockey game, since the WiFi isn’t working. He says it was worth it, although he was nodding off during the tour up the Amalfi Coast.

The trains are always interesting to take in this region. They have buskers that get on and play music and then send the kid through the train with a ball cap asking for donations. Throughout Italy there have been gypsy ladies walking through the train asking for money. They hand you a piece of paper, asking for money for them and their bambinos, and then walk back and collect it. We haven’t seen them receive any money yet but they must, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Only in this region have we seen people playing music for money. The people are much more boisterous and animated down here so the train rides tend to be quite noisy.

Most of the tourists here are from England. This hotel would be like an all-inclusive for us Canadians at Mexico. They call it “half-board” here, which includes breakfast and supper. The restaurant is very fancy, with gourmet food. The problem is that most of these restaurants have 5 courses, which I find to be just way too much food for me. We’ve done it twice now on our trip and both times I’ve vowed never again. I just don’t understand how people can eat so much food and stay slim. Bread, bread everywhere - with every meal you get a basket of bread. Even the breakfast choices are enormous.

Amalfi

On Monday we took a tour up the Amalfi Coast. We had a fantastic young tour guide who had a great sense of humour and a lovely singing voice. He really knew how to play up the ladies. His pride in his country was evident and he told us a lot of valuable information. The coast was beautiful. We were in a Mercedes-Benz mini bus with 15 people so it was much more comfortable driving the windy road than it would have been on the local bus - although I think we missed out on a memorable experience. We stopped in Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, and had lunch in Scala. Lunch was billed as a “light lunch” and it consisted of a Capreze salad, piece of pizza, two types of pasta and a lemon cream puff dessert, plus wine! Sheesh!  It’s interesting to see how the people make use of every square inch of the hillsides to grow their crops (lemons, oranges, olives, figs and grapes).  Next trip we might try and spend a few days in Positano or Amalfi just to relax and lay by the sea.

Positano

view from Ravello

Tuesday we decided to make a rest and relaxation day and lay by the pool drinking freshly squeezed orange lemonade. Yum!

View of the forum from Palatine Hill

Colosseum

Wednesday we headed to Rome for 3 days. We walked around and around every corner you come across another awe-inspiring sight. What an amazing city – and we’ve only seen a very small portion of it. Today, Thursday, we went to the Colosseo and Palatino Hill, as well as a museum. It was a long day with lots of walking but we saw lots of heart-stopping sights. The history here is unbelievable. Tomorrow we’re taking a tour of the Vatican and then a night mystery tour of sights that tourists don’t usually see. Loving Rome so far except for the traffic. You almost get killed every time you walk across the street at a crosswalk. It is unbelievable the way Italians drive!

Palatine Hill

Ciao!