Pete and Chon's Euro Vacation: Italy

Sorrento

Amalfi

After an overnight ferry from Dubrovnik, we landed in Bari, Italy, early in the morning then spent the better part of a day on trains and buses to get to Sorrento. The last train from Naples to Sorrento was what we imagine a train in India to be. We were all stuffed in there shoulder to shoulder on a warm day for an one hour trip and no one even pinched my arse.

We spent the first full day exploring the picturesque towns along the amalfi coast and the next day visiting the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. On the way to Herculaneum, on a 50 year old, graffiti covered train, we accidentally got of at an early train station as the older train didn't have the stop on its route map and the train station name was blocked out with graffiti. We spent a nervous 20 minutes in a slummy part of Italy before the next train arrived.

Sitting on the side of the cliff road that snakes along the coast

More of the coast

Madonna rock formation holding flowers

The Amalfi coast was the highlight seeing the colourful buildings built high up on the cliff face with terraced gardens filled with lemon and citrus trees or grape vines and vegetables. Seeing the Pompeii site was a childhood dream for me and Chon was happy to tag along until she realised just how big the site was. She let me drag her all over the place and surprisingly agreed to also visit the smaller site of Herculaneum which was buried by lava instead of ash like Pompeii was.

Cruising along the coast

Amalfi cathedral

Small village up in the hills

Plaster casts at Pompeii. The ash that fell around them compacted and left a hollow space with only their bones left in the hollow spaces

Chon in the large theater at Pompeii

Chon in a familiar place ... an old kitchen ... where she belongs ... ;)

Herculaneum

Chon looking thrilled about the height of the lava that covered the town (the bridge at the bottom is going over the ancient shore line)

They had everything in Italy ... the 2009 Chianti laced with heroin was a particularly nice drop

Roma (Rome)

Rome was not the cleanest city we have visited in Europe, like what we had seen further south in Naples and Sorrento, but the history and old buildings were amazing. We were never sure if the locals were arguing or just very passionate when they talked but what ever they were saying it must have been very dear to their hearts as they spoke with such passion and volume that I was always expecting a punch up in the streets. We also noticed that they do not seem to want to assist you in shops and restaurants and when they do, if you do not buy anything from them, they would rant on a little (passionately) in Italian ... one shoe store guy even threw a box of shoes on the ground when Chon told him they were not comfortable. We were expecting to eat the best Pizza and Pasta we had ever tasted, in Rome, and Italy in general, but unless you talk to the locals or leave the tourist areas, their food was custard. We did manage to find a great place near the Pantheon that was overflowing with locals (called Pizza Zaza) and the coffee place next to it was also very good. We also got to see the making of a film called Third Person and the actor Adrien Brody near the Pantheon.

Trevi fountain

Watching one of the demonstrations in Rome whilst we were there (health professionals, so not a good day to have an accident)

Adrien Brody in a scene in Rome for the upcoming film called Third Person

We had a brilliant tour in Rome which focused on the Colosseum and the neighbouring archeological site (Palatino Hill). We found a company that has special access to the basement, the reconstructed arena surface and the upper levels almost exclusively to us and the other 12 people in the group. We also visited the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona and the Nazionale Museum.

The Colosseum

From the reconstructed stage area

In the basement

View from the top

The archaeological site next to the Colosseum (Palatino hill area)

Another view of it

We also made the decision to see the Pope for Sunday mass at the Vatican City. After getting off the train, we came across a long line which I mistook for the line to see the Pope. It was in fact the line for the Vatican musuem and when we found out, we changed our plans to go and see the museum instead. What we didn't know was that it was free that Sunday being the last Sunday of the month, hence the extra long queue to get in. It wasn't the first time we accidentally aligned our trip and visits to major attractions where we got free entry into popular attractions (the louvre being the first in Paris). I have attributed it to the inner Dutch in me and I am starting to think that it was all subconsciously organised, for which I have decided to call it Dutchery. The down side to not seeing the Pope for Sunday mass is that I am no closer to discovering how to answer the question "Does the Pope shit in the woods?".