Crossing Italy in a day to Sorrento & Pompei
Trip miles 2,080
Having seen Mum safely onto her return flight from Bari,
and decided against our intention to travel south to Sicily, based on the
experience of poor roads and dangerous driving, we instead headed west and
crossed the entire country in four hours. Bertha coped very well with the slow inclines up (and down) Italy's Campanian mountains.
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| Pompei in the bay of Naples |
We hadn't intended to drive so far but a tail wind pushed us towards the coast and at 6pm we were camped outside the
ancient Porta Marina of Pompei and finishing the last of our Greek ouzo.
What
a distance we had come!
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| The train now arriving at platform uno… |
We spent the next day revisiting old memories. A train
ride through the sprawling and dingy suburbs of Naples got us back to Sorrento
where we wandered the winding old streets and marina walls, dodging cruise ship
tours and finding the hotel we stayed in so many years ago.
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| Marina Piccola |
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High rise living in Sorrento
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The half hour train journey back took almost two tedious
hours as the driver and a teenager got into a scuffle and every other man it
seemed got involved. A taste of urban life in the bay of Naples.
It all ended in tears as the polizia interviewed the teenager publicly on the platform. All we could do was to wait for this silly episode to conclude.
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| Another day, another petty Italian drama |
The afternoon and early evening was spent wandering the
ghostly city of Pompei. We’d visited before but the experience was still unique
as we drifted in and out of the buildings imagining the lives led in the grand
villas, the simple terraced houses, the open-fronted shops and bars, the public
meeting places, temples, the amphitheatre, gladiatorial ring and the brothel – actually in the best state
of repair – sex still sells!
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| The temple of Apollo |
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| Lady in a quiet corner |
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| The World famous Dionysiac fresco in Villa Dei Misteri |
It was a thought-provoking experience and sobering to see
the mountain of Vesuvius towering dark and imposing above the derelict skyline.
It was going to take something extra special to lure us away and an evening of
trip planning provided a promising route… to Rome.
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| The excavated streets of Pompei |
