Day 14

It's our last day and Lazy Sunday 

A gorgeous sunny day so after an hour round the hotel pool we take off to the town for a coffee

There is a Duathalon (20k bike ride and 7k run) going on through the town so we watch that for a while

Then the Sorrento Vespa club come roaring through the town

A statue of Francis of Assisi - there's a monastery nearby

And we finally have a pizza for lunch - superb.

So the verdict on Sorrento? It's a really lovely place to visit - there is plenty to see and the buses and train mean you don't have to faff around renting a car unless you want to travel further afield.

We loved it.

Day 13

 A glorious day today. We got the train to Pompeii to go to Mt Vesuvius. You get a bus up through the town to the outskirts of the National Park and transfer to a 4x4 truck

About 20 minutes up a steep track and you disembark to walk the last 200m to the crater

The famous eruption was in 79AD of course but they reckon Vesuvius is the most dangerous volcano in Europe mainly because there are around 3M people living in fairly close proximity. 

The last time the volcano erupted was in 1944 ( there's some newsreel footage on YouTube ) but they reckon it has erupted over 100 times and they think the next one will be Pompeii like with super heated ash that will destroy the nearby towns. They have just updated their evacuation plan for the area. 

The inside of the crater

You can just see water vapour leaking out

And this is the view from the craters edge - Naples is in the far distance

In1880 they built a cable car to take people up to the top - someone wrote the song Funiculi Funicula to celebrate th event. It was destroyed in the 1944 eruption.

Quite an experience - visiting a volcano is not to be missed.

Day 12

We reckon we've been walking 3 or 4 miles a day so today we are not doing anything! 

The hotel moved our room because they are doing some work on our floor so we've got a bigger room with a balcony. Unfortunately this hotel is facing the sea which is nice but doesn't get any sun on this side so the balconies are a bit wasted.

We strolled into the town to find some pasta for lunch 

There is plenty of choice Sorrento has a maze of alleys full of bars, restaurants and shops 

Lovely little hidden gardens

And wonderful views

And the vino!!

Day 11

Not a good start to the day - early morning thunderstorms that looked like scuppering our plans for visiting Naples.

After a few hours the rain stopped so we hopped on the train and headed for Napoli. €3.60 for a hours ride - the trains are packed not surprisingly.

We headed for the archeological museum 

 Past the back streets of Naples 

And into the museum - it is choc full of items from Pompeii and Herculaneum 

These mosaics are over 2000 years old

The ones like this are so fine they were only made by young artists because you needed 20/20 eyesight to be able to produce the fine detail

Some of the sculptures were on a massive scale

We didn't really have time to see much of the city so the plan is to return on another day.

As for the pickpockets and the filth - the pickpockets were nowhere to be seen - maybe they don't operate on rainy days - actually I don't think there is any more in Naples than any other city.

And the filth? ............ Yes it's a scruffy place, lots of litter floating around - a shame really.

Day 10

We found another little train to ride 

This time it goes up into the hills to Santa Agata

We take a tour round the peninsula visiting a monastery, limoncello distillery and olive press. 

It's a bit cloudy so the promised stunning views didn't really materialise 

We sampled a couple of these

Limoncello is made using the lemon rind only - this is thrown into pure alcohol for a week then mixed with sugar and water to get it down to 36% proof. Best served straight out the freezer.

The Amalfi lemons are enormous and they can squeeze 3 crops a year out of the trees

We went down to  the small bay in Sorrento 

And had a late lunch -sea bass - simple, fresh and delish. The cat enjoyed a few scraps as well

More steps - everywhere there's steps

 A holiday in Norfolk or Holland would be a breeze after this!

Plan is to go to Napoli tomorrow - some people say it's filthy and teaming with pickpockets - can't wait!

Day 9

We spent a couple of hours round the hotel pool then had itchy feet so decided to go to Pompeii.

There's a villa nearby called Poppea that we visited first. Again it was another casualty of the volcano but this place was only excavated in the sixties and is a real gem 

You can pretty much get as close as you want to any of this place - they seem to trust that visitors will respect the history of the place - quite refreshing idea.

We got to Pompeii at about 4.00 when the visitor numbers had died down a bit - nice to roam around without getting caught up with parties of Germans or Americans waving their cameras about and getting in everyone's way.

I was really impressed with the site - it is vast 

I just like cats

Amphitheatre

 A bit of ancient graffiti 

You think your road is in bad condition! Ruts made by carts

This is the sign for the brothel - use your imagination.....

The statues look spectacular - but they are all only about 20 years old

Amazing day out - looking and touching stuff that is at least 2000 years old. We were talking to some American tourists and you have to feel a bit sorry for them - a massive country with different climates and every kind of landscape - I asked what heritage sites they have and they couldn't come up with anything older than about 300 years and they weren't too sure about that - not even one cave painting in the whole of the US. We should charge them double to look at ours!

Day 8

We went over to the Isle of Capri today - a half hour ferry from Sorrento.

There was a lot to try to pack in so we jumped on a boat to do the island tour as soon as we got there - the Blue Grotto is not to be missed apparently. 

Well it was so chaotic there - you have to climb in to a little rowing boat to get into the cave - 

And pay another €13 each - Coral was a bit windy about getting into the boat and I figured that we were going to see a tiny cave with some lovely blue water in it - so in the end we didn't bother - I'm sure I won't lose too much sleep over it.

Capri island is beautiful and has towering cliffs and some impressive rocks 

They also have caves with a stalagmite that looks like the Madonna and a rock that looks like an elephants head - doesn't everywhere?.?

Went to the town - about 500 steps 

You can just see in the window at the top of the pic a lady working out on her X trainer - maybe she should just get out and about??

Next thing to do was to go up Monte Solaro - the highest point on the island. A 10 minute cable car does the trick

From the summit you can see all of the island - every direction is a stunning view

Coral took the chair down while I walked back. Wrong choice! Very tricky path and very steep in places - the reward was this little place to rest

Stopped for an ice cream and a coffee while waiting for the ferry - bill weighed in at nearly 25 quid!!

ATM visit needed tomorrow!