Pompeii, Herculaneum and Oplontis

Neapolitan drivers are terrifying! Your vehicle will have to combat manic mopeds, crazy cars and belligerent busdrivers.

We had splendid, marbled and airconditioned accommodation

with excellent service; our hostel was located right on the edge of the old town and strolling distance to Marina Grande.

Evening meals were set against a background of volcanic Vesuvius.

Italy were in the final of the World Cup while we were there. We bought flags and supported Italy as we watched the match in the bar/lounge of the hostel. (Well it seems we are never going to see England in the final).

The Sorrento peninsula, especially  Sorrento itself, is pretty with some delightful oases.We wandered the narrow winding streets of Sorrento finding all sorts of restaurants (Isn't bougainvillea a riot of vivid purple and cerise pink)

shops

churches (this tiled floor was on a church in Anacapri)

and cafes

Steep, stark, carbonate cliffs edged a calm, azure Tyrrhenian Sea as

we travelled by boat ('Helloo') down to crowded Amalfi-

OK so we were not impressed by Amalfi or Positano- Come on! We are Northumbrians borne of the land of far horizons- we are used to space, not shoulder to shoulder rubbing.

Now the scavi (excavations) and the reason we made this journey! 

Used to archaeological digs, we found Pompeii interesting eg the houses and their fittings- did you know there were more than 26 brothels? The odeon and arena were bathed in searing sunshine.However it was sterile of finds because they are all now in the Museum of Naples.the best pizza we had in Italy was at the cafe in Pompeii. All the streets - and there were a lot- had steppy stones as ancient Pompeiian streets were washed every night.We all forgot to take our cameras to Pompeii so unfortunately I have no pictures of the world's most preserved city.

Ercolano (Herculaneum) was smaller but the first view revealed how deep the ruins were in mud and sand- how ever did anyone find them that deep below modern ground level?

There were magnificent mosaics on both floor and walls here; we were amazed to be allowed to walk on 2,000year old , tiny, tesserae unprotected from twentieth century feet.

                                                                            

Oh, the villa of Poppaea in Oplontis, which probably belonged to Nero's second wife, was a hidden gem. Mosaics and painting on the walls were as though they had been made yesterday; tiny birds, flowers, musical instruments......breathtakingly beautiful. But I did not have the camera that day so we must wait for D3 to forward some photos to me!
We cruised out to the island of Capri and climbed through tiny, flower draped alleyways to Anacapri- wealth was evident! We wore our Capri pants in Capri!

I must be honest with you-Sorrento is lovely but I do not recommend a trip to the actual city of Naples- so much muck you have never seen; Also maybe it is better not to go in the height of summer unless you can cope with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius. We found ways of cooling ourselves down......