 |
| Our campervan, Vanni |
On leaving Malta, we travelled by ferry to
Sicily, then train and ferry to Reggio de Calabria in Southern Italy. We were picked up there by Alberto and his lovely wife.
Alberto is the Rimor service agent in Reggio, who we discovered quite by accident before our first trip to Sicily.
He was a real find, as not only is he a nice guy, but he also did a great job fixing up our Rimor campervan, Vanni, with air-conditioning and a few other bits and pieces. Plus, he looked after her while we were in Malta.
Alberto is the Rimor service agent in Reggio, who we discovered quite by accident before our first trip to Sicily.
He was a real find, as not only is he a nice guy, but he also did a great job fixing up our Rimor campervan, Vanni, with air-conditioning and a few other bits and pieces. Plus, he looked after her while we were in Malta.
 |
| Marg in Palmi |
Then, leaving Reggio, we travelled north on the
coastal road to Palmi.
Palmi is a beautiful and unspoiled village high
on a cliff. We went through the interesting town fortress which overlooks a
lovely white sandy beach.
While we were there, the whole town was
preparing for the Assumption of the Virgin festival, and the piazza was set up
for dining for a massive number of people. This 15 August Festival is a public holiday,
and Italy comes to a standstill to celebrate it.
 |
| Ancient Tropea on the hill-top |
While in Palmi, we were privileged to hear Ave
Maria played on the bells of the various churches in the village. It was
glorious.
After Palmi we drove to Tropea and camped
beside a beautiful, white sandy beach at the foot of a rocky cliff, on top of
which lies the ancient village of Tropea.
We explored Tropea's little alleys and streets which had very old housing and architecture, although almost everything in the shops was touristy.
From the camp we had a great view of the sun setting over Stromboli – the 2nd of three volcanoes that we want to see while in Italy.
 |
| Smoking Stromboli volacano |
Unfortunately, our campsite was extremely close to the “family from hell”, so we decided not to stay longer than necessary, especially as Marg seemed to be coming down with a cold!
We moved on via the narrow coast road through
Pizzo and other small towns, stopping at Paola, Maratea and Sapri. These are all small, quaint medieval fishing
villages, full of ancient houses all crammed together.
We had a long trek north, and we had originally
planned to stay at other places on the route. However, every beach town was
absolutely chock-a-block with Italian sunbathers and their cars, and there were
few camping grounds. Those we did spot, were overflowing with holiday makers.
 |
| Busy Italian Lido |
We did expect crowds as we were travelling in
the peak of summer, but the crowds were much bigger than we anticipated.
Sapri was the first place we found on that long
drive, that had spaces to park.
Luckily, we found a spot on a not too populated
pebbly beach, so we free-camped there with five other campers, just a few
metres from the water’s edge.
We found out later, that the popular sandy
beach with its inevitable lido facilities, was on the other side of the
township and very, very crowded.
 |
| Leigh at the ruins of Paestum |
It was interesting to see how Italians spent their time while
on holiday. Seeing so many people at a Lido, really was a cultural experience.
We then followed the scenic route instead of
the busy coast road through to Agropoli, then Paestum. This
was an autostrada that was built very high above the hills, giving lovely views
of the hill towns, orchards and gardens below.
There was one scary bit in particular, where
the road was very narrow and extremely high for around 1 km. Once you get over
the narrow road travelling at high speed, you then need to get used to the
dizzying height, where you actually look down at the top of the hills.
 |
| Marg at the ruins of Pompeii |
We were pleased to take a break at Paestum
which has some amazing ancient ruins that are in a really good state
considering their age. We also bought some mozzarella cheese there as it is the
local specialty, and is from water buffaloes.
Later, we arrived in Pompeii which has an ancient site
covered by volcanic ash from the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD. It’s an
amazing and large place, full of ancient building ruins.
We camped right opposite the site. While there
we got talking to a kiwi couple from West Auckland and discovered they know
Ross and Yvonne, the kiwis we met in Croatia at the Plitvice Lakes back in May. What a small world!
 |
| At the summit of Mt Vesuvius |
We used Pompeii as our base for sightseeing
around the area. (Leigh now has a cold!)
We took a guided tour from the campsite in a
large 4 wheel drive bus up to Mt Vesuvius, the 3rd volcano on our “volcano
itinerary”. It took us through the streets of Pompeii and up to the volcano's crater.
At the top, the crater is a deep, wide, jagged
hole of red rock, spurting the odd cloud of smoke. We walked most of the way
around it and saw the lava flow that buried Pompeii. There were also great
views of the Gulf of Naples.
 |
| Amalfi Coast road - no campervans allowed |
Leaving there, we toured the Amalfi Coast, from
Sorrento around to Amalfi. However, we did this by local bus and ferry as the
infamous Amalfi Coast road is closed to campervans.
Leigh wanted to do it by motorcycle but this is
not the best transport when you are full of a cold, and loaded with antibiotics!
The Amalfi coast road sure lived up to its name
- the road is very bendy and narrow as it winds around and clings to the
vertical cliff face. There were the most amazing views, and looking out the bus
window you saw straight down a sheer cliff to the jagged rocks and the water
below.
We were very happy to let the bus driver cope
with all of this.
 |
| Views of Positano |
We had a group of young Aussie girls sitting
behind us on the bus going to Positano, and we got an earful of the highlights
of their type of holiday – booze, getting drunk, gossip about their ‘friends’,
and how many places they had been to.
The funniest bit was when one of them earnestly
told her friends about the yoga retreat she was going to for a week, so she
could ‘dry out’ before going home to Australia.
Positano is an absolutely gorgeous small
village, built on a hill where the buildings are all white and flow down to the
coastline. It has lots of small lanes and alleys that
spiral down to the water. The shops are very touristy, but our overall
impression was of a very lovely village.
 |
| Positano |
Amalfi is another gorgeous small village built
on amazing hills overlooking the water. We arrived into Amalfi by ferry, and from the
water you only see the port and a few scruffy buildings. However, you walk up
through narrow alley-ways into the town to find a vibrant and very quaint hill
town.
Sorrento is also a beautiful and vibrant coastal town. It’s full of restaurants and trendy shops in piazzas and small streets, which we loved walking around. We had a lovely dinner in Sorrento on the way back to our campsite.
From there, we drove to Naples. We found Naples
to be an historic, interesting and dusty city, with a mix of wide boulevards and
narrow alleyways.
 |
| Leigh in Naples |
While there, we visited many churches and
markets, the shopping precinct, Castel Nuovo and more.
Underneath Naples lies an 80-kilometre-long
labyrinth of caves with some dating back to 400 B.C. We toured a part of this
underground seeing a Roman cistern and city, and an amphitheatre. We also saw
the way the people of Naples lived in the underground caves and labyrinths
during WW2 to escape bombing - it was fascinating.
After Naples we went directly to Rome, and Marg
bravely drove through the centre of the city to find our camping ground. This
turned out to be in a great location with shuttle buses and trains right into
Rome central.
 |
| Marg in Rome at the Coliseum Coliseum and Arch de Constantino |
It was extremely hot, and we struggled to cope with the 39 degree temperature. Despite this, we
managed to see a wide range of sights.
We found the Coliseum, which we managed to get
into after about an hour of queuing. It is an incredible structure, but it was just so hot out in the
sun.
Despite the heat we impressed ourselves with
how far we were able to walk, seeing amazing and ancient churches and
buildings; the Parthenon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps to name just a few.
We also visited the Vatican and saw the Square,
Basilica, and the Museum including the Sistine Chapel - which is beautiful.
By the time we left Rome we felt we'd had a
good break. We'd seen a lot of amazing sights in an incredible city, and were
now ready to head north to Umbria and Tuscany.