The drive from Rome to Naples is pretty uninspiring, it’s just motorway for about 140 miles. As you pass Naples however, the giant figure of Mount Vesuvius looms into view, dominating the skyline. It remains in view, giving us something interesting to look at the whole way around the bay of Naples as we sit in the nose to tail Friday afternoon traffic with everyone else who has decided to visit the Sorrento peninsula this weekend. The sat-nav says we’ve only got 29 miles to go, but apparently it’s gonna take another hour and a half. As we move onto the peninsula itself I understand why. The roads here are small and winding, and for some unfathomable reason you seem to be constantly travelling uphill. Eventually we make it to our campsite, and what a spot it is. In the shadow of one of this coasts many ancient defensive towers, directly on the beach in Nerano on the southern side at the very end of this beautiful spit of land.
It’s too late to explore tonight, so I book a boat trip for the following day to explore the coastline, and we settle in for the night.
In the morning we rendezvous at the small pier on the beach and wait for our ride for the day to arrive. Before long we are off along the famous Amalfi coastline, our destination is the town of Amalfi itself. The skipper tells us it’s about an hour and a half to get there, which gives us ample opportunity to leisurely take in the sights. We cruise past Li Galli, a small group of privately owned islands just off the coast. Legend has it that these islands were once home to the mythical Sirens, tempting sailors to their deaths on the rocks. The allure is still there, but now it is one of unattainable wealth as you watch the well-heeled playboys mooring their boats in the private coves while us mere mortals are bussed past to stare in envy.
The coastline here is simply stunning, and the 90 minutes at sea passes in the blink of an eye, and soon we set foot on the beach in Amalfi itself. We have three hours to explore, and we are keen to find some food, but not here on the beach where the other ten thousand daytrippers are falling over themselves. The skipper tells us to walk uphill out of town for at least 15 minutes to escape the crowds and find some decent grub. So we do. We meander upwards past all the cute boutiques and chic eateries until the crowds disappear and we find a ramshackle looking eatery by the name of Miseria E Nobilta, presumably named after the 1954 Sophia Loren film of the same name, as she was a former resident of the town. The man who serves us is suitably scruffy to match the decor, and is sporting a rather jaunty yet dishevelled captains hat. He puts me in mind of the character of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, especially so as the place fills with diners and drinkers and his movements become quicker yet somehow less purposeful. The food is however delicious, and the local speciality of Lemon Spaghetti is wonderful.
As we wind our way back down to the coast past the impressive cathedral on the main square, we stop in one or two of the colourful boutiques to see what treasures (or more likely tat) we can find. Basically, if you would like to dress as a worshipper to all things lemon, with a lemon hat, lemon dress, lemon shoes and some lemon sunglasses, then you’ll be very well catered for here. Instead of the lemon themed apparel however, we opt instead for a lemon sorbet served inside a hollowed out Amalfi lemon. Very refreshing. There are some other locally crafted shopping options on offer here too, but the lemon theme runs deep, so i give in and buy some local limoncello and some lemon sherbets for the kids. We did also find a nice little shop selling some pretty, colourful hand-made dresses, and Bam absolutely HAD to have one. To be fair she did look pretty adorable in it, so we couldn’t resist really.
Just time for a quick dip in the perfect Amalfi sea before getting back on the boat and heading off to our next stop, Positano. This town is perhaps even more beautiful than Amalfi, with its multi coloured array of houses cascading down the hillside towards the perfect turquoise water. We have a few hours to spend here, which is perfect to simply wander and get lost in its maze of alleyways and narrow streets. We also find just enough time to stop for a cup of coffee and a cheeky panna cotta before heading back to the quay.
The boat ride home chases the setting sun down over the mountains. Just enough daylight left for the skipper to point out a couple of interesting places on the way. The first being Crapola Cove (hilarious name) which is accessible from the street above via 1000 stone steps. There are the remains of a Roman villa in this isolated place, and also a tiny chapel perched just above it on the cliff side.
The second is the tiny, ancient fishing village of Furore, hidden almost out of view behind the bridge joining together the two rock formations. This bridge is now more famous as being the location for the Red Bull cliff diving competition. We arrive back in Nerano as the sun disappears completely.
The following day we were supposed to catch a boat to the nearby island of Capri. My friend Trapper has told me many times how this area, and specifically Capri, is his favourite place in the world, and if I’m ever able to visit then I should. It seems that the weather does not agree with Trapper, and scuppers our plans entirely. A storm has blown in overnight and all boats are cancelled for the day, and it looks like it’s going to rain, a lot, and for several days. This is disappointing news, we were going to see Capri, then visit the nearby site of Pompeii, and also hopefully climb Mount Vesuvius before we leave the area. But alas, it looks like we won’t be doing any of these things. After much deliberation we decide the best course of action is probably to smash out two days worth of school work and wait out the rain. Then tomorrow we could leave, and hopefully stop off at the (very wet) ruins of Pompeii before we drive as far north as we can to escape this never ending storm. The heavy, black clouds finally can hold the rain no longer, and the heavens open in the afternoon, and as predicted it absolutely hammers it down. This is the first torrential rain we’ve had so far on our trip, and it shows up a flaw in our trusty steed, Discorama. It seems that the people who fitted our new solar panel before we set off didn’t do a very good job of sealing the holes, and we have sprung a leak. Where the water is pooling on the roof around the solar panel, it is finding its way in and dribbling down the wall into the kids beds. Luckily Bam spotted it early on, otherwise we might have all been bunking up together by bedtime! To solve the problem I reverse off the levelling chocks to prevent the water pooling and we wedge a towel around the gap above Bams bed to catch the residual water draining in from the roof lining. But it has made up our minds, tomorrow we are definitely off!
The rain continues all night, and all morning too, but luckily our emergency measures have kept the kids heads dry overnight. We quickly pack up, and without the daily chore of school to get through we manage to set off mid morning for Pompeii. The narrow windy roads which brought us here are going to be twice as challenging today, now that they are soaking wet and visibility is poor. Discorama also has an annoying tendency to wheel spin in slippery conditions, which makes the incomprehensibly permanent uphill drive even more challenging. Eventually we manage to reach the site of the ruined city of Pompeii, and guess what, it’s still raining! But we’ve promised the kids we are going to visit, and visit we shall!
Almost 2000 years ago the residents of Pompeii had no idea that they had made their homes in the shadow of a volcano, in fact the Romans didn’t even have a word for volcano as they weren’t aware they even existed until that fateful day. But in 79 AD a cataclysmic eruption began with a deadly rain of pumice rock on the city. At this point it is thought a good percentage of the 11,000 residents ran for their lives and probably escaped. But the next day the pyroclastic flows of burning hot gas and dust ripped through the town and everyone that was left was killed instantly. The town was completely covered in several metres of volcanic debris and lay undiscovered for centuries until it was finally excavated in the eighteenth century. The site revealed a town literally frozen in time affording us a very real insight into everyday Roman lives. Unfortunately the early excavations left the site unprotected and many original features began to decay. But it is now a UNESCO protected site and you are mostly free to wander its streets as the locals did before that fateful day. You can see their houses, shops, amphitheatre and even an ancient brothel with naughty pictures on the walls. There is also the antiquarium where you can see the many artifacts taken from the ruins. The gruesome and well known highlight being the many plaster casts taken from the voids left by the incinerated bodies which have long since decayed, showing these poor residents in their final mortal poses. Some even contain their actual teeth, and there are also some are in fairly graphic poses.
The relentless rain has taken its toll during our several hours mooching around Pompeii, and we retreat to our Motorhome for a change of clothes and a snack before our 4 hour onward drive to our next destination, the hot, sulphurous springs of Tuscany. Hopefully we can also escape this infernal rain…