Sea to sky - 8 October 2007

From Greek Temples on the coast via a Carthusian Monastery to an Italian mountain eyrie along some very dodgy Italian back roads, the day was full of interest. Our day began at Paestum, originally a Grecian outpost from 700BC which was taken over by the Romans, then the malaria carrying mosquitoes, which got rid of the people; and finally by the jungle where it remained hidden until a funny thing happened on the way to the forum in the 18th Century when a road builder drove a bulldozer (as it were) though the arena and rediscovered the site. Today the Greek temples are some of the finest examples outside of Greece and are simply stunning.

After a good look around the site and the accompanying museum, where there is exhibited a unique painted tomb with a diver symbolizing the plunge from the end of the known world into the unknown, we set off into the unknown across some mountains looking for Padula, to find the St Lawrence Carthusian Monastery we were seeking.

It is unbelievable that this huge complex was there to service the spiritual needs of just 24 Carthusian Monks. The interiors were remodelled in the Baroque period using inlaid marble, mother of pearl, gold leaf and so forth. Behind the monks seats in the chapel are inlaid wood scenes for the life of Christ and in front of their pews the wood inlay pictures depict the martyrdom of various saints. After the (Italian) dissolution of the monasteries it has been a children's camp, a WWI concentration camp and various other roles before being recently rescued and restored as a tourist attraction that is clearly not expecting anyone other than Italian tourists. The maoastery has the largest cloister in the world enclosing nearly 3 acres.

Back in the car we finally convinced the sat-nav to take us to our final destination via a sensible route but even so the contrast between crow-flies distance and road distance was surprising. Eventually, after crossing another pass at 1145m, and in the clouds, we descended into Castelmezzano, a magical place clinging to the mountainside among majestic dolomite peaks.

This town is rather off the normal tourist route, but we found fabulous accommodation at the La Locanda di Castomediano. Our hostess, Antonia, indicated that we were the first New Zealanders to stay there. The three highlights of the day were very different, but we would recommend them all to anyone visiting this part of Italy.

We left the choice of our evening menu in the capable hands of Antonia, who did us proud with a mushroom salad antipasto, two delicious pastas and a rolled beef second platti; all local dishes which we enjoyed with a bottle of local red wine. The wine list here is amazing: 4 whites; 2 rose; 2 pages of Basilicata reds; possibly 6 pages of other Italian reds; and one page of reds of the world.

Amalfi Coast - 7 October 2007

Saturday's storm finally calmed down sometime after midnight leaving the air washed clean of all the pollutants that had been spoiling the views so far. If the weather were to stay dry, the clear air would be good news for our drive along the Amalfi Coast. The best we could get from the locals regarding tomorrow’s weather had been "same as today" so just in case, we set off early to cross the Sorrento peninsula to the Amalfi side. As it turned out we should probably have stayed in bed a little longer as the weather got progressively better through the day as we followed the storm along the coast.

The first tourist trap along the coast is Positrano but the weather was still a little inclement as we arrived and the day still somewhat gloomy. We drove through the town but decided to press on to Amalfi where we stopped for a look at the cathedral where, in the ornately decorated crypt, is the final resting place of the bones of St Andrew (or so they say). We detoured off the coast road to Ravello, our favourite town of the day. Back on the coast road we enjoyed the vistas and villages until Veitri sul Mare, the home of the local distinctive ceramic industry

This village marks the end of the Amalfi Coast road, another World Heritage Site, so we joined the highway to skirt the city of Salerno en route to our overnight destination, Paestum.

Pompeii - 6 October 2007

The weather forecast was for torrential rain after midday (it actually arrived about 5:30) so we decided on an early start for Pompeii. There were added benefits in that we could park easily and we beat most of the tourist hordes to the prime photo spots like the forum.

[A side note for parking for anyone reading this and thinking of visiting: Don't be so focused on finding the front gate that you drive past the cheaper parks just outside the complex. We paid €2.50 per hour and the machine only accepted coins! As we left we passed €1/hr parks.]

Pompeii is much, much larger site than Herculaneum and has a basilica, temples, forum, theatres, amphitheatre, and even a brothel, as well as the shops, homes and gardens. It also has many more tourists. You can also see Vesuvius looming over the town as you walk along the city streets, a constant reminder of the reason why the ruins, and you, are there. The 'cityscapes' along the streets: shop-fronts, cart-tracks, food stalls, drinking fountains and so forth seemed to provide a much better insight into their life and times. To finally see the plaster casts made of the doomed inhabitants, that one learnt about in school is quite remarkable.

However, while Herculaneum was much less popular with the tourists, to leave the tour parties well behind there are other sites to visit. We knew about them because they were included in the 5-site, three-day pass we purchased. A note of caution though, be sure you go equipped with a sat-nav system as the instructions given and the tourist brown signs are completely inadequate to find these other places.

These other sites were palatial country residences, two of them on the escarpment overlooking the Bay of Naples. Their view, when occupied, was not spoiled by row upon row of cluttered high-density housing. These three villas, one of which belonged to Nero's second wife, show the amazing opulence of the high-class in Roman times, e.g. 67m long swimming pool, their own bath complexes - no tripping down to the public baths and mixing with the hoi-polloi for these folk. They were built around atria and had other indoor gardens as well. To bump into another tourist at these locations was a rarity. They are: Villa Poppea, Oplontis; Villa Arianna & Villa San Marco, Stabia.

It is such a pity that the treasures from these sites have been 'looted' for museums around the world, centres hacked out of frescoes and mosaic floors to display in the Louvre or British Museum.

One of the weather web sites consulted before our trip predicted "tons of rain" for Sunday; a very odd turn of phrase for a weather forecast. It seems the forecast was out by about 8 hours as at around 6:30 the heavens opened and "tons of rain" fell so that by 7:30 the street outside the hotel was a river with at least 6 inches of water rushing down to the sea. The sudden change in the weather was not entirely unexpected as, during our time at Pompeii, we noticed that every time we opened our water bottles we could hear the air-pressure equalising, something we have previously only ever experienced after a flight. The barometric pressure must have been dropping quite dramatically to affect the water bottles like this, repeatedly, in such a short time span.

The Isle of Capri - 5 October 2007

30 minute's walk from Hotel Angelina is the main Sorrento port from where one can catch a ferry to Naples, Capri, Amalfi, Positano and so on. We boarded a ferry bound for Capri where we quickly discovered it stood for Chaotic And Rip-off Prices Included. They say that the crossing to the Isle of Wight is the most expensive sea crossing in the world but the trip to the Isle of Capri may well be a close second.

Before leaving the Capri harbour we purchased a ticket for a trip to the Blue Grotto. There are various ways to get there: overland by taxi or bus; or by boat directly for €10 or right around the island for only €13. We chose the last method and enjoyed a fascinating circumnavigation. The organised chaos at the grotto entrance was amazing but eventually it was our turn to part with more money. €4 for entrance to the grotto and €5 for the man to row you in (4 per boat) on top of which he made it very clear that he expected a tip at the end of the trip. They must take a sizeable wedge of Euros home at the end of the day. Despite the cost the Blue Grotto is one of the must-see sights of Capri.






Back at the harbour it was time to leave sea level and explore the heights. We caught a bus, eventually, to Anacapri for a look at the highest settlement on the island and, from there, another bus to Capri itself. Bus travel on Capri is another unmissable adventure. After a wander round the narrow streets, carefully avoiding all the over-priced goods in the shops, we descended to the harbour via a flight of stairs. Much easier going down than up! In Anacapri we chanced across St. Michael Church that has the entire floor made of painted ceramic tiles which form one gigantic picture. It is worth a detour if you are in the area. And while you are there, check out Casa Rossa (the red house.)

Back at Sorrento we headed for the old town with its pedestrianised streets then down to the original fishing village marina where the fishermen were mending their nets at the end of the day. As it was also the end of our day, we walked back through Sorrento old town and Sorrento new town to Sant 'Agnello and our hotel, tired but satisfied.

Herculaneum - 4 October 2007

Residence La Nuova Arca was quite close to the ring road around Bari so we were on it and away from the city in short order. After miles of fairly flat, featureless, terrain alongside the regional road we wended our way though the pass in the mountains to the Neapolitan side of the Italian peninsula. Suddenly the roads were busy and the number of houses and towns increased dramatically. We decided to abandon the by-ways and head for the autostrada, to close the distance between us and Naples, and to get us through Naples and on our way south to Herculaneum, our destination for the day.

The cobbled streets around the archaeological site are a much better speed control than all of England's speed cameras. We eventually found the site and stepped back to 79AD. The two and three story dwellings that they have unearthed so far below the current ground level are quite amazing. There are remarkable mosaics on the walls and floors and the amazing thing is that you are able to walk on many of these floors.

Original wood, instantly charcoaled, is in evidence all around the site in beams, floors, stairs, shop shelves, room partitions and so on.

Leaving there we headed on down the coast to Boscoreale taking our lives in our hands on the narrow streets as we diced with on-coming traffic, motor-scooters with no concept of speed limits or right and left and cross traffic that seemed to ignore road rules. (Perhaps there are none?)

The museum at Boscoreale has many artefacts that have been recovered form the archaeological digs and fleshed out some more of the lives of the residents of the houses at Herculaneum.

Back into the mad Italian traffic, we headed for Sorrento, finding our accommodation on the first try thanks to a huge sign announcing their existence - just the sort of thing a visitor requires.

The Hotel Angelina at Sant’ Agnello, is a quiet and tranquil spot well away form the mad-cap traffic of the Naples to Sorrento road.

Lost, exactly where we should be - 3 October 2007

As is the way these days, a 2-hour flight takes from1 pm until 10 pm to complete: by the time you get to the airport, allowing for traffic; wait the obligatory 2 hours at the terminal; stand in immigration queues; wait for the luggage; and queue for the hire car. Then it is simply a matter to driving to your hotel and into bed. We had taken our sat-nav system with us so had no trouble navigating a strange city in the dark and arrived quite quickly at 318 Corsa Alcide De Gasperi. We really wanted 320 but the Sat-nav did not offer that as an option and once we arrived we found out why: the numbering went from 318E to 320B and neither was Residence La Nuova Arca.

We asked some locals at a gas station and they indicated in broken English where we should go. We drove all the way to the end of Corsa Alcide De Gasperi and back again. We stopped at another gas station and confirmed with a motorist there that we were on the correct road - at which point she sought my assistance opening her fuel cap. Stopping at 320B a resident told us that La Residence was past the stop sign and to the right. Tucked in beside the motorway off ramp was another small street so we drove to the end of that. Nothing looked like La Residence so we went back to Corsa Alcide De Gasperi, and decided to ring the place. While I was getting the phone fired up, Christine saw a local parking her car so asked her. She spoke no English but rang La Residence on her mobile (saved us an overseas call) but got nothing sensible from her call. She indicated to follow her so off we set and she drove to 320B where she asked another resident and had a long conversation in Italian. Ultimately we ended up back down the side street that we had visited before and the hotel receptionist was out in the car park. (Looking for us?) It seemed she gave him a piece of her mind about the lamentable state of his signs then we thanked her profusely and she left.

In the daylight, next morning it seemed that we had driven past three signs, with the Hotel name on, along the little side street but has missed them all. All in all it added at least another hour to the already long day.

The pull of the Peaks - 29 & 30 September 2007

The persistent pull of the Peaks again persuaded us to perambulate purposefully across the pleasant pastures, progress past the proudly protruding promontories and pass by poignant pointers to past periods.

Leaving the motorway, a pleasant drive across Derbyshire took us to New Mills. This is a town with a fascinating legacy of mills, left from the industrial era. There is an excellent display in the Heritage Centre, with a model of the town as it was, with its many mills.

Today there are a few mills left, and we started our 8-mile walk with the Millennium Walkway through the gorge, which still has a large derelict mill complex, many picturesque bridges and other ruins. The walkway is an impressive cantilevered bridge, as we reached the end we met a group of people setting up lanterns over and around the river. It transpired that we had arrived on the night of their annual lantern procession.

We continued on the walk, which had a pleasant canal section; including the remains of an old limestone processing terminus, and an interesting hill walk past many quarries, with marvellous views over the surrounding countryside.

We didn't complete the walk until 6.30pm, so had a quick meal at an excellent Indian Restaurant, and at 7.30 joined the 3000 or so people walking in a long procession over the Millennium Walkway and on to a fireworks display. It was a lovely family event, with an eclectic collection of hand made lanterns of many different shapes and sizes. Fish were most popular, with some very terrifying jaws type creatures. There were many other imaginative designs including watering cans, a sea-horse, jellyfish, ships, stars and even a cup & saucer.

Leaving after the parade we confirmed our decision that New Mills is a sat-nav black-hole. On the way in, the sat-nav attempted to take us up and over a non-existent road into New Mills from the south. As we left, heading north in the dark, on the way to our accommodation, we found ourselves turning sharp left on to a road, which seemed to us to simply be a pub carpark. Oh well, no one said technology was perfect!

The Peak District is, reportedly, the second most visited National Park in the world (after Mt Fuji), so no wonder we find it keeps drawing us back.

We started Sunday with a 7-mile walk across the moors and around one of the many rock outcrops, called Edges. The views, again, were stunning. The walk finished by passing through parts of the Chatsworth Estate. Aptly known as the Palace of the Peaks, the house is palatial and the park-like grounds are lovely.

Our second tour of the day was a complete contrast to the grandeur and luxury of Chatsworth: The Workhouse at Southwell. En-route we stopped in the pleasant town of Chesterfield, to have a look at the church with a twisted spire. It wasn't always so, it started life straight and remained that way for several centuries before it twisted. Legend has it the spire twisted as it turned round in amazement when a virgin was married in the church. The spire leans a little further every year and the top is now 9ft off centre

Then on to Southwell: the town has a magnificent minister, also well worth a visit; but today we did a tour of The Workhouse. This was the first prototype Workhouse in England. The poor had always been the responsibility of each parish council. This proved to be an expensive problem for them, and added considerably to taxes.

The Reverend Beecher came up with the Workhouse principal, and when he was able to demonstrate it, it worked. In 1824 The Southwell Workhouse was built, and proved to be a working model many other parishes adopted. The idea was to look after the young, old and infirm (the deserving poor) fairly but firmly. The able-bodied (the idle poor) were made to work hard at menial tasks for no pay, in the hope of encouraging them to leave again promptly. "A well run Workhouse is an empty Workhouse". Having read of workhouses in historical novels, it was an extremely interesting tour. It was also disturbing to note that these places, that one thinks of as Dickensian, were used up until the 1950s.
(As you may have guessed from the quality of the pictures, our Fujifilm f30 has been repaired under warranty and returned.)