Curious Constructions - 10 October 2007

The sky was no bluer today than yesterday so our photos could not be improved upon. Nevertheless we went for another wander through the trulli areas of town before leaving town in the direction of Bari. Murray's Dad served the last few months of WWII in a hospital based at the Bari Polyclinic. The Polyclinic still occupies the same site so we thought we should at least call by since we were so close. We knew, from war archive data on the web, exactly where the medical stores were based so headed for that part of the site. The traffic into Bari and around the hospital was horrendous but we found the particular part of the hospital without getting lost in the one-way system, took some photos in the rain and left.

A little way to the north of Bari was our last World Heritage site, Castel del Monte. An amazing and intriguing structure build in 1240 by Emperor Frederick II. It is entirely composed of octagons: eight octagonal towers positioned around the corners of an octagonal building, of eight rooms, that enclosed an octagonal courtyard with walls eighty feet high. No one is quite sure why it was built that way or, in fact, why it was built at all. It is not defensive and it has no kitchen, storerooms or servants quarters - so was probably not lived in. Theorists have pointed out that it is built at the intersection of two great alignments: halfway between Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Egypt; and halfway between Jerusalem and Mont St Michel. "The truth is out there somewhere." Unfortunately the day had not improved by the time we arrived so once again the pictures lack the blue Mediterranean sky.

Our official itinerary was now complete but as we still had quite a bit of day before our flight left, we headed out to the coast rather than straight back to Bari and enjoyed a leisurely drive along the coast past several fishing ports and finally stopping for pizza at Santo Spirito. The fish market was in full swing with the fishermen selling their catch from stalls right on the water's edge. The fish were so fresh that many were still flapping on the counters.

The inevitable could not be delayed much longer so it was off to the airport for the tedious business of queuing and waiting that is air travel these days.

Housing styles - 9 Ocober 2007

Because of the rain last night when we arrived, we could not explore Castelmezzano so we were relieved when today dawned dry with patchy cloud cover. Wandering aimlessly through the village we finally arrived at some signs for 'Fortezza Normanna', which we took to mean Norman Fortress, so followed the streets and stairs to the site of an old fortress which provided commanding views of the village and, over the ridge, across the countryside. We finally dragged ourselves away from this beautiful village and left town via a different route headed for Matera. 5km down the road a motorcycle policeman stopped us, indicated the road was closed and sent us back the way we had come. Passing back through Castelmezzano we felt compelled to stop for another photo opportunity before retracing our inward route from yesterday.


From here the day became another World Heritage Day as the next two stops were UNESCO World Heritage sites. Matera claims to be the oldest continuously settled city in Italy having had traces of settlement going back at least 9000 years. The tourist feature is the Sassi, a huge complex of dwellings carved out of the soft tufa stone the city is built on and of. Up until a Resettlement Act in the 1950s these dwellings were still occupied by the city's poor.

We declined the offer of a personal guided tour by the professional guide even though the price dropped from €30 to €25 to €20, as neither of us thought we could cope with the Italianesque rapid-fire English for an entire hour. Instead we made our own way around the sassi and paid to visit a typical home set out and furnished as it would be in the C19th. The small space would, typically, be home to Mum & Dad, 6 children, a donkey, a pig, and several chickens.

From Matera we travellled across some fairly boring countryside, along basically straight 'roman' roads to Alberobello, the 'capital' of trulli country; and another UNESCO site. Trulli are houses built of limestone with drystone conical roofs similar in construction to some 'beehive' dwellings we had seen in Ireland. This type of construction does not exist elsewhere in Italy and it seems that is was begun here simply as a means of flouting building regulations.

Our accommodation was in a trullo which consisted of a open-plan bedroom, lounge, kitchen, dining room and a separate bathroom: it was a 'trulli' delightful place to spend the night.

After getting ourselves settled in we went for a wander through the trulli parts of town where there are wall to wall trulli along the streets. It makes for an amazing streetscape.

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.