Italy Day 4 - Pompeii and San Felice

Unfortunately.... left the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento today... but I was really looking forward to seeing Pompeii.

Very glad for the Navman... wasn't actually that well signposted coming from sorrento and we were able to make a small wrong turn... but made it and found some parking relatively close to the gate.

My first impression of Pompeii... HUGE!!!!! I was really not expecting the magnitude... we quickly realised the 3 or 4 hours that we thought was going to be plenty of time was not going to be anywhere near enough... in the end I think we might have seen a total of 1/3 of the site. It's just amazing to think how long those buildings have been there... how many people had walked the same streets... and i love the concept of their courtyard houses... is now now part of my dream house!

From Pompeii we started heading back to Rome, we had organised a night in a little seaside town called San Felice so that we didn't have such a long drive back into Rome. We had had trouble finding anywhere available on the Internet and as we arrived in San Felice, we discovered why... wasn't because there was a major festival or anything... was simply that there was noone there! It's a thriving town in Summer as visitors come from Rome for weekends etc.. but in Winter it's a ghost town... All the streets were dark, no one around... turned into the driveway of our hotel and were met with locked gates! No one home! A little surprising.. they'd taken our booking.. and our money!

Ended up finding probably the only open hotel... which was ok but not great... but they directed us to an amazing restaurant. I think the owners of the restaurant were actually a little disappointed that we turned up though... being the only ones there I think they were hoping for an early night. Good for us though as we had 3 waiters and 2 chefs all to ourselves.. and the seafood was so fresh and yummy! A great meal and no English on the menu!!

[oh... BTW we did get the money back for the hotel]

Italy - Day 3 - Isle of Capri

Had a an amazing day on the Isle of Capri... headed out on the first 'fast ferry' of the day for the 20 min trip to Capri. When we were almost there we got approached by this guy offering to give us a tour, sounded like a bit of a scam, but when we got off the bus there was quite a queue of people waiting with him so we thought, probably couldn't be that bad... plus we said we didn't have any cash on us so couldn't pay him til we found a cash machine. Worked out quite well in the end, saw more of the Island than we would have trying to get around on public transport... though most of the people were Italian, and while he would explain things in both English and Italian, it seemed to take at least 4 times as long to say the spiel in Italian compared to the English version, so I think we got the summary!

First stop was Ana Capri, the highest town on the Island. Gorgeous view from the top of the hill though frikkin freezing in the wind! For those so inclined, there are steps that lead all the way from the port to Ana Capri, parently the road was only built about 100 years ago so in the past that was the only way up... I think I would have lived at the Port.... While we were up there we had time to get the chair lift to the very top... My legs do get a little shaky with heights.. but I thought, I can do a chair lift... paid our tickets and got to the top of the stairs then I noticed how SMALL the chair was... I just assumed it would be a 2 person one... didn't really have time to think about it though cause there was no queue... just hung on tightly to the bars... and given i didn't have gloves on... my hands were nearly stuck to the poles by the time I got to the top! (and almost stacked it as I jumped off)... BUT the view across the Bay of Naples and the Meditteranean was amazing, particularly the ruggedness (don't even now how that's spelt?!) of the coastlline... biggest bummer of the day was that there were no boats going to the Grotto due to the roughness of the sea.. may have to come back one day for that!

After a quick lunch and wander round the town.. back on the mini bus and the tight roads to Capri... a really pretty town though feels like it was built just for shopping (til you duck down some of the nooks and crannies... ) We walked down through the town to the Gardens and out onto a lookout looking back down the coastline towards where we were at the top of the chair lift. The water was soooo blue... Not surprised so many wealthy people have villas here.

Had a wander around the town (wasn't in the mood for shopping which has to have been a good thing) and back to the main square for a coffee (sooo much cheaper if you either drink it standing at the bar or have takeaway by the way) There was a whole lot of commotion surrounding a few people... turns out they were there for the Honda Film Festival and were quite famous Italian film stars... no wonder Matt got a few strange looks in the Honda jacket...

Still... all too quickly it was time to find our mini bus again for the trip back to the port for the ferry back to Sorrento...

Back in Sorrento we walked back up into town... tried on a few leather jackets... but didn't end up buying... found a tv that was playing the cricket.. not live.. and twas a little depressing anyway!.. But they sold Jim Beam.. AND the guy gave us free cake cause it was 'happy hour' - now that's my kinda happy hour - free food!

Italy - Day 2 - Amalfi Coast

Unfortunately we got a bit of rain today... but were still excited to be doing the famous Amalfi drive and to test out the Mini. Heading up the windy road, pleasantly surprised with how the Mini stuck to the road and glad we hadn't decided to get the cheapest option as we would normally do... we were able to unsafely pass a Fiat Punto (a likely hire car option) on a corner without any trouble.

The views across the coast were stunning, despite the weather, and we were amazed at the number of buildings that seemed to just jut out of the cliff face.

We drove straight through to Amalfi and spent a few hours wandering the streets there, the church there was really pretty and there was a mass on which was quite nice, though obviously we couldn't understand a word. Had a great coffee and pastry in the square before heading up to Ravello for lunch.

The road up to Ravello was REALLY tight, with our side mirrors touching with another car at one point.. was glad we didn't have to try and pass a bus. While this area would be amazing in Summer, I think the roads must be so overcrowded with buses and cars it would be really hard to get around.

Ravello was also nice, but dead quiet, no one in the square, but we found a really nice little place for lunch... great home-cooked Italian meal... and apparently we hadn't ordered enough food as the 'mother' of the restaurant brought us out an extra plate of pasta 'for the growing boy'!!.. It was all great food though.

From Ravello took a leisurely drive back through Amalfi and had a quick stop off at Positano though it was getting quite late by this stage so after a quick walk around town we headed back to Sorrento and a drink in the Hotel Bar (they had Jim Beam so Matt was set! I'm a bit more flexible, there's vino everywhere!)

Italy! - Day 1 - Essex to Sorrento - 27 Dec 08

What a day! Early morning start to get to Stansted for our 6am flight with Ryanair to Rome. Was a fairly full flight but we managed to get 3 seats for the 2 of us.. always a mad scramble to get on when there's no reserved seating... Was a beautiful flight as well.. over the Swiss and French Alps... great view!

Was a little disappointed when, as we approached Rome, the pilot announced it was all of 3 degrees in Rome (was 30 last time we were here). We were hoping for at least 10, still it's warmer than the UK (just I had only brought the one jacket!)

We were welcomed with great Italian service and efficiency... an hour for our bags!!... and Ciampino is only a small airport! Then, once we had our bags, set off to find our rental car, which we found was quicker to walk to 1km than to wait for the shuttle bus (that came every 5 mins apparently?!)

We got the keys to our car, a White Mini Cabriolet, the only mini in the carpark apparently... yet somehow we managed to get in the wrong car, got our bags in, but then couldn't work out where the key went... was only after 5 mins or so when Matt got back out of the car did we realise there was another mini.. the key fit that one (btw the mini we had jumped in was green and not a convertible... same make though)

We brought along our Satnav from the UK, which was FANTASTIC, made it so much easier to get around... though it was still relatively straight forward to get out of the airport and onto the A1 to Sorrento via Napoli. Felt a bit strange for a while to be on the right-hand side of the road... kept telling Matt off for veering too far to the right!.. and was unnerving not to have a steering wheel in front of me!

Still... we made it.... a gorgeous drive once we got off the A1 through some small towns and around the coast from vesuvius to Sorrento.

Our Hotel, the Grand Hotel Aminta (sounds Grand... but every second hotel is the grand something) was great.. was halfway up the hill overlooking Sorrento and had a free shuttle to take us into town... which was the first thing we did.

Had a wander round the Sorrento streets, where they still had all the Christmas decorations and stalls set up. Was quite a buzz about the place. We then found a trattoria our bus driver had recommended and savoured our first Italian pizza, pasta and cappuccino! Then off for an early night... we were stuffed.

Boxing Day at our place

Had a great day boxing day, relaxing at home with John, Shirley, Lee, Connor and Aaron. Ended up playing a bit of blackjack... Matt was the dealer.. and we all know that the dealer always wins, but we still thought the rules were being made up as we went!! As an added bonus there was plenty of sunshine streming through the windows!! [Oh.. and somehow Aaron, the youngest of the group, won the card game]

Our first UK Christmas

Christmas Eve at the Price's... wine getting everywhere seems to be the norm... has exploded onto the ceiling and here... onto the lounge room floor.. was a shame, meant I had to open the champas!

Our little Xmas tree from B&Q!...

Christmas Day with the Butterworths

Birmingham Dec 08

Took a another trip up to Birmingham before Christmas and caught up with all the relatives. Ended up staying at Ian and Ellen's place near the centre of Birmingham... had a great night in with good curry, lots of drinking?! and lots and lots of family photos! Chatted well into the night and before we knew it, it was 2am