Barely had I landed at Nice airport, when it was already time to hit the road again. For a very nice reason though – we were off to Campania in Southern Italy for a week and a bit of holidays.
We set off in the afternoon, with a plan to stay the night in Viareggio in Tuscany (Tuscany being quite conveniently located about half-way between Nice and Naples). Viareggio is quite a nice little sea-side town, quite popular with holidaymakers during the summer, apparently. This time of the year, it’s pretty quite. We didn’t have much of a chance to visit the place though, since we arrived quite late and pushed off towards Campania early in the morning.
The drive to Sorrento, where we were staying, was pretty eventless. I even survived the notorious roads of Campania without incidents, although the drive along the Sorrento Peninsula up to Sorrento was at times a bit hair-raising.
After checking in at our hotel, located just out of the historic town centre, we set out to explore town. It’s a quite pleasant place to walk around, and Sorrento definitely has its fair share of restaurants and shops to keep people busy, but it has to be said that it’s extremely touristy. It’s not the sort of place I would necessary go out of my way to visit either – in spite of the fact that there are a few pretty churches and a picturesque port, there’s nothing much of historic interest there. But it’s a very good base for exploring the region, with its excellent services and good location (all the main sights are easily reachable from there) – and I suppose it’s a less stressful place to stay than Naples, for example ;-). We finished a nice day of exploration with a nice dinner in a restaurant named after Henrik Ibsen (who was very keen on this part of the world apparently)!
On Sunday, it was time for some proper touristy action. So where to start? Naples? The Amalfi coast? Capri? Pompei? Vesuvius? Paestum? Plenty of choices, eh ? In the end, we decided to start with Herculaneum – a nice introduction to the Roman heritage of Campania. Herculaneum was destroyed (and also, as it turned out, preserved!) by the same volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii under a mountain of ash. It’s a much smaller site than Pompeii (as we would find out later), but very impressive as well, with several blocks of well-preserved Roman buildings, with the street layout clearly visible. A lot less imagination is required here than in a lot of other Roman sites, I’ll tell you that…!
What’s quite funny about Herculaneum (as with most of the Roman ruins here in Campania) is that the sites are located slam-bang in the middle of the suburbs of Naples. So quite interesting, contrasting the ancient Roman ruins to the not-so-state of the art architecture of Suburban Naples (sometimes I wondered which buildings where in better shape – the Roman-era ruins or the high-rises surrounding them).
We finished our visit of Herculaneum quite early, so decided to take the Circumvesuviana (the ever-reliable commuter train which goes from Sorrento via the Bay of Naples, finishing in downtown Naples) over to nearby Torre Annunziata for a bit more Roman ruins. Torre Annunziata (which is where a rather good Italian film called “Fortapàsc” about the Camorra we saw recently took place) is home to the Villa of Poppaea – Poppaea was the scheming wife of Nero (who died because Nero kicked her too hard during one of his moments of madness). The Villa is very impressive indeed, very well preserved, with some very impressive mosaics still on display. Again, I’ve seen Roman villas before, but none as well-preserved as this one. That was enough Roman ruins for one day, so after our visit we made our way back to Sorrento…
The next day, we decided to take the bus along the Amalfi coast. Amalfi is, I suppose, one of the most famous pieces of coastlines of Europe, and with good reason. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen such a scenic and dramatic piece of coastline before in my file (I suppose the fjords of Norway could compete). It’s quite a drive, hair-rising at times, but with absolutely stunning views, from Sorrento to Amalfi, the main town on the Amalfi coast. I am full of respect for the bus drivers who take on the narrow roads of the Amalfi coast – they earn every penny of their salaries (and probably all deserve a big pay-rise!) I reckon. I was quite happy we took the bus and not the car, put it like that ;-).
Amalfi was a rather pretty town to visit, with its cobble-stone streets and white-washed houses. It is naturally very touristy, but once you get off the main drags and the area near the main square, it gets pretty quiet (that does mean a fair bit of hiking up and down steep streets though – as is often the case in Italy!). From Amalfi, we too another bus up to Ravello, another pretty little village a bit higher up in the cliffs overlooking Amalfi. It’s a very picturesque little place, famous for its Villa Rufolo, with its nice gardens.
After visiting the villa, we made our way back to Amalfi by foot. Probably a good idea to lose some of these calories brought on by the tasty Italian food, no doubt, but a bit hard on my poor knees I’m afraid! (damn those staircases are steep!). From Amalfi we took the bus back towards Sorrento, but made a stopover at Positano, another very picturesque little Amalfi coast village (possibly the most popular one). It’s probably a very picturesque little place as well, but by now we were getting a bit tired of walking up and down steep cobble-stoned streets, so we didn’t stay very long before catching the bus back to Sorrento.
We finished the night in a very nice little restaurant which specializes in Buffalo meat and Mozzarella (Mozzarella being of course made from Buffalo milk) – local specialties. It was an absolute delight! On the way back to the hotel, we were treated to some “Settimana Santa” (Easter week) festivities – Easter is a very important festivity in Italy in general, and especially so in Sorrento apparently! The processions of cloaked priests and monks were very impressive and solemn indeed…
We set off in the afternoon, with a plan to stay the night in Viareggio in Tuscany (Tuscany being quite conveniently located about half-way between Nice and Naples). Viareggio is quite a nice little sea-side town, quite popular with holidaymakers during the summer, apparently. This time of the year, it’s pretty quite. We didn’t have much of a chance to visit the place though, since we arrived quite late and pushed off towards Campania early in the morning.
The drive to Sorrento, where we were staying, was pretty eventless. I even survived the notorious roads of Campania without incidents, although the drive along the Sorrento Peninsula up to Sorrento was at times a bit hair-raising.After checking in at our hotel, located just out of the historic town centre, we set out to explore town. It’s a quite pleasant place to walk around, and Sorrento definitely has its fair share of restaurants and shops to keep people busy, but it has to be said that it’s extremely touristy. It’s not the sort of place I would necessary go out of my way to visit either – in spite of the fact that there are a few pretty churches and a picturesque port, there’s nothing much of historic interest there. But it’s a very good base for exploring the region, with its excellent services and good location (all the main sights are easily reachable from there) – and I suppose it’s a less stressful place to stay than Naples, for example ;-). We finished a nice day of exploration with a nice dinner in a restaurant named after Henrik Ibsen (who was very keen on this part of the world apparently)!
On Sunday, it was time for some proper touristy action. So where to start? Naples? The Amalfi coast? Capri? Pompei? Vesuvius? Paestum? Plenty of choices, eh ? In the end, we decided to start with Herculaneum – a nice introduction to the Roman heritage of Campania. Herculaneum was destroyed (and also, as it turned out, preserved!) by the same volcanic eruption that buried Pompeii under a mountain of ash. It’s a much smaller site than Pompeii (as we would find out later), but very impressive as well, with several blocks of well-preserved Roman buildings, with the street layout clearly visible. A lot less imagination is required here than in a lot of other Roman sites, I’ll tell you that…! 
What’s quite funny about Herculaneum (as with most of the Roman ruins here in Campania) is that the sites are located slam-bang in the middle of the suburbs of Naples. So quite interesting, contrasting the ancient Roman ruins to the not-so-state of the art architecture of Suburban Naples (sometimes I wondered which buildings where in better shape – the Roman-era ruins or the high-rises surrounding them).We finished our visit of Herculaneum quite early, so decided to take the Circumvesuviana (the ever-reliable commuter train which goes from Sorrento via the Bay of Naples, finishing in downtown Naples) over to nearby Torre Annunziata for a bit more Roman ruins. Torre Annunziata (which is where a rather good Italian film called “Fortapàsc” about the Camorra we saw recently took place) is home to the Villa of Poppaea – Poppaea was the scheming wife of Nero (who died because Nero kicked her too hard during one of his moments of madness). The Villa is very impressive indeed, very well preserved, with some very impressive mosaics still on display. Again, I’ve seen Roman villas before, but none as well-preserved as this one. That was enough Roman ruins for one day, so after our visit we made our way back to Sorrento…
The next day, we decided to take the bus along the Amalfi coast. Amalfi is, I suppose, one of the most famous pieces of coastlines of Europe, and with good reason. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen such a scenic and dramatic piece of coastline before in my file (I suppose the fjords of Norway could compete). It’s quite a drive, hair-rising at times, but with absolutely stunning views, from Sorrento to Amalfi, the main town on the Amalfi coast. I am full of respect for the bus drivers who take on the narrow roads of the Amalfi coast – they earn every penny of their salaries (and probably all deserve a big pay-rise!) I reckon. I was quite happy we took the bus and not the car, put it like that ;-).
Amalfi was a rather pretty town to visit, with its cobble-stone streets and white-washed houses. It is naturally very touristy, but once you get off the main drags and the area near the main square, it gets pretty quiet (that does mean a fair bit of hiking up and down steep streets though – as is often the case in Italy!). From Amalfi, we too another bus up to Ravello, another pretty little village a bit higher up in the cliffs overlooking Amalfi. It’s a very picturesque little place, famous for its Villa Rufolo, with its nice gardens. After visiting the villa, we made our way back to Amalfi by foot. Probably a good idea to lose some of these calories brought on by the tasty Italian food, no doubt, but a bit hard on my poor knees I’m afraid! (damn those staircases are steep!). From Amalfi we took the bus back towards Sorrento, but made a stopover at Positano, another very picturesque little Amalfi coast village (possibly the most popular one). It’s probably a very picturesque little place as well, but by now we were getting a bit tired of walking up and down steep cobble-stoned streets, so we didn’t stay very long before catching the bus back to Sorrento.
We finished the night in a very nice little restaurant which specializes in Buffalo meat and Mozzarella (Mozzarella being of course made from Buffalo milk) – local specialties. It was an absolute delight! On the way back to the hotel, we were treated to some “Settimana Santa” (Easter week) festivities – Easter is a very important festivity in Italy in general, and especially so in Sorrento apparently! The processions of cloaked priests and monks were very impressive and solemn indeed…
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