The Island Of Capri

Hello,

The island of Capri is wonderful and definitely worth a visit.  However, don't just settle for a day trip, as the place is heaving for much of the day.  Try and stay over for a night or two if you can.  My friend and I stayed in a lovely apartment which was part of the old monastery of AnaCapri and it was lovely.

We walked the Pizzolungo trail, which takes you past the famous arch and the Faraglioni (the three fingers)

This is a lovely trail, but there are over 270 steps to climb if you travel the wrong way round.  So we started from the centre of Capri town and headed straight for the arches, then followed the coastal path down towards the Grotto, past the pink house that looks like a large boat.

As you can see, the arch was undergoing maintenance when we visited - to prevent it from falling down they are pumping concrete into it.  It is a beautiful walk that takes a good couple of hours to complete, but it's well worth it.

You can also take a trip along the other side of the island, along the old walk of the forts.  They have all of these tiles that explain what wildlife you can find on the island, along with some history about the forts.  The trip is supposed to be 3.5 miles, but you spend so long reading the tiles that it takes much longer to traverse than you realise!

There is a little cactus garden hidden along the route, which is a pleasant surprise.  The scenery is stunning and sometimes you don't feel like you're on a Mediterranean island at all.

You know you're getting close to the end of the walk when you can see the lighthouse in the distance.  Ambling through the trees and looking down on small blue lagoons, the views are amazing and the walk well worth it.

We timed our walk so that we'd be able to chill out and watch the sun go down, before catching a bus back to Ani Capri for the night.  Another reason to stay the night, if you can.

We had planned to visit the blue lagoon, but due to the high tides it was not possible for us to go on this trip.

More about Capri to come on the next blog.


Some useful information can be found here.
http://www.capri.com/

Villa Oplontis - An Unexpected Gem

Hi readers,

Thanks for coming back to my blog to read about my holiday to Italy last September.

This time, I'm going to show you a little gem that my friend and I visited.  It is called the Villa Oplontis (or the Villa Poppaea) and has been so wonderfully preserved and restored that I guarantee that you won't be disappointed if you visit.  I could really imagine what it might have been like to live there.

We travelled from Sorrento to Torre Annunziata by train and it was a short walk from the station, which was clearly signposted.

The villa was lovely and peaceful with few visitors, which is what I think makes this such a gem.  As you walk down towards the villa you get a real feeling of its sheer size.  It's huge!

There are a number of frescoes on the walls from different time periods.  Some were found like this but others have been very carefully restored to give you a real glimpse of the beautiful decorations that adorned this property.

The house was built over two floors, so the people that lived here were wealthy.  It is thought that the villa had been damaged in an earlier earthquake back in AD62, with construction work being undertaken when the volcano finally erupted in AD79.

I love this central water collection area, which is believed to have had a fountain in the middle.  This would have been an impressive addition to any home.

There was a large square, possibly for a garden (shown top).  There was also space for what looks like some form of swimming pool or spa pool (bottom).  It is uncertain what this pool would have been used for, but I liked to imagine that the villa might have been home to a bunch of Gladiators and they used the villa for training purposes.  I may have watched far too much Spartacus, though!

They found these doors in the villa, which had been beautifully preserved in the lave mud flow.  They haven't been cleaned up as they would probably fall apart, but it gives you a real sense of the place.

They took a lot of effort to adorn the front of the property as well, with this façade being painted in a similar way to the indoor rooms.  It was absolutely stunning.

What gets me the most is that this property was almost completely engulfed in lave mud, ash and pretty much everything else a volcano has thrown at it.  Yet it has survived so spectacularly.

To read more about this and other villas in the area, please try this web page
http://www.oplontisproject.org/


Next Time: Walking Round Capri

Visit To Positano

Today I'm going to talk about Positano.  Situated on the Amalfi Coast, Positano is a beautiful village crammed into the Cliffside.  To get about the place, you can either use the very windy road, or take the many hundreds of steps.  Trust me, you will be fit by the time you have finished your day trip here.

From Sorrento, you can travel to Positano by bus or by ferry.  My friend and I opted to take the bus as we had been using a museum pass which included free bus travel.  Be warned, the buses operate roughly every hour - and I mean roughly.  As a result. the buses are absolutely crammed when they reach the bus stops, so be prepared to stand with someone's armpit in your face for most of the duration - think you're on the London Underground during rush hour and you've got the next nearest experience!  Travel aside though, the pain is worth it.

Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta is situated in the Centre of Positano and looks rather ominous when you stand below it to take a photo.

If you like shopping, there are a wide number of shops dotted up and down the roads and steps.  Take plenty of money with you as you're bound to see something you like.

My friend and I headed down to the beach for some rest and refreshment.  There are a number of little places you can visit to grab a drink and a snack if you would like.  The beach itself seems very pleasant but can get rather crowded at peak times.

If you head off to the right, you can access a pathway which takes you to another beach around the corner.  It is well worth the trip as it is quieter and has its own fort to guard you while you sunbathe.

If you would like some hints and tips about Positano and the Amalfi Coast, try this website.  It has a range of locations and ideas, plus bus and ferry timetables.

http://www.positano.com/

Next time - the Villa Oplontis

Vesuvius and a detour to the winery

Hi there,

Apologies for the delay, Christmas and the New Year didn't really give me much time to devote to my travel blog.

This time, I'm looking back at my visit to Mount Vesuvius and trip to a local winery.  The winery was beautiful and had a great selection of wines available, many of which were tried and tested.  On the slopes of the volcano, it had access to extremely fertile soils.

But you're probably most keen to hear about Vesivius itself.  Standing at around 1200 metres, you get a wonderful view of the Bay Of Naples and the surrounding area.  If you have good eyes, you can make out where Pompeii was situated.

Originally called Mount Somma, it managed to blow two thirds of its top off before becoming the Vesuvius we know today.  The last time there was an eruption here was in 1949 and the villages closest to the volcano were evacuated as a precaution.  However, if Vesuvius erupted now and they tried to evacuate the area, it is still likely that there will be an awful lot of casualties when you see how densely populated Naples is now.

Make sure you're wrapped up warm if you go up to the volcano top, as it is blowy up there which makes it feel cooler.  You can watch the steam flowing back out of the cracks in the crater, where rainwater has worked its way in then been heated by the active magma further inside the volcano.

The picture above shows what Vesuvius looks like from Pompeii, but imagine that hill being two thirds the size again.  It would have been an imposing mountain, standing solitarily in the landscape.

The people of Pompeii and the surrounding area never realised the mountain was actually a volcano.  They had suffered a small number of earthquakes leading up to the eruption, but because nobody had ever seen Mount Somma erupt or made any recording as such, the population were completely unaware of the warning signs.  It must have been pretty frightening when it actually blew.

Next time - my bus trip to Positano.

Herculaneum

Hi everyone,

One of the places I visited on my trip to Italy last month was the roman town of Herculaneum.

The Roman town of Herculaneum

Herculaneum was also buried under a swage of volcanic ash and lava flows from Vesuvius back in 79AD.  The town was believed to have around 5000 inhabitants, but the place was more of a holiday town that a thriving city centre.  Ancient records show that many wealthy people from Rome and other major cities had second homes here.

A typical shop, which may have sold grain, olive oil or wine

Site of a villa with orchard style garden

The ruins have fared somewhat better than their counterparts in Pompeii, as the distribution of ash and lava differed.  Herculaneum was offered more protection from the prevailing winds around the bay of Naples and temperatures weren't as fierce.  As a result, you can still see carbonised wood in situ on some of the buildings.

Part of the main square

The carbonised wood

Near to the port, there was a gruesome discovery - lots of skeletons hidden in the fishing huts.  These have only been put on public viewing in the last few months and you can see why - there is evidence of people of all ages trying to escape the noxious gases and falling rocks.  They probably hid in these huts by the old port in the hope they would survive, but chances are they were poisoned, or it was too hot, or the incoming tidal wave crushed them into the back of the huts.  Whichever way you look at it, it wouldn't have been a pleasant ending.

The excavation team have managed to uncover approximately one fifth of the city, with the rest hidden under our modern world.  Itr is doubtful they will ever excavate further as a result, but they may be able to gain insights into the rest of the city by using modern archaological techniques.

Interior of the college

While the place is much smaller than Pompeii, it is still very impressive and worth a visit.

This shows how high the lava level was, with the new city thriving several metres above.

Still to come - a trip up Vesuvius and the Villa Oplontis.