June 1998 in south of Italy: Campania!

FIRST OF ALL: As ever, this year we have very few mony to spend on holiday, our budget is: 1.000.000 lire each, all included! We cannot choose all destinations that require a plane, so we decide to stay in Italy. Some friends suggest us the "Costiera Amalfitana" (Amalfi Coast) as there is an optimal and cheap hotel operating with a local travel agency. As we always had the dream to see Pompei, we decide to go there ... we reserve a room for 10 days!

TRAVEL DIARY:

At 9.00 o'clock, the alarm clock rings, it's monday, we drive to the highway A1, called "Autostrada del Sole" (of the Sun), towards Florence where we change direction, following the highway to Livorno. Here we will drive along the freeway via Appia to Rome.
In Cecina Mare, we stop ourselves to eat a a good "spaghetti ai frutti di mare" dish , continuing our trip in Maremma area, in the afternoon. Arrived in Talamone, we stop for a short pause and to walk a little wondering around in the small historical center.
In Orbetello, we follow the WWF arrow, that leads us on the hill they suggest to observe wild birds and flamingos .
By now we are a little tired, it is nearly 7 p.m., but it is hard to find a cheap hotel!!! We arrive to Montalto Marina, a city near the Montalto di Castro power plant: "the monster" dominates the coast, ruining a splendid landscape. We find a room , it is not really economic... but it is acceptable... the real delusion is the pizzeria which "stole" us 10.000 Lire for a terrible "floating on oil" pizza and 3.000 lire for a bottle of water drinked on paper glass!

On morning we decide to go to visit the Etruria Capital: Tarquinia (it was the capital of etruscan area). It's a great medioeval city, that conserve a long part of ancient protecting walls and it is spotted of towers; in Via delle Torri, we find at least 4 ones. At 9 o'clock, diggings of the "necropoli" opens, we drive up the Monterozzi hill where we find the biggest necropoli (approximately 6000 tombs) with the greater number of painted tombs existing.
GREAT!
While we leave, the first tourists are arriving ...

In Rome, along "Grande Raccordo Anulare" (a freeway which encircles Rome), we find the right free way to Naples: the Via Cassia. We arrive in Salerno after the 17.00 p.m. where we find a great traffic and we join the road to the Costiera Amalfitana that passes trough Vietri and arrives to Maiori after 15 kilometers of small curves.
At 18.00 o'clock we arrive in the hotel where we finally relax ourselves.

First day (Wednesday): we decide to spend the whole day in the beach swimming in the sea and sleeping in the sun!

 

Second day (thursday): We drive to PAESTUM. After the 15 kms of curves, from Salerno to Battipaglia we follow the freeway ... but we have to wait in line for nearly half an hour and the sun of 10 a.m. is terrible! Arrived to the diggings we have no parking problem and we even find a place to the shadow of trees.

The tickets costs 8.000 Lire but, unfortunately, the Tempio di Cerere and the Tempio di Neptune are covered by the scaffoldings as there are some restorations in course. You may visit the rests of the city, the roman Foro, the amphitheater and the huge Basilica. It worths the visit!
At 1 p.m., it's too hot and the sun is too hard, so we go to the near seaside to have a refreshing bath. Here you are in the "National Park of Cilento" and the whole area and the sea, are wonderful.
Towards 14.00 p.m. we find a restaurant that serves an optimal tourist menù for only 15.000 lire! Then we re-enter to the hotel, following the road along the sea and enjoying the view.

Third day (friday): the alarm clock rings early as the bus to Naples passes at 6.30 a.m. The bus drive up the mountain passing the "valico of Chiunzi" in order to go down the the valley of Sarno river trough Angri, Scafati and arriving in Pompei where the bus enter the free way to end its travel in front of Maschio Angioino.

   

It is 8.30 a.m. we enter a bar to have our breakfast and we walk around Castel Nuovo and Piazza Plebiscito to discover that it is soon to visit the Real Palace apartments. We go down the street along the sea to arrive to Castel dell'Ovo. Now, in the castel, there is a Disney exibition "the Ducks world", it may be a good way to visit the building! The opening timetable is fixed for 9.00 o'clock. We have to wait 20 minutes so we sit in a bar to have a drink as it is really hot and foggy ... in facts it is hard to be able to see the Vesuvio !!! This short stop comes to be very expensive (10.000 Liras for two orange juice glasses!), so we go back to the entrance of the casstel, but the ticket offices still has not opened as they have no tickets. They ask us to wait, but we prefer go back to Piazza Plebiscito in order to visit Palazzo Reale . Here you may admire several several rooms in Palazzo Reale Apartments. At 11.00 o'clock we walk to Galleria Umberto I (Umberto I Gallery) passing by the Teatro S.Carlo (S.Carlo Theatre).

We take a walk along Via Toledo! Here you are in a shopping area, but you also may observe the historical palaces, you may look left to see through the typical small steet ("vicoli") in the Spanish quarters or to look right in order to choose a road to join the historical center. In Piazza Dante, we take the first right road which leads us in Via dei Tribunali: Spaccanapoli. Here we walk slowly to be able to read each indications to find historical Churches and monuments following the scent of "walking pizzas" ... we do not resist and we taste one: great!!! (... and it costs only 1.500 Liras!!!).
When we arrive to S. Lorenzo Maggiore Church, we pay 4.000 lire to enter the diggings in order to admire this area that, in Roman age, was the public square and market. Absolutely a "must to see"!
Then, we walk along the stree to arrive to the crossing with Via Duomo, where you find the Dome. We ask to the boy at the entrance if we can enter because we are wearing shorts, but he kindly says we are ok as they are not so short!!!
We continue our walk along Via dei Librai, that is parallel to Via dei Tribunali. We find a pizzeria where we have our lunch and relax, before seeing the Churches of S.Domenico Maggiore and Santa Chiara. Unlukly, the well known Chiostro of this last Basilica, is closed and will re-open at 15,30. Now we are tired and it is exceptionally hot. It's better to go to the central station looking for a train to Salerno. We turn towards Corso Umberto I and walk looking at shops and buildings until the Central Station where there is a train leaving in ten minutes!
In Salerno, we join the place where we can find the buses of S.I.T.A. (S.I.T.A. manages bus for F.S. -italian train service-). We took the one that goes to the Amalfi Coast arriving in Maiori in time to wear our swimsuit and to refresh ourselves swimming in the sea!

Fourth day (saturday): today we have time to sleep and relax. At 10.30 a.m. we take the bus to Amalfi. First, we go to see the little square dominated by the Dome, with its splendid mosaics. Then you have not to loose a walk towards "vicoli" (small streets) and "scalinatelle" (staircases).
As today is saturday, there are too much tourists, most of them arrive in groups of 50 from the coaches parked along the seaside. So we leave to go to Atrani, which is a kilometer far from Amalfi but it is not full of tourists. We are nearly alone, we enjoy the piazzetta (little square) and vicoli (small streets) as in Amalfi, joining a good restaurant called: ' A Paranza. It is strongly recommended both for quality both for price! Ended our lunch, we go to the bus stop but we have forgot our bus timetable in our hotel room... so we wait for nearly an hour!

Fifth day (Sunday): being a festivity day, today it is hard to move. It's better to stay in the beach enjoying the sea. But we have an ugly surprise... during the night a long floating spot is arrived to the river, so it is impossible to have a bath. We lay in the beach till 1.00 o'clock but it's hard to stay close to the only man who is smoking the most stinking and longest cigar I've ever seen!!!
So we go to a restaurant where we spend hour time eating an appetizer and a good grilled fish. Then, in the afternoon, we go to the hotel where we are able to stay in our balcony, under the sun, watching on tv the last day of "Giro d'Italia" (a bicycling race) to see the great Marco Pantani to win!

Sixth day (monday):, we have been relaxing for two days, so we are ready to wake up so early to arrive to the bus stop just on time to take the one to Naples at 6.30 a.m. We arrive in POMPEI at 8.00 o'clock, too early as it opens at 9.00.We wait for the diggings opening hour having breakfast , then we go to the entrance and pay the entrance ticket: 12.000 Lire.

We enter from Porta Marina ariving directly to the Roman Foro (the ancient main square). On the right you find the Basilica that was the meeting area for legal, commercial and social questions: then you arrive in the remarcable Foro with it's part of two plans columns. Around the square, you find the alimentary market and an area where great part of ceramics and marble statues discovered in city are assembled. There are, on a corner, the building which was dedicated to the elections (the Comitium), to the center the Tempio di Giove (the cult center) and, finally, the long road that leads to Porta Ercolano and outside the town, along Via dei Sepolcri to the wonderful Villa of the Miracles.
We visit every single room fo this magnificent Villa and go to the pedestrian way that encircles Pompei along the ancient protecting walls, arriving to "Porta Vesuvio" where we re-enter the town. There, we walk along Via Vesuvio following the indications to arrive to the Palestra dei Gladiatori and the great Arena, which was "disqualified" for ten years from emperor Nerone, when a violent dispute between pompeiani and nocerini took place.

We go back to the center of Pompei, walking along every possible directions, every road, looking at every villa and entering the terme. We stop for a moment in the shadow of trees in il Foro Triangolare (Triangular), where you admire the rests of a Tempio and the mausoleo dedicated to the one who was considered, for a legend, the founder of the city. Here you find the Teatro Grande (largest theatre) with its wide area where the spectators used to walk before the show, and the Odeion, called Teatro Piccolo (small theatre), mainly used for musical auditions.
Now it's 14.00 o'clock, we have had a non-stop walk in the sun for 5 hours!!! We decide it's time to go home!

In the modern town we stop to eat a sandwich , we take te a train to Salerno where we will take the bus to Maiori.

Seventh day (tuesday): it would be great to stay all the day in the beach, but also today the see is a little dirty. We decide to go to Amalfi in order to continue to Positano, but there are too many turist groups waiting fo the the ferry and the bus, so we go to the piazzetta for a nice walk along some small streets suggested by a gentleman. We spend all the morning along "vicoli" (small streets) and "scalinatelle" (staircases) enjoing the beautiful view.
The we go to Atrani where we find a nice sea where we stay and swimm for an hour!!! Unfortunately, ' A Paranza is closed, so we wait for the first bus that takes us to in order to eat a good pizza!

Eighth day (Wednesday): today we will stay in Maiori. We are a little tired to have so many bus travel and we want to visit Maiori!
Maiori has the longest beach in all the Amalfi Coast: more than one kilometre !!! You have to see Chiesa di S.Maria a Mare that is on the hill, and the ancient and beautiful building: Palazzo Mezzacapo, that is known as it is the Town Hall but also for its nice and very particular garden!!!

Ninth day (thursday): the sea is still dirty, so we go to Minori that is not far and we may arrive by foot! It has a nice small beach separated from the town by a public garden , a sort of fresh oasis where we feel good by sitting to read a paper or a book.
The historical center is small but it is pleasant to walk along the strees, arriving to the square or gardens. You will arrive to a remarkable archaeological area: la Villa Marittima Romana (I°sec. a. C.) a 2.500 squared meters villa, with splendid mosaics that represent hunting scenes. At the entrance of the villa you find a small local museum: the Museo dell'Antiquarium and you have no ticket to pay: it is all free.

Tenth day (friday): We have our breakfast before start driving to Salerno in order to join the A1 highway passing Naples, Caserta and Rome, to arrive to Orte where we follow the beautiful freeway E45 to Cesena. We stop for lunch in Umbria and than we go on driving to Bologna.