As we said yesterday we need an early start as we want to have a full day on the Isle of Capri so the alarm went off at 0730, showered and down to breakfast before 0830 and then things started to slow up. We seemed to get bogged down in the Hotel organising some laundry and when we did get away Ezmerelda (Tom Tom) had a few funny moments and we ended half way up a mountain and after asking a local we had to turn around and find another way, the motorway!!! At the end of the motorway we
A view from the Coastal Road.
followed the coast road, twisting and turning, beautiful scenery but cold, cloudy and windy with white horses on the sea: Through a 5 KM tunnel eventually arriving in Sorrento. An interesting, twisty narrow road down to the harbour, parked in an empty car park and rushing as Christine had spotted a ferry waiting at the quayside. Whilst Christine went
Looking back Accross Sorrento Harbour
to “you know where”, I went to buy 2 return tickets only to be told all ferrys cancelled today due to bad weather and rough seas, what???? in the Mediterranean, whats going on?????? Oh dear what a waste so drove back into the town, parked again, had a coffee then walked around the town.
The Workers Club in Sorrento
An Original Timber Lintel burnt but survived for 2000 years!
Sorrento was a pretty town with quaint narrow
Looking up from Sorrento Harbour
streets and nooks and crannies with surprising sights though the mains street was littered with confetti, must have been a wedding yesterday.
A Street in Sorrento
OK: so we decided to visit Herculaneum, in Ercolano as I needed to understand the difference and perhaps understand why I wasn’t so keen on Pompei.
The Plan of Herculaneum
After another 40 KM drive, retracing our steps we arrived at the ancient
An overview of Herculaneum
city of Herculaneum, parked up and went in. The first and most striking thing one sees is how small it is compared to Pompei however, they have only uncovered 25% of the site. Most of the outstanding 75% is under he modern town so apart from digging tunnels, there is not much more than can be
Christine Working the Local Cafe!
The history of this ancient city has Greek origins and it was not ’till 89 BC that it became Roman after the enevatable defeat in a battle.
Just like Pompei, Herculaneum was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and being closer to the mountain was buried up to 50 – 60 Ft. Unlike Pompei excavations started in the early 1700 , but they have been spasmodic, but to me as a casual observer being smaller and compact makes it more
A Local City Dignatry
attractive to visit. Yesterday I couldn’t put my finger on why I was disappointed, I now know why; it was the sheer size and spread of the interesting things I went to see. To do it properly one would need a week, that way you could cover the whole site systematically. Still I did enjoy Herculaneum, though Christine was very disappointed. On her last visit there were many artifacts, furnished areas depicting
An Original Timber Lintel burnt but survived for 2000 years!
how things were, and a number of preserved bodies; they have all gone to Naples Archaeological Museaum, this was also true of the items from Pompei. If we had sufficient time we would have to visit that Museum, but that’s for the future.
Some of the Preserved Decorations
We were back in the car by mid afternoon and wanting some lunch: could we find anywhere? No we couldn’t, we drove through Ercolano, Torre del Greco and Leopardi, nothing except pot holed, narrow, cobblestone roads shaking the fillings out of our teeth, not to mention knocking the car’s suspension to pieces. No wonder my
Main Street
floor pan fell out yesterday, the local roads are deplorable, they make the UK ones look perfect!!! Add to the bad roads Crazy drivers and sucidal scooter riders and you have a disaster waiting to happen, I don’t think I will too unhappy to drive elsewhere!
The Original Bakers Oven
We eventually ended at a restaurant we were aware of outside the entrance to the Pompei site, oh well, we were too hungry to be proud
Typical Street Corner
so enjoyed a pasta and salad dishes washed down with local “Vino Russo”. This restaurant is in a one way, narrow street and 2 minutes after leaving Christine said she had left her bag behind; oh dear, how do we get back!! Tom Tom got us back to the main town, we then had to find our way back to the entrance. About 30 minutes later we arrived, Christine jumped out and 5 minutes later, she came back starting to say it was not there and she would have to cancel all her cards when suddenly she found it, in the front foot well just where she puts her feet, aaaaaggggg!!!!! Still it was an enjoyable meal.
Back to the hotel and tomorrow we will ring ahead to find out if the ferrys are running, if so we will head off to Sorrento, and sail over to the Isle of Capri, if not, who knows!!!!