Naples
(Solfatara Volcano - Pozzuoli). Rome, Oste.
11th - 18th
July.
Disembarking
took a little longer than expected, three ferries docked at the same time and
customs seemed particularly thorough but thankfully not with us and waved us
through.
The big decision was where to stay, there were three possible sites not too far from
Naples, one north at a Volcano (yeah righ!) and two south in Pompei. We choose based purely on the reviews and the Volcano site came out better, I have to say
we were bloody amazed at this location, it really was in the volcano and it
also had a lovely pool which the website didn't mention, BONUS!!
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| Pool in the crater. |
We had some
lovely pasta in the campsite cafe, this was a treat it really does taste better
in Italy, followed by a helping of Gelato, yum yum! Then to test the pool, pool rules
amaze me, its getting more and more common to not be allowed to have fun, no
diving, no balls, no lilos and of course the compulsory shower and foot bath
before entering, all very amusing. Despite all of that the pool was lovely, it's quiet and very enjoyable, the boys used their
dive sticks for the whole time, they did try jumping in (technically not the
same as diving) but this also was also not allowed - boring!!!
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| Smelly Sauna. |
Tea time
was a big helping of Rice Krispies which went down very well (can't get them in
BG) and our evening strole took us to the crater, the volcano was kind of like
our garden, we could smell the sulphur from the volcano pretty much all day. Investigating
the site was quite a treat, we had a good look around at the bubbling mud pit, the
sunshine coloured fumaroles and the natural sauna.
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| Fumarole. |
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| Genius!! |
Ryan and I quite liked the
smell and stood breathing in the sulphuric steam as if it was freshly baked
bread but Neil and poor Matty were not such fans and Matty came up with a
solution of his own...
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| Cafe and Crater. |
I love Mother
Earth and really was in my element here surrounded with such power and beauty.
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| Solfatara Volcano . |
Lovely day finished off with a cool one :)
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| The cool one! |
The caravan
has seen its fair share of illness (namely
vomiting) every time it's been out and this trip was no exception. Picture
this! Ryan was sick in his bed, the bottom bunk, we didn't realise but he had
been puking for some time while sleeping and his bed and beloved Elephant
Jennie was covered, we got him out and set him up with a bowl on our bed while
we cleaned up. Neil was cleaning Ryans bed then Matty started and didn't only
get it all over his bed but over the side (top bunk) and all over Neil too,
Matty was too poorly to be laughing just now but Ryan and I were tittering a
little, it also went in the bag of their clothes at the side of the bed. With
the clean up complete a couple of hours pass and the pukking seemed to be over
(fingers crossed) they were sleeping, Neil made himself as comfortable as
possible on the remade bottom bunk and I squeezed in between them on our bed
hoping for the best, overall not a good night for any of us. An early get up
for me with a body and head that felt like if had been batted around a baseball
diamond, it was time for the second stage of the clean up: washing what had
been thrown out in the dark which was now covered with a moving sea of ants!!
The camp thankfully was very well equipped so I took Jennie and the bedding to
the car wash area that had a hose and a grid on the road (no picking sick from
the plug hole this time), it was not long before everything was washed off and
in the washing machine. Amazingly the boys were actually fine in the morning.
In our minds there were only really two things that could have caused this,
either the Sulphur from the Volcano (doubtful) or the UHT milk that had been in
the fridge that was turned off for roughly 24 hours while on the ferry, lets just
say lesson learned and from that day the fridge would be emptied if turned off
for more than an hour or so...
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| Expensive but good Calazone. |
Pompei was
to be our day out at this stop, less than an hour and we were there. It was
very busy and not well signed for parking, we chose a car park that offered
free parking if we had lunch there so this is what we did, however the catch
was that the order had to be over 40 Euro, for four of us this was easy so no
problem, the catch was the 15% service charge that was clear
on the bill but not so clear anywhere else in the restaurant, this meant the meal was the most expensive so far at almost 70 Euro AND I didn't actually order I was sharing Ryans. Another lesson learned, Pompei was a typical over priced tourist trap and the two campsites that we ruled out were smack bang in the middle, good move!!
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| Pompei |
The ancient city was really quite remarkable, endless streets and columns and some extremely well preserved details. It was very very hot and there were lots of very sun burned people wondering the dusty unshaded streets, they reminded me a little of Raspberry Ripple ice cream...
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| Petrified... |
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| Mt. Vesuvius looming. |
Hard to believe so many lives were lost here.
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| Courtyard. |
Our visit overall was half a day, enough to be honest in that heat and the last area we wanted to look at was the amphitheater which was closed for an Elton John concert that evening - shame!
We didn't
get to see Naples, mainly because there is only so much sightseeing a 6 and 9
year old can take and Pompei was enough for them understandably which I now
regret slightly especially as I kept getting words from Dean Martin song pop
into my head. I shall return :)
The camp site
was outside the small town of Pozzuli which has a very well preserved amphitheater,
not that we had chance to see it close up but the walls as you drive by were
pretty spectacular, reportedly this site is as impressive as the Coliseum only
cheaper and quieter but we couldn't cram it in.
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| A little reading before moving on. |
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| Solfatara Campsite and Volcano, thank you!! |
Rome next,
campsite not far from the city by the coast but there were quite a few notices
up about not leaving valuables unattended and there were 'ladies waiting for
the bus' or 'selling oranges' (prostitutes to most of us but I don't want to
explain that to the boys just yet) just along from the site entrance and for the first time we felt a little vulnerable despite the deep
wooded and fenced perimeter looking pretty secure.
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| A bit of train graffiti. |
The
transport tickets for Neil and I were 7.50 euro each for 24 hours of travel on
any form of public transport which we felt was a total bargain plus the kids
were free. The trains, buses and Metro were so frequent that we hardly waited
for anything. The
brightly graffitied trains added a joyful splash of colour and life to otherwise drab
and boring platforms, sure beats looking at old, dirty, rusty, dented carriages.
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| The place thats on everything! |
First stop was the Coliseum and Mattys face lit up when he saw it
and shouted 'wow Mommy I know this place, its on everything!!' The queue was
huge and a tour guide said that we will be waiting longer to get in than we
would once inside looking around so we decided to move on to Vatican City by
bus, it was such an enjoyable journey, around every corner there was something else jaw dropping to see. Vatican City was beautiful but the guards were in fancy dress, surely!!
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| Guards in fancy dress?! |
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| Rome... |
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| Rome... |
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| And more Rome. |
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| Rome... |
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| Roman street artists. |
For tea
we found a busy little back street restaurant and had more divine Pizza and
Pasta, the final stop was the beautiful Trevi Fountain and some of the most
delightful Gelato, it was late by now but bish, bash, bosh, the frequency of
the public transport meant that we were in bed in no time at all.
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| Fountana di Trevi. |
All in all
Rome was a treat, a great city, the boys were happy hopping on and off the
buses and the metro and we were happy as this was dirt cheap, but something
more than that, it felt good, it was relaxed, calm and peaceful, maybe even graceful...
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| Leah in action. |
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Good work Leah
|
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| More graffiti along the almost black sandy beach. |
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| Our vessel to Barcelona. |
The ferry
was slightly larger and newer to say the least than what we had previously
experienced which meant our expectations were higher and we were not
disappointed, well not too disappointed until we excitedly opened the curtains of our
second outside cabin that this time had a view of the lifeboats - reassuring
but not what I had been dreaming of. Any way. Good beds, check! Good bathroom,
check! Aircon, yes! Good nights sleep, hopefully!!
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| Much nicer cabin. |
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| The disappointing view. |
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| Deck pool. |
In the dark
we found the pool. Yay!!! The pool was empty, uhhh!!! Gutting for the boys, but
little did we know (I shall add that I jokingly suggested this) they filled it
with sea water overnight and in the morning it was open and ready for action. Pool
time is great for them to gain confidence in the water and Ryan managed to swim
a lenght unaided in a pool in the middle of the sea - memorable place! And Matty
is now what I would say, a swimmer!
NOTE: on an overnight crossing with a sun deck
the people who do not pay for cabins sleep the whole day on the sun beds around
the pool, you know who they are they snore, dribble and many are fully clothed.
It was a
great experience overall but we were not very prepared (I could say we very
rarely are) for a long day that passed slowly and should have added to the
overnight bag at least a pack of playing cards, in our dreamy little world of idyllic
sea crossings we thought we would be wondering around on the deck, enjoying the
sea air, Dolphin spotting, romantic Titanic front of boat scene re enacting but
it was way too windy for all of that and even if it wasn't those activities
would hardly put a dent the 10 hours we till had to kill once we'd had breakfast.
Time to
disembark and meet BARCELONA!!!!!
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