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Sorrento
Diary.
Thurs
19th July
By this stage we were getting a little tired of Rome & wanted
to venture further around Italy. Whilst we had seen a lot, we still
missed a lot out. Rome is a fantastic city full & rich in history.
Definitely a city to see.
Our next stop was the coastal town of Sorrento. This had to be one
of the most beautiful places we went to.
The campsite was situated on the very edge of the Mediterranean
& we spent little time getting down to it and myself, swimming
for the first time in it’s salty waters. It was also only the
2nd time that I had been swimming since leaving Manly 13 months
previously, so I was doublely happy as I jumped off that rock into
it’s watery depths.
During our bus trip to Sorrento we met some really great blokes
– oh did I mention that they were Kiwi’s? Brady, Hummer,
Baz and their lovely friend – albeit an Aussie – GI aka
Jane. Friendships were instantly struck up and nicknames were offered
for us. My, I became Hanks as I supposedly looked like Tom Hanks
in the movie Castaway with my beard, and Marie, well Marie was honoured
with the very kiwi-ana Muzza. What more can be said.
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Fri 20th July
We jumped on a train to head north for _ hour where we visited the
lost city of Pompei. I say lost because thousands of years ago it
was buried under 2 metres of ash from the eruption of the nearby
Mount Versuvius.
Many lives were lost here and some are still on show as mummified
corpses forever in their dying positions. It’s very strange
seeing the remains of human beings who are over 1,500 years old
and they’ve still got their own teeth!
We tried to get a guide for a 2-hour tour of the city, however this
is where things turned a little pear shaped. After finally sourcing
an English-speaking guide we were told it was 20,000 Italian Lira
per person with a minimum of 10 people. However, we found out shortly
later that he was quoting 16,000 per person for a 2 person private
tour? How does that add up? We decided to get a guidebook and took
our own tour.
I have to admit to getting a little disinterested quite quickly
in Pompei. Sure it was fascinating to see the remains of this lost
city but the appeal shortly wore off. We were told by our bus guide
to see the brothel with it’s concrete beds, so we did, saw
some of the "big stuff", namely the amphitheatres and
small colosseum and then ventured back to the camp site.
That night was spent socialising with fellow travellers over a few
quiet lemonades. Yeah right!
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Sat
21st July
Game day. Yes indeed, c’mon the All Blacks, oops sorry that’s
right, I actually decided to forgo watching the game to travel to
the Isle of Capri. No, I was not going insane & I haven’t
lost my religious beliefs thank you, I just didn’t want to
miss seeing the island.
Our boat from the campsite was cancelled due to the size of the
swell so we caught a ferry from in the city port & were soon
stood on the Isle of Capri (where I saw her…dum de dum de do)
A few hours were killed laying in the sun on the pebble beach &
swimming in the warm water. After a bite to eat we took the cable
care (similar to Wellington’s except this one worked) to the
main city at the top of the hill. Strolling around the streets soon
indicated the clientele of the island. If I said the shops were
all Gucci, Prada, Armarni etc you probably wouldn’t believe
me, but honestly that’s what it was. I was certainly surprised.
The island was beautiful and reinforced my new love for Italy. After
the _ hour trip back to the mainland we set out to see if we could
find out the result of the game. Imagine my delight when walking
into the pub I find the game only 10 minutes old – with LIVE
coverage. The landlord had got the times mixed up. What a way to
top the day. 12 – 3 to the All Blacks over South Africa. Does
life get any better than this!
That night was again spent socialising with our new friends &
I learnt some new survival tricks. Like how to make a wineglass
out of a water bottle using only a Swiss army knife. Had I not travelled
I may not have acquired this new skill.
We agreed that night to leave for Athens the following morning at
9am, little aware of the mammoth trip to follow. Da da darrrrrrrrrrr.
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Sun 22nd July - En route to Athens
This was a journey that still shocks me now. We left the campsite
in Sorrento bound for Athens, Greece at 9am. Our first step was
to take a train from Sorrento to Naples (duration 1 hour). There
we met up with a few others from our campsite to travel to Brindisi
on the other side of Italy (duration 6 hours).
This train trip was the beginning of a game of 500 (cards) which
would last us until nearly arriving in Greece. In between playing
cards we amused ourselves with brainteasers and ‘guess the
sportsman’ (at which point the girls seemed to lose a little
interest. Funny that hey).
After arriving in Brindisi we had to exchange a travel voucher for
a ferry pass. Unfortunately the only company who weren’t open
was Blue Star Ferries – our company. Not wanting to stay the
night we all boarded another ferry. As we started to leave port
at 8pm another piece of information was found out. Instead of taking
13 hours to reach Patras, this ferry was going to take around 18
hours and our tickets only gave us access to the decks – outside.
The following day dawned with blue sky and hot temperatures so we
all didn’t feel that bad & the 500-card game resumed after
a set of deck tennis between Hummer and myself. Of course it was
a makeshift court and the mini football had a few close calls at
jumping ship.
We arrived finally in Patras and managed to get tickets on a bus
to Athens that evening, so sensing the end of the journey we trudged
ever onwards. Now I thought drivers in France were terrible until
I got to Italy. Then when I got to Greece I realised that they were
fantastic. Our double decker bus was overtaking trucks going around
blind corners? What’s with that!
We managed to finally arrive in Athens at around 9:30pm and were
soon on our way to a cheap hotel in Ormnina. We worked out it was
in the red light district and decided that for one night it would
do. Where is the closest beer? We managed to find one and soon everyone
was able to relax with the help of a few Mr Heineken’s.
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