The Grand Tour - Day 17

Monday 15 June

Beata Solitudo entrance

View from campsite

This morning we broke camp and said goodbye to Paolo at the ironically named Campeggio Beata Solitudo and to the Amalfi Coast.

Ferry to Messina

We had about 8 hours of solid driving through temperatures up to 35 degrees, however my mounting excitement at going to Sicily overcame the dehydration and tiredness and I was still annoyingly bouncy when we arrived at Stazzo about 5.45pm.

Sea front at Stazzo

Stazzo harbour

Our appartment is lovely although there is no lift, so there are a lot of stairs between us and the basement car park.  The views are absolutely worth it though: from one terrace you can see Etna (smoking slightly when we arrived) and from the other you can see some sea which is only 2-300 metres away.

Stazzo has black pumice rock instead of a beach and platforms have been built over this so that you can swim without cutting your feet open getting to the water.

There's a small harbour and a few bars and shops and restaurants so a great little village to holiday in: I wish we were staying longer here.

We had a beer in the Blue Bar by the harbour then returned to the apartment for an tea and an early night since we were pretty hot and tired.

Etna at suppertime

The Grand Tour - Day 19 & 20

Yesterday (17 June) we were pretty tired from two days of driving in high heat so stayed in Stazzo and read our books.  In the afternoon an impressive thunderstorm rolled in from Etna and there was torrential rain so we were glad not to have been caught out in that.

Today I was keen to get to Catania while the fish market was still trading.  This was quite a short drive and took us along the coast past the volcanic rocks sticking out of the sea which the Cyclops was supposed to have thrown at Odysseus to stop him escaping. Sadly, my car received its first scrape today: I blame Polythemus. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Everything I had read warned not to park or drive in Catania, so we chose to park outside the centre and walk a bit further in.  This did mean we saw a lot more of the city than we otherwise would have done and there were convenient benches all over the place so I could rest as it was too far for my back to hold out otherwise.  

We went past some quite grand architecture on our way in, but also saw evidence of people sleeping rough or in abandoned buildings. 

Fountain of Persephone & Hades, Catania

Beautiful building in Catania

Homeless shelter in Catania

Catania was once a very grand city and still has many beautiful baroque buildings.  Many of these are in a bad state of repair now, and there are an obvious number of homeless people, presumably refugees.

Fish market, Catania

Apparently Rick Stein said that Catania's fish market is the best in the world.  It is stuffed into a small square and surrounding alleys and then merges into a more general sort of market with meat, vegetables, fruit, etc.

There were tiny fish-fry, enormous sword fish and tuna and everything in between: all freshly caught and at very reasonable prices.  While it was busy, it was not claustrophobically so and it was obviously local people and not tourists who made up the crowd.

Drinks stall, Catania market

We stopped for a seltz at a little store right in the middle of the market - the chap gave me permission to take this photo but then hid to the side so you cannot see him.

A selz is a mixture of fruit syrup (we had mandarin), sparkling water and fresh lemon juice squeezed in front of you.  This was ace and also gave us a chance to sit and people watch for a little while.

Prices for all the meat and veg etc seemed really cheap compared to either home or France but we weren't planning on cooking today so did not buy anything.

Cathedral, Catania (to right)

Now, where is that blasted duomo?

Inside the cathedral, Catania

After only a couple of wrong turns, we found the main square and the magnificent cathedral. This is dedicated to Saint Agata who turned down a man and had horrible things done to her as a consequence.  

On the right-hand aisle there was the wonderful smell of frankincense coming from a private side-room and the whole building felt very tranquil and holy.

Fontana dell'Elefante, Catania

In the square outside the duomo, there is a Roman statue of an elephant made from black volcanic rock.  The obelisk on its back is ancient Egyptian and is supposed to have special powers to keep Mount Etna calm.

An accordion player came and played fairly persistently at us as we sat on the steps by the elephant.  In the end I told him his music was annoying and I really didn't like it.  He went away.

Via Crociferi, Catania

We next walked up the lovely Via Crociferi which is rammed full of baroque buildings, mostly crumbling into senility.

At this point my mission was to find lunch - I had spent time checking out restaurants on Trip Advisor and knew where I wanted to eat.

Mussels & clams

We got a table outside at Paranza which is renowned for its fresh seafood.  I started with mussels and clams cooked in garlic, olive oil and black pepper with a little parsley. The dish was easily enough for mains or for a starter for two, but I did my best to do it justice.  If I had mopped up all the juices with the bread provided, I would have been completely stuffed so regrettably left some in the dish.  

Mount Carbonara

Frogge started with parmegiana (baked aubergine and tomato with cheese sauce) then moved onto spaghetti carbonara.  It was a bit scrambled-eggish, but he said it was good and managed to eat a goodly amount.

We had a carafe of the local white wine to wash the meal down and this was very tasty and refreshing.

Partway through eating, the heavens opened but fortunately the owner saved us from being dripped on by placing Jack Daniels tins in strategic places under the awning.

Catch of the day (piranha?)

For my main course I meant to choose swordfish but actually got catch of the day.  My own fault for having poor Italian.  I am not sure what fish this was - it was very fresh and had teeth but Frogge tells me it was neither proto-shark nor piranha.  For pudding I had sweet, ripe strawberries topped with a lemon sorbet and Frogge had a tiny, evil coffee which seemed to do him the power of good.

The Grand Tour - Day 12 (Up Pompeii)

View from Naples end of tunnel to Agerola - Bay of Naples to left

This morning we trotted out, early as you like, towards Pompeii which should only be 40 minutes from here.  I stopped on the way to take a panoramic view since we are camping very high up.  After about 10 seconds of standing on a wall in the layby to do so, I suddenly appreciated the vertical drop below me and then took the photograph with one hand only, the other grasping a thin and rusted pole.

View over Pompeii, Vesuvius behind

Well, goodness me, I am so very glad we did not stay at Campeggio Spartacus.  One might think these historic ruins are set in the middle of nowhere, but in fact, since they attract about 2 million tourists per year, they are in a filthy, shabby area where you have to pay 3 Euros per hour to park and the air is thick with fumes and noise.  It took about an hour and a half to get here from our campsite which is around 18 miles away and today was about 30 deg C.  Any romanticism I may have held has died.  At least now I am completely inured to the awful driving which seems to be inherent.  I thought Tuscany was bad compared to England, but now that is a civilised memory.

View from Ampitheatre region

So, Pompeii is a large Roman settlement above the bay of Naples which was destroyed during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.  Most of the 25k inhabitants had evacuated, but around 2000 remained and were killed by poisonous gases and ashes.  

Casts of the voids left by bodies were taken but have been removed from site. The site is vast but full of guided tours and has little character.  Most finds have been removed and quite a bit of what you see has been reconstructed rather than being original.  You will gather I was quite disappointed but it was still worth a visit.

Dancing fawn - bronze statue

 Probably my favourite thing in Pompeii was the bronze statue of the dancing fawn. This was in the entrance hall to a particularly large and lavish home.

Beware of the dog mosaic

Moulded plasterwork

There were quite a few extremely explicit frescoes: this is maybe the tamest!

Anyhow, after several hours at Pompeii, we headed back to the campsite where it promptly started to thunder and rain, although not as fiercely as the previous two evenings.

The Grand Tour - Day 13 (Herculaneum)

Herculaneum from above, the modern town and then volcano Vesuvius in background

Today we went to the amazing site of Herculaneum near Naples, a town which was about 500 years old when it was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.  Ironically the town worshipped Hercules who was believed to have created Vesuvius.  The volcanic ash which destroyed and buried Pompeii (see day 12) only gained a few centimetres thickness on this lavish town and perhaps the inhabitants thought themselves safe. However, the second phase of the eruption reached the town around 1am at about 100 mph and today you can see the skeletons of those gathered in the boat houses on the shore-line, presumably awaiting rescue - loads more were found on the beach. Bone fractures show they will have died instantly in the high temperatures.

Mural from public baths, Herculaneum - extremely fine tiles

 The flows from the volcano which followed this completely buried the town to a depth of around 7m and yet an immense amount of material was left un-damaged.

  

For instance, there is a surprising amount of wood intact - in this picture the blackened wood is original from 2000 years ago and shows the racking for a wine shop with the amphorae for storing wine underneath.

We also saw remains of wooden staircases - this town was at least three stories high - with poorer people living above their shops and richer people having ground floor dwellings which were cooler, and perhaps a courtyard with a paddling pool.

This town was much more compact than Pompeii and much more of the detail remains so if you were in the area and had to choose, I would recommend Herculaneum over Pompeii any day.  The frescoes here were on the whole very finely painted and the fashion was for trompe-l'oiels to trick you into thinking that the room was bigger or that there were other stories or windows etc.  Also, we saw no pornographic paintings here, so perhaps the town was rather more classy as a whole.

The god Vulcan carved in marble

I am only including a small selection of the photographs Frogge took (I was completely ruined -out by this time so allowed him to have control of the camera) as if you are interested you can always Google.  There was some splendid plasterwork, although perhaps less of this than in Pompeii and several fine carvings such as the one to the right here.

For those of you who know my history with cameras, please remember to be impressed by the fact that I have been in charge of this one for the whole holiday and have not yet lost it.

Also, Frogge managed to get a shot of the Moorish gecko - only the third time we have seen one and the only time so far one would sit still.  It obviously thought itself so well camouflaged that we could not see it.






The journey to Herculaneum from the campsite was about 25 miles and took about an hour and a half to two hours.  On the map one might think that the villages Torre del Greco and Torre d'Annunziata are charming centres, but the reality is that you are already within the awful smog which covers Naples and the surrounding area and this is one shabby, sprawling suburban mass full of the worst drivers I have ever (yet) encountered.  I am glad I drove there this way because I now have the experience, but we paid to come back on the Autostrada...

The Grand Tour - Day 14

Due to real problems getting internet access, I am going to start at this point and work backwards.  I am currently (day 15) sitting in a shady area close to reception at the Campsite Beata Solitudo in the mountains above the Amalfi Coast, trying to get a strong enough signal to be able to actually upload something.

Day 14 (Friday 12 June)

Today we took a day out to relax and re-hydrate as I was worried I might have broken lovely husband. This holiday-making malarky is hard work!  

Our campsite is below this construction site which is where General Avitabile's palace once stood.  This was demolished in 1937 since it had become derelict in the years after his death. Local rumour has it that he was poisoned by his 16 year old niece whom he had married after returning from the wars a rich hero in his 50s.  Dirty old sod!

View from village to Capri in distance

Campanula fragilis (?)

After getting our washing done and hung out on a roof area, we had a wander into the village and visited the gelateria where I had a very refreshing duo of lemon and strawberry sorbet and Frogge had a duo of coffee and tiramisu ice cream. Judging from the happy noises, his was pretty good :-)

Then we strolled along the cliff-top path taking in the dizzying drop beneath us - we are over 2000 feet up here.  There are lots of pretty flowers and butterflies and lizards, and temperatures up here are much lower than down below: a refreshingly cool 24 degrees this afternoon.

The Grand Tour - Day 4

Neuschwanstein Castle

Today, after another splendid breakfast, we travelled from Memmingen in Germany to Innsbruck in Austria, stopping by Neuschwanstein Castle which was in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film.

This was not too long a journey and went through spectacular scenery in the Alps so was altogether enjoyable. The temperature peaked at 26 deg. C and we reached our hotel in Innsbruck old town a little before 2pm. 

View from bedroom window

St Niklaus parish church

We strolled round the St Niklaus quarter across the river first, enjoying the old traders' buildings painted different colours and, more importantly, finding a good cold beer.

Innsbruck is pretty much surrounded by Alps and the river Inn is swollen with melt-water so was fast-flowing and a strange milky-green colour. We crossed back to the main town via a footbridge going through the beautiful imperial gardens.

Imperial Gardens

Congress, cathedral behind

Goldenes Dachl (15th Cent)

There are lots of very grand and beautiful buildings in this part of Innsbruck, and lots and lots of tourists. 

We went into the cathedral and found the number of sight-seers very nearly as overwhelming as the OTT baroque styling.  We didn't take pictures here as you had to pay to do so and in any case you can always check out Google images if you are interested.

 
After a while we found a beer garden and had a long sit and a very pleasurable meal at Stiftskeller. Much invigorated with good food and beer, we wandered back to the hotel and after a short rest we checked out the spa facilities.

I am pretty sure that when I booked, there was no mention of the main 'Wellness Area' being nude….

Anyhow, we did have a swim and a bit of a sauna and lounged on the loungers while reading and it was all very nice.

Tomorrow we have a long journey down to Tuscany: I can't wait!