Sunday, May 27, 2007

Positano, Italy Sunday 27 May

Karen and I spent a very long day visiting one of the villages of Pompeii.

Pompeii
Volcano Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, and when the event was later recorded, it was thought the world had come to an end. The ruined city is now dug out from layers of dried lava that once swept through it. It was rediscovered by Pompeians / those who escaped / returned to their city when the ashes had cooled and removed some of the most precious treasures from the resort. But they left plenty behind to be uncovered at a later date and carted off to museums throughout Europe and America.

After a long medieval sleep, Pompeii was again brought o life in the late 16th century, quite by accident. However it was in the mid18th century that large scale excavations were launched.

We decided to visit a nearby village in Eculano, called Herculaneum, as we were told by others that Pompeii is now completely overrun by continuous tourists and most of the artifacts have now been moved to nearby Naples museum. It took a 6 hour round trip to the sight and home and although fascinating, it wasn't one of my favourite places to visit. But each to their own as some find it very interesting.

Off the bus back in Positano after another hair raising bus trip along the cliffs, and our daily gelato was quickly inhaled on the way back to the hostel.

Tonight will be dinner in a restaurant to farewell my new travel friends, then im taking the 4 hour trip back to Rome tomorrow. There I will meet another friend I met along the way for dinner and revisit some sights I visited a few years ago. I will inhale the last of my Italian experience before my 2 day trip back to Aus that starts Tuesday morning.

Positano, Italy Saturday 26 May

My movements have not been planned since in Italy, and ive decided to spend my last days in Positano. Ive met some great girls here who also love eating and relaxing, so id rather be spending time with like minded people in the sun before heading home to what sounds like may be chilly weather.

Our trio turned four today, when we adopted another solo traveller, an American named Jennifer who wasn't yet feeling the love of Positano after her first couple of hours of arriving. We took her downtown for breakfast in the patisserie cafe and by the time it was over, she was sold. Ready with beach wear and plenty of sunscreen for the day, we found our little motor sailboat and were taken to a private beach for the day where we rented sun lounges, swam and relaxed all day.

There was an elevated restaurant called Da Adolfo / www.daadolfo.com / on the beach with pebbles as flooring and a delicious menu all in Italian. We figured out what most of it meant between the four of us. I ate a fresh peice of swordfish simply grilled and drizzled in olive oil and balsamic, that was caught that morning. We drank litres of locale vino blanco out of ceramic jugs and glass cups, took some down to the beach and had a smashing afternoon of bliss.

By around 6pm we headed back on the little boat with the red fish on the mast, and once we reached shore after 15 minutes, it was straight to the patisserie again for the hugest cream and chocolate profiteroles. We merrily took the bus back up the giant hill to our hostel and later walked back down to eat dinner, then up again to walk some of it off.

We ate our daily gelato, ready for bed!