Well it’s been a while since I last posted – sorry about that. Things have been a bit hectic with trips to Birmingham on a regular basis taking our youngest son to and from Uni. Thankfully he has now graduated but we don’t get away from visiting Birmingham as he now has a job there and moved down there in April.
So back in 2015 Sheila and I achieved a lifelong ambition and visited both Pompeii and Herculaneum – all thanks to an Uncle of mine dying intestate and my inheriting a few thousand pounds. This paid for the trip to Sorrento, a bit of home decorating and left enough over to allow me to upgrade my scope to the HR80ED from Opticron.
The Sorrento trip was a short city break taken during Late May and early June 2015 – we stayed in the Hotel La Badia on the hill above Sorrento. The views across the bay to Naples and Mt Vesuvius were fantastic.
This was taken in the gardens of the Hotel La Badia.
On the Sunday we made the short boat journey to Capri, thankfully the first ferry over as by late morning the harbour area was like a refugee camp. There were hundreds of tourists and several cruise ships were disgorging more, ( the bane of the Bay of Naples – cruise ships come along and dump several hundred passengers thereby swamping an area) . Capri is geared up to taking your money as quickly and as efficiently as possible, prices are well above those in Sorrento – even for an espresso. In the afternoon when we were waiting for the ferry back it was horrendous in the harbour area, crowds of people milling around. The queue for the funicular was humongous. One of those places I’m glad I’ve been but I don’t want to go back, except for just one view Belvedere Cannone – it’s not easily found and you have to climb a lot of steps but the view is to die for. My two snaps do not give it justice. Sadly I thought I’d got the panorama spot on – I hadn’t.
Sorrento is a beautiful place but there isn’t really a huge beach there, most of the resort is well above above sea level and that is reached within 6 feet of high water mark.
Water level to the Cathedral Gardens level approx 70 foot
You can descend from the Cathedral garden to the beach via a long ramp that twists it’s way downwards, very pleasant when you are descending but oh boy it gets your calf muscles when you are climbing back up.
One of the very narrow streets of Sorrento
The tourist areas are good and have a great many food outlets, ranging from good cheap stomach fillers to Haute Cuisine wallet strippers. If you visit Sorrento then the must go to destination is David – they are a Gelateria and that is an understatement. They produce some of the best ice cream dishes I have ever tasted. Be prepared to queue for a table .
Marina Grande Sorrento
This little beach is a gem, not visited much by the tourists as it is tiny (but it calls itself largest) is used by the local fishermen. We didn’t discover this place soon enough as it is a great place to sit back enjoying a latte or a lager and indulge in a little people watching.
Herculaneum and Pompeii
The trips were on two seperate days and were roughly 1/2 a day each, not long enough for anything other than a taster. Both sites are from the same eruption of Vesuvius but whilst Pompeii got the ash, Herculaneum got the pyroclastic fallout – extreme temperature – which meant the paradoxically more was preserved at the latter site. We both knew about the sites as our interest in them was long standing, mine from primary school over half a century ago.
We visited Herculaneum first – much the better site as it is smaller and better preserved. Roughly 3 streets by 4 streets in area a lot of the buildings have an upper floor still visible, unlike Pompeii.
Herculaneum – The houses in the distance are suburbs of Naples.
There are few if any plaster bodies here due to the high temperatures that struck the site during the eruption but those same high temperatures meant that there is a lot more wood preserved than at Pompeii. What is really touching is the boat houses – many hundreds of skeletal remains were found here – people who were waiting for boats to carry them to safety but for whom time ran out.
The boat houses – those really are actual skeletons
Herculaneum – These are wooden doors that survived the eruption. Now under glass due to numpties who can’t understand that touching is not allowed
Herculaneum – household wall painting
Herculaneum – mosaic, glass tesserae
Pompeii – what can I say – it’s a huge area, it’s THE tourist destination for anyone visiting Naples so it gets busy. The major buildings do get choked with people so not much fun on a hot day. The biggest traffic jam is at the Lupanar (brothel) as everyone wants to see the murals. They aren’t brilliant as time has taken it’s toll – if you like that sort of thing visit the Naples Museum and go to the Black Gallery – they’ve pictures and statues that should satisfy.
Pompeii – the theatre
The state of preservation and conservation at Pompeii is much less than at Herculaneum, as the latter has been exposed for so much less time and has suffered less from people taking away masonry to build there own homes.
Pompeii – not where the Lupanar is so no people
Pompeii – one of many streets – this one close to the cafe.
Obligatory naughty picture – not obvious until the guide poured water on it.
Glad I went but even gladder that we took up the optional vist to Heculaneum as that was so much better.
Right that’s the first update – next one shortly
Snowy's scribblings 