Positano, Amalfi, Rome

We caught a bus from Sorrento which took us along a windy road along the coast to Positano, about 40 minutes away. Positano is another beautiful town, set on the side of a cliff, where it looks like the houses are stacked one on top of the other. There is an attractive church in the centre of the lower town with a green and yellow tiled dome. The bus dropped us off at the top of the "non-tourist" side of town, and after Elise checked with the Tabacci that we were in the right spot (I had happily let her take over as tour-leader, I'm not sure if she was happy to take that role, but she didn't complain about it anyway) we started the steep trek down the hill to our hotel. The woman who checked us in spoke fantastic english, and told us that we'd chosen a great time to come, as it was the end of the tourist season, so it wouldn't be so busy, and as a bonus, it was a lovely sunny day outside! She gave us the key to our room and told us to make sure that we were happy before we came down and paid.

We were very happy with the room- it had a lovely terrace which we had all to ourselves and on which sat a table and a couple of sun lounges. After dropping off our bags, we headed into the main part of town- the "touristy" side- and wandered down the winding streets to the beach. We ate lunch on the beach, watching the waves, and reading a trashy UK mag which we had found at a little shop. In the mid-afternoon, we wandered along a pretty path, along another beach, then up lots and lots and lots and lots of steps back to the hotel where we rested and relaxed for the afternoon. In the evening we went back down to a Restaurant on the beach for Dinner. The next morning, we woke to find that it was raining. Confident that it was going to clear, we headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Amalfi, with plans of catching another bus to Ravello in the afternoon for a look.

It was certainly an entertaining bus ride:
Elise tends to get travel sickness, so whilst we have been travelling around Italy we have always sat towards the front of the bus wherever possible (plus, she dopes up on drugs before the ride, so there hasn't really been a problem). We found a couple of seats near the front of the bus and sat down, and it wasn't long before I discovered that the woman behind me was American. I found this out through her accent, as she was giving running commentary to her travelling companion who was sitting behind her, about EVERY SINGLE THING SHE SAW! And I'm not just talking about "Look at that cliff", "Look at the vineyard", "Look, there's three swimming pools down there". At one stage, she said "I just saw a goose, and I don't know yet if it was real or stuffed", which set off a whole conversation with her travel partner about a woman he once saw who had a puppet on her hand which looked like a real goose. Fascinating stuff! But, it didn't end there...

At the next stop, we picked up another group of 4 Americans, who sat down towards the back of the bus. It wasn't long though before one of them- a plump woman with greasy short blond hair and glasses and really bad BO, came and sat in the seat in front of us and started doing some camera aerobics. She was snapping away with her camera about every 10 seconds, all the while exclaiming; "Oh gee!" "Oh wow!" "Bob, can you see this!" "Look at this Bob!" "Oh gee!" "Oh wow!"... I'm pretty sure that NONE of her pictures are going to turn out, and I'm certain that she will still make her friends and relatives sit down in front of the television when she gets home and shows them her slide-show. I'm sure there are some rather lovely pictures of the bus roof and a tunnel wall. And every time she lifted her arm to take a photo, we got a whiff of her BO.

Between the woman behind me, and the woman in front of me, it all came a bit much for me at one stage and I started to laugh, although I was trying really hard not to. It ended up coming out in tears, and I'm sure Elise thought that I was going crazy!

We finally got off in Amalfi, and Elise and I were in hysterics as we walked towards the town. We had breakfast at a lovely pastry shop next to the cathedral, before having a look inside the cathedral. This one had a nice Cloister and houses Saint Andrew's tomb. Amalfi is home to the oldest paper-making factory in Europe, so we also headed to the Paper Museum where they showed us lots of old machinery used to make paper and gave us a demonstration on how the paper was made.

We then stood under the bus shelter and waited for the bus to Ravello. While we were waiting, it started raining. Then it started pouring. Then it started hailing. And all the while, the bus stop was getting even more crowded with school-aged children. Elise and I decided that Ravello could wait until our next trip to Italy, and we caught the (very crowded) bus back to Positano. Just as the bus was about to pull out, who should jump on but "Mrs Camera" and Bob. They seemed to have been having a disagreement, as their conversation was a little frosty...

Back in Positano, we found a restaurant where we could have a warm lunch and get dry, before we walked back up to the hotel.
The next day was a Thursday and we caught a bus back to Sorrento, then a couple of trains to Naples and then Rome.

The next morning we had plans to spend our last full day in Rome visiting the Forum in the morning, visiting our favourite foccaccia joint in Campo dei Fiori for lunch, then an afternoon of shopping. When we woke up to find it pouring with rain, we decided that the Forum could also wait for another day, and dedicated our morning to shopping.

Whilst in Rome last time, we had passed down Via Nazionale, which appeared to be lined with boot shops. It just so happened that this street was a short walk away from our hotel, so we headed that way. I won't bore you with the details, let's just say that Elise and I both bought a pair of boots from the first shop that we walked into.
Seeing as it was such miserable weather, we decided that we would have a nice lunch for our last day in Italy so that we could hibernate for the rest of the afternoon. We actually ended up eating our last lunch in the same restaurant that we had dined at in our first night in Italy (five weeks before)! After we had eaten our 2 course lunch and washed it down with some red wine, we were feeling pretty happy and mellow. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, admiring our new boots and packing and re-packing our bags.

I'm now back in the UK after flying to London on Saturday morning. I was relieved to find that I was only1kg over the checked baggage allowance (at 16kg) and didn't have to pay excess luggage. Elise and I said goodbye at the airport in Rome, as she was flying to the East Midlands Airport.

After 5 weeks in Italy, it was a little depressing to arrive back in the UK to find that the weather was very British. I had the most wonderful time in Italy and I think that it is my favourite country of all the ones that I have visited so far. I will definitely be back in the future, visiting some of my favourite places, and exploring some new areas that I have not yet been to. Anyone want to join me?

Love,
Lis x.

Sorrento

Although we are both quite seasoned travellers, Elise and I were feeling a bit strange when we left Rome together without the rest of the group. We caught a train to Naples, then another to San Agnello, a town just outside Sorrento (a suburb of Sorrento, really) where we would be staying for the next six nights. Well, we were SUPPOSED to stay there for six nights, but we liked it so much that we quickly decided to stay for an extra 3 nights!

Here, we stayed at Mami Camilla, which is not just a hostel/bed and breakfast- it is an experience! When we finally managed to track someone down to check-in (we had gone to the wrong office), we were shown 2 different rooms to choose from: one was a room at the back of the complex, located next to the vege garden; and one was an even nicer room, situated in the main complex, next to the hostel. We chose the room next to the garden.

We settled in during the afternoon, then headed down to the dining room at 8 o'clock for dinner. Here, we found that everyone sits together for their meals, on one, or several, long wooden tables. We were a bit apprehensive at first as to where to sit and what we were to do, but by the end of the week we were old pro's and were telling all the other new-comers what to do!

Dinners at Mami Camilla consisted of a "light" four course meal every night: an appetiser (which was usually a vegetable dish), a pasta dish, a meat or fish dish, and dessert. There was also wine available, which was made either at Mami Camilla, or a home-winery which we visited.

On the Monday morning, we had organised with Mami Camilla to visit a winery and olive oil factory. We were taken on this excursion by Annetta, a Sorrento local. Judy and Cara, a couple of women from Nevada in the USA and who are repeat offenders at Mami Camilla, came too. Our first stop was "Gargiulo", an olive oil factory in the hills above Sorrento. Annetta took us for a walk in the olive groves, and explained a little about the history of the area and the olive-oil making process, before we went inside the factory and actually witnessed the process ourselves. We then headed to the showroom where we tasted several varieties of Olive oil and had the opportunity to buy some. The next stop was actually Annetta's parents house. Her parents live in San Agnello, on a large property which is divided into several smaller blocks which are leased to tenant farmers. Here, they grow lemons and other citrus trees under pergolas. Annetta's father also used to grow grapes above his pergolas, however, he is getting a bit old to do that now, and so he makes his wine from grapes which he grows on Annetta's property. We had a walk through the garden, and felt privileged for having done so, as it is private land and not open to the public. One of the boundaries is right at the edge of a cliff, where there are some lovely views towards Naples and out to sea.
We tried some of Annetta's fathers homemade wine (which was really good), and her mother had made some bruschetta for us! We also tasted some local salami and cheese. Judy, Cara, Elise and I then decided to walk back to Mami Camillas, and when we walked through the gate, we were greeted by students from the pizza-making class who offered us some of their pizzas! We were too full from the bruschetta, but Elise and I made a mental note of what time to come back the next day for pizza for lunch!

If you haven't already guessed by now, Mami Camillas is also a cooking school. Elise and I took Italian cooking classes on the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while we stayed there. These classes were taken by Agostino, one of Mami Camilla's sons. Judy and Cara explained to us that the classes are usually taken by Agostino's father, Biaggio, who is a large, bald Italian man with HUGE hands. Biaggio was in New York, however, in the process of setting up a pizzeria, but Agostino was a more than capable replacement.

In our first lesson, Agostino (and his able assistant Pamira), taught us how to make hand made pasta made from semolina flour, which was served with a basic tomato sauce and garlic prawns.

The pasta took much of the lesson to roll and shape, and for us novices it was quite difficult. We were rewarded with a 15 minute break in which we had a glass of wine. During our break, we were shown by Uncle Guiseppe how to gut a fish. That night we also made Zuccini boats (stuffed with mozzarella), Sea Bass in Crazy Water, and a Chocolate Custard Sponge Cake for dessert.

We spent Tuesday walking around the shops and market in Sorrento, and also relaxing at Mami Camillas.

On the Wednesday, we went to a Mozzarella cheese factory, where Franco, the owner demonstrated to us how they make their cheese. Of course, there was also the opportunity to taste the produce.

In the afternoon, we had our second cooking lesson. During this lesson we made Potato Gnocci (which is much easier to make than the shaped pasta we made on Monday) with tomato sauce, Brachiole (beef rolls stuffed with parsley, garlic, sultana, pecorino cheese and pistachio) and Canoli for dessert. Another delicious meal!

On the Thursday morning, Elise and I caught a ferry from Sorrento to the Island of Capri. The first thing that we did here was to get straight into another boat (a motor boat) which took us around the North West side of the island to the entrance of the Blue Grotto. Here, we were told that if we wanted to go into the Blue Grotto, we had to climb into the small rowing boats that came up beside our boat and that they would take us in. I got quite cosy with some complete strangers right from the word go- as soon as I was in the boat I was told to sit down practically in the lap of the woman behind me! Elise hopped into the front of the boat on her own. Once we had paid the fee for the boat and the entrance fee for the Grotto, we approached the entrance and were told to lie down! If you had been watching the other row boats go in and out of the entrance, you didn't hesitate to lie down- there were some really big waves, and at one point it looked like the top of a boat hit the top of the cave! I had asked Elise before we got in "Is this safe?" to which she answered by shrugging her shoulders!
Once inside the Grotto, which is basically a cave in the side of the cliff, filled with water, we were rewarded when we looked behind us to see the blue coloured water. It was really amazing, like being on a liquid dance floor. It really looked like there were fluorescent lights illuminating the water from below. The man who was rowing our boat also started singing for us in Italian! It was really quite magical. And we were really quite lucky- we found out from others who were staying at Mami Camilla that later in the day, they had closed the Blue Grotto because the waves were too high, and for several days later the weather was too bad to go in, and they closed for the season on the Sunday. Once we had managed to climb back into the motor boat, we were taken back to land. Elise and I then caught the funiculore up the hill to the town of Capri. We grabbed a sandwich for lunch, before walking to a natural arch formation on the easternside of the island. This arch was formed of rock and reminded me a bit of the twelve apostles in Victoria. We walked the scenic way back to the town (via lots of steps) and then caught another boat back to Sorrento.
During Friday's cooking lesson, we made THE MOST DELICIOUS MEAL. This consisted of Carrot soup, Handmade ravioli filled with zucchini and eggplant and served with a tomato sauce, Calamari stuffed with seafood for main, and chocolate flan for dessert. I say chocolate flan, and you probably think of a boring chocolate tart, but actually Chocolate Flan is also known as Chocolate Lava Cake which Fabio had given us in Rome! It was even more fabulous when we had made it ourselves! We had to bake a couple during class, just to make sure that they would turn out ok...


The next day, we awoke to find a beautiful, clear day (after a thunderstorm the night before), so we decided that it would be a good time to visit Mt Vesuvius. We caught a train to Pompeii, then a bus, which took us most of the way up the mountain, but we had to walk for another half an hour to reach the crater of the volcano. The crater was steaming a little that day. As it was so clear, we had a fantastic views over Naples and Pompeii and out to Capri. We then climbed back down to the bus stop, where we had to wait over an hour in the freezing cold for the bus to come. On our way back to Sorrento, we stopped at Vico Equense, another pretty town, for a look and some lunch. We walked around the town a little and down to the edge of the cliff, where we had a great view of Vesuvius. On the Sunday, we visited the ruins of Pompeii which were covered by ash when Mt vesuvius errupted in 79AD. We rented audioguides and did the 4 hour tour around the town, which included the Ampitheatre, Lupanare (ancient brothel) and Fullonica di Stephanus (Roman Baths) as highlights. We also visited the Villa Dei Misteri, which included a very well preserved fresco on the wall and marble tiled flooring.
I was suprised at how large the site (town) was and how many buildings there were. There were also some plaster casts of bodies which were found during the excavations on display which were quite interesting as you could see the expressions on their faces and the folds of their clothes.

The next morning, Elise and I decided to be brave and go and visit Naples. We had heard varying reports of Naples from different sources. Most people who had visited had told us that it was ok, quite good shopping and they had had no worries. The story that worried us most, however, came from a local who was a friend of Agostino's brother and who came to Mami Camilla's for dinner for a couple of nights. He had told us that it is VERY DANGEROUS. And told us not to take our cameras, not to take handbags, and to walk VERY, VERY, FAST!

So, we were a little apprehensive when we got off the train, but we had decided that maybe the best way to see Naples would be from the safety of an open-topped bus on a city sight-seeing tour! This was a pretty good way to get around, and we managed to see and hear about most of the important sights in Naples. We did manage to leave the sanctuary of the bus to grab some lunch at a recommended Pizzeria and we even walked down a few streets to the Archeological Museum (tightly gripping our handbags on the way which we had decided to take anyway, despite the warnings).

We had a look through the museum, but were disappointed to see that most of the exhibits were closed, including the frescos and jewellery and house-hold items from Pompeii. The mosaic exhibit was open, however, which was amazing. Some of the mosaics were difficult to distinguish from paintings when you stood back and observed from a distance. Some of them were extremely detailed and intricate.

We also entered "The Secret Room" which displays some of the more erotic pieces found in Pompeii, including numerous Phalluses, flying penises and penis wall hangings, a statue of Pan doing "The Deed" with a Nanny goat and paintings of sexual positions which had once adorned the walls of a brothel, acting as a smorgasboard from which clients could gain inspiration.

Back downstairs, we wandered through the hallways and rooms where many marble statues were on display.

On the Tuesday, Elise and I bade farewell to Mami Camilla, and caught a bus to Positano. It was quite sad to leave, but I know I'll be back in future (I'm thinking 2008 if anyone else would like to join me?!).

Love,
Lis xxx.

Gubbio, Assisi, Spello, Rome re-visited.

We left Venice early on Tuesday morning, and arrived in Gubbio, in the North East of Italy, early in the afternoon. Here, we found that the locals had rolled out the red carpet for our visit! Either for us or the truffle convention that was on in town (I like to think that it was for us). In the afternoon, Stefan took us on an orientation walk of the town, and did a very good job, seeing as he'd never been to the town before (he only had to consult his cue-cards once or twice!). He showed us the main sights of the town, which we could visit the following day, if we wished, including a fountain, which legend says if you circle it 3 times while a local splashed water at you, you will become crazy. Stefan was keen to try it, but we couldn't find a local to splash the water at him. The next morning we took a cable-car up to the top of a hill where a church, Basilica Sant Ubaldo, is located. I say cable-car, but it was really more like a bird cage. It was quite an exhillarating experience to jump into the cage and trust that the attendant has closed the gate properly so that you won't fall out, and ride it up to the top of the hill. It was so much fun!
Inside the Basilica is the body of Saint Ubaldo, the patron saint of Gubbio who saved the city from being sacked in the 12th Century. There are also 3 large wooden candles, each weighing about 400 kg each, and every year on the 15th of May, there is a race where these candles are carried from another church at the bottom of the hill, up through the town, to the basilica, by teams of 12 young men.

We visited a few other sights in town, including the Palazzo Ducale, which had an exhibition of photos of Pope John Paul the II which was really interesting. We also went to the Palazzo Dei Consoli, which used to be the Palace for the council but is now a museum which houses the Eugubian Tablets. These are bronze plates which have some writing in the Umbrian language engraved in them. They were found in 1444 by a farmer near the Roman Theatre (which we also visited) and are really important historical artefacts. They were inscribed sometime between 200 and 70 BC.

We had dinner that night at the restaurant at the hotel that we stayed at. I had a pasta and porcini mushroom dish, which was very tasty, while Elise had the Truffle Lasagne. Truffles are a speciality in the Gubbio area. This was an interesting tasting dish and a bit suprising too- I expected that it would have been a traditional, meat lasagne with some truffles mixed into the filling, but the filling was just a truffle cream. It was quite nice to try, although Elise said that towards the end of the dish she was starting to get a bit sick of it.

The next day we caught 2 buses to San Maria Degli Angeli, a town located just outside of Assisi. After checking into our hotel, we then caught another bus up to Assisi, which is located on a hill. Here, we visited the many churches of the town. We picked a good day for it, as it was All Saints' Day, and so many of the churches had services going on inside. Assisi was the home to Saint Francis (who I think is the patron saint of animals?), and Saint Claire (who Stefan tells us was the patron saint of television!) and their tombs are located in their respective churches. After lunch, Bruno, Elise and I walked up to the Rocca Maggiore, a castle at the top of the hill, from where we had a great view over the town and Basilica San Francesco.

The next day, we caught a train to the nearby town of Spello, where we were booked for a wine-tasting and degustation at 12 o'clock. We arrived at the Enoteca to find a table for six set up outside the front of the bar, under a tree in the sunshine. There were three wine glasses at each place, and our hostess, Domenica, brought us all out a fourth when we sat down. We started by tasting a dry white wine, called Grechetto. We then had two pieces of bruschetta, each with a different olive oil drizzled over it. This was followed by a red wine and with this we had bread with four different toppings: black truffle and mushroom; white truffle and almond; rucola (rocket) pesto; and sundried tomato pesto. After this, we were served a salad plate with a tomato and caper salsa, tuna, rocket and buffalo mozzerella (made with real buffalo milk). On top of this salad was drizzled some of the olive oil and some 40 year old balsamic vinegar from Modena. Elise and I were interested in buying some of this balsamic vinegar to take home with us and after our lunch inquired as to how much it cost. We hadn't drunk enough wine to pay the 120 euro asking price!

The next wine was another red and this we drank while enjoying a cheese and meat platter. This was made up of two different salamis, two different porciuttos and five different cheeses; a black truffle cheese, 3 different pecorino cheeses- each aged differently, and a red chilli cheese. We had to eat the cheeses in that particular order. There was also a piece of bread and some Acacia honey which went well with the pecorino cheese.

For dessert we had a sultana and chocolate strudel with a red dessert wine. This was all followed by espresso.

We were all feeling pretty mellow and chilled out after lunch, and I could finally appreciate the concept of "Italian time", as I didn't feel like I had a care in the world, or that there was something else that I should be doing or somewhere else that I should be. Ahhh...La Dolce Vita!
When we got back to Assisi, Elise and I had the best afternoon- we did our laundry! This may sound pretty boring, but to two people who hadn't washed their clothes in 10 days and had been alternating the same two pairs of trousers and wearing the same jumper everyday for that time, it was a great way to spend the afternoon!

The next morning, we left Assisi early to catch a couple of trains to Rome. Once we had checked in to our hotel, Bruno, Elise and I headed over to Piazzo Campo De Fiori where we each got a delicious foccaccia from our favourite foccaccia shop! Elise and I then got a gelati each after that from our favourite gelati shop! The three of us then walked to Saint Peter's Basilica. We lined up for about 15 minutes to get inside the Basilica. It is a HUGE cathedral (the second largest in the world) and very ornate inside, covered with marble and mosaics. We saw Michelangelo's Pieta inside, although it was behind plexiglass, and there were people crowded all around, so it was difficult to get a full appreciation of it.

After checking out the interior of the church, we then decided to climb up to the top of the cupola. We lined up outside to wait. And wait. And wait. We waited for an hour and a half before finally buying a ticket. We decided to climb all 518 stairs, and not cheat and take the elevator up the first 200 or so. There was a great view over Rome from the top, and especially over St Peter's Square.

That night was the last night of our Essence of Italy Tour, and we had convinced Stefan to book a table for us all at our favourite Roman Restaurant: Ragno D'Oro (The Golden Spider). Here, we were again served by our favourite Roman waiter, Fabio! He even remembered us! It was the same deal as last time; we didn't see any menu, and he just told us what he would like to feed us. We had the same antipasto as our previous visit. Our primi dish was actually 2 different pastas: spinach and ricotta canneloni, and a spaghetti with calamari and tomato and chilli. For secondi, we were served mamma's meatballs, meat with some veges (in a ragu type sauce), mushrooms and artichoke. For dessert we had a selection of Creme Caramel, Tirimasu, strawberries, and a chocolate lava cake! This was a soft-centred pudding which was to die for!

We didn't live up to our reputation, however, and didn't even drink half of the 12 litres which we had managed to last time we were there! I think we have converted Stefan, and that he is likely to return there in the future.

We said our goodbyes to the group that night, as we were all leaving at different times the next morning. Again, it was quite sad for us all to be going our separate ways, but I think I can speak for everyone who took part when I say:

"It was a brilliant trip, and while the places that we visited were amazing, and the food was delicious, it was the people that we travelled with that made it an unforgettable experience".