Day 26: Amalfi Coast, Italy

Set of with some trepidation to drive the coast road. We’ve had a lot of people tell us how harrowing this can be due to the narrow road, sheer cliffs and tour buses. It turned out that I was not so that bad at all, or maybe we are just getting into the groove of driving Italian. The atmosphere was not as good as we had hoped as it was quite smoggy due to local burning off and no wind but the scenery was just as breath taking as expected. We will definitely return on our last day if the conditions improve so we can see it at its full beauty under a blue sky.

The road was certainly narrow, very windy, extremely steep and two-way but they have build-up the drop side of the road which gives drivers a certain degree of comfort that they will not go over the side. All the way along the road there are homes and restaurants on either side of the both above and below and there are even swimming pools built way down the cliff on platforms! How ever do they build homes and swimming pools in cliffs and how do they get furniture in them????

Despite the narrowness of the road people park their cars anywhere: on both sides of the road and in either direction. After we stopped at on lookout we noted that all 12 cars we walked past on the way back to ours had dents in them!

Stopped at a lovely restaurant with a great view for lunch and from there it was onto Positano and Amalfi. Positano was the lovelier of the two but Amalfi had a magnificent basilica.

Turned around at dusk and drove back to Sorrento to experience the sun set into the sea and the townships turn on their lights - beautiful. On the way back had the experience of watching 2 tour buses going in opposite direction try to pass each other on one of the bends in the narrow road. There was a good deal of backing up and maneuvering with the resulting back up and jostling of traffic.

Slid into bed after a long deep bath – what a life!

Day 25: Pompeii, Italy

Rose at 9am and after eating a fantastic breakfast in the hotel’s beautiful breakfast room we set off for Pompeii.

What a great day this was! At its end we were exhausted from walking kilometers around Pompeii but it was worth every aching muscle.

We were not prepared for how large Pompeii was nor how well preserved it was or how advanced they were as a civilization. We were told that every part of Pompeii that had been filled with volcanic ash (some 8-12 feet) was preserved while the rest was blown away by the pyroclastic cloud that engulfed the city.

We hired a private tour guide who took us on a 2 hour excursion around the city and was passionate to teach us about the culture and people of they day. They were people who for their day were wealthy, lived for the day and wanted the best of everything. We were shown the underground sewer system, how they transferred fresh water all around the city trough lead pipes and pumped it up into the second floor of buildings via terracotta pipes. There were streets for selling everything and each was clearly marked via frescos and sculptures on buildings.
We were able to wander in many homes that were remarkably well preserved and saw many painted walls, fountains, baths, shops, ceramic entrances, some sculptures and bronze statues.

Left at closing and ate dinner at the diner just outside the gates and then headed in the dark back to Sorrento. On the way back we had the scare of our life in a narrow tunnel we were met by 3 motorbike riders riding abreast of each other and overtaking a car right in front of us and in the wrong side of the road. We just missed them – Holy Cow!!!

Day 24: Sorrento, Italy

Slept in until 10am and then set off to meander the streets of Sorrento.

Had a delightful lunch at an open air café, purchased a few goodies and since it had started to rain we spent the afternoon in our room dozing and reading. At 5pm we had high tea in the parlour (as you do) and wandered out at 7pm for dinner. While the food and ambience was good our entertainment came from watching the waiters transfer the leftover bread from one basket to another and deliver it to the next table.

Photos are of our hotel - Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria

Day 23: Travel to Sorrento, Italy

Set off at 8.30am for the airport. Caught the 11am flight to Milan and then the 2.40pm to Naples. Arrived at approx 5pm to 24 degrees – great it will be warm Picked up our car and headed for Sorrento – again we thank God for the person who invented the GPS.

Experienced Italian roads at their best took the toll road to save time and hassle. Entered the eight lane toll gates paid our fee and was instantly meet by a maze of traffic going in every possible direction – forward, sideways and even backward!. The eight toll lanes became 3 and then 2 lanes within 100 meters and everyone jostled to get to the front as soon as possible. It was traffic madness at its Italian best. Thankfully, after a few kilometers it settled down and with headed to Sorrento in twilight. We traversed winding roads with the sea to one side and the lights of the townships on either side of the bay promised that in daylight it would be a spectacular sight.

Found our hotel without too much trouble. We decided to treat ourselves even more and end the vacation with a hotel listed as one of the world’s finest small hotels. While it was almost dark when we arrived the hotel forecourt and the service we received left us with no doubt that this will be a great stay. The hotel is listed as an historic site of Italy and has been owned and managed by the Fiorentino family since 1834. The whole hotel makes you feel like you are back in the 1800’s. Our room is beautiful, large and well appointed and we have a balcony that overlooks the Bay of Naples. After our bags arrived we walked around the area and enjoyed seeing all the children dressed up and trick-er-treating for Halloween. Had a light meal and retired for the night. We decided to spend tomorrow resting.

Day 22: Sitges

Next we drove to Sitges, a lovely seaside village 35 Km South of Barcelona. We arrived late in the day and were a little sorry we did not know ahead of time just how nice a place this was going to be. Picturesque beaches, a great beachside walk with entertainers and great shops and restaurants. I wish we could have stayed a few days here! Apparently Sitges is known for its carnival, great weather and its night life.

Headed back to Barcelona to pack and get ready to experience our fourth and final leg of our vacation – Sorrento, Italy.

Day 22: Montserrat

We awoke to sunny skies, though the temperature was still only in the low teens. We headed off to Monserrat (while the weather was good. Montserrat is a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat about 60kms North West from Barcelona.

This was a spectacular day – as we got closer to Montserrat the landscape became prettier and prettier and the mountains rose up in front of us; sheer gray cliffs that were domed in shape. We wound our way up the narrow and very steep road being very wary of the multitude of tour buses coming and going in both directions. When we had to pass one it was a scary experience especially when we were on the cliff side of the road.

Once at Montserrat the views of the Catalonian countryside was breathtaking and basilica, monastery and museum were very interesting. We took the almost vertical funicular to the top of the mountain where it had been snowing and walked to a tiny church and the remains of where some monks used to live – boy that must have been tough!

Day 21: Dali’s City and Girona

The weather had cleared a little but the temperature has dropped even further (around 10 degrees). We set off for Figueres (Dali’s city) by car – thank God for the GPS, how did anyone ever get anywhere in a country where nothing is in English! So far we have taken few wrong turns thanks to this ingenious invention. I was not sure that the trip to see Dali’s city would be all that interesting to me as I have never really understood or appreciated Dali’s art however, lots of people recommended it to us so I guess it will be worth it.

Once there it was clear that this little town lives on Dali’s legacy, there is Dali artwork everywhere! The must-sees of this town is the Dali Museums, both are incredible but his jewelry was amazing. The main museum was filled with his art and must be worth many millions of Euros. You can see how Dali (who died aged 100) went through periods of great happiness as well as deep depressions. Some of his work is very dark and tortured. I did not know until today that Dali made jewelry and it is was fantastic! Everything was so imaginative and colourful but the piece that really stopped me in my tracks was a gold heart the size of a fist and in the middle it was encrusted with rubies in a bicuspid arrangement and it was beating just like a heart – check out the video! There were several other pieces of jewelry that moved as well.

Next it was onto Girona a quaint town that has a wonderful medieval quarter with tiny meandering and sometimes very steep streets, picturesque patisseries and small bridges spanning the two sides of the river which unites the town. Most notable was the Cathedral which was built between the 11th and 17th centuries AD. The nave of the church is the widest arched span in the whole world. It sits at the highest part of the town and is accessed by a great staircase. By this time is was very cold again and 5pm so we headed back to Barcelona just in time to once again experience peak hour.

Day 20: Barcelona

We slept in once we realized that the weather had turned cold and it was raining. We decided to see the local sites and leave our trips to Monsterrat, Sitges and Girona and Dali’s city for the fo9llowing 2 days. In Barcelona we started our day by visiting Gauldi’s two main pieces of architecture; his home and the basilica the Sagrada Familia. I can imagine that the people of his day either loved or hated his work as they are so different and are masterpieces of architecture and imagination (much like how our Opera House stands out from the city).

The basilica is truly amazing and is still under construction and expected to take another 20 years -that will be 145 years in all. It is like no other basilica I have ever seen. On one hand it is the Bible cast in stone with each of the 3 main entrances depicting the 4 stages of Christ’s life; his birth, death and resurrection. Of these 3 entrances only 2 are as yet complete and Gauldi only saw one completed before his death in 1926 when he was killed after being hit by a tram at the age of 74. The one he finished (the Nativity and his first crypt) has been declared a World Heritage site. During the Spanish civil war much of the structure was damaged and the basilica lay dormant for many years, now it is being completed by anonymous donations. Gauldi knew he would never see his basilica completed and if asked how long it will be until the basilica is complete he would answer “that is of no concern, my client has all the time in the world”. Inside the interior is also like no other as its inspiration comes from nature with the columns and ceiling representing stems and flowers. It is also quite an experience to go inside a basilica that is still being built – there was scaffolding and workman everywhere. Looking at the photos we have not done the basilica justice – it is truly amazing and we hope to be able to come back and see it when it is finished.

After wandering the basilica for hours and then the streets of the city we set off to visit the local discount mall that was approx 40kms from the city. Interestingly the shops open from 10am to 1pm and then shut until around 3pm, staying open until somewhere between 7pm and 10pm. By the time we arrived at the discount mall it had turned very cold (5 degrees), was teaming with rain and had gotten very dark, all of which after a long day of sightseeing was not conducive to a good mood for shopping. However, Ron found a great trendy, cold weather jacket for his trip to Montreal and with a Starbuck’s coffee in our bellies our mood lightened and we headed home. As we edged the perimeter of the city we were met by Barcelona peak hour – it took 30 mins to travel 4 blocks and we could not get over into the right lane to turn off to our hotel which lead to us having to travel another 4kms to wind our way back. Fingers crossed tomorrows weather will be better.

Day 18: Barcelona

Awoke to a sunny day and decided to take the tourist bus to get an idea of Barcelona’s main attractions. The day was sunny but cool. The city is understandably proud of an artist called Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926) and his unique art makes quite an impression on the landscape. While all around him were building structures in the classic Neo-classical style (angular and ornate), his were rounded, fluid in form and often colourful. It makes me wonder if when the saying ‘that’s gaudy’ has its origins in here in Barcelona.

After we walked around the Gothic quarter built during the 13th to 15th centuries and is very well persevered. While we were there we visited the cathedral where there were some fantastic religious statues and listened to a musician play classical music on an electric piano in the square. The acoustics of the square were perfect and just as we had started to soak up the ambience and music the pianist switched to the Village people’s ‘Stay at the YMCA’ – Ugh, culture shock! Needless to say the square cleared in minutes!

Then we wondered the shops, purchased a new digital camera for Ron and soaked in the fashion. Given winter is just around the corner in Europe the fashion is all coats and heavy winter gear which is not really suitable to Australian conditions. Everything is also very expensive as we only get .50€ cents per Aussie dollar and as yet I have not found many sizes above our 12 – this size 14 -16 girl isn’t happy! It also appears that we should have purchased our leather goods in Portugal as they were as good a quality as here but much cheaper.

Day 17: Lisbon to Barcelona

Left for the airport to head to Barcelona, sad to leave Lisbon and Portugal behind, we have definitely added Portugal to the list of ‘must return to’ places. Since we had to return our hire car at 10am I had several hours in the airport to catch up on my emails and do a little work. Took off at 1pm and arrived in Barcelona around 3.30pm.

Picked up our next hire car and headed for our hotel located in the city and named 987 Barcelona. I was excited to see this hotel as on the web it looks very modern and a little quirky. As often is the case the hotel did not live up to it’s web presence. While modern, the rooms are looking tired; there was no storage space (1 tiny open fronted wardrobe with 5 coat hangers), and although it had ceiling lights and bedside lamps it was a matter off all on or all off which was a little annoying. No ironing facilities were available as they want to alleviate clients of the trouble of ironing their own clothes and are happy to do it for 4€ on average per garment – ouch! Car parking was available for guests as noted on their website but for an additional 27€ per night.

Settled in and took a walk around the city which looked very pretty at night.

Day 16: Cascais, Portugal

Got up late and spent the first half of the day walking around Casais. We wandered along the many narrow and colourful streets, browsed through little shops, visited the lighthouse and enjoyed a light lunch and Portuguese tarts by the sea while watching people laze and play on the beach. After lunch we drove along the west coast visiting various beaches, some tiny inlets and others hugh expanses. As the afternoon wore on it became quite windy and we came across a beach where there were many people kite surfing – it was quite a spectacle! There looks to be an enormous amount of talent and strength needed to control the kites and some of the wave jumps were extraordinary.

We made our way back to the hotel once again following the setting sun. Packed ready to leave for Barcelona tomorrow morning. Our holiday is more han half over already.