Sadly, the time had come to leave beautiful and interesting Roma. We boarded out coach and headed south to the city of Naples and beyond to the famous ruins of Pompeii. We arrived in time for lunch which was pizza in a quaint ristorante at the base of the ruins. The tourist area is lined with vendors selling the most incredible range of souvenirs. It was very reminiscent of Ephesus in Turkey and bought back memories of our family trip in 2008.
After lunch we set off with our guide to walk the ruins. She was so sweet and very informative. There are tour groups absolutely everywhere and you walk along making sure that you can see your group’s flag. To say it was hot would be an understatement of the hugest proportions. I had sweat running down my face, back……let’s face it……I was a sweaty mess. But I was not Robinson Crusoe. Some found the going really tough, but we powered on piano piano (slowly slowly). And it was worth every drop of sweat as the ruins and the story of the disaster are so well worth the effort.
After Pompeii the air conditioned bus was a welcome relief and we all enjoyed the comfort as we drove along the coast to the majestic town of Sorrento. It is almost impossible to describe the roads that we travelled along on our way through the town and up the hill to our hotel. It is chaotic with cars, scooters, buses of every size, bikes and pedestrians going every which way.
We are staying in a hotel perched about half way up the hill with beautiful views out over the water. For dinner we visited a local family who fed us delicious homemade food, the ingredients for which all came from their garden. It really was a magical experience. The best lasagne and lemon chicken scaloppini I have ever eaten which made the white knuckle drive up and down the mountain well worth it. We were all actually in hysterics by the time we got to Mama’ Place as the roads are barely wide enough for a car and our bus wound its way up, at times missing the stone walls, oncoming cars, scooters etc by millimetres. It was just part of the Italian experience.
As an aside: Lemons can be found in abundance everywhere in the region of Napoli and their importance to the economy and culture cannot be understated. Much of the ceramics and linen feature lemons as does the cooking. But the region in known worldwide for its Limoncello (an Italian Liqueur) and lemon granita which is fresh squeezed lemon juice poured over shaved ice. In these very hot conditions, we have found the lemon granita very refreshing and have indulged in quite a few.
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