Beach, sun and sand but heading North brings Autumn…

Fun in the Italian sun

As we mentioned in an earlier posting if you travel Italy you will never be far from the sea. The middle is mountainous so you travel along the flat coastal strip. So far we have not spent at lot of time by the sea but that all changed after Puglia.

Paddling at Metaponto

Basilicata and Calabria the final two regions you travel through if you go as far South as you can are more mountainous than most. Where have we been?

Metaponto  - Sun,  sand and a lovely long beach walk. We stayed two nights, Friday was pretty  perfect and Saturday was hell. An OAP hoe-down in our RV park that went on until 2 am, well it sounded like it was. Then a beach bar rave thing that went until sun-up

Minnie on the road

 : (

Ciro Marina – Gum tree shaded spot with gravel beach and shabby little town. We are a bit of a curiosity in these small towns… It is a disconcerting stare and second look, very pale complexion, English plates and driving something that big down this little street sort of curiosity. We have seen a few German and a Swiss couple but when we are not alone (at weekends mainly) it’s normally an Italian family group.

One man and his dog

Cropani Marina - Another small beach town with some very noisy Italians. Listening to these guys sounds like they are killing each other when they are ordering a pizza is entertainment. When it comes to politics or football it is scary.

Lamezia...  'look at the view'

Lamezia Terme In fact three towns all linked together. The highest one was big and full of designer shops and expensive labels that we had never heard of. It had a long pedestrian street all lit up at night with lots of cafes  restaurants and ice cream parlors.

Walking the beach

Then on to Scalea a typical Italian tourist sea side town… we have seen lots of them. It must be crazy in summer (July an August) with high prices and very noisy Italians cheek to cheek on the beach but in October it made a great stop for a couple of days camping virtually on the beach. At 10 Euros (£8) a night we had our own beach and sunsets.

Pompei with Vesuvius looming in the background

 Pompei the roman city preserved when Vesuvius erupted on 24^th August 79AD was our next stop. 20,000 of it’s inhabitants perished after being overcome very suddenly by the poisonous gas cloud that flowed down the mountain ahead of the 60ft of ash that buried the town until the 1700s. It is a truly amazing site as it is literally a complete town where you can walk the streets and go into the temples and people’s houses, sit in the arena and easily imagine Roman life continuing on today. It would even appear as though Italian toilets have not changed that much in all that time : ). Although still warm it was a bit showery as autumn finally caught up with us. You can also find more on Chris’ blog as he was there only a couple of weeks ago… in the sunshine.

Wet lunch at Pompei theatre

 Ever wondered what your perfect little piece of planet Earth would actually look like? Maybe you have it already? As we travel it is increasingly obvious that perfection is unlikely. In fact your view of heaven is likely to be defined by your individual level of compromise. So far it has been a perfect trip… we have been kept awake at night by trains, river barges, traffic, yobs, gipsies, church bells, dogs, chickens, loud music, mosquito bites, planes, a generator and even a car boot sale! Desert island anyone?

As Chris will know moving on means everyday is full of new places and interesting things and new challenges. Travelling is not all fun though it’s a life choice, not a holiday. How does it go Chris… ‘a traveler without observation is a bird without wings’.

Sun set a Scalea

Can you imagine how frustrating it has been with 20 CD’s including an Italian Language course : ) and a CD player that refuses to play them. We had the aerial sorted out before we left but never checked the CD player. They always work when they are new don’t they? Not this one! So, it has been Italian radio all the way. It is mostly a strange mix of crap and Euro pop crap. Our radio life has been saved but the national Italian station, RTL. Radio becomes much more important when you have no TV (and nothing else if there is no electricity). RTL has a fairly limited play list but it is mostly UK/USA. So,the sound track for the trip has become’ Champions’ by The Script with Will.I.am wrapping and ‘This girl is on fire’ by Alicia Keys. With Strictly getting started on the TV at home this week we are praying our recorder is smart enough to sort it all out. To be honest it is the only thing we miss without a TV here in Italy or in the USA for a year.

Sorrento tomorrow… with more thunderstorms forecast : (

Take Care

Den and Jane X