We continued on the next morning towards Gran Sasso and were
surprised to drive through a 10km tunnel. Italy has tunnels in spades but this
was by far the longest we had driven. Made even more mysterious by a junction
within the tunnel itself. As we passed this junction we saw it had a barrier
which intrigued us further and we later found it that this was in fact an
underground physics Laboratory which drew scientist from all round the world
due to its radiation or something. When we got the national park we found our
camperstop which was a massive car park where we were all by ourselves. We made
our way towards the cable car to take us up the mountain which was of course
closed until July. Nevertheless we made our way up the mountain by foot as far
as we could before our legs gave out. The views were lovely but the incline was
killer. We wanted to see the Observatory the next day and considered getting
back onto the mountain by foot but after a little research we found that we
could in fact take Pierre against his will up to the 2km peak. The road was
actually very nice but we took it slow. The road was only open for a few months
of the year with the snow making it impassable for most of the year. Plenty of nice vistas on the way and once at the top we
noticeably felt the drop in temperature as we were within walking distance of
the remainder of last season’s snow. As we parked up an air ambulance greeted
us as it flew overhead and landed just outside the observatory. A man near the
tourist information was groaning in pain but we had no idea what had happened.
We headed towards some snow taking some wrong terms and jumping back in Pierre
to give us a quick lift to some easier snow a short way down the mountain. We
both had are fair share of mountain walking by this time so decided to get
Pierre off the mountain and on his way towards Rome staying overnight in
L’Aquilla.
L’Aquillia appeared relatively normal when we parked our
camper up just outside the town centre and we decided to have a quick wonder
into the town to see a famous fountain called 99 heads. However it wasn’t a quick
wander and took us a good 30-40 minutes. We soon discovered that L’aquilia was
a bit of a ghost town and still all under construction since the earthquake in
2009. There were many abandoned buildings and many that looked like they were
about to fall down or had major sections missing. There didn’t seem to be many
houses left which were lived in and there weren’t that many people around at
all. Anyway we marched on to the fountain and stayed there a little while
before heading back which was uphill for a long while so we decided an ice
cream was called for. We found the only ice cream shop still around and ate it
in the main square of the town which was busier than the other parts of the
town it was still quiet. After the ice cream we headed back to the van to prepare
for our next road trip.
The next morning we headed off to Rome, well a little camper
stop just outside Rome. We got there early in the morning and headed straight
out using the little shuttle (in reality it was the owner driving us) to the
train station and we hopped on the train and headed to the city centre. The owner
had helpfully given us directions to the various things to see but what we
hadn’t expected was how long everything took. It was well after lunch before we
arrived at our first destination – Vatican City. I really wanted to see the
Sistine chapel ceiling, even though Rich had said he had already seen it. We
arrived in Vatican city and were just trying to get our bearings when we saw a
queue for the big church so we joined it, thinking it was the Sistine Chapel as
let’s face it something as small as the Vatican City would only have one Church
wouldn’t it. Well turns out no it didn’t and we actually queued for St Peters
Basilica. We were lucky because the queue was only for 45 minutes and the
basilica was actually very impressive to walk around and did contain many works
of art. Following that we decided we had to try and find the Vatican city so
off we marched again and after 10 minutes of walking (trying to avoid the
hundreds of tours being marched around all the sites, led by somebody holding
up an umbrella and speaking loudly) we found the Vatican museum which, it turns
out, is the entrance for the Sistine Chapel. We then had to walk (slowly)
through the museum with the hundreds of people to view all the different art,
not that you could with all the people around you, and finally reached the
Sistine chapel which was underwhelming. The guards kept blowing on their
whistles and shouting at people to be quiet and to keep moving and that no
photos were allowed. We didn’t stay looking at the ceiling too long and soon
were back in the museum and trying to locate the exit. Once out we decided that
we needed food as it was past 4 and we hadn’t eaten anything. A quick search
online and we found a pizza place that was open and still serving so off we
headed and once we felt normal again we headed to our next site, Torre del
Argentina, which is where Julius Ceaser was killed but that was not the real
reason we were there, we wanted to see what it had been turned into. Now it was
a place where all the local stray cats were looked after, fed and treated by
vets. It was great to see and we got to fuss some cats. After this we went back
to the fully tourist stops and headed to the Trevi Fountain to look at it.
Again it was very nice but somewhat ruined by the guards and their whistles and
telling people not to sit on the wall of the fountain. It was very busy at the
fountain but we managed to find somewhere to sit for a while and just relax after
the long day of walking.
The next day we headed back into Rome to do some of the
sites we had missed the first day and started with the Colosseum. After a short
queue we were in and we strolled around the two floors for a couple of hours
marvelling at the high arches and large columns. We then headed out for a bit
of a walk around several of the old sections and piazzas around. We saw many
different ruins (too many to name) and as it was getting hot we stopped for
some lunch then headed to another piazza (Piazza Neuvo) to try and see some
street performances and things but nothing much was happening so we headed off
to eat some Tiramisu and then walked through a local market and on to a statue
where legend has it if you put your hand in and lie it will bite it off. After
making Rich put his hand in the mouth for the photo opportunity we carried on
walking, through the Jewish quarter and decided to head home as it had been
another long day.
The following morning we were up early as always and were
back on the road, this time to a village between Rome and Naples called Castro Dei Volsci. The idea was to spend the day there, do some washing at a laundrette
and do some planning. Well there were a few issues with that plan.
1. It was the hottest day so far and you couldn’t move
without sweating,
2. The village was on top of a hill with no shops or
laundrette,
3. The village was on top of a hill with no data or wifi
services.
We quickly decided that we should head down the hill and
find somewhere air conditioned to relax and do our research and we managed to
find a small shopping mall where we sat for a couple of hours and planned the
next few days and booked our ferry to Sardinia for Tuesday. Once all the
planning was done we headed back up the hill to the village to sleep. The views
were beautiful from the hill and it was a nice place to stay for the evening
but there was a fair amount of traffic which was surprising as nothing seemed
to be there.
The following morning we got up early and headed to our next
camper stop which was just outside Naples.
The drive was fairly short but the last 15 minutes was hell
on earth. The sat nav decided to take us down a back ass country lane. Normally
I would spot such roads early and avoid but the lane started out ok and
progressively got narrower and unpaved. Made worse by oncoming cars it wasn’t
long before it was all out chaos with 5 cars behind us and 5 trying to get past
us and we left it to the Italians to decide who would have to concede and
reverse. We finally got through but then came the onslaught of narrow lanes
with branches hitting Piere left, right and centre. We made it to the campsite intact
exhausted and annoyed that there was a much easier road we could have taken.
Pierre suffered a few surface scratches on his side windows but nothing that won’t
clean off.
The grumpy owner spoke no English but gave us a fair bit of
detail on how to get the train to Naples and around. We therefore jumped on the
train and headed to Naples for the afternoon. The city is very grim in places
and while it doesn’t feel particular unsafe we kept our belongings under close
watch. We walked through Montesanto which almost felt like Thailand with the
crazy scooters and narrow streets. We picked up a Napoli famous fried pizza
which is difficult to describe – it’s a little like fish batter but with cheese
in the middle – was very nice. We headed to San Siro church which was unique as
it had 2 skeletons on display which had all its veins intact which was very
bizarre. It was an amazingly advance piece of anatomy and no one was sure how
the veins were preserved or more impressing
whether they were handmade from other materials. The female skeleton
used to have a foetus skeleton but this was stolen years ago. The same church
also had the famous Veiled Christ sculpture which was very impressive for its
silk like appearance. On our wonders we passed through a few more churches and
stumbled across a bizarre 80’s inspired contemporary art exhibition. This
consisted of mannequins dressed in various costumes with props all
demonstrating difference 80s movements. After some more walking we became
conscious of time knowing that the last train back was at 9pm so we headed for
dinner at a local place famous for its Napoli pizza. We knew it was going to be
good for 3 reasons.
1.
The menu consisted of only 2 choices
2.
It was cheap
3.
It had a huge queue outside and you had to get a
ticket and wait.
4.
We even had to share a table with another
couple.
The Napoli pizza is well known for being the best in Italy
due to the unique ingredients used and the method of cooking. The heat of the
wood burner is so intense that the edges char while the tomato in the middle is
still soft. The dough however stays soft throughout the whole pizza – even at
the charred edges. We ordered a Margarita pizza each and gave up after eating
half each agreeing that it would be tomorrow’s lunch or dinner. To our
amazement the guy sat next to us ordered 2 pizzas’s eating both there and then!
When we left we were greeted by a thunderstorm and streets
flowing with water. Feeling very unprepared in shorts and flip flops we
navigated to the nearest train station. Soaked to the bone we tried to figure
out the route back and when we finally got on the 2nd or 3rd
train which was taking us home we realised it was on the wrong line. Long story
short we got off at a place called Pozzulio which was only 6km away and got a taxi.
All in all a very long day!
So for the second day we decided to risk it and leave the
site again, this time for Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. After figuring out that
it was a Sunday which meant not as many trains ran as usual we finally managed
to get a train into Naples from a rather run down, single track station about
1km from our campsite. We then miraculously managed to get a train out to
Pompeii although until we were there we were not 100% sure it was going to stop
there. We got off the train and tried to figure out how to get the public bus
up to Mount Vesuvius. We soon realised we needed to walk to the Pompeii ruins
and then get the bus from there so off we walked, trying to ignore the touts,
although one set did manage to get our attention for a couple of minutes before
we continued our walk. Once there we found our bus stop and as we had a 30
minute wait for the bus we decided to get another fried pizza (this time cheese
and tomato and a cheese and ham one) and once the bus arrived we started the 1
hour assent up the mountain. The bus dropped at the start of the national park
where we bought our tickets and started the 40 minute climb up to the crater.
It was hot, windy and dusty but we managed to climb it without any incidents.
Once there we had more than enough time to walk around the huge crater and try
to spot Pompeii (which we couldn’t). We then headed back down the mountain and
caught the bus back to Pompeii. We then walked around Pompeii for a couple of
hours stopping to see the famous whore house, the main square, the amphitheatre
and millions of ruins. We also learnt that Pink Floyd had recorded a film/album
in the amphitheatre with no audience in 1971 and there was a large display
showing clips and detailing the behind the scenes information which was
interesting. After too many hours walking we decided it was time to risk the
trains again (we didn’t want to risk missing the last train or getting it wrong
again) so of we headed home. We managed to get all the right trains but it did
take over an hour and a half to get home and the last train seemed to take
forever.
The following day we had planned to head out to an island
but when we woke up we decided against it and instead stayed in to try and fix
a few things on the van (including the fridge which was playing up) and get
some washing done. After realising that there wasn’t a laundrette on site and
google not finding one in the town or even the next town it was agreed (albeit
reluctantly on my part) to do it all by hand....and there was a lot of it. A
couple of hours later Rich had rigged up a makeshift washing line around the
van and the clothes were drying. In the meantime we spent the day planning the
first day in Sardinia and working out how to get the ferry ect. The ferry was
due to leave Naples tomorrow evening (Tuesday) but we needed to be out of the
campsite at 10 so we found a local shopping mall where we could park for the
day and where we could relax and do a bit of shopping before leaving on the 13
hour ferry.
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