Italy 2013

Italy 2013
We sailed out of Dubrovnik harbour at 10pm on Monday 3rd June, bound for Bari in south-eastern Italy. We had booked a 2-berth cabin, which was buried right in the bowels of the ship. We arrived in Bari at 8 a.m on a drizzly morning. Bari is a dilapidated industrial port town, so we found the autostrada towards Taranto, then followed the Taranto Gulf coast road along Italy's "sole", and ended up at Trebisacce. This is an interesting place, obviously it used to be a thriving seaside holiday place for locals, but it has been battered by the global financial crisis and Italy's deficit and austerity problems. So we had the place to ourselves. We were the only guests in a large hotel on the seafront. We had a lovely view over the sea from our balcony. In the evening we were the only diners in a restaurant right on the beach. Next morning the hotel proprietor laid on a large buffet breakfast just for us two!

Maratea from the top of the mountain.	Jesus standing above Maratea
The next day we drove west to join the autostrada del Sole, we headed south, turned off towards Paula, and followed the coast road north along Italy's west coast. We found this part of Italy rather ugly, with un-inviting shingly beaches, dilapidated townships, and litter all over the place. The ambience changed suddenly when we reached Tortura Marina. The scenery became stunning, with views from picturesque cliffs as we winded our way round the Gulf of Policastro. We stopped at Maratea, an enchanting place, with an ancient sleepy hill town half way up the mountain, and a lively touristy area near the beach. We stayed 2 nights at 'La Dimora di Alfredo', a small B&B with a very friendly and accommodating host, though his breakfasts were light on, with no bread, and a bit stingy with coffee. We walked down to the pretty beach and some caves on the side of the cove. In the afternoon we drove up to the old town, parked, then walked up some steep windy footpaths to meet Jesus, a huge statue on the top of the mountain. On the way up we met a young Australian couple on their honeymoon, and they joined us for the walk to the top, for the magnificent views, and the walk down again.

Barbara and Victor above Maratea.	The Greek Temple at Paestum
On 7th June we drove north through Cilento National Park, and stopped in Palinuro, where we saw an intersting museum with Greek and Roman antiquities from 450 BC, rescued from the seabed by divers, where an ancient shipwreck was situated. We continued north to Paestum, where we made our base for 4 nights at the "Hotel Clorinda". We visited the Greco-Roman archeological site in Paestun, and really appreciated the ancient temples, which were far more intact than any in Pompei. We tried driving up to tour the Amalfi coast by road, but got caught at Vietri sul Mare in impossible traffic, dreadful drivers, and nowhere to park. We couldn't even stop anywhere for toilets! We ended up driving almost continuously for 4 hours, to finally park the car back at our hotel in Paestum! The next day we rested all day at our hotel, trying to calm ourselves down from the previous day's ordeal.

Amusing translation in the Grand Hotel's dining room Salerno	Amalfi
The staff at the Paestum hotel had advised us to drive to Salerno, park under the "Grand Hotel" and visit the Amalfi Coast by boat tour. So this is what we did, and it worked well. We checked into the Grand Hotel for 3 nights. We explored Salerno, but this town is nothing to write home about. However, it served well as a base. We did enjoy the Minerva Gardens, an ancient botanical herbal garden on the side of the hill behind Salerno. The next day, our first leg by boat from Salerno harbour to Amalfi took about 45 minutes. The coastal scenery was superb. Amalfi was very pretty, with its marble-walled church and its town walls. The second leg took us to Positano. We really loved this place, with interesting narrow alleyways with walls covered in purple bouganvillea, and a very pretty coastal track. We explored it thoroughly, and enjoyed lunch at a restaurant with a shady terrace and a fabulous view.

Positano.	The victims of the volcanic eruption over Pompei
The next day we took a local train to Pompei, and spent the day exploring this amazing archeological marvel, preserved by the volcanic ash from and ancient eruption of Vesuvius, which towers behind the town. After this we had achieved our main objectives in coming to Italy. We had found the sunshine and the warmth. So we headed north up the Autostrada del Sole to Chiusi in Tuscany, where we stayed at a small hotel 'Albergo Pino' and dined well on Tuscan fillet steak and wine. We continued north, crossing a pretty hilly area just south of Bologna, stayed near Modena, then headed north again toward the Swiss border. We passed lake Como and stopped for lunch at Lecco. This is a pretty place, but spoiled by excessive overcrowding, nowhere to park, and too much litter, especially floating in the lake. We hightailed up the Alps and reached Switzerland after Chiavenna.

Victor's and Barbara's Travel Diaries