BILL AND JJ'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES IN

ITALY

HIKING THE AMALFI COAST

MAY 8- MAY 27, 2012

(mouse click the thumbnail photos for a larger image)

This trip was organized by our hiking companions, Don and Kathy, who had chosen a British company, World Walks, to make some of the travel arrangements and suggested hiking venues.  Also included on the adventure were Stan, Bill S., Walter, Bob and Carrie.  We included sightseeing in Naples, hiking along the famed Amalfi coast and more sightseeing in Rome (for Bill, JJ and Stan.)

TUESDAY 8 MAY, 2012

JJ and I departed New York's JFK airport at about 5PM for our flights to Naples.  We had spent the previous week in Brooklyn for visiting and the baptism of the latest member of our extended family, Lee Ann Clark.

WEDNESDAY 9 MAY, 2012

We finally reached our hotel in Naples, Executive Hotel, at 1:30PM local time after a grueling flight and layover in Milan of about 4 hours. The hotel is located in the historic center of Naples which, at first impression, seemed sort of "third world-ish" but was really just an environment of ancient walk ways and buildings.

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY 10, 11 MAY, 2012

We connected with the rest of our aforementioned group over the next two days for sightseeing in the Naples area. We did a "hop on hop off" bus tour of the area and stopped to check out the modest palace at Capodimonte and a guided tour of the San Gennaro catacombs (no photos allowed).  The catacombs had some well preserved frescoes (1st century AD) and lots of now empty cavities in the walls that had once housed the remains of the dearly departed.  Saint Gennaro was noted by our guide as having stopped a couple of Mt Vesuvius volcanic eruptions and a sample of his blood turns to liquid on certain dates each year.  Apparently, the Romans were not impressed since he was beheaded in about 300AD.

  This is a view looking east across the Bay and Naples and toward Mt Vesuvius.

On Friday we took the "circumvesuviano" commuter train from Naples down the coast to visit the ruins of the Roman city of Herculaneum (Ercolano in Italian).  Ercolano was destroyed by the same eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 70AD that did in the more famous city of Pompeii.  Unlike Pompeii, Ercolano was entombed in hot lava  that cooled into solid rock that is still being removed by archaeologist since its discovery in about 1710. 

SATURDAY 12 MAY, 2012

Our bus, arranged by World Walks, picked us up very early for our drive down to the Amalfi coast with stops for hiking at Mt Vesuvius and at Pompeii.  There is still some steam coming from the crater atop Vesuvius but it was hard to see on a warm day.  The views were quite spectacular as we could see the whole Bay of Naples, the island of Iskia and all the surrounding cities.

The ruins of Pompeii are much, much more extensive than those at Herculaneum.  Most of the really impressive art work from Pompeii were looted over the years.  Pompeii was covered mainly with volcanic dust and ash from the 70AD eruption and, therefore, stuff was more easily recovered than from Herculaneum.  Fortunately, lots of the art work from Pompeii is now on display at the National Museum in Naples.  These displays include a special room for the naughty, erotic works and my artistic interests compelled me to make a visit.  Those wealthy Romans knew how to have a good time!  These are photos of the amphitheater, remains of some of the former inhabitants who were killed by the eruptions, ancient streets with chariot ruts visible and street scene with Mt Vesuvius in the background.

We ended the day after a stimulating bus ride over the Sorrento peninsula and down the steep cliffs to the  town of Amalfi and our Hotel Residence, home for the next 3 nights.

SUNDAY 13 MAY, 2012

Today, Mother's Day, we took a bus ride up to the nearby town of Ravello for a walk-around tour and then a hike back to Amalfi.  At Ravello we checked out two spectacular villas and their gardens: the 11th century Villa Rufolo and the Villa Cimbrone.  We then made our descent back down to sea level arriving at the town, Minori.  We realized that the return to Amalfi required a climb back up the cliffs or a walk on the crowded highway (not!!) or take the bus (yes).  In Minori we took the opportunity to visit a  Roman villa that was a  sea resort for some 1st century emperor.

MONDAY 14 MAY, 2012

On this morning we had some heavy rains but that did not stop us from our loop hike up to the village of Pontone via the Valley of Mills (old, deserted paper mills), the Torre dello Zirro (an old castle/fort overlooking Amalfi) and, finally, down a steep hill with never ending stairs.  By this time we had observed that hiking in this area is not easy-it is all vertical and hard on the legs.  We were rewarded for our efforts, however, by the amazing views,  the marvelous country side with vegetable gardens and with endless lemon and olive orchards.

TUESDAY 15 MAY, 2012

Today we checked out of Hotel Residence and had our bags delivered to our next destination, the town of Positano.  Most of our group then took a bus to the town of Bomerano and hiked the "Santiero degli Dei ("Path of the Gods") to Positano.  This was an 8 mile hike with a descent from 2100 feet to 450 feet elevation at our next hotel, Hotel Pasitea.  Actually, because of the up and down terrain we did a cumulative descent of 2700 feet and ascended 1130 feet as we walked and gazed down upon the incredible coast and passed through small towns of Nocello and Montepertuso.  It was a long and satisfying day and we were rewarded with great hotel rooms-some with patios and views of the Mediterranean.

WEDNESDAY 16 MAY, 2012

This was a "free" day for some of us -no hiking.  JJ and I enjoyed our patio and checked out the town of Positano and the beaches far below our hotel. Positano is a very "well to do" community and is noted for its ladies fashion shops.  Walking on the streets and sidewalks here, as in the other areas we visited, was not pleasant because of the narrow paths and never ending traffic.  Of course, one can avoid the road walking and go via back alleys but they are mostly vertical!

THURSDAY 17 MAY, 2012

Some of us rode the bus from Positano up to the village of Montepertuso (we decided that bus riding is better than repeating the very steep climb back up to the village) and then did a loop hike back to Montepertuso.  At the beginning of the day's hike we experienced the continuing frustration of trying to follow the written trail descriptions provided by World Walks.  The instructions said to get off the bus before reaching the stadium.  Duhh! How are we to know we are before the stadium.  Then the instructions said to walk to the left passing underneath the restaurant, Il Ritovo.  We spent some time and effort looking for a tunnel or some passage that goes under a restaurant only to conclude the instructions are not for American English. We would say "in front of the restaurant". Oh well, we figured it all out and were soon on our way.

The loop hike took us up and past the church Santa Maria del Castello where we had our picnic lunch and were joined by two local dogs and a couple from Germany (I think).  Then it was down again past a "foresters" old house and then returned to Montepertuso and a bus ride back to Positano.

During the evenings "planning session" we contemplated how we would manage to hike all the way to our next overnight venue given that the instructions and maps we had did not inspire a lot of confidence on finding one's way.  Suddenly, Don received a phone call from World Walks telling us that a van will pick us up in the morning. Whew!!

FRIDAY 18 MAY, 2012

At 10:30am the van delivered us to the Hotel Sirene in the quaint little sea side village of Marina di Cantone.  This is one of several very small towns along the coast and I think we were the only guests in the hotel.  I had hoped to walk along the coast to visit the village of Crapolla but, alas, it was too far.  A few of our group took our "free" time to go for a swim but the water is very cold and beaches are all rocky.

SATURDAY 19 MAY, 2012

Most of our group took a bus from Marina di Cantone over the peninsula to Sorrento, our next overnight venue. Don, Stan, Walter and I took a bus up to the town of Termini, the western most or "terminal" town on the Sorrentine Peninsula.  Walter walked from there to Sorrento while Don, Stan and I did a loop hike out to the Punta Campanella which is at the very tip of the peninsula.  This was a difficult hike down some very, steep and rough rocks but we made it OK to the old watch tower where it is said Ulysses erected a temple to honor the goddess Athena.  Along the way we visited the small church of San Costanzo and its marvelous 360 degree views across both the Bays of Naples and Solerno and to the island of Capri.  We had a pleasant picnic lunch while sitting on the rocks and finishing off a bit of wine left over from earlier picnic.  Our picnic activities were met with great approval by a group of Italian hikers who passed by. The return hike along the base of the peninsula was along a relatively easy trail among lots of olive and lemon orchards.  Back at Termini we napped in the park and waited for a 5PM pickup by the bus carrying all our luggage over to Sorrento.

    There are ancient watch towers stationed all along the coast.  These were built to provide look outs, protections and warnings to local folks when pirates came to raid.

SUNDAY 20 MAY, 2012

Our group took a ferry trip over to Capri for the day.  The round trip ferry from Sorrento was €30 each.  The ferry delivers passengers to the "beach" area of Capri and a bus, hike or funicular ride is then required to ascend to the actual town of Capri. Some of our group did a very fast hike out to some Roman ruins and then a bus to the other town of Anacapri and back.  The rest of us just hung out until 2pm when we started our boat tour around the island.  The boat tour, I believe, was the highlight of our Capri trip (too touristy and crowded) for all of us. Our skipper was Antonio (I think) who is the patriarch of a boat tour family which includes his two sons as tour guides.  He took great pride in not being a "pirate" like most of the boat operators and took us into spaces ("very difficult") that the other "pirates" would by-pass.  For instance, we skipped the famous Blue Grottos because that is for pirates and, besides, it was a cloudy day and blue water would not show up so well.

 MONDAY 21 MAY, 2012

This was our last full day for our "Amalfi hiking group" adventure.  Some of the group (Kathy, Don, Stan and Bob) did a final day's hike while the rest of us went sightseeing around Sorrento.  JJ, Carrie and I did another "hop on hop off" bus tour of the area including a loop trip back out to the west  through the towns of Massa Lubrense, Termini (again) and "Saint Agathas of the Two Gulfs".

In the evening we had our last dinner together.  By this time we were getting accustomed to the menus and typical selections.  We would pick and choose among the antipasta, first course, second course, etc (separate checks, per favore) and only on a few occasions did any of us order the complete dinners which include some of everthing.  JJ and I usually shared stuff and our bills were around €25-35 for the two of us.  During our stay the exchange rates were such that it cost about $1.30 to buy one euro so meals were not cheap.  One of our favorites was the mixed salad with yummy ripe tomatoes and greens.  It seemed the local gardens were providing the fresh produce. 

TUESDAY 22 MAY, 2012

On this rainy, chilly day we did some final sightseeing in Sorrento and packed up for our check out from the Hotel Astoria.  World Walks provided two vans for our return to Naples area.  One van took Stan, JJ and me back to the Hotel Executive in Naples and the rest to a hotel near the airport for early departure back to USA.

WEDNESDAY 23 MAY, 2012

At about 9AM Stan, JJ and I departed Naples via the first class fast train (€58 each) to Rome.  We were soon checked into the very nice Best Western Universo Hotel and ready for some sightseeing adventures.  The taxi driver at the train station in Rome was very honest with us and told us our hotel is very near the train station but for €15 would take us there. Indeed, we soon learned the hotel is only about 2 short blocks from the station!

WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY 23 -26 MAY, 2012

The three of us were soon on a whirl wind 4 day "let's see everything" mission.  We toured the Colosseum, the Forum, the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel, St Peter's Basilica and plaza, the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Venezia and Il Vittorian and about 1000 other plazas, fountains. basilicas and stuff. In the forum I have a photo of the place where Julius Caesar was cremated (OK, that is what they claim.) People still place flowers on that spot.

We visited the Sistine Chapel along with hundreds of other tourists after having to walk through at least 50 museums of this and galleries of that until finally reaching our real destination, the Chapel. By this time we were pretty tired and it was  very crowded.  I was amused that one of the Vatican museum guards had the job of saying "Sshhh, quiet please" about every 3 minutes after which the crowds' murmuring volume would go up again.

We did a nice evening stroll (at suggestion of Rick Steves' travel book) from Piazza del Papolo down the Corso Avenue (no traffic!!) and to the Spanish Steps where hundred of people were sitting and people watching.  On the steps we observed a curious event.  We saw and man and his two daughters (we guessed) conducting their evening Muslim prayers on the stairs but in a very discrete and out of the way nook.  A policeman came and ran them away!  Apparently, public Muslim prayers are not allowed??

We paid €30 each for a "Roma Pass" which provided a card with 3 days unlimited subway and bus rides and two free museum admissions.  This was a good investment and very convenient for the subway rides.

Stan and I crashed (inadvertently) a wedding in a  magnificent basilica near our hotel. 

On the last day we used the bus to get to Largo de Argentina and then to the Pantheon (no subway lines for this destination).  It turned out to be a very, very expensive bus ride because a pickpocket made off with about €80 from my pocket!!  My bad!! My multi-tasking skills have become very limited and I can not hang on in the bus, read a map and guard my pockets at the same time.

On this last day we also really enjoyed the great views of the city from atop the Il Vittoriano building.  Here we could see all before us to the south the ancient Roman forum and Colloseum  and to the north the Pantheon, Corso Avenue, Spanish steps and off in the distance (out of sight) lay the Vatican.

SUNDAY 27 MAY, 2012

We had a 5:30am taxi ride (€60) out to the airport for our return flights to US.  JJ and I did Alitalia direct to LAX and then a commuter hop to San Diego.  Stan had a later flight to London and then direct to San Diego.  Our flight was 13 hours to LA and 4 hour lay over for the 30 minute San Diego hop.

Anyway, we all made it back home safe and sound-thus ending another excellent adventure!!

THE END