Departed Rome for Pompeii and Sorrento, southern Italy (Campania). The country-side appeared similar to coastal Queensland except for the abundance of Umbrella Pines. As we travelled Mt Vesuvius began to appear and before long it was all that we could see on the horizon. Vesuvius is a huge volcanic mountain with twin craters and is still active. We arrived in Pompeii for a walking tour of the excavations that have uncovered the ancient city buried under 30 metres of volcanic ash when Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Having learned about the fate of Pompeii at school and read and seen TV documentaries, nothing beats being there to experience first-hand the preservation of the town. The detail is amazing. You can identify which buildings were bakers, restaurants, brothels etc and touch the grooves made by the Roman chariots. Only about 30% of old Pompeii has been excavated to-date.

After the tour we had some lunch then leaving Pompeii behind we set off for Sorrento and the surrounding areas which sit to the south of the lower foothills of Mt Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples. The entire area consists of huge sandstone cliffs and shops and houses are perched on sheer cliffs. The roads are very narrow (and I mean one car at a time narrow) but we managed to fit the bus, a car and a couple of motor scooters on the road on many occasions. It is obvious road rules are not followed. (see also today's insights). At times the bus needed to do 3-point turns to navigate some of the tight hair-pin bends. The ride rivalled any scary carnival ride but the scenery was to die for.

The view from the room of our very southern-Italy hotel is magic - it overlooks Sorrento and the Bay of Naples with Mt Vesuvius in the background. After checking into our hotel we set of in some mini-buses for a tour of the Amalfi Coast and the small towns including Positano and Amalfi. These small towns are also built on or into the sheer cliffs and have stunning elevated views of Mt Vesuvius, Naples and the Bay of Naples on the western side of the Mediterranean Sea on the eastern side. Real estate is only affordable for the wealthy - an average 1 bedroom apartment starts at about $860,000. Space is at a premium in the area and there is no room to park a car. Cars are usually parked on the car-accessible streets some distance away from the main area. There is a very high ownership of motor scooters in the area. The local government has approved the development of a secure parking garage but will cost about $100,000 to purchase a permanent parking bay.
We had some free time to browse the shops in Amalfi before returning to our hotel for dinner and discuss tomorrow's trip to Capri.
Today's insights:
- We had been told, and experienced first-hand that Rome's drivers consider traffic lights as mere decoration.
- Black and green olives are the fruit from the same tree - the black olives are simply the ripe olives.
- Sting has a standing booking for a unit at a top hotel in Amalfi - he pays $6,000 per day wether he is there or not.