Monday 20th May Off reasonably early to see the Colosseum as our tickets from yesterday were valid for it as well as the Forum & we could go straight in rather than queue for a ticket. We skipped the audio guide after yesterday's fiasco & were glad we did as, in contrast to the Forum, the signage & explanations are really great. The place was built for 75,000 spectators & even in its runed form is still huge by any standards, with a very complex ...

Tuesday 14th May After breakfast had a short walk & then were off to the station to catch the fast train to Rome. Fast it certainly was & smooth & quiet also reaching 296kph at one stage & so it was a very pleasant if expensive ride. As it didn't pass through any stations I think that it must run on a separate track from the rest of the network most of the time. Joanne & Gian Carlo met us at the station & then drove us around a few of th...

Monday 13th May Walked down to the port area & caught a ferry to Capri an island about 50 mins by sea from Naples about 8km from the nearest mainland. After arrival we took a tiny, very crammed, bus up to Anacapri, one of the 2 little towns on the island which rises 400+m out of the sea. The buildings, mostly in white, look so smart after the drabness of Naples & the town is laced with narrow alleys a la Mikonos in Greece but what amazed us was the upmar...

Friday 10th May Set off for the station at about 7.30 & went to buy a ticket to Naples. Only 1st class was available at E140 so we took it, much to Dick's disgust. The train trip was Ok but it was delayed in a tunnel for 25 mins before Taormina which was frustrating. We did get our best views of Mt Etna from the train as it was a beautiful day. The countryside of eastern Sicily is so fertile that everywhere vegetables or fruit are grown. As the track ran a...

A day of frustrations. We had an early breakfast & walked to the bus station to catch an 8am bus to Syracuse (Siracusa) & waited until a bus turned up at 8.45. d*** had misinterpreted instructions re bus times a couple of days before. It was an interesting ride and at one stage we passed a huge petrochemical complex which ran for several kms with a long set of breakwaters for the tankers etc. We arrived in Syracuse in a very scruffy street but found our ...