To describe the streets as crowded would be something of an understatement.
she assured me that her fingernails were real and that they took three years to grow to that length. She must spend a few bob on nail varnish.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Monte Faito
Seven stops down from Sorrento on the Circumvesuviana brings you to Castellammare and the cable-car stop is within the railway station. The ride to the top of the mountain is spectacular; the slopes are almost entirely wooded, though you catch glimpses of the narrow winding road to the summit as you ascend.
Amongst the pleasures at the top is the fact that the elevation and the tree cover mean that it is lovely and cool for walking. The other pleasure is that it is quiet - during our two hour plus walk, we saw only two people. The paths are not particulalry well marked but you would have to be a pretty useless navigator to get lost. There is little wildlife to be seen, apart from a few birds and beutiful butterflies. Perhaps we were not looking in the right places or maybe it was siesta time. What's the Italian for siesta?
We did see sheep grazing perilously close to the edges of vast vertical drops and a mountain shepherdess, with Vesuvio in the background.
Amongst the pleasures at the top is the fact that the elevation and the tree cover mean that it is lovely and cool for walking. The other pleasure is that it is quiet - during our two hour plus walk, we saw only two people. The paths are not particulalry well marked but you would have to be a pretty useless navigator to get lost. There is little wildlife to be seen, apart from a few birds and beutiful butterflies. Perhaps we were not looking in the right places or maybe it was siesta time. What's the Italian for siesta?We did see sheep grazing perilously close to the edges of vast vertical drops and a mountain shepherdess, with Vesuvio in the background.Amalfi
You have a number of choices as to how to get to Amalfi from Sorrento. The cheapest is via local buses but this means little fresh air and a long time on the hair pins. There are organised tours in coaches (argh!) or mini buses but we opted for the boat. Yes, it was crowded but we has fabulous views of the bay and the coastal peninsula, time to swim off Capri and the option of either calling in at Positano or at Amalfi.
The main piazza is dominated by the wonderful Duomo, which, like the other Italian places of worship that we have visited, is beautifully decorated and preserved. The town is very busy but the atmosphere is at the same time relaxed and friendly. The gelateria does a good trade!
The place is crammed with souvenir shops but there are many narrow lanes and alleys up and down steps where you can enjoy looking at the colourfully painted buildings, courtyards and gardens. People on the beach are squashed together like sardines, I cannot see how that can be at all enjoyable!
The main piazza is dominated by the wonderful Duomo, which, like the other Italian places of worship that we have visited, is beautifully decorated and preserved. The town is very busy but the atmosphere is at the same time relaxed and friendly. The gelateria does a good trade!The place is crammed with souvenir shops but there are many narrow lanes and alleys up and down steps where you can enjoy looking at the colourfully painted buildings, courtyards and gardens. People on the beach are squashed together like sardines, I cannot see how that can be at all enjoyable!Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Napoli
We arrived at the Circumvesuviana station, from where it was a fascinating walk to the Duomo. The main station is best avoided, as it is currently a gigantic building site. The Duomo sits snugly between buildings in the Via Duomo, and though it is fairly unassuming from the outside, the interior is beautiful, particularly in the San Gennaro Chapel, which is dedicated to Napoli's patron saint, some of whose blood is kept in phials beneath the altar. Three times a year the phials are brought out before a packed congregation and by a miracle the blood liquefies. If the blood does not then this is a bad omen. It failed to liquefy in 1944 for example, and that year Vesuvio erupted. Never mind that WWII happened to be in full swing!
Napoli is unlike Italy's other great cities; it is sprawling, dirty and smelly in places but fascinating nonmetheless. there are scores of narrow streets, barely wide enough for two people to walk walk abreast at times and yet cars and the ubiquious scooters hurtle along amidst the washing lines (mind you don't get dripped on!) and debris.
Not all scooters are roadworthy.
From the duomo we walk to the Madre, Napoli's superb museum of modern art. Again, the building is modest and not easy to find, tucked away in a side street and the site of a former convent. Works include some by Jeff Koons, Warhol and Roy Leichstenstein. One of the best things about the place is that many of the exhibits are interactive, you are encouraged to sit on, walk into and touch some of them. 
No visit to Napoli is complete without a small pizza!
Napoli is unlike Italy's other great cities; it is sprawling, dirty and smelly in places but fascinating nonmetheless. there are scores of narrow streets, barely wide enough for two people to walk walk abreast at times and yet cars and the ubiquious scooters hurtle along amidst the washing lines (mind you don't get dripped on!) and debris.Not all scooters are roadworthy.
From the duomo we walk to the Madre, Napoli's superb museum of modern art. Again, the building is modest and not easy to find, tucked away in a side street and the site of a former convent. Works include some by Jeff Koons, Warhol and Roy Leichstenstein. One of the best things about the place is that many of the exhibits are interactive, you are encouraged to sit on, walk into and touch some of them.
Another meandering walk brings us to the Cappella Sansevero, which is the tomb chapel of the di Sangro family. The decoration of the chapel is extraordinary in its colour, detail and beauty. Downstairs in the crypt there are two upright bodies on display in glass cases, one a man, the other a woman. The skeletons are encased by the hardened arteries and veins, which are coloured red and blue respectively. It is at the same time mesmerising and macabre.
Amongst the works of art in the chapel is the astonishing carving of a dead Christ shrouded in a veil and cut from a single piece of marble. The gossamer like veil is so thin you almost feel as if you could lift it, don't try anything though - there are two ecclesiastical bouncers standing at the main altar!
Below you is a picture of the 'ruota', the wheel.
Next to the now empty church of Santissima Anunziata is a building that was once an orphanage. In its outer wall is a small window through which unwanted babies were placed. These abandoned babies were put into the compartment of a wooden cylindrical drum and it is said that when the nurses heard a cry they would hurry to the drum, rottae it and pick up the new arrival. We are informed that these children then enjoyed advantages such as food, clothing, somewhere to sleep and an education. As you can see, the wheel is in good working order but the outside entrance has been closed and marked with the date that the last orphan was received, namely 27 June 1875.
No visit to Napoli is complete without a small pizza!
Vesuvio
We left Pompeii in the early afternoon and decided that it would be foolish to climb the world's most famous volcano and the reason why Pompeii was destroyed in AD79.
We bought tickets for a bus which took nine of us through the scruffy but interesting outer suburbs of greater Napoli up to the National Park entrance. The advantage of the bus was that there were so few of us. The crowds seem to go from Ercolano and from Napoli. Once in the National Park we transferred to a more robust vehicle which took us up through the densely wooded slopes of Vesuvio for about thirty minutes via a succession of hairpins, with occasional views of Napoli and the Mediterranean far below.
We bought tickets for a bus which took nine of us through the scruffy but interesting outer suburbs of greater Napoli up to the National Park entrance. The advantage of the bus was that there were so few of us. The crowds seem to go from Ercolano and from Napoli. Once in the National Park we transferred to a more robust vehicle which took us up through the densely wooded slopes of Vesuvio for about thirty minutes via a succession of hairpins, with occasional views of Napoli and the Mediterranean far below.
From the car park the ascent to the crater took us thirty minutes. Our sandals were fine for walking in, apart from the fact that the gravel occasionally got under our feet. The climb is gradual, not at all difficult and the view from the top is well worth it.
We saw some steam drifting up from the crater but apart from that, the volcano was quiet. I read that the civil authorities have an evacuation plan - to move 2 million people - if Vesuvio does show signs of flowing. You will see various measuring equipment at and around the top of you look carefully.
We all blasted our feet and shoes with compressed air before getting back on the bus - red dust everywhere. There's now also a large lump of red rock sitting in our back garden.
We all blasted our feet and shoes with compressed air before getting back on the bus - red dust everywhere. There's now also a large lump of red rock sitting in our back garden.Pompeii
I will leave you to read the guide books for descriptions of Pompeii but any that understate the magnificence of the site are to be discounted.
To get the best value and most enjoyment I suggest that you get there at or soon after opening time (0830hrs) which will be well before the tour parties arrive. The train from Sorrento (the Circumvesuviana) took abouit 40 minutes and Pompeii-Scavi station is very close to the main entrance. The trains are basic but frequent and cheap, with on-board entertainment in the form of buskers - they are good but you get fed up with La Bamba after a while...
We spent all morning at the site. It's a good idea to visit the Forum and Grand Theatre early on, whilst the place is quiet, and then head off to places such as the Amphitheatre, villas, vineyards and the horrifying casts of citizens caught under nearly three metres of ash.
To get the best value and most enjoyment I suggest that you get there at or soon after opening time (0830hrs) which will be well before the tour parties arrive. The train from Sorrento (the Circumvesuviana) took abouit 40 minutes and Pompeii-Scavi station is very close to the main entrance. The trains are basic but frequent and cheap, with on-board entertainment in the form of buskers - they are good but you get fed up with La Bamba after a while...
We spent all morning at the site. It's a good idea to visit the Forum and Grand Theatre early on, whilst the place is quiet, and then head off to places such as the Amphitheatre, villas, vineyards and the horrifying casts of citizens caught under nearly three metres of ash.
Sorrento
The Capodimonte is a great place to relax; it is great to lie in the sun and read a book then take a dip in one of the five cool pools, follwing by the cold drink of your choice. After all that effort it is important to enjoy a good lunch!
Sorrento
Grand Hotel Capodimonte is worth its four stars. Friendly and helpful staff, large and comfortable rooms with great views, such that of Vesuvio seen across
the bay from our balcony.
Lovely gardens with sunbathing by the pool or in the quiet shade of the trees. The menu is varied and the food is very well prepared to make dining on the terrace in the evening or above the pool in the afternoon very pleasurable experiences.
Lovely gardens with sunbathing by the pool or in the quiet shade of the trees. The menu is varied and the food is very well prepared to make dining on the terrace in the evening or above the pool in the afternoon very pleasurable experiences.The town is just a short walk away, the major hazard in trying to get there is crossing the road - cars and buses will stop for you but the tearaways on scooters rarely do.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Bosherston
6 August 2010
Lucky us, the good weather continued for our long weekend in Pembrokeshire. We stopped in lovely Abergavenny on the way for breakfast and a walk round then took the heads of the valley road to join the M4 at Neath. A further stop in bustling Narberth for lunch, then on to Haverfordwest.
Colby woodland garden is set in a truly beautiful and tranquil valley just above Amroth. We enjoyed the walled garden and woodland walk down to the beach to finish with afternoon tea.
Lucky us, the good weather continued for our long weekend in Pembrokeshire. We stopped in lovely Abergavenny on the way for breakfast and a walk round then took the heads of the valley road to join the M4 at Neath. A further stop in bustling Narberth for lunch, then on to Haverfordwest.
Colby woodland garden is set in a truly beautiful and tranquil valley just above Amroth. We enjoyed the walled garden and woodland walk down to the beach to finish with afternoon tea.
Pools full of pike, perch roach, an abundance of lilies and dragonflies, woodland birds that will feed from your hand and beautiful woodland paths make Bosherston a wonderful place to spend a day. To top that, you emerge from the woods to see the gorgeous sands of Broad Haven spread before you. We resisted the temptation to laze on the beach and opted to walk the cliff path. The scenery is breathtaking, as good as anywhere on the planet, and Pembrokeshire is almost toally unspoilt. The beaches in the photos are empty because the only way to get to them is by boat or by abseiling down.
Two picnics in one summer, this global warming does bring some benefits!
Diana Krall at Kenwood
10 July 2010
The key components of an enjoyable outdoor concert for me are; outstanding music, superb weather and plenty of top quality food and drink. We had all three.
July 2010 in southern England was lovely and warm, so much so that the lack of rain resulted in our lawn becoming very brown. The concert sat right in the middle of that dry spell and so the portents were good.
You cannot park near Kenwood on a concert day, unless you want your vehicle to get towed away, and so a train ride then a bus from Archway got us to the front gate.
The lack of wind, the light cloud in a sunny sky and the warm temperature put concert goers in happy pre-concert mood, and a significant majority of sat down to enjoy their picnics before the music began. We enjoyed red wine with our meats, cheeses, salads spread out before us on the grass.
Off to the less than luxurious deckchairs a few rows from the front for the opening act, a singer songwriter whose name I cannot remember - sorry mate, you weren't that good.
DK isn't full on jazz anymore and the set includes lots of bossa nova style songs and some standards from the 'great American songbook' but put together it was a top quality evening, no areoplanes overhead, just great music floating towards and over us.
The key components of an enjoyable outdoor concert for me are; outstanding music, superb weather and plenty of top quality food and drink. We had all three.
July 2010 in southern England was lovely and warm, so much so that the lack of rain resulted in our lawn becoming very brown. The concert sat right in the middle of that dry spell and so the portents were good.
You cannot park near Kenwood on a concert day, unless you want your vehicle to get towed away, and so a train ride then a bus from Archway got us to the front gate.
The lack of wind, the light cloud in a sunny sky and the warm temperature put concert goers in happy pre-concert mood, and a significant majority of sat down to enjoy their picnics before the music began. We enjoyed red wine with our meats, cheeses, salads spread out before us on the grass.
Off to the less than luxurious deckchairs a few rows from the front for the opening act, a singer songwriter whose name I cannot remember - sorry mate, you weren't that good.
DK isn't full on jazz anymore and the set includes lots of bossa nova style songs and some standards from the 'great American songbook' but put together it was a top quality evening, no areoplanes overhead, just great music floating towards and over us.
There's a free bus back to the tube station!
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