Amalfi Coast

We spent a week camping in Sorrento, which turned out to be a great base for doing everything in the area. Sorrento itself is beautiful, but very busy in high season. The weather is always hot and with very little rain at this time of year the Brits and Northern Europeans are everywhere. We did a day trip to the Isle of Capri and went on a round the island boat trip; including a quick duck ( literally - the entrance is very small)into the blue grotto on a rowing boat. We travelled along the famous coastal drive from Sorrento to Amalfi by bus. It must be one of the most amazing stretches of coastline in Europe. We did a day trip to Pompeii. Ever since Std 6 Latin class I have wanted to go there and now we finally did. It is really an amazingly well preserved archealogical city and so extensive. We also did a day trip to Napoli. The beaches are pretty,but small and very cramped due to the coastline of mainly cliffs. I think the best way to go to the beaches and see the coastline properly would be to have your own boat.

Sicily

We crossed from the bottom tip of the Italian mainland to Sicily on a ferry. Sicily is one of those places you both love and hate at the same time. I was hoping to see Godfather types sitting around in cafes drinking expresso and talking in hushed tones. Not that any Sicilian is able to talk in hushed tones; converstaions are always very loud and very animated. Anyway, I have learned from watching the Sopranos that the mafia are always involved in the construction and waste management industries and in Sicily on both counts they are doing a bad job it seems. Half completed and ugly construction projects are everywhere and there is so much litter that it makes downtown Joburg look pristine. That aside, Sicily has some beautiful towns,wonderful seaside spots and great historical sites. We spent a few days in Taurmina, and saw Jethro Tull in concert in a 2000 year old amphitheatre. The band is nearly as old as the building but the concert was great.We also spent time in Syracruse and a few days in Palermo. Palermo is a gritty and dirty city that really grows on you, though. There are wonderful cheap restaurants and great markets but also some pretty dodgy slums. Sicilian drivers have to be the worst in the world and every single car there is full of scratches and dings. Getting a new car there would be madness.Italians are the only people who could rush like madmen in the traffic;hooting and yelling and smoking and talking on the phone and driving;home to siesta, where they eat a leisurely meal and sleep for two hours, only to get up and drive back into town like total hooligans again. We left Palermo before 8am to avoid the morning rush hour and make it onto the highway in one piece.

Sightseeing in Southern Italy

We travelled through a few lesser known regions like Le Marche, Basilicata and Molise as well as Puglia,Calabria and Abruzzo. There are many national parks to visit and beautiful mountain passes to drive, some pretty hair-raising. The landscape is dotted with hilltop villages, some clinging precariously to mountainsides and always topped by a castle or a church. Agriculture is still very widespread with vineyards,olive groves and wheatfields predominating. They produce 80% of Europes pasta in Puglia apparently!There are also many historic gems and plenty of Unesco World Heritage sites to see. Among the highlights for us were the mountain city of Ascoli Piceno, the stone roofed Trulli houses in Alberobello, the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna and the medieval city of Matera. We also went to San Marino, a tiny independant principality surrounded by beautiful farming landscapes.
Italians love food and each little place or region has there own specialities,which of course we always have to try. Sadly the urban sprawl in some places is awful and a real eye-sore.

Seaside Italy

Italy has a very long coastline and we have travelled nearly all of it now and have come to the conclusion that it is one long overdeveloped string of cheap hotels and camping villages. Most of the towns are pretty tacky and long stretches of the coast are very boring with flat strips of grey sand meeting flat blue water. Inbetween all these are some really amazing coastal areas and wonderful beaches though. Our favourites included Gallipoli, Tropea and Maratea. Most Europeans like a summer holiday at the sea and as long as the sun is shining and they can rent a beach chair and an umbrella on a strip of sand, they seem happy. Staying in campsites at the beach, gives you a wonderful insight into Italian holiday life. It seems that the extended family moves lock, stock and barrel from the city to their caravan or cabin by the sea. Everyone loves living right on top of each other. There are no early risers and after breakfast everyone hits the beach. The team of teenage entertainment organisers hold aerobics, volleyball and bocce on the beach. After lunch, siesta is strictly observed until 4pm, when everyone returns to the beach. After dinner, at 9pm, organised caberet shows are held, with guests and all the kids joining in. This is followed by a disco of bad pop music and all the favourite "join in" songs like Macarena and YMCA ,until midnight when everyone goes to bed. And it is always the same,every night, in every campsite. We stay up watching episodes of House or Sopranos until lights out time.

Venice

Venice is one of our favourite European cities and it was great to spend a few days there with Paul and Nikki. We spent all our time wandering from piazza to piazza and riding the canals on the water busses. It is such a photogenic city and despite it being well into the summer season, we did not find it too crowded. There was quite a lot of restoration work going on in Piazza san Marco, and to Nikkis dissappointment the Bridge of Sighs was covered up with scaffolding and advertising. We also spent a day in Padua and travelled along the Brenta Riviera, the area where all the wealthy Venetians built summer palaces.

Konigssee and Austria

We drove down to Konigssee in southern Bavaria. It is a beautiful lake area and the place where Hitlers hideout called Eagles Nest is. Then we went to the lake disrtict in Austria, west of Salzburg for a few days.