Homer 2022 : Sorrento, Positano, Naples

10 to 13 June

We had to arrive early at Nube d' Argente campsite in Sorrento.

Perched high above the ocean and only a short walk into town, this is a prized spot in Sorrento; one of our favourite little cities in Italy.

Sorrento is poised on the edge of a cliff overlooking a beautiful emerald sea. The beach clubs are built on piers and platforms in the sea.

There's even an elevator to get you back up at the end of the day. A euro well spent! We aren't really tanning types so we nab a good table at the bar and sit for hours with wine,  snacks, lunch and aperativos and watch the sea and the goings-on.

Menon met up with us for a few days too. There are lots of British tourists here, which means an Irish pub or two and coverage of rugby on TV all weekend.

Sorrento has some pretty good restaurants, a lot of them specialising in seafood.

 Neil loves the grilled octopus.

One day we took a boat trip to picture-perfect Positano.

Menon found such a great restaurant with an awesome view and great food.

Our rule about not expecting good food if there's a view was blown out the window. 

We did a day trip to Naples.

What great coffee and sfogliatella.

We wandered the streets of the fascinating old spanish quarter.

Neil found the best ever local, artisenal Napolese pizza joint.

We squeezed around one of four outdoor tables with cars brushing past our bums and scooters careering down the hill towards us and with the cacophony of hooters and sirens as background music, we tucked into the best pizza we're ever eaten.

As we boarded the train at the end of the day, a fellow passenger's wallet was nicked from his pocket in front of our eyes. By the same boys who had tried to grab Vivienne's phone out of her hand while she took a photo of the station.. That's Napoli - with it's reputation for Pizza and Pickpockets!

Homer 2022 : Pompeii, Herculaneum and Civita

2,9,14 and 15 June

We left Rome early to arrive at Herculeneum in time to see the city ruins.  It's a mostly downhill 2.5km walk from the campsite.

We were impressed by how well preserved the frescoes and mozaics are.

Herculaneum was a Roman port city not as close to Versuvius as Pompeii. It hasn't been well excavated due to funding and other issues. The ruins extend right under the current town.

We got caught in the vending snackbar by a downpour and luckily got a taxi back to the camp. We ordered in pizza for dinner - we were in the suburbs of Naples after all.

After Sorrento we spent two nights in a campsite right opposite the Pompeii archeological site.

The size and scale of these ruins are impressive. It's easy to imagine what life was like 2000 years ago here by just wandering around.

We are not fans of taking a guided tour and following around like sheep but there were lots of such groups traipsing around and we snuck in behind them to grab some interesting snipets of information now and then. Why does everyone queue up to see the brothel in particular?

Check out the advertising.

And this "Beware of the Dog" sign at the front door of this villa.

Before Rome we visited the hilltop town of Civita di Bagnoregio, accessible by foot path only.

Campervan parking is usually further out of town than other carparks so we had done over 2kms before we even started the trek across the bridge but we endured and enjoyed.

Lido Camping on Lake Bolsena; an easy summer getaway for Roman families.

Homer 2022 : Rome

Friday 3 June to Wednesday 8 June

Rome.. one of my favourite European cities... we stayed 6 nights and it wasn't nearly enough.  There's so much history to see but that's just the tip of the iceberg and the big tourist drawcards are really busy. We just scheduled one 'site' a day.

Trevi Fountain. 

Cropped.

Reality.

Vatican Museum.

Spanish Steps and Via Condutti.

Coliseum and around.

Modern Art Museum.

Basilica Papale de Santa Maria Maggiore.

Pantheon and around.

 We spent the rest of our time discovering different neighbourhoods and strolling the streets. If you don't do anything else in Rome, spend your evenings sitting in the piazzas and watching the world go by. Soak up the atmosphere. La Dolce Vita..

Some of our favourite spots this time...

Piazza Navona and around.

Campo de Fiori and around.

Trastavere.

Testaccio.

Discovering little places just off the beaten track is fun. 

And enjoy the food..Especially the Roman specialities...

Overpriced Gelato at Trevi Fountain because we've had it here since we first came to Rome 30 years ago. 

Artichokes - 3 ways in this case

Porchetta  - yummy street food

Spaghetti Carbonara and Tonarelli Cacio e Pepe 

We enjoyed some good restaurants, most rather touristy but next time we'd like to stay for a month or more and become real Roman foodies.

4 Fiumi - for the view and not overpriced for Navona. 

La Fattoincasa - we ate here twice -  just for Neil to have the lamb chops. 

Restorante Arco da St. Calisto

Bona - fast food pizza

Pizza Ciro

If you need to see any sport other than soccer in Italy you need to find an Irish Pub. We watched French Open Tennis and a bit of rugby - at the The Abbey Theatre Pub. Rude Italian owner, jaded, sharp -tounged Irish barman and a few foreign waitresses running scared. Not our usual place but for sport the choices are limited and we got on with them all anyway. 

We found a little Vespa museum. They had our his (1959 ) and hers (1963 ) models side by side.