Pompeii

Last time I wrote we were in the little port of Maiori on the Amalfi coast waiting for a visit from Sue’s Mum and Dad. On the Saturday they arrived we hired a small car and headed off up the steep hills of Amalfi to Naples airport. Cresting these hills we got our first quite staggering view of Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. The cone of Vesuvius itself is a National Park, but the plain that spreads below it contains a great urban sprawl interlaced with motorways. Vesuvius has the potential to blow its top big time and the effects on this vast metropolis don’t bear thinking about.

Maiori was a perfect spot for us to stay while Sue’s Mum and Dad came to visit and we managed to find them a hotel which overlooked the little port. It was a very sociable time with two other British boats in the harbour, “Chin Chin II” and “Gwen L” who we’d been cruising with on and off since Calabria. One evening we ended up taking a table for ten at one of the local restaurants. During their stay Sue’s Dad gave her a couple of fishing lessons, which she put to good use later.

While we had the car we drove over to Pompeii and spent a day there. For those who haven’t been it is one of those places that more than lives up to its reputation. The site is vast and the buildings complete enough to give one a very real idea of what a prosperous Roman town actually looked like, including the often sumptuous internal mosaics and wall paintings. While we were there a large military helicopter flew low over the site. A little later we found it had landed next to the Coliseum and was surrounded by ambulances and carabinieri. Some expensive suits were also hanging around sipping wine and talking on their mobile ‘phones. Then a forklift truck appeared and moved up to the helicopter before slowly and carefully removing a large and ornate chair from inside the helicopter. There was much debate between the suits as this was going on and the carabinieri told us to put our cameras away. Suddenly we made a link to a newspaper report we’d seen a couple of days previously – the Pope (“il Papa”) was due to pay a visit to Pompeii on 7th October and this was obviously a rehearsal.

We spent an enjoyable week exploring the Amalfi coast, including the beautiful hill town of Ravello, which is several hundred feet above Maiori and a discrete watering hole for the rich and famous. A car is not however, the best way to explore this area. The roads are narrow and very winding, the traffic is horrendous and there are few places to park.