Pompei & Amalfi

Phew! After 4 days off the road I was ready to get moving again! Sadly the weather was not on my side, but I couldn't really complain, the sights were amazing!

Not far away was my first stop; Pompei - added as a last minute addition based on the advice of those who'd been!

I didnt quite arrive in time to tour the ruins however the B&B I was staying in recommended a nearby 'authentic' pizza restaurant. I almost cried when I was handed this menu (one of my favourite beers). Apparently my German inspired tour of Italy was going to continue...

The new city is beautiful, totally the opposite of what I'd experienced so far in Italy; it isnt really a hub for business besides tourism so when not in peak season there arent many people around. ​

Next morning totally rested (strangely the local beers are...7.5% and 3 Euro) I put on my best thunderstorm clothes and headed to the ruins.

The thunderstorm...well...it didnt arrive even slightly!

On the upside however, whilst totally overdressed (whats new?) the ruins are beautiful! The locals take enormous pride in the area and it is immaculate, they're completely not ok with you touching, leaning, sitting on anything you might damage which was very refreshing! See this wall. DO NOT TOUCH IT. And fair enough, its 2000 years old and your hands will damage the paint (fresco)! The underlying building is covered with a thick (1-2 inch) layer of plaster onto which paint is added; the paint seeps into the plaster and becomes part of the surface.

As well as the entire tour group being told off for looking but not touching we did learn lean a few things! Like this tasty snippet; as well as being for walking, riding, cruising the ancient roman streets also functioned as open-air gutters for the cities refuse. So rather than have people step in their expensive boots and sandles though...a river of effluent...they erected a series of pedestrian crossings, high enough to spare the resident's feet but with slits to allow the passing of carriages and chariots. 

And this leads to one of the most fascinating thing's I've read on the internets (don't trust everything you read!) that apparently the size of the NASA space shuttle was determined by the size of the railroads it had to use as transport. US railroads are deterimed by UK railroads, which in turn are deterimed by ancient Roman roads. These however are deterimed by chariots which were built to accomodate two horses. Thus (allegedly) we explore space based on technology limited by the size of a vehicle built 2000 years ago! Might be absolute rubbish but makes for a good story!


Speaking of...here's a 2000 year old cafe! The terracotta pots were used to keep food warm or cool as ice was hard to come by and the time to cook food on a fire was also...time consuming...


These pots would have been full of stews kept warm all day!

Back on the street the tourists started rolling in!

Filtering through the side streets we first found ourselves in a tradional roman bathhouse, the ceilings still retaining their decoration.

Running back outside we next went through the red light district. Pompeii being a port town had many international travellers, and whilst a universal language is hard to attain - everyone understands pictures. Still on the walls are pictograms of different positions you could ask for!

Sadly however the rooms were much less comfortably furnished, a cold stone bed was all you got!

Back outside we headed to the main square (forum). In years past the square was rimmed by religious and political buildings however most of these have collapsed in the eruptions.

And it wouldn't be Pompeii without taking the complusary Vesuvius photo!

I cant speak highly enough for Pompeii; both the old city and the new city were amazing and very much different to Rome.


Heading to the coast it was time to tick off another of the top 10 riding roads!

And we're off!

And...were lost..

Unfortunately unlike Australia where it seems the coast road literally runs along the coast - many of the coastal villages were made long before roads were necessary and are sea access only; cars, roads, carparks etc seem to be an afterthought and so whilst trying to keep myself as close to the water as possible I keep hitting dead ends. I eventually gave up and just followed the GPS.


And to be fair, it did sort everything out for me.

I'll admit, the bits without the cars and buses were AMAZING!

And for a heavy wide bike the Triumph handles supremely well through the corners!

Unfortunately the road is somewhat...(ruined is a harsh word...) deteriorated due to the other traffic, from locals struggling with using their own lane...

To the incredible number of tour buses...

...to the pedestrians...

...the road can be incredibly scenic and enjoyable - just dont enjoy it too much or you'll hit something!


Still...everyone else seems to be just stopping on the side of the road for photos so...when in Rome?!

And by complete accident I caught up with another group on tour!

And thus began an amazing guided blast along the coast! You see whilst I can only ever see whats in front of me, these guys had helmet comms and were telling the tail rider if there was any traffic ahead - so sticking on his tail I could safely (mostly) punch through blind corners and overtake even if I couldnt see ahead.

And overtaking was definitely required!

But as the sun was setting I had to take a different turn to arrive at my accomodation for the night. Whilst Amalfi Coast is a tourist attraction year round the towns slightly to the south are only busy in tourist season, for the same price I'd been paying for a single room in a crappy hotel I got a double room in a resort! With a pool! All for 40 Euro!


So I sat myself at the abandoned pool and tucked in to writing!

Thats it for now! Did I get in the pool, why was I writing about Switzerland whilst in Amalfi, why does Peroni have a different logo in Italy?Absolutely none of these questions will be answered next time!