Why Build on Flat Land when you can Build in the Heavens?

Day 176- 182

With Maxi being admitted to the emergency room and on the critical list, we had 5 days to kill and headed to the very steep and narrow Amalfi Coast. 

It was a blessing in disguise losing Maxi as we navigated our way through some of the windiest and narrowest roads we have come across to date. With side mirror tucked in on our rental car we checked into the town of Minori and then spent the next couple of days exploring this spectacular coast.

Ohh....and to the travel reporters on 'Getaway' and 'The Great Outdoors' who continue to go on about the Great Ocean Road being one of the most scenic coastal drives in the world. You really need to get out a bit more.

After Maxi was given the all clear we then made our way quickly down the western shores of Italy, finally arriving in the town of Tropea before we made our way to the home of The Mafia.

The Pompeii Theatre. The many parking restrictions of Pompeii had forced us to drive right down the back of the ancient town and we somehow wandered in through the gate where they weren't charging admission. What a stroke of good luck!

Walking through the ancient streets of Pompeii. After a couple of years visiting many Roman ruins, this is the one that you really only need to (and should) go to. Just amazing.

A very awkwardly placed tap by the Romans?

Despite tonnes of ash falling after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, a couple of houses managed to retain their roofs and the frescoes within them.

The Forum at Pompeii with Mt Vesuvius lurking in the background.

Many of the artefacts from Pompeii are maintained in the National Museum in Naples, however, there were a couple on display here - including this poor bloke who was caught napping when the volcano blew its top.

Water/Wine Vessels from 79AD.

Interior of the Roman Baths of Pompeii. 

Inside of a Roman bakery where they ground the wheat and also baked the bread.

It had been a while since Luke had a bath, so as they say ' when in Rome'.

Ancient sump destroyers. Not sure whether they actually had sumps in their cars those days though?

Google Translate says that this is the 'workshop of Livonians firm'.

Inside one of the houses where the roof remained intact. Many of the houses were rendered so the Romans could decorate their interiors with these amazing works of art.

Maxi had broken down so we headed to the Amalfi Coast and spent four nights camped out in Minori. It was quite an unsuspected, yet welcome change being able to cook in a full kitchen and use the toilet without worrying when it needed to be emptied next. Ahhh...the simple pleasures in life.

Breakfast on our private patio in Minori.

Looking over the town of Minori, as we headed out on a 16km hike to the town of Amalfi. I'll probably never understand why, but the Italians love to build in the most inaccesible and inconvenient places known to man.

One of the many churches we passed along the way. They're quite keen on the odd church those Italians...

This store was obviously marketing to the English speaking nurses in town.

Looking out from the top of Ravello. The very 'new age' building in the foreground is the Ravello Concert Hall, which stands out like dogs balls among the pastel coloured buildings of the Amalfi Coast. Not sure who gave that one approval in the local council?

The town of Atranti - showing the very narrow, delicate and blind roads that the Amalfi is so famous for. Look at a car in this region and they generally only have one side mirror.

Heading up a huge flight of stairs as we left the town of Atranti. Little did we know that the stairs would only get worse. At the end of the day our GPS told us that we ascended 2000 metres (and the same in descent) - like going up and down Mt Hotham and a bit more.

The Cathedral of Amalfi.

Taking a breather between Atranti and making our way back to Ravello. Not the best land for having a bit of 'kick-to-kick'.

Although we were on the tip of winter, the flowers in this neck of the woods continued to put on an amazing display.

The town of Positano. This is a great example of Italians desire to build on top of one another. Not a inch of land can be seen as they formulate this housing Jenga block.

Panoramic of the town of Positano.

Heading back through Ravello, where the leaves are only just starting to turn.

Despite some average days in Campania, we headed further south and arrived into the town of Tropea. Although Sicily gets the brunt of the 'Mafia' stigma, it's actually the region of Calabria where much of the current day dodginess goes on. In fact, it's said that much of Australia's 'mafia' crime may come from the Calabrian coast.

The church of Isola Bella in the town of Tropea.

Enjoying a bit of sun after a few days of inclement weather. The locals looked at us a bit weird when we were walking around town in shorts and thongs and especially when Luke jumped in the ocean for a swim.

Did the Italians forecast global warming a lot earlier than the rest of the world?

You wouldn't want to have a problem sleep walking if you lived in these apartments.

Moving Down the Heel of the Boot

Day 171- 175

After 13 hours on our ferry from Greece we arrived into the port of Bari, Italy utterly starving. The ferry wasn't delayed, we just buggered up the time difference and although packing dinner the night before, we forgot to pack breakfast.

Coming from Greece to Italy is quite the culture shock. I'm not sure what it is, as the driving is equally as bad (if not worse) and there is still a large amount of rubbish, but something started to get us buzzing from the word go and it was good to click into another gear after spending six weeks doing a great deal of nothing in Greece.

Having seen much of northern Italy in previous trips, our plan on this occasion was to visit the south moving down the 'heel of the boot', on to the dorsal aspect of the foot and kick the football by landing into the mafia territory of Sicily.

The following photos are a collection of our time in the regions of Puglia and Basilicata.

The region of Puglia is littered with these stone structures known as Trulli. This the the 'Siamese Trulli' in the town of Alberobello.

The town of Alberobello, littered with 'Trulli' housing and now a Unesco World Heritage site.

If Claire had a complex about her height, it just got a little bit worse!

We arrived into the town of Locorotando on a very quiet Sunday afternoon. The choice of attractions that day was a local funeral or the local soccer derby. I managed to convince Claire that the soccer would be slightly more entertaining. Although we were only there for about 10 mins, we did manage to see a goal and a large number of Italians diving.

Ostuni - also know as the White City.

Hanging your washing out in clear public view is a common site in Italy. A lot of people seem to have white undies, which are remarkably clean.

And this is why they call Ostuni the 'White City'. Could do with another coat of Dulux though I think.

Ostuni

The backstreets of Otranto, where you can only really get an old school Fiat 500 down.

Still sporting tans from Greece in Otranto.

Panoramic of the town of Otranto. A couple of days in we started to realise that driving into Italian towns in an 8 metre camper isn't ideal and the Italians are quite anal on where you park your camper.

This is the town of Gallipoli in Italy. I wonder how many knob heads in Fanatics T-Shirts land on the beach here each April 25th?

On the search for Gelato in Gallipoli. We soon realised that in the south of Italy, whole towns shut up and inhabitants disappear between 1pm and 3pm (and sometimes later). 

The town of Matera, Basilicata - Italy. Apparently, this is also the site for the filming of 'The Passion of the Christ'.

It's difficult to tell from the photo, but the landscape is littered with small caves that were inhabited by townsfolk up until the 1950's when they were forcibly evicted after an Italian writer spoke about their squalid conditions.

Getting lost in the labyrinth of 'Sassi' - the old town of Matera. 

The Sassi area of Matera looks more like a town out of the middle east rather than Italy. It's also quite amazing that after a couple of flights of stairs out of the old town, you enter the modern bustling 'New Town' of Matera lined with designer stores and bustling with vehicles - something you don't really see in this ancient town.

The Middle East or Italy?

San Pietro Cathedral overlooking the steep canyon that Matera sits upon.

Making our way back down the canyon and out of town.

After about 18,000 miles we encountered our first major issue with Maxi - a shredded flywheel.

While we waited for the van to get fixed one of the mechanics took us to his families local restaurant, where we were served the traditional food of Altamura and Basilicata. In this case the local fare was Horse.

It was actually quite delicious and we had two courses of horses.

Day 5 of waiting for the van to be fixed (we spent 4 nights on the Amalfi Coast). The weather was quite treacherous and the smooth paved stone in the town of Altamura turned the whole place into a river.

I don't know why we look so happy after forking out over $2000 Euro's. I think we were happy just to get back on the road. The guys in the above photo were extremely hospitable. Michele (standing right of Claire) introduced us to eating horse and Antonio fixed Maxi and gave us their wireless password.