Caserta

We stayed in Caserta as a base when we visited Sorrento, Pompeii and Naples. It has what is probably the biggest palace in the world. The grounds to the front of it were scruffy.

Last day in Italy - Monday Sept 18th 2017

Writing at 8am Italian clock time:
As our plane does not leave until 7.30pm this evening, we are having a late breakfast and a lazy day. Check-out from our hotel is at 12 noon, so we can have a shower and freshen up just before then. If our flight is not delayed, we should be home very late tonight.

Written next day:
We arrived home from Gatwick very late with Saga's included  taxi service. It poured with rain much of the way. We shared the car with a couple going to Newark. Getting through Gatwick (customs and baggage) was very quick and much faster than Stansted.

Naples

This afternoon we briefly visited Naples, but spent much our short time there in a café on a quiet pedestrianised street. The Mafia allegedly is big in Naples.

Pompeii (Pompei in Italian)

Until Vesuvius erupted in AD79, Pompeii was a busy port town with 20000 inhabitants. Streets were busy with shops, houses (and brothels). Really, life was not so different from now. The first and second photos show typical streets with original paving.

We visited Pompei today. It is amazing place. What "gets you" is just how much like us things were. It is hard to think this place just disappeared to be rediscovered centuries later. Quite humbling.

Sorrento

Today we visited Sorrento on the Bay of Naples. On the way, we passed Vesuvius as well as many scruffy buildings in towns on the way. Sorrento was very busy with tourists. The views across the Bay of Naples are spectacular.

Nearly the whole coast from Naples south to Sorrento is built-up.  There were motor bikes everywhere in Sorrento. It is clearly a tourist trap these days, with products related to lemons important. The road from Naples to Sorrento has several tunnels including one 5km long as well as several bends on the twisty roads with sheer drops.

Vesuvius last erupted in 1944. Flames were seen from the crater last year although this may have been a hoax to make people panic. At some point it will erupt again.

Monte Cassino

On our way to Caserta today we visited the abbey at Monte Cassino. This was destroyed in WW2 as it was believed to be occupied by Nazi forces blocking the allied assault on Rome and Northern Italy. It is perched high up above the town of Cassino. It was very old and totally rebuilt after the war ended. It took 20 years of rebuilding. 50000 people died before the allied forces took it in 1944. It occupies a very strategic point.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caserta
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Cassino

Rome

Today, we visited Rome which we last visited in 1974. We saw most of the famous sites, but they were all very busy and heavily guarded by police and troops armed with rifles.

Colosseum

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain