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Our first port of call in Italy was the lovely coastal town of Moneglia, and getting there was quite a mission!
As we got to within 10km of the town on narrow, winding coast roads, the road narrowed to single lane and then we came to a set of traffic lights and a tunnel. The light was red and so we stopped behind another car, and waited, next thing three local cars roared past us and into the tunnel, so we decided to tag along. The tunnel was narrow, unlit and these guys were roaring along at 90 kmh, and we continued like this for 5km!!, until a window in the side of the tunnel flashed past, and we realised it was our campground. So at the end of the tunnel, we had to do a U turn and go back the way we came, hoping not to run into any speeding locals.
The coast here is so steep, that this ex railway tunnel was the only way into the town, and we camped that night on the side of a cliff, on a ledge just wide enough for our tent. The bonus was that it was very handy for our evening swim.
Next morning we were off to explore the five cliff villages that make up the Cinqe Terre, being Monterrosso, Vernasa, Corneglia, Manorola, and Rio Maggiorie.
This is done by train, as there are no roads, but the main Rail line links all the small villages down this coast, and the fares are cheap and the service efficient.
We spent 45mins travelling to the middle town Corneglia, and walked back along the treacherous cliff hugging paths to Monterosso. It was extremely hot and the swim at Vernasa, was very welcome.
The villages were beautiful, but were full of tourists, because of their easy rail access.
It was also very expensive to walk, as a two day pass cost us 20 euros!!
The next day we walked the section we had missed the day before, but in hindsight we could have easily done all five villages in one day.
Our three days in the Cinqe Terre, was over very quickly, and we headed south towards Pisa.
As soon as you cross the border, you notice two big differences in Italy, one is the Italians very casual attitude towards rubbish, and the other is the Italian driving style.
Rubbish seems to lie everywhere, and the locals have a couldn’t care less attitude.
And the drivers take a bit of getting used to, they use their horns as often as possible, and a two lane road is considered to have at least three lanes, where the centre line is the third lane for overtaking in both directions!! A safe driving distance behind another car soon gets filled by at least two cars! However as long as you are aware that cars can and do come at you from all directions it is OK - it certainly keeps you awake.
We spent a couple of hours in Pisa, checking that the tower, was still leaning, before heading off further south, to camp on the coast near Punta Ala.
Italian campgrounds are huge, and don’t really cater for tents, or overseas tourists, and are very regimented.
To swim in the pool, you must wear speedos not shorts, and you must wear a bathing cap !!
But they do have good clean facilities, and are usually well located.
From here we travelled further south down the coastal plains, through farming areas where we saw vast crops of tomatoes under hot houses, Sun flowers, vegetables, Melons and Olives.
We skirted around Rome and headed towards Naples and camped for 3 nights at a Seaside town called Baia Domizia, a huge camp, where again we talked our way into a Eurocamp unit for less than the price of pitching our tents.
This camp was massive, with its own beach, three pools, a church, cinema, Supermarket and shopping mall!!, not to mention two restaurants. Luckily it was reasonably empty, as it could cater for 4-5000 campers.
From here we went on a day trip to Cassino and the Abbey of Monte Cassino. The abbey is on the hill overlooking the town and is very lovely and peaceful now. It has certainly had a chequered existence having been destroyed 4 times since it was built in 1020, the last time being in 1944 during the Allied invasion. We also visited the NZ graves in the Commonwealth war cemetery.
From Baia Domizia we skirted around Naples and headed for Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. However we struck it on a Saturday and it was teeming with people and cars. The road winds it’s way around steep cliff through villages perched on those cliffs and is very narrow, not much fun when meeting a bus. Because it was so busy we couldn’t find a place to stop in any of the villages until a place called Minori which had a bit more flat land and was a fishing village. We couldn’t find any camp grounds so we stayed in a hotel in this village. At the end of the day all the day-trippers had gone and it was a lovely place to be. The next day we walked up to Ravello the next town up the hill. Walking was up a narrow track with about 1000 steps passing terraced lemon groves and vineyards and houses and churches perched on the hill. It was a spectacular walk if somewhat hot in 30degreees. Ravello seemed to be a very upmarket village and the cultural capital of the Amalfi and the views were magnificent.
The Amalfi is famous for it’s lemon liqueur and ceramics, they were both great I must admit- although one was a lot cheaper than the other.
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