Going Greek in Paestum (Poseidonia)

Settling into the campsite (Camping Athena) at Paestum was a welcome relief after the beautiful but challenging drive along the Amalfi coastline. The site is right on the beach and we struck lucky with a pitch at the edge of the sand. That’s us in the middle of the picture.

The beaches here are like the ones we have come to know and love in southern Italy – some concessions and some public access bits. This one is different for us as the campsite has its own (private!) beach that lets onto a long stretch that can be walked in either direction. Like elsewhere, it’s not as clean where there’s no concession, but at least it’s wide enough to take a good stroll!

Most evenings have delivered fantastic sunsets over the Amalfi coast, which is now to our north and west – and most evenings have also seen many of our fellow campers out to capture the clichés with their cameras - just like us!

One of the reasons we chose to stop here was to look at the ancient Greek ruins of Paestum. Like many parts of Italy as we head south, the Romans captured and then integrated into their culture what had been thriving Greek colonies. The size of the temples was breathtaking as was their incredible state of preservation.

That, and fewer visitors made for a very special afternoon. Although a lot smaller in scale than Pompeii, the effect of being able to wander round unhindered and unaccompanied by hordes of people lent the site a magical air.

Paestum also has a really interesting museum on site, which meant that many of the artefacts recovered there were on hand to see – a real bonus as much of what we didn’t see at Pompeii was in the national museum in Naples, which we didn’t get to.

And to top it all, just as we were meandering our way towards the exit and our cycle back to the van, we spotted a Hoopoe head-butting the grass as it searched for food – and it then very obligingly flew off within camera range to deliver my best wildlife action picture to date! We’ve not seen one of these since we left Oliva in Spain last year.

We plan to head off to our final stop on the mainland tomorrow before the ferry to Sicily – but it’s not the easiest of places to leave whilst the weather is so good….

S.

Up Pompeii and a Walk in the Clouds

Ever since Frankie Howard shimmied onto the TV screen of my teenage years with his double entendres and innuendo, I've been fascinated by the idea of Pompeii.  The sumptuous villas, the baths, the fountains, the characters and their everyday lives and the sheer civility of it all, all of two thousand years ago, frozen in time by the volcanic ash and lava from Vesuvius.

We began the day with an entertaining and slightly alarming bus in the style of a tram ride up to the crater of Vesuvius, all hairpin bends and face offs between drivers trying to get past one another with inches to spare. We gave our very calm and skillful driver, Luigi, a round of applause at the summit! This was nothing on the Naples ring road though, more of which later.

We were dropped off at the car park, with a kilometre walk up a volcanic ash path to reach the crater ahead of us. As we ascended the summit, all traces of sun disappeared and we were well and truly up in the clouds, lending an eerie, muffled feel to the walk.  As we crunched our way through the mist, glimpses of sun began to peek through and by the time we reached the top the views were stunning!

After a lunch refuel back at the van, we set off to explore Pompeii. The ruins are right next to the campsite, Camping Zeus, which provided us with a great two night stopover.  We decided to eschew the tour and audio guides and instead had done some reading beforehand about which areas to visit, as the site is vast. As we walked through, we paused occasionally to listen to some of the tour guides, mostly in English, which provided snippets of information to supplement our own.  Hence we learned about the stepping stones being the equivalent of a Roman zebra crossing, raised up to keep sandals, skirts and togas out of the rain, and we heard about the brothels, with their menus displayed outside, and then we had a two part tour of the House of Faun, with its rare yellow, red and blue marble fountain and colour scheme throughout the villa to match (I like to think this is where the TV series was set!). Whilst all the while we walked the site, Vesuvius loomed in the background . . . .

We left, happy but exhausted, just before closing time.

We were up early the next morning to head south and take a drive along the Amalfi coast, one of the most spectacular in Italy.  Mr B soon got into his Italian driver mode; let's call it assertive, and we spent a jolly four hours driving the 62 miles along the coast to our next destination. The roads are crazy windy, with one hairpin after another and narrow alternate lane access in some of the villages, but spectacular views and a lot of fun!  I'm feeling a bit more acclimatised to the driving style here now since my Naples experience, and it seems almost an advantage to be in a right hand drive vehicle since one gets overtaken on both sides, on the hard shoulder and on narrow slip roads! On the plus side, pulling out in front of other vehicles, or pushing in as we’d call it at home, is common practice and vehicles will give way. Generally people are pretty mellow, unless you commit the sin of hesitation, which gets the following traffic all leaning on their horns!

As I write we have decided to pause for a couple of days near the old Greek town of Paestum, north of Agropoli, at Camping Athena.  The ACSI camping guide and app has come up trumps so far and we've enjoyed some excellent sites.  This one is on a long sandy beach and a short cycle ride from the ruins, where we're off to tomorrow. We've had a few hours in the sun, but now it's spotting with rain, so time for a cuppa and to review the photos.


J.

Beaches, beaches ...and Italian beaches!

Hurrah! After a leisurely drive around the ring road of Rome and with a storm running just behind us as we headed south, we followed up a on couple of recommendations from friends for places to visit on the coast not that far south of Rome. The first was Sabaudia and as we were still in the Lazio region we were hopeful but not holding our breath on finding a public access beach where we might be able to free camp. We knew before we set off that the coastline would be a bit of a challenge in Italy but we had heard tell of peeps who had found good beaches once they got south of Rome… So Sabaudia carried our hopes and dreams…

And it delivered! Set back from a long dune backed beach there was plenty of access to beaches that were not all carved up into concessions – and even where they were there was still enough of a shoreline to have a good old fashioned walk! The town itself is a Mussolini era 30s stylised new-town and interesting for a wander – but the sound of the sea was calling!

We could have free camped in a beach side car park here but as it was still early and we were keen to keep heading away from the storm that was following us, we decided to chance our luck and head off to Sperlonga – just round the headland in the picture and further south and east. For a while it looked as if we had made a terrible mistake as the coast rapidly turned into private concession after concession. Just as dusk was falling, tempers were getting frayed and hope was disappearing, we chanced across a turning for the sea. And at the end of the now familiar bumpy track we found a beach with both public access and a car park we could camp up in. We could see the storm approaching so we settled in for the night and hoped that the next day would bring sun and a chance to explore the beaches.

Next day we woke to a sunny day after a night of rain and roaring seas, so we set of to see what the beaches had in store… From a very helpful public info board right near where we were camped we could see that although there were concessions along the coast here, there was also plenty of public access along the whole stretch.

So we first explored to the west where we found some quirky concessions but mainly open beaches…

And then we headed east towards Sperlonga where we found an example of the sort of campsite that makes us keen to free camp….

…the sort of private beach that keeps us looking for open access beaches…

…and some lovely walking to Sperlonga itself :)

Looking back from Sperlonga you can see what a lovely bay this is and how it is possible in certain bits of the Italian coastline to combine private and public access – if you look hard you can just make out the jetty wall where we are camped in the distance – a good old yomp!

We’ve had a lovely couple of sunny days camping here and now we’ve decided to head off for more antiquity en route to Sicily – so Pompeii here we come!

S.

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S.

From Tarot to Testudos

Having smiled ourselves silly at the amazing Giardino dei Tarocchi we decided to try our luck and venture to the Italian Med again in search of sun and sea. We could even see the sea glinting in the afternoon sun as we headed down towards the coast. It looked promising – a long stretch of beach adjacent to the Lago di Burano near Capalbio – famous for bird watching and away from the overdeveloped coast further north. Instead, we found no access for vehicles until an enormous ‘beach club’ that marked the end of the reserve and the beginning of a very narrow stretch of black sand beach just up-stream of a power station that wasn’t on our map. It’s a pretty sunset in the following pic but the sand didn’t get any less black in the daylight and the power station was in the other direction up the coast!

Undeterred, we had a go at using our Italian Aires de Camping Car book (Aree di Sosta) to find somewhere by the beach anyway. As this uses grid references on the assumption you own a sat nav (we don’t) it took a while…. But eventually we found one and the friendly owners were keen to show us round in the now almost obligatory golf cart used to take punters round campsites! At 14 Euros a night, plus 3 for electric and a Euro each for a hot shower, this was looking more like campsite fees minus the facilities! And the beach, whilst reasonably clean in the section run by the owners of the Sosta, was ankle-deep in junk and detritus either side. This seems to be the Italian way so far – clean beaches where there is a private concession – not so elsewhere… There must be a clean beach somewhere with public access – so we’ll keep hunting!

After a very quiet night’s sleep with just the glow of the power station in the distance, we headed off in search of a campsite close to Rome where I could act out all my Roman soldier fantasies and see the Forum, the Colosseum and some other ancient bits and bobs. Mrs B suggested we look inland for a site and we fetched upon a very pretty and tranquil site at Lago Bracciano, north west of Rome.

This lake is Rome’s water supply but it doesn’t stop people from having a good time here, whether by sailboat, canoe, or the ferry that visits the three main towns. Motor-boats and jet skis are banned, but the local sea plane from the Italian Air Force base on the lake practises collecting and dropping water on a regular basis!

I’m increasingly of the view that so far, inland Italy is winning hands down over the coast when it comes to the sort of expectations we had for this trip (some beaching, some of the interior, some antiquities and culture, some campsites/ sostas, some free-camping – all with lashings of wine and food of course!). The lake here and surrounding countryside are really beautiful. We’ve enjoyed our stay here at Camping Porticciolo – a peaceful woodland setting (plenty of jays, blackbirds and what we think are hooded carrion crows) with its own beach and swimming in the lake – which was really fun! We even managed to get a bike ride in as well and went from the campsite to Anguillara across the bay.

It may only have been 10 miles, but on our folding bikes and their little wheels it was a long slog up some of the inclines and a hairy time being grazed by speedy Italian drivers! It was worth it though and after a lazy lake-side lunch at a pizzeria, we headed back – you can see Bracciano town above Mrs B’s head in the next picture!

Roma – well, after a technical blunder that meant we missed our early train and were delayed by 30 minutes (OK – I jammed the validation machine by insisting my ticket went in sideways… oops! And the only person with a key was busy collecting litter off the track…) we decided to walk from the Stazione Ostiense up to the Forum, the Colosseum, the other Roman ruins nearby and then (Mrs B’s late addition to the itinerary) the Trevi Fountain. If you like your ruins on a grand scale then this visit delivered. (Unfortunately for Mrs B, the Trevi fountain was empty of water and swathed in netting for some major restoration….)

I’m glad we went to Rome but think I’ll sate my fascination with Roman history with less busy stuff in the future. Apart from the undeniable joys of walking in the footsteps of some of the famous peeps I’ve read about, (and doing it in authentic gladiator style sandals of course!) I was left feeling that it was a bit of a bucket-list ‘tick’ rather than a truly instructive and enjoyable day out. A lesson for future itinerary planning for sure!

Still, the approach to Italian railway health and safety soon had me smiling on our return to Bracciano!

From Bracciano we are planning our next steps as we head south. There’s stormy weather forecast for a few days so we may just bite the bullet and get down Sicily way until the rain has passed…searching for some public access beaches en route of course!

S.

Siena and El Giardino dei Tarocchi

Tuscany welcomed us into its rolling green hills, punctuated with cypresses and rustic stone buildings, in muted sunshine. We camped up at a lovely little site, Camping Montagnola, about 10kms outside Siena, at Sovicille, from where we planned to take the bus into the city the next day, a very reasonable €3.60 each return and the bus stops at the campsite.  Loving the relatively inexpensive nature of public transport in Italy so far.

We awoke to the spit spot of rain at 7am and made sure we packed umbrellas and jumpers for the day. Who'd have thought we'd be wandering around Siena in the rain! We hopped aboard the 08:50 bus and settled down to a drizzly journey into the city. We began our walk in El Campo, the huge scallop shaped central point of the city and where the famous Palio bareback horse races take place.  By now, it was throwing it down, so we retreated into a little cafe to refuel and make plans. First stop was the Museo Civico, big on the wow factor for me, with its impressive Sala del Mappamundo and the huge gothic frescoes. The adjacent Torre del Mangia tower was closed because of the weather and the art gallery in the old hospital (the three can be bought as a combined ticket) felt too much like gallery overload in a day, so we decided to explore more of the city.

So off we went, replete with art, in search of a light lunch. There are plenty of places here to buy picnic ingredients and of course, pizza slices. For someone who is definitely not a pizza fan in the UK, I'm becoming rather partial here!

Luckily for us, since the rain had decided to stop for the afternoon and we were even treated to a peek or two of sunshine, we decided that to just wander, soaking up the atmosphere and architecture of this amazing cityscape was the best plan.  It seemed that around every corner there was a surprise, from statues to sculptures to frescoes or just another glimpse of an intriguing alleyway. For me, this was the best part of Siena; the art was wonderful too, but it was the city that captured me.

El Giardino dei Tarocchi

In the late1970s, a French artist called Niki de St-Phalle began to create a sculpture park in the hills east of Orbatello.  She died in 2002, having achieved her goal; a garden dedicated to the art of the tarot. This place sounded intriguing to read about, but nothing could have prepared us for the sheer enjoyment of experiencing the place; an entire afternoon with huge smiles on our faces at every turn. This place is AMAZING! and so much fun. Look at the pictures and then go to the website and marvel some more! Whatever you do, if you're ever in the area, go!

We were in ear to ear grin mode as we left the Tarot Garden and decided to try for a coastal park up for some light refreshment and a decision on where to sleep . . . .

J.

The Italian Riviera and the Cinque Terre

Thank you France for a lovely three weeks, it's been a lot of fun.

See you again in July . . . . and now . . . . . .

Welcome to Italy! First Stops, the Riviera and the Cinque Terre

As we bumped along the main road from the motorway to the coast, memories of a similar trip in 1979 came flooding back!  The cross border motorway was lovely, sailing past the Alps, still frosted with snow, and no reminder of the old border by way of even a deserted checkpoint, simply a sign: Italia.

Then we exited the motorway!

A bumpy 20 minutes later we were rattling along the Italian Riviera, marvelling at the serried ranks of sunbeds and parasols on the franchised sections of beach. The drive along here, whilst slow, gives you a feel for another immediate difference from France; the architecture, with Liguria's rather ostentatious style of building in hues of ochres and pinks.

Almost immediately, we began to see height barriers and restrictions on campervan parking, so we pulled over for a cuppa to assess our options and decided to head to a campsite just back from the coast near Albenga.

Journey planning and a cup of tea!

We arrived in a little haven of flowers, birds and quirkiness, at an old campsite, Bella Vista, started in 1976 by a Dutch couple and now run by their daughter. It was here that we spent a day swimming in the peaceful pool and planning the first week in this new land!

First stop was the Cinque Terre, a UNESCO world heritage site; five little villages perched on the cliffs of an absolutely stunning coastline! We arrived after a tortuous but scenic drive, with hairpin after hairpin through a series of tiny villages and only just behind the Italian Giro (bike ride) that day! Stalls were already setting up celebratory barbeques in the villages and we were pretty relieved not to have been caught up in it. The campsite we tried at Levanto was full, so we wound our way along to the first village, Monterosso and were lucky enough to get an overnight camperstop in the small carpark on the harbour for €23 (okay, a bit pricey for a car park, but such a relief to find somewhere!)  As it turned out, not only did our parking spot have beautiful views along the coast, it had a handy little rocky platform close by, designed just for  admiring the view with wine and olives whilst watching a passing dolphin!

Next morning, after a peaceful sleep to the sound of the sea, we were perfectly placed to walk the coast path to the second of the villages, Vernazza, a breathtaking (in all senses!) morning, taking about two hours to climb the steep steps and paths out of Monterosso and walk the 3.5kms along the cliffs.

The next village, Corniglia, is another two hours away and we had to get back by 4pm, so we settled on lunch at the harbour in Vernazza, a delicious pizza followed by icecreams, what else for our first lunch out in Italy, and caught the train back (a train links all 5 villages). There's also a boat that chugs along to four of them, picking up and dropping off passengers all day apart from a couple of hours at lunchtime.

Then we set off along the coast to just beyond La Spezia for an overnight campsite stop.

We left a grey Liguria behind the next morning. This stretch of coast is pretty grim, even on a sunny day, with manicured beaches, muddy sand and murky waters, a world away from the Cinque Terre.  As the morning and miles gathered pace, the sun came out to welcome us into Tuscany.

J.

Playing horizontal on the Cote d’Azur

Having chosen a luxy campsite as our next destination where we could spend a bit of time relaxing in the sun and celebrate my birthday, we struck lucky at Les Pecheurs in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, a small town a little inland from Frejus.

Although we coincided with what we guessed must have been a school half term in Holland, and an unexpectedly busy campsite, it made little difference to the treat that Camping les Pecheurs became.

There can’t be many campsites that can boast a lovely secluded layout with three pools (one just for grown-ups), two jacuzzis and a sauna, free canoe hire on the adjacent river, opposite a lake and with a local volcanic landmark, ‘Roquebrune’ that some have compared to Ayers Rock in Oz.  Either way, it’s an impressive sight, towering over the lake and making the perfect backdrop to one of the best firework displays ever!

Add to that great cycle rides, walking and a massive ‘Silver Rock Show’ and Harley rally opposite the campsite, complete with fireworks and eclectic live bands that covered be-bop to Status Quo! Harley riders in France must be the best turned-out motards ever if this rally was anything to go by, and the range of bikes was incredible – this was a first to see a California Highway Patrol bike that was also out on the road!

We planned to stay for just a couple of nights but ended up staying for seven. The combination of sun, loads to do and see as well as relax and unwind meant that moving on just didn’t seem such a priority. The only bit of this stay that wasn’t fun was finding out the result of the election back home in the UK – still, at least our proxy votes came good in Brighton and we helped to return a Green MP again :)

In the end we decided that as we are hoping to get to Sicily, maybe we’d better make a move, so we eventually set off for Italy on Sunday 10^th. Italy’s really not far from here and we’ve decided to splash out on some toll roads, the first this trip, to get across the border above Cannes and Monaco, best seen from a distance we reckon! 

Ci vediamo in Italia!

S.

From the Camargue to the coast!

At the coast – at last!

Apart from a quick look at the stormy Camargue, our first real taste of the French Med was at an interesting peninsula south of Hyeres in the Cote d’Azur. The Presqu’ile de Giens is a classic holiday destination that on a sunny day looks amazing. 

Unfortunately for us, whilst sunny on our day of arrival and departure – the one in between when we had hoped to get a boat across (with bikes) to the car-free Ile de Porquerolles was dull and windy. This was our reason for going there – but the weather on the day we had set aside made it look a lot less inviting!

So we went instead on a coastal walk that looked easy on the not-to-scale map provided at the campsite – but turned into a bit of a rocky coastline orienteering adventure. It was described to us the next day by the campsite staff as ‘tres sportif’. Hmmnn……

We weren’t sure why, but this bit of France seemed to lack the well manicured and civic-pride-attention-to-detail of all the places we have visited over the years. Looking scruffy and a bit tired, maybe it was waiting for a pre-season prep – but we weren’t hanging around to see.

Into the Massif de Maures via Le Lavandou

Keen to see some more of inland Provence, we set our sights on a small village in the Massif de Maures where we thought we might stay on the municipal campsite. En route we stopped at Le Lavandou where Mrs B worked for a brief spell in the 70s. In the intervening years it has changed a lot but still looks like a good place to have a beach-side stay. 

As we wandered the town looking for the hotel where Mrs B used to work (we think we found it!), we noticed that there was clearly a lot more money around in this bit of France if the posh cars were anything to go by. Indeed on our drive from Le Lavandou to Collobrieres along a breathtaking and very narrow mountainous road, the number of Porsches nearly matched the number of cork trees (an industry just hanging on here).

Collobrieres turned out to be a really interesting stop, as although the municipal site was not suitable for campervans, we were directed to an amazing and free Aire de Camping Cars just on the outskirts. After exploring the very pretty village and marvelling at the number of things you can make out of sweet chestnuts, the local speciality, we settled in for a peaceful night under the dark skies of the Massif de Maures. 

Unfortunately, a yet-to-be identified bird that was nesting in the tree above us had different ideas (maybe a nightingale?). Even a varied and melodious sound can get a bit much, especially as this little blighter kept it up until 4.00am – when we then changed games to play hunt the lone but persistent mosquito. The death-blow was eventually delivered at 8.30 – by which time we were ready to take a very leisurely stroll into the local market to provision for our next leg. Of course, this being France, we were treated to a posse of immaculately dressed (just the right side of cowboy!) trail riders on horse back set for a day in the hills, meandering across the field we were camped on before we left!

 

Wine, bread and other essentials (and one or two non-essentials of course!) in the bag after a visit to the market, we set off for Roquebrune sur Argens, north west of Cannes, where we hoped to do a bit of lying down in the sun.

S.