Portici and a visit to Herculaneum

We were fairly exhausted this morning after our stressful day yesterday and the late night stuffing ourselves with homemade Italian food so we decided to take it slowly, eat a leisurely breakfast and do some grocery shopping in Portici before we did any sightseeing. The apartment is quite spacious and homely and our host left some provisions in the fridge for us which was lovely. We are on a main street but set back a bit so it's not noisy. The advantage is that we are close to everything. Fruit shops, supermarkets and the train station are a stone's throw away and for once we don't have a hundred stairs to climb!! 

We wandered down to the supermarket after some brekky and on the way back decided to get some nectarines at the fruit shop directly across the road from the apartment. Claudia went in and picked up a nectarine to buy but was severely chastised in Italian by the store owner - apparently he's the only one allowed to touch the fruit! 

Claudia dutifully waiting to be served!

The Main Street of Portici. If you look closely at the first picture the sea is in the distance. 

After unpacking our groceries we headed off to the station to get the train to Ercolano where the Herculaneum is excavated. It was only one station away so that was easy! 

The ancient city was discovered back in 1710 when a farmer was excavating a well. It was fascinating. We purchased an audio guide which was well worth the euros as there weren't many info points around the excavation site and the commentary was really interesting albeit a bit confusing at times! 

It was difficult to believe that we were walking along streets that Romans in 3 BC had walked on. Some of the mosaic floors and wall frescos were amazingly preserved. We intend to visit Pompei as well but apparently Herculaneum is better preserved and gives a good indication of what village life would have been like at the time. We saw a bakery, a blacksmith shop and even the equivalent of a Roman takeaway food shop. It was customary for Romans to buy lunch and either eat outside the shop or take it home to eat. The big pots for food were still in place. Amazing! Some of the villas would have been massive as there were originally three storeys to some of them. 

Seeing the preserved skeletons in the solidified ashes was a bit confronting. They were situated in an area which would have been the beachfront at the time but the lava and ashflow created another 50/100 metres of beach. They were most likely to have been trying to escape to the water and had valuable possessions with them. Most of the valuable findings are in the Naples museum now. I was really captivated by this place.

 Ercolano as a town is very run down and almost ghetto like. Obviously none of the money that the tourists pay gets sunk into any kind of beautification of the town. I guess it goes into the excavation and preservation work of Herculaneum. 

After we've crashed for a while we intend to go down to the waterside where we've been told there is excellent fish/calamari and chips which they serve in a paper cone. 

Views of Herculaneum from above

Preserved columns 

Part of a fresco 

Amazing mosaic floor

Big pots for food at the takeaway store

Mosaic floor in the male bathing area

The bakery's big grinding stones 

The hanging discs are meant to ward off evil. They date back to the first century

These skeletons are the remains of people who tried to escape to the ocean. It must have been terrifying for them. 

Bye Bye La Spezia

Well that was an interesting start to our journey today. Hmm maybe interesting is not the right word more like ...... Holy shit we'd better run! Not only run to the station but run out of the restaurant where we have just ordered a delicious lunch!! After much indecision about where we should eat we finally decided, sat down, ordered and while we were waiting Helen takes out the paper which is our ticket and reads it to me. Train departs at 1356. (Not 3.56) It is now 1.25 and we are not even close to the station!! Realisation dawns very quickly and as we race out I apologise to the waitress and say we have misread our train time. She is less than impressed. Helen's short legs are working like pistons. We not only have to get to the station but also pick up our bags (it's locked so I ring the bell) and check the platform. All is well we have 10 whole minutes to wait!! On a calmer note we left the house at 10 and dropped off the bags then had a leisurely 2 cups of coffee at our now favourite place then wandered down to the Modern Art Museum. Not too impressed. Then it was time for lunch and I have told you the rest!! We get to Naples at 8.30 then a short 15 minutes by train Portici. Maria is meeting us there. 

Have now arrived in Portici and Maria was there to meet us at the station in Naples.  It was complete chaos outside the station as we ran to keep up with her. She also harangued a driver for stoping across the crossing then had an argument with her!! Her dad was in the car waiting for us so we all piled in along with with luggage, her dad  and Maria and away we went. It was a whirlwind. It is about a 15 minute drive from Naples. She gave us lots of information on the way home so hope we remember some. Her parents who live in the next door apartment made dinner for us (prearranged) which was delicious. Pasta with eggplant in a tomato sauce then fried zucchini stuffed with ham and cheese. Also fresh really tasty cherry tomatoes and boccinchini and cake to top it off!  A glass of wine as well!! We were stuffed!! They are lovely, as is Maria. She was going out and think she was keen to get away. Photos tomorrow although I wish I had one of Helen's face when she realised the actual train time!!

Cinque Terre from the sea

Today we caught the ferry from La Spezia to Monterosso. It took about two hours, but well worth the money to see the coastline from the boat. There were sheer cliff faces, evidence of Roman fortifications and the water was turquoise and much calmer than yesterday!! We could see the tracks we had walked on Monday and Wednesday and marvelled at our athletic prowess! We loved having the opportunity to stroll through Monterosso and if we came back to Cinque Terre, this is where we'd stay. It's gorgeous. After a lovely lunch we caught the ferry back to Riomaggiore. It's the one village we hadn't been to at all due to the track being closed. Riomaggiore is literally built into the side of the cliff, so from the moment you get off the ferry, you have to walk uphill to get to the main part of the village. When we did get into the village, it was quite disappointing. There were lots of souvenir shops selling tacky Cinque Terre crap and of course, plenty of ice cream shops and bars. Having said this, it still has the charm of the colourful houses, the magnificent ocean and the locals hanging out of their windows! 

View of La Spezia as we were ferried away

Monterosso

Our lunch view

Vernazza from the boat

The wharf at Riomagiorre

Riomaggiore

View on the trip home

Castle at Porto Venere

Claudia's lunch! She was most impressed! 

Walk from Vernazza to Corniglia

It was with some trepidation we started on the second section of the Cinque Terre walk today. The first was quite hard. Lots of steps at first and it was quite a hot day. We were very pleasantly surprised today as it was a pretty easy walk. Still lots of climbing up and stairs but much easier than Monday. It was quicker as well. The scenery was spectacular as it has been all along the coast line. Today started quite windy and it had been raining this morning however this was s bit of a godsend really. Not as hot. After the walk we had lunch and of course a gelati. That's a must! Then we explored Corniglia. Each town is gorgeous in its own unique way.  The sea was wild because of the winds and was crashing into the cliffs. We caught the train to the next village of Manarola. My advice is never go to Corniglia to start a walk. From the train station it is about a million stairs to the village. We were lucky we were going down and not up! Had a wander around Manorola then had an interesting experience on the train home.  Think some trains were either late or cancelled but we were like sardines. Just when you thought it was impossible for another person to fit, more were pushing in!! One woman was crying and got off at the next stop. Must have been claustrophobic. Decided we were too tired to walk to the city centre again tonight for dinner so bought some pasta and salad. 

Leaving Vernazza

Much rougher than the other day

Bye bye Vernazza

The sea was beautiful colours

To show how rough the track was

Between villages

Helen crab walking down some stairs

Corniglia

Lunch at Corniglia

Gorgeous narrow streets

Amazing the way the villages cling to the cliffs

Just love the colours of the buildings

Hold onto your hat it's very windy!