Italy - Day 5 Minori

Mt Vesuvius

We left Naples early Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful ride along winding mountains and the scenery was amazing.  Once again, we found ourselves on small roads that were barely wide enough for two cars to share.  Thankfully, this was not the "touristy" season, as I have heard this road is bumper to bumper in the summer.  Can't imagine doing this road with such traffic.  We were holding our breaths each time we met a car or bus coming in our direction.  And most of the time we did so in a switchback curve!  Yikes!  But Marcus handled it well.  Again, thank you my friend!!!

 

Another view of Mt. Vesuvius

We did not have a chance to hike Mount Vesuvius.  Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano (for all you geologists out there).  It is best known for its eruption in 79 AD that led to the destruction of Pompeii and other surrounding settlements.  The exact numbers aren't known, but it is estimated that over 1000 people lost their lives during this event.   It is the only volcano on the European mainland that has erupted in the last 100 years and is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world...why?  Because of the densely populated areas within its reach.  There are more than 3,000,000 people in this area.  But it remained quiet while we were there and I hope it stays that way.

 

Our winding road

This road trip was spectacular.  Beautiful, each turn yet another breathtaking view.  We would stop and just quietly stare at the scene before us. 

  

The ride from Naples to our next stop, Minori, was a little over 2 hours.  Minori is a little seaside town at the center of a wide cove on the Amalfi Coast.  The "City of Pasta"!  During this trip, we had great hotels, but I must say our hotel here was absolutely perfect!!! So pretty!

Our hotel, Santa Lucia

Check out the tiles in the bathroom

Beautiful tiles on the floor

And we had a lovely balcony outside our room

The pic above was from the next morning, but wanted to show how lovely this place is.

But we did not come to Italy to stay in the rooms, so as soon as we got the car parked and we were checked in, I was itching to roam around this beautiful little town.  So off we went. 

 

Waterfront view

Walking the streets of Minori

Side street

Afternoon strolling

I had read that there is a Path of Lemons in Minori, and of course, we wanted to find the path and get going.  

 

Start of the path that leads upward

The Sentiere dei Limoni is a path that takes you from Minori to Maiori.  It is a gentle climb among the lemon groves and offers spectacular views of both towns and the Mediterranean.   

 

Upwards we go!

It was reported in my reading that this trek was relatively easy.  While not too hard, it definitely got the backside burn going.

 

Others were enjoying the walk as well

Overlooking the town of Minori

Minori

The town from about 1/3 way up the path

Many, many steps

Looking back

Beautiful Minori

Path of Lemons

Lemon trees were everywhere

Overlooking a grove of lemon trees

wild flowers growing from the rock walls

And higher we go

 The path goes through the small hamlet of Torre, and here you will find the old parish of San Michele Arcangelo.  

San Michele Arangelo Church

Lemon groves covered with netting

Finally...a level path!

More lemon groves

We actually met a woman living in one of the many houses on this path

It's a long walk!

See the man picking lemons!!!

The walk provided beautiful sights, local culture and some great exercise.   Back to Minori, and we felt we had worked hard enough to grab a bite and some vino bianco!

 

Good local wine abounds!

This town is not that large, but it had a huge church.  We were able to go inside and wow!

Basilica Di Santa Trofimena

Inside

The front door was massive

The church is situated in the middle of town and looks out to the sea.

It was getting close to sunset, so we wanted to get back to the waterfront.  Becky and I wanted to get our toes into the Med.  We left the guys on the street and walked onto the pebbly sand.  It was surreal.  

 

When you are this close to the sea, you know the seafood must be out of this world.  And it was.  For dinner that evening, we enjoyed a feast of sea bass, and octopus.  

 

Sea Bass with Lemon sauce (this area is all about the lemons!)

Grilled octopus

and local wine...meraviglioso!

 We walked back to our beautiful hotel and counted our lucky stars to be here!

Santa Lucia Hotel

What a glorious day!!!  

Until next time...

Enjoy!

Italy - Day 4 Napoli

National Archaeological Museum

Besides the pizza...one of the other reasons we wanted to stop in Naples was to visit the National Archaeological Museum.  This museum is known for housing ancient Roman remains, with collections from the Greek, Roman and Renaissance times and artifacts from Pompeii, Stabiae, and Herculaneum.

The building was built in 1585 as a cavalry barrack and did not become a museum until the 19th century. 

The museum's classical sculpture collection largely comes from the Farnese Marbles. 

Farnese Atlas

Heracles Farnese

One corridor of the museum

Heading towards second floor

The museum's mosaic collection includes a number of important mosaics recovered from the ruins of Pompeii.

The mosaics are intricate and some of the pieces are smaller than the head of a pencil eraser.  Absolutely amazing work!

 

Close up view of mosaic

Further away

Another mosaic tiny pieces

It is hard to capture the detail with pictures, hard to show the actual tiny pieces. The picture below shows scale as Marcus is walking past.  Again, the tiny mosaic pieces are smaller than tip of an eraser.  

 

The picture below is of the Alexander Mosaic, circa 100 BC.  It was originally part of a floor.   To the left of the mosaic (in pic below), you can see the  painting which depicts the battle of Alexander, the mosaic is what it use to look like.  Some pieces are missing but just imagine this on a floor almost 2000 years ago.

The Alexander Mosaic

The painting

The mosaic

The museum is large and has many collections...Eygyptian Collection, with 2500 objects on display, Bronzes from the Villa Papyri, the Secret Cabinet, an extensive collection of erotic and sexual items mostly from excavations of Pompeii, and historical botanical gardens.  

Grand Hall's ceiling

ceiling

Grand Hall

The Blue Vase, mid 1st century AD, Pompeii

Frescoes

This museum is well worth seeing.  If you plan to go, allow yourself at least half a day to make sure you get to see each collection.  A must see while in Napoli.

We wanted to get out to see the city in daylight, so we left the museum and headed for the streets.  

 

One of the many streets we stumbled onto

As you can see, the roads are very small in Naples.   Imagine these streets during busy hours (after 5pm)!  Crazy!

After a few hours of walking, it was time for me to get my first pizza in Italy.  I waited until this time to order pizza as I wanted my first Italian pizza to be a Napoli pizza.  After all, pizza as we know it has its roots in the heart of Naples.  The poor people of Naples were the first to eat pizza in the 18th century.   The Margherita Pizza was introduced in 1889, with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil to mirror the Italian flag.  This is what I ordered and it was amazing!!!!

 

My margherita pizza

In Italy, this is a single serving size.  And I saw plenty of small, slender women eating a whole pizza like this by themselves, all of it!   I do not understand how they stay so slim.  If I ate like this all the time, I would be as big as a house!

Of course, afterwards we had to have gelato.  Because my goal was to have gelato every day while I was in this beautiful country.  After our pizza, I asked the owner where was the best gelato.  I spoke to him in Italian and he understood and graciously told me where to go.  We promptly made our way and my flavor for the day was fragola and limone.  It was the best we had while we were there!!!

 

After several more hours of walking, we headed back towards our hotel, as we did not want to be out much after dark.  We rested for a while and then found cafe with outdoor seating and had more food and drink.  It is a good thing that I cut back on calories a few months prior to this trip.  Wanted to lose some pounds before getting here, so I could eat and drink as much as I wanted while here.  

 

Parma ham, cheese, bread, olives and local wine

Il Cuoppo

And of course, dessert - limoncello...to aid with digestion

Another day packed with new sights, sounds, tastes and treats.  So far this trip as lived up to my dreams!  Tomorrow, another city!!!

Until then...

Enjoy!!!

Italy - Day 3, En route to Napoli

Driving along the autostrada

We woke up on our third day in Italy, excited as we were headed to a new city.  After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, and grabbed a taxi back to the airport to pick up our rental car.  Before we left the states, three of us got our international driver's license so that we would be able to drive while we were here.  I wanted to be able to move around quite a bit while in Italy, so I planned this trip to be a self-driving vacation.  However, once in Italy, I quickly found out that I am not that brave.  Driving here is well, let's just say quite an adventure. Our traveling companion and good friend, Marcus, started out behind the wheel.  It took us about 3 times circling the airport to actually get out of the airport onto the autostrada.  And I am so thankful that he was driving.  He stayed calm and managed to keep us safe.  Thank you Marcus!!!

 

View from window, villages along the hillside

We headed to Naples, but we took the much longer, scenic route.  Less traffic and beautiful countryside.   We passed through some tiny villages and enjoyed the morning taking in the views.  It was getting time for lunch so we stopped in the little town of Pietrasecca.  According to data, there are only about 200 people living in this little piece of heaven. 

 

Inside the restaurant

Dining area

The only restaurant we saw was the Ristorante Villa Rosa, a small family owned home where mom was in the kitchen, dad was manning the huge wood fireplace/oven and the son took our order.  We were the only patrons. 

 

Ball of mozzarella browned in oven, nothing but cheese

Each of us had a primi of pasta, and a secondi of formaggio.  Since the owners did not speak English, I ordered for us and unfortunately, I misunderstood the second course.  Turns out, it was simply formaggio, a ball of buffalo mozzarella that was placed in a wood burning stove and browned.  It was a huge hunk of cheese and each of us had one.   While it was good mozzarella, it was way too much for us.  Oops!

 

dessert

Our dessert, a simple cake and homemade limoncello.  So good and the limoncello is reported to aid digestion after a huge meal.  

 

Ristorante Villa Rosa

It was time to get back in the car and head for Naples as Marcus really wanted to get there before dark.  Once again the view was gorgeous. 

 

Beautiful countryside

snow capped mountains

We headed into Naples right at sunset.  Not good!  Napoli is the largest city in southern Italy and one of the oldest continuous inhabited urban areas of the world.  It is big, busy, grimy, beautiful and crazy!   Driving here is insane, and I mean insane.  No one uses any lines on the road, Vespas pass on whichever side of the car they want and cars are bumper to bumper without any rhyme or reason.  Absolutely crazy!  I have never seen anything like it.  No pictures of this as I was sitting in the back seat holding my breath and grasping the seats.  Don't know how you did it Marcus, but I am so glad you were at the wheel and managed to keep it together!

 

Some had pizza

Once we found our hotel, we parked the car in the parking garage and thanked our lucky stars we made it into the city.  After getting checked in, we simply went downstairs for a meal of pasta, pizza and local wine.  It was time to relax and chill!

After the huge meal, we wobbled back to our rooms.  We did not feel comfortable walking about in the city after 9pm, although many do.  In my reading of Naples, each reference mentioned a lot about crime, toxic waste, mafia, and poverty.  This made us a little leery about venturing out after dark.  So it was off to bed for us.  Time for showers and some sleep to get ready for the next day!

Until next time...

Enjoy!