Walking Tour - Sorrento, Italy
16 September 2017
Six of us transferred from the Altamura tour to the Sorrento tour. Our minivan picked us up at a very civilised hour of 10.30am. The driver spoke absolutely no English and was not a fan of the GPS invention. The four hour journey instructions were hand written and sticky taped to the dashboard.
He was a graduate of the Italian stunt driver school and could stare down any oncoming traffic no matter what its size. There are only two rules for driving in Italy, miss everything and don't get hit. Indicating is only for foreigners and if it is used you ignore it anyway. When you want to stop you just stop and get out anywhere you like because you won't get hit because that is one of the two road rules. Because you can't be seen gesticulating in your car you have to express your opinion of another's driving skills by blowing your horn. They do have the option of expressing their opinion too so may blow their horn. Observers also can have an opinion and may help either party by blowing their horn. The horn blowing stops if a foreigner indicates because that is rarely seen and distracts drivers away from expressing their opinions.
Oh I nearly forgot, driving is something to do between talking and tweeting on you mobile phone. If you ride a motorbike or motor scooter you must tweet while riding between two lanes of traffic.
So with all of the above in play we spent four terrifying hours on the road to Sorrento. Obviously our driver's "GPS" was an older model because it got us lost but it only took four stops to seek directions to get us there, one including stopping in the middle of a busy road to talk to a man walking with his toddler who let go of her hand while wildly gesticulating the directions to the next point where we too get lost.
Finally we arrived 1.25 hours late and just 15 minutes before the introductory walk around the local area to be shown the supermarket and fruit shop. The other 22 guests, having flown in to Naples, had been there since 1pm.
So our group is big, a full compliment in fact, and we have two new guides, Sandy and Dorothy. Dinner was at 7pm and was resturant style and just heavenly as it was all done and dusted by 8.45pm.
Our first walk was into Sorento by the backstreets to help orientate us for any future visits, then into a church on to a stunning view, another church, through the market area and finally out the back of the town to a deep gorge with an overgrown water mill at the bottom.
It was at this point the 'easy' walkers split from the 'hard' walkers to all eventually meet up again later in the day. What is really good about HFholidays is that there are generally two walks each day so based on how you feel and what you enjoy you have a choice - shorter/easier or longer/harder. We take a picnic lunch (just bread and cheese really) each day as down time is limited.
The walks are nothing short of stunning with almost constant views of the water, sheer cliffs and views to the Isle of Capri, Naples and the ever present Mt Vesuvius. The down side to the spectacular views is the ever present steep steps and rocky paths. Lunch was held by the water's edge with colourful boats bobbing in a small marina. What a great place.
Day 2 - This is a highlight day for us with a climb up to, and a walk around, the caldera of Mt Vesuvius and a guided tour of Herculaneum. The road up Vesuvius is steep and windy. Around 200 vertical metres short of the top we were dropped off close to where a long black ash track winds its way to the top. A guide took us to the edge and talked of the history and make up of the mountain and the crater. Two distinct lines in the crater show past levels of liquid magma. One of our hf guides, Sandy, is a geologist specialising in volcanoes so she is a wealth of knowledge having spent her entire career studying volcanoes especially in Iceland. The views from Vesuvius were just spectacular with Naples spreading out below us lapping the blue waters of the Mediterranean.
Having our fill of Vesuvius we descended the path back to our bus which then took us to Herculaneum buried in 79AD along with Pompeii. Herculaneum is better preserved due to the way it was buried so we were fortunate that this week's tour took us there. An Italian archaeologist was our tour guide and he was just brilliant. His descriptions took us back to the era of living in this very sophisticated and wealthy Roman town on the shores of the Mediterranean. The town was buried under 20 metres of boiling mud (not volacanic ash like Pompeii) and the flows from the eruption now place the shoreline 500 metres further into the sea.
The place is just amazing still with colourful frescoes on the walls, marble dining tables, shops with clay pots in the counters, brass beds, spas, great standing columns and streets with underground sewers, preserved 2,000 year old wooden window frames and glass. In the boat houses on the shoreline there are the (replica) skeletal remains of over 300 people who didn't make on to the rescue boats, a sad reminder of the tragedy that happened here.
Tuesday and it's time to walk the Path of the Gods - a path that traverses the hills behind Positano with spectacular views along the rugged coast and over the Amalfi Coast, Bay of Salerno and the Mediterranean. Early morning storms settled the dust and raised the humidity, and caused traffic chaos (more than usual). The high mountains produced mist from time to time in the eroded creek valleys and the slopes.
Numerous grottos dotted the path, some of which we explored, and always the stunning views were there to distract us from our long walk. Many times the path was carved into vertical cliffs with vertical drop offs below. Stone houses atop terraced farms were the only way to eke out a living in this remote area over the centuries. Today a narrow windy road, the Amalfi Coast road, follows the coastline way down below us bringing hoards of tourists to the little coastal villages. Another great day.
Wednesday is a free day on hfholidays and while there are so many things we could do we opted to have an easy day. We have been going non-stop for nearly three weeks and the next four weeks will be no different. So after having a relaxing morning we headed out to forage for some food. Julie had a hankering for some local pizza so after walking to the cliff edges near our hotel and discovering no restaurants or cafes open we continued along the cliffs away from Sorrento in search of food.
Finally we retraced our steps and after 7.5 klm we came across a nice pizza place in a local piazza. A quick trip to the supermarket to pick up lunch supplies for tomorrow's lunch and we were done for the day. Other people went to Pompeii, Isle of Capri and further down the Amalfi coast.
Thursday - today's walk, called Mountain Villages although we renamed it "Two Crosses" was the best walk of the last two weeks. It started in Prezanno, high in the mountains where we had constant stunning views to Naples in the north and Capri in the south. It was a difficult walk as it started with two hours of steep climbing rising 650 metres where we then walked along a ridge with absolutely beautiful views all around. The day was just perfect with clear skies, 24 degree temp and a cooling breeze. Large crosses were located on the two peaks we climbed linked by a narrow eroded limestone ridge then we descended to Arolo Only photos can show just how great a walk this was so here are some.
It's Friday and the last walking day of the tour before everyone heads home tomorrow. Todays walk was harder than yesterday, still had great views but was not quite as good. It started with a 500+ metre descent down an original Roman road to the waters edge to the ruins of a roman villa and a stone defence fort. The views from here were over the blue waters to the Isle of Capri with many boats heading towards it. Next came the 600+ metre ascent up a ridge of heavily eroded limestone. With little or no shade it was a long slog only to be broken when we turned around for a rest to view the ever increasing panorama around us.
The walk then traversed a cliffside where at times the path was only a couple of feet wide with a sheer drop off below us. A final steep scramble led into a shady pine forest where a welcome rest was had while we had a picnic lunch and drank in the views. A final 100 metre climb took us up Mount St Constanzo to a church that provided 360 degree views of the Sorrento Peninsula. The final part of the walk was back down 600 metres along steep paths through stone buildings and terraced olive and vegetable gardens. This part was really tiring on the already weary legs. At the bottom we came to a little stone beach filled with umbrellas and lilos that could be hired for a few hours. Instead we opted for a coffee overlooking the sea with a well deserved rest.
So today is Saturday 23 September and is moving day. We are off to Naples to fly to Venice where we will begin the next chapter of this great trip by climbing aboard a small ship to sail to Athens. This hfholidays Sorrento Tour was wonderful with very good accommodation and food, great company, excellent guides and great walks of around 10 klm each with big ascents and descents. We're pleased to say we completed the harder walks each day although our legs may be more pleased to be able to say we did the easier walks.
Bye for now
JeffnJulie
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| An Italian GPS stuck to the dashboard |
Six of us transferred from the Altamura tour to the Sorrento tour. Our minivan picked us up at a very civilised hour of 10.30am. The driver spoke absolutely no English and was not a fan of the GPS invention. The four hour journey instructions were hand written and sticky taped to the dashboard.
He was a graduate of the Italian stunt driver school and could stare down any oncoming traffic no matter what its size. There are only two rules for driving in Italy, miss everything and don't get hit. Indicating is only for foreigners and if it is used you ignore it anyway. When you want to stop you just stop and get out anywhere you like because you won't get hit because that is one of the two road rules. Because you can't be seen gesticulating in your car you have to express your opinion of another's driving skills by blowing your horn. They do have the option of expressing their opinion too so may blow their horn. Observers also can have an opinion and may help either party by blowing their horn. The horn blowing stops if a foreigner indicates because that is rarely seen and distracts drivers away from expressing their opinions.
Oh I nearly forgot, driving is something to do between talking and tweeting on you mobile phone. If you ride a motorbike or motor scooter you must tweet while riding between two lanes of traffic.
So with all of the above in play we spent four terrifying hours on the road to Sorrento. Obviously our driver's "GPS" was an older model because it got us lost but it only took four stops to seek directions to get us there, one including stopping in the middle of a busy road to talk to a man walking with his toddler who let go of her hand while wildly gesticulating the directions to the next point where we too get lost.
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| Our first glimpse of Sorrento coast with Mt Vesuvius in the background |
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| Sorrento coastline along Amalfi Coast Road |
So our group is big, a full compliment in fact, and we have two new guides, Sandy and Dorothy. Dinner was at 7pm and was resturant style and just heavenly as it was all done and dusted by 8.45pm.
Our first walk was into Sorento by the backstreets to help orientate us for any future visits, then into a church on to a stunning view, another church, through the market area and finally out the back of the town to a deep gorge with an overgrown water mill at the bottom.
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| Old Water Mill, Sorrento |
It was at this point the 'easy' walkers split from the 'hard' walkers to all eventually meet up again later in the day. What is really good about HFholidays is that there are generally two walks each day so based on how you feel and what you enjoy you have a choice - shorter/easier or longer/harder. We take a picnic lunch (just bread and cheese really) each day as down time is limited.
The walks are nothing short of stunning with almost constant views of the water, sheer cliffs and views to the Isle of Capri, Naples and the ever present Mt Vesuvius. The down side to the spectacular views is the ever present steep steps and rocky paths. Lunch was held by the water's edge with colourful boats bobbing in a small marina. What a great place.
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| Dorothy - one of two volunteer guides - showing us today's walk |
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| Views to Capri |
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| Harbour where we we had picnic lunch |
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| Olive harvest nets |
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| Lunch by the sea |
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| Ruins of a Roman fort with views to Mt Vesuvius |
Day 2 - This is a highlight day for us with a climb up to, and a walk around, the caldera of Mt Vesuvius and a guided tour of Herculaneum. The road up Vesuvius is steep and windy. Around 200 vertical metres short of the top we were dropped off close to where a long black ash track winds its way to the top. A guide took us to the edge and talked of the history and make up of the mountain and the crater. Two distinct lines in the crater show past levels of liquid magma. One of our hf guides, Sandy, is a geologist specialising in volcanoes so she is a wealth of knowledge having spent her entire career studying volcanoes especially in Iceland. The views from Vesuvius were just spectacular with Naples spreading out below us lapping the blue waters of the Mediterranean.
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| The long walk on volcanic ash up to the crater |
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| Two distinct lava levels from previous eruptions |
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| Steam venting from the crater |
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| Into the crater of Vesuvius |
Having our fill of Vesuvius we descended the path back to our bus which then took us to Herculaneum buried in 79AD along with Pompeii. Herculaneum is better preserved due to the way it was buried so we were fortunate that this week's tour took us there. An Italian archaeologist was our tour guide and he was just brilliant. His descriptions took us back to the era of living in this very sophisticated and wealthy Roman town on the shores of the Mediterranean. The town was buried under 20 metres of boiling mud (not volacanic ash like Pompeii) and the flows from the eruption now place the shoreline 500 metres further into the sea.
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| Herculaneum from the once shores (left) of the Mediterranean Sea |
The place is just amazing still with colourful frescoes on the walls, marble dining tables, shops with clay pots in the counters, brass beds, spas, great standing columns and streets with underground sewers, preserved 2,000 year old wooden window frames and glass. In the boat houses on the shoreline there are the (replica) skeletal remains of over 300 people who didn't make on to the rescue boats, a sad reminder of the tragedy that happened here.
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| The original shoreline with over 300 remains in the boatsheds |
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| "Maccas" 2000 years ago |
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| 2000 year old election advertising |
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| Men's sauna |
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| Frescos |
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| Our guide - didn't matter what he said because none of the ladies were listening anyway |
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| Main street |
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| Clay pots used for ship transportation |
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| Combined kitchen and toilet |
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| Marble table |
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| Men, women and children who couldn't get away (replicas in original positions) |
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| Herculaneum with Vesuvius in the background |
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| Start of Path of the Gods walk |
Numerous grottos dotted the path, some of which we explored, and always the stunning views were there to distract us from our long walk. Many times the path was carved into vertical cliffs with vertical drop offs below. Stone houses atop terraced farms were the only way to eke out a living in this remote area over the centuries. Today a narrow windy road, the Amalfi Coast road, follows the coastline way down below us bringing hoards of tourists to the little coastal villages. Another great day.
Wednesday is a free day on hfholidays and while there are so many things we could do we opted to have an easy day. We have been going non-stop for nearly three weeks and the next four weeks will be no different. So after having a relaxing morning we headed out to forage for some food. Julie had a hankering for some local pizza so after walking to the cliff edges near our hotel and discovering no restaurants or cafes open we continued along the cliffs away from Sorrento in search of food.
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| Bicycle built for two |
Thursday - today's walk, called Mountain Villages although we renamed it "Two Crosses" was the best walk of the last two weeks. It started in Prezanno, high in the mountains where we had constant stunning views to Naples in the north and Capri in the south. It was a difficult walk as it started with two hours of steep climbing rising 650 metres where we then walked along a ridge with absolutely beautiful views all around. The day was just perfect with clear skies, 24 degree temp and a cooling breeze. Large crosses were located on the two peaks we climbed linked by a narrow eroded limestone ridge then we descended to Arolo Only photos can show just how great a walk this was so here are some.
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| Dangerous walking in this area (our guide with two locals) |
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| Todays walking group |
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| One hill top conquered |
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| Another hilltop conquered |
It's Friday and the last walking day of the tour before everyone heads home tomorrow. Todays walk was harder than yesterday, still had great views but was not quite as good. It started with a 500+ metre descent down an original Roman road to the waters edge to the ruins of a roman villa and a stone defence fort. The views from here were over the blue waters to the Isle of Capri with many boats heading towards it. Next came the 600+ metre ascent up a ridge of heavily eroded limestone. With little or no shade it was a long slog only to be broken when we turned around for a rest to view the ever increasing panorama around us.
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| Isle of Capri |
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| The walk up |
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| Some scary bits |
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| Lunch in the shade |
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| Mount St Contanza |
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| Start of the walk down and down and down to the water's edge |
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| The end |
So today is Saturday 23 September and is moving day. We are off to Naples to fly to Venice where we will begin the next chapter of this great trip by climbing aboard a small ship to sail to Athens. This hfholidays Sorrento Tour was wonderful with very good accommodation and food, great company, excellent guides and great walks of around 10 klm each with big ascents and descents. We're pleased to say we completed the harder walks each day although our legs may be more pleased to be able to say we did the easier walks.
Bye for now
JeffnJulie
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