Rome

Our time in Rome started with a walking tour around the city to explore some of the many monuments. We were starving after all the walking so stopped off in the square in an alluring Italian restaurant and dined on pizza, homemade gnocchi and pesto spaghetti. Eccellente!

Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon

Dinner at the Piazza Navona

One of the many 'bubblers' in Rome sprouting forth spring water

St Peters Basilica

One of the many stunning tapestries in the Vatican (Gallery of Tapestries)

The ceiling of the Vatican Gallery of Maps

The Swiss Guards (on exit at St Peter's)

The Colosseum

Cassino

A little somber as we stopped to witness the masses of graves attributed to victims from the allied armies of World War II. Such an immense loss of life, many of the soldiers did not even make it to their twenties. It was quite upsetting to see that some soldiers were unidentified and listed on tombstones as, “known to God”.

Positano

Our obliging hotel concierge drove us along the Amalfi Coast to Positano this morning. We were intrigued by the lifestyle and were glad to have arrived early morn in time to see the locals start their day. Positanos live in houses perched on steep cliffs, stacked on top of one another, with narrow, windy streets in between. Their views are spectacular. The beach is one of the largest we have seen so far. Still no golden sand though! It starts with small rounded, black pebbles, working its way to larger pebbles as you work your way closer to the sea.

I love the way they decorate their front doors!

Isle of Capri

Today we caught the ferry to Isle of Capri. How wonderful! On arrival we boarded a speed boat and jetted around the island to visit some of its rocky and hidden grottos. Next we caught a bus up to Anacapri and caught the chairlift up to the top to enjoy the spectacular views. It was a bit scary but well worth it for the treat at the top!

Pascal, our friendly skipper

A bronze statue of a boy welcoming people to the bay

Taxi - Isle of Capri style

Waiting for the ferry back to the mainland (Sorrento)

Peter's Beach, Sorrento

Mamma Mia, not again!!

The fun never ends! We visited an 18^th century Olive Oil Mill and working farm where Nonna Maria gave us a demonstration on how to make mozzarella. After making the cheese, she selected four volunteers from the audience to take part in a traditional pizza making demonstration. And yes, you guessed it, Rew was yet again selected from the crowd, only I was asked to join him this time. We donned our rather crude aprons and had lots of fun learning how to make delicious pizza in the woodfire oven. Dinner proceeded starting with antipasta, followed by pasta, pizza and a lemon cake for dessert. Bellissimo!! After dinner we were introduced to the Italian lemon liqueur, Limoncello. It was so magnifico we bought some to take home.

Nonna Maria making mozarella

Pompeii, Italy

In 79 AD Mt Vesuvius erupted and people were trapped to their deaths. For over 200 years visitors to Naples have journeyed through the excavations of Pompeii, where life lay frozen in time. What a surreal experience to walk the streets where there used to be a bustling Roman civilization. 

My lovely Italian friend who made me fresh Graneta (lemon ice crush drink- very refreshing)

Wild poppies - just lovely!

The ampitheatre

Frozen in time

Mt Vesuvious in the background - a time bomb waiting to go off again.