28/07/11 Day 33 St Marie di Castellabate

After Paestum we continued south along the coast road, and past more run down villages. These are meant to be holiday resorts but why anyone would want to stay I cannot work out. After a while we reached Agropoli  at first it looked good, reasonable promenade before resorting to standard.

It also performed the Italian game of giving you a signpost to where you want to go on the way in, but then leaving it to you to find your way out. Having been round the town once we spotted the signpost missed. I thought the French were good with obscure placing of signs in towns (usually only seen as you passed the junction), but the Italians have taken it to a new level.

Anyway onto St Marie di Castellabate and lo a resort but one which is still a proper village, so has not fully succumbed. Very pleasant it was too, even if the clouds overhead were threatening. Had a nice walk round, then found friendly café and had a late lunch.

There is hope after all for this area, just get well away from the tourist hot spots.

One final thing – why is it behind the wheel Italians are in a desperate hurry to get nowhere fast, but when walking they have all the time in the world.

28/07/11 Day 33 Paestum

At Paestaum is the ruin of an old greek settlement so we thought why not. True there are a couple of very good coliseums but the rest is the footings of walls and you have to imagine what the building and town was like. After Pompeii yesterday it did not really work, still it was only 15kms away.

27/07/11 Day 32 Pompeii

Taking our Dubrovnik tip into action we left campsite at 8am arrived Pompeii 9am, no problem parking car, so quick coffee then in. OK I did not expect it to be as big as it was, it really was a large town/city before the disaster struck.

Also it is evident this place had money and plenty of it with several theatres, baths, a huge forum and other imposing buildings. It is really sad that the inhabitants did not understand what was about to hit them and stayed in their buildings instead of getting out – apparently they had time to.

We finished about 12.30 by which time it was heaving, the car parks were fuller (much fuller) and it was up to 30C. Lunch then out of there. In the afternoon we attempted the Amalfi coast road from Salerno, but gave up at (I think) Maiori, it is no joy driving along.

Back via Salerno, OK the Italians are renowned for their design ‘sense’ with clothes, shoes, cars etc so how is it when it comes to buildings and town planning they appear to lose it. The coastline is very beautiful but to drive along it looks like a shanty town outside Salerno, whilst Salerno itself seems to be apartment blocks, roads that need some serious maintenance and not pretty. Mind you Pompeiii and the surrounding area is no better – Yuk (sorry Italy but you need to up your game).

Moreover the way drivers blatantly ignore the law, doing 50mph in 50kph zones and overtaking in them, even when clearly banned, does not say much about their regard to the law generally. Still this is Mafia country isn’t.

If you get the impression that so far southern Italy is not doing it for me, you’d be on the right line.

26/07/11 Day 31 Giovinazzo to Patsteum

After very pleasant breakfast at hotel time to get on way. Short hop to autostrada, initially flat and wall to wall olive trees, gradually this opened out. As we progressed west the route became more hilly with the mountains around Napoli appearing.

To get to Pasteum (well south of Napoli) we cut the corner using an A road which while still dual carriageway did not seem to work quite so well. Skirted round Salerno and then usual Italian problem -  trying to find destination, eventually done. A large site orderly layout but it has a lovely pool which we made use of, before nipping out to find a supermarket and dinner.

After very pleasant breakfast at hotel time to get on way. Short hop to autostrada, initially flat and wall to wall olive trees, gradually this opened out. As we progressed west the route became more hilly with the mountains around Napoli appearing.

To get to Pasteum (well south of Napoli) we cut the corner using an A road which while still dual carriageway did not seem to work quite so well. Skirted round Salerno and then usual Italian problem -  trying to find destination, eventually done. A large site orderly layout but it has a lovely pool which we made use of, before nipping out to find a supermarket and dinner.

25/07/11 Day 29 Croatia to Italy

There is something about leaving and entering a country by ship. Better then passing a notice by side of road 'Welcome to Austria', or spending 2 hours at each end of a flight from gatwick to arrive in Spain. Ok the bit in between the crossing can be a bit boring, but it was a nice sunny day out in the Adriatic. The clouds were back by Italy though.


If you are going to go to Italy I would not suggest Bari as a good point of entry, the port is huge but OK. When you get to the main gate there is a little green sign pointing to the autostrada.


So off you go, but no more signs, you end up in more & more run down parts of Bari, until in the end at a T junction (end of th eroad) I turned right down an alleyway, trying to get back to the coast road. The locals were jumping up & down thinking I was mad, but we got through.


The next road did the same ending at a T junction, another right turn, wider road and at last back on main road, then a signpost to Foggia, bliss the road out of Bari.



Except that when the Italians get behind the wheel they are all in a Ferrari and are Michael Schumacher, and when you are towing a one ton trailer it's not easy trying to avoid them. Still we survived and found our hotel, although that was fun too.

It is OK had a great meal, lovely old waiter, only thing I had not spotted when researching it on google etc was that it was right by the main railway line in & out of Bari. However the trains eased off from about 11pm till 6pm so we got some sleep.


Ho hum and we are going to Naples & Rome !!

24/07/11 Day 28 Ston and Mali-Ston

Last day in Croatia so thought we would just stay at site. However on drive into Ston we had seen a wall across the hill and it looked like people were on it, so thought we’d investigate. Amazing, back in C14 after Dubrovnians had acquired area they sorted out defending it.

So on one side of hill was walled town Ston and on other Mali Ston, but they built a wall across the hill, joining them and making it possible to walk from one to the other, whilst also being defended all the way.

It is being renovated but it is possible to walk the wall from Ston to Mali Ston, which is what we saw, so we did too.

Quick drink in Ston, very  nice small village (now, but could become bigger if they wanted to, especially with the wall feature) few cafes, bars and restaurants plus two supermarkets. Back to beach for swim, we thought.

Weather had other ideas and clouded over and then produced another thunderstorm. This is becoming a habit and not one that we fully agree with. So Croatia fizzled out, sadly. Still off to Italy tomorrow, that should be lively.

23/07/11 Day 27 Dubrovnik

Tip, do Dubrovnik in the first part of the day. We were in the car park by 10, after a coffee in the old town by 10.30. By then it was busy, but when we left at 3pm the queue to get in went back to the by-pass.

What can I say it is a lovely old city, especially if you get away from main tourist area. It was badly ravaged during the 90s war but they have done a good job of restoration, although you can tell the new buildings versus the originals still standing.

The authorities – like Carcasonne, Venice etc have let commercialism go too far.  There are too many shops selling cheap tat, too many bars & restaurants. By lunchtime it was heaving. Not sure what the answer is, we need to preserve these places but tourism could end up destroying them again.

Anyway found nice place for lunch (whoops what did I just say about tourism !), and had just finished when the thunderstorm that had been rumbling away launched itself, boy did the rain come down. Being a walled city there is no open ground i.e. earth so the stairways and alleys become the drainage system. So we had waterfalls cascading down the stairs to the main street, and we were eating lunch in a stream of tepid water flowing past our feet downhill to the next stairway.

Initially the eaters braved it out, so the storm went up a gear, we gave up & retreated indoors.

Later on back at the campsite lo & behold it had another go at us. Twice in one day.

This is meant to be the med, at least though the rain was warm, and afterwards you can still go for a swim.

23/07/11 Neighbours

We seem to have contrived to upset our neighbours at the last two sites. At Trogir we found a nice pitch that was shady late afternoon and evening. Our neighbours very kindly watched us put up the tent (no real problem we are getting very good at it now, faster than tenters or cravanners) then suggested that as the sun shone on the pitch during the day, making it very hot, we should move. Maria’s reply that it was not a problem as we would not be on the pitch during the day, and that it was ideal for the evenings was clearly not the right answer.

Interestingly they left before us, not sure if planned, or that our early morning tea & breakfast, then getting ready to go out routine was better at waking them up than their late night conversation and hearty guffaws to stop us sleeping. Brits 1 Germans 0.

At the next site again we found a nice pitch well shaded under some olive trees. There were some other tents around but they would be behind us. Despite Maria saying hello to the family several times they appeared to ignore us. Well if they did not want anyone to pitch in front of them, then pitch there yourself, I say. Brits 1 Slovakians 0.

Anyway we are all camping and therefore in theory you are sharing limited space with others, so what do you expect.

Enough of the grumpy old man.

23/07/11 English

Since moving down to Dubrovnik area have seen more English cars on the road, however yet to see one on campsite. Maybe they are staying in hotels or apartments.

Talking of apartments there have been loads to rent all down the Croatian coast, so I guess the financial problems across Europe are having an impact. Also to date we have had no problems getting onto sites, I had expected to be turned away from some by now. Italy may be different if the Italians have decided to stay at home for the summer, we shall soon see.

22/07/11 Day 26 Trogir to Ston

First up another thunderstorm at about 4am, still by time woke up again it was 7am and lovely & sunny.

After breckies  packed up and off towards Dubrovnik, pretty good run including circa 20kms through Bosnia.  It is a bit odd that they ‘own’ a small strip of coastline, but maybe it was part of the settlement of the war. So to get to Dubrovnik one has to leave Croatia for Bosnia then come back in again. Apart from the border posts though, you would not notice it at all.  20 minutes to get in, none to get back out.

On to last site in Croatia at Ston and what a nice site, sitting in a bay with a proper sandy beach.

Great beach shame we found it now, but better late than never. We are here till Monday so after Dubrovnik tomorrow time to relax on beach.

21/07/11 Day 25 Happy Birthday Maria

Thanks for texts and emails wishing Maria a happy birthday. 
 

A lazy day physically, but the grey cells have been working hard, looking at the net, books, and maps. Probably unlike what you want in England the weather here is going to cool over next week or so from mid 30s to mid/high 20s. That makes Dubrovnik, Pompeii, Rome more bearable so back to plan A.

Ferry is booked for 1pm Monday from Dubrovnik to Italy. Looking at the schedule though would put us in Rome next weekend and just leave a week to get back. Having spent 5 weeks in relaxing & leisurely tour it seemed silly to rush back. So we are extending by a week to 10 days to come back home in the same manner.

Tomorrow we move further down the coast towards Dubrovnik for the weekend & hope to stay at a site with a sandy beach, that would be very comfortable after rocks & concrete.

20/07/11 Day 24 Trogir

For a change a thunderstorm to start the day, although not as good as the last two. It has freshened the air a bit but temperature still high 20s.

Sticking by our earlier comment (blog 18/07/11) we took water taxi from campsite to Trogir. It was teeming but is a very pretty old walled town. After the Greek version yesterday we reckon the Venetians have had a big hand in Trogir.

There were some very expensive boats parked up and lots of posing tourists taking pictures of themselves. After good walk round the narrow maze of streets found pleasant restaurant and had lunch. We can recommend Trogir for a visit (not by car)

One other point it is on the flight path to Split airport – and that looks an interesting airport – and Wednesday may be change over day as we counted (I think) 8 flights in then back out again.

Anyway back on boat to campsite and wind down for day, grill & salad at the van tonight.

20/07/11 Day24 Camper Vans & Brits

We have found a Pennine Pullman on the current campsite in Croatia. This is the same series as ours but slightly lower spec, i.e. no loo or wardrobe. It is not English registered though but Danish.

Whilst camped in Slovenia Maria overheard a Dutch man waxing lyrical to his wife about the camper and how brilliant it was, however it seems his wife was less than interested.

The other point of interest is the lack of Brit cars since leaving France over two weeks ago. We have only found one other on a campsite and not that many on the roads. Where have we all gone.

Mind you even the Dutch do not appear to be everywhere as normal.

19/07/11 Day 23 Primosten

First a 45km detour to Split and a large DIY store to get a new jockey wheel for camper, as Steve had contrived to break the existing one – sorry Brian & Helen, but new one is very nice & does the job.

Onto Primosten,  a lovely beach around a headland adjoining an old port on a hill. Very reminiscent of a greek island town. Some very nice apartments for rents and lovely restaurants with gorgeous views.

Highly recommended for a visit / stay.

Quick stop on way back at Marina (yes the village is actually called that) for a swim then back to campsite for cool beer at beach bar. Went to beach restaurant later on and had a fish dinner for two. Just as we finished an amazing orange moon took to the sky & floated slowly across the bay.

Bliss !