Amalfi Coast Italy

We set our navigator to "avoid toll"
We selected Amalfi coast and started out. Bloody hell, what a trip.
Some of the smaller Italian towns have very narrow street and during the morning are heavily congested.
We climbed up a pass road finally entering a tunnel. What we saw out of the tunnel was spectacular.

The Amalfi coast receives passenger liners who hit the coasts beaches, bars and restaurants.

We took a lunch on the waters edge then went for a swim.

Amalfi wasn't planned but Barry and Donna's daughter recommended it as a must see.

Refreshed we made a new plan.
We headed out and back inland looking for a suitable campsite in central Italy.
We went off the main highway and onto provincial roads followed by narrow towns and park roads. We climbed up onto a plateau at around 1000 metres and stopped near a small mountain town called Opi.

The region is a national park and has lots of real wildlife.

Below is a local photo.

There are also bears in the woods surrounding Opi.

The camp was really nice and to our surprise had a few campers in it. 

That night we heard the wolves howling in the distance.

The following day we said goodbye to Barry and Donna and started out for northern Italy.

Final view from Opi. 

We ended up in Perugia on a lakeside campground. 

That night we watch the football match between Italy and Germany. 

Many beers were had as the game went into extended time with a penalty shootout.

The following morning we walked the local town which was very pretty and quite old.

After our walk around we headed for Venice.

Tuscany country side

Next stop was Siena city where we stayed in a small town called Sovicille
On the way there we came into a little town, which dated from medieval times, called
Casole D'elsa.

Siena was a lovely place to visit. We took advice to skip Florence due to high tourist numbers.

Quaint streets of Siena.

After Siena we drove to Rome. Rome is very big, noisy but bursting with things to see.

Arriving at our new camp we stumbled upon some Aussie travellers who were making an epic trip overland in a double cab ute.
Of course we had many beers together and planned for the next day in Rome.

We went to the Coliseum which is a huge Roman ruin with later medieval add ons.
Italywithus looked after our tickets. Thanks Sara.
The site is huge and there was a lot to take in.

The Coliseum 

The colesium itself is spectacular and standing there trying get to imagine the games that went on there was quite surreal. Lots of people died in that arena.

Another famous spot was the Trivi fountain which was bursting with people.
More selfies get taken than of the fountain . Seems a very popular way to record the holiday. 1000 mug shots with your face and a background.

Managed to find our bus again by walking past the Vatican. Didn’t stop for tea with the Pope as we had to much on that day. Maybe we can send another appointment.



Next stop was Pompeii. Barry and Donna followed us to the camp so we set up and had dinner with red wine and more beers.

Pompeii for me was bucket list stuff so very excited to be there.
Entry into Pompeii was easy and the site was huge. Some jaw dropping stuff.

When you see this it makes you realise that this civilisation was highly advanced.
Here is Barry checking out the package.

The whole place was caught by a sudden volcanic eruption in 79AD.
The people were running from the ash and got caught by the pyroclastic flow killing get them all.

Bodies were covered by many metres of ash and that is where they lay until recently times when Pompeii was unearthed. The gaps in the ash were filled and this is what came out.

Pompeii was a huge site and took its toll on the 4 of us.

We legged it to a nice cafe with cold beer on tap.

The following day we headed to the Amalphi coast.

Italy

Crossed the border and got searched for people in the van. No people so they waved us through. Phew.
Driving into Italy the first thing you notice are the number of road tunnels. Some only 100m long while others greater than 2km.  Scores of them.



From Saint Remy, France, we drove into Italy along the Mediterranean Sea where we stopped in Imperia.
Imperial is a smallish seaside town with spectacular views and stony beaches.

From here we drove to Pisa to see a sideways tower that everyone pays to climb into.
We stayed in another motor camp outside of Pisa city.
We had a good walk around the city which is very old and pretty.
Pretty cool tower with great views of the surrounding city.

 Above is Linda trying to hold it

Here is an old Roman bath

Beside the tower is a large church called Pisa Cathedral

The whole place was buzzing with tourists, sellers and locals. We struck a hot day and luckily were able to get inside that morning.

Here is the old wall surrounding the old centre of Pisa.

That's it for Pisa

France...au revoir

To get to Italy from Spain you must travel through France.
From Barcelona we went north up the coast and crossed the border. We met heavy traffic and police checks at the border but we're not even looked at when our turn came.
Great roads all the way through.
We now use cruise control and dial up 96km hr.
This is a nice speed and even the driver can look around. Open road speed limits are between 110 and 130 kmhr. Trucks sit at 90km hr, so your always passing trucks. I have pissed a few truckies off with my leisurely driving demeanor and have been honked at on the rare occasion.
I've got Linda chewing my right ear and my dear navigation assistant "Lucy" always telling me to turn here, stay in that lane,,,,,,you get the idea.....hen pecked. Lindas pet name is "Captain Cook"

We travelled to a small place called Loupian, which sits across from the small port city of Sete.
Loupian was the windiest camp yet and nearly shredded our cheap as chips canvas. We stayed a couple of nights in Loupian then met with a young lady we met in Bolivia.  Many thanks Charlotte for helping with our camping card.

There is a beautiful harbour in Sete

Overlooking most of Sete 

That afternoon we travelled to Saint Rèmy in the Provence region.

Before we arrived we visited Pont Du Gard, which is a Roman aqueduct constructed AD 50....approx. This was constructed to supply water to the roman settlement now called Nimès.  Incredible construction.

Linda at the grotto.

Close by are various Grottos where megalithic man once lived.

We arrived at Caroline and Mikes holiday place just in time for dinner and wine. Had a very pleasant evening with their families. Saint Rèmy is a very old and picturesque place to visit. The old town is surrounded by a stone wall, which was common amounst early European villages.

Saint Rèmy boasts it's own roman ruins other than the aqueduct.

So that was France.

Barcelona

Barcelona was a very interesting city.
Of course it is famous for hosting the 1992 Olympic games and also for the Sagrada Familiar,  but also for it very old history.

This a street view of the Degrada Famillia. 

An example of the old history were the Roman excavations below the centre of old Barcelona.
You descend below street level where archeaologists have unearthed the old Roman town.
Full displays of streets, houses, places of work and places of worship are all there. Lots of ceramics and relics. Unreal to be down there.

This photo comes from Google as photography was difficult.

We managed to do  city bike tour which was great.

Got around a lot of the "must see" stuff and gave us a sense of what we would come back for the next day. Travelling through the maze of streets in the Gothic centre was really nice. All sorts of shops and curious places.

Barcelona has its own Arch of Triumph.

Similar to the Paris arch.

The next day..we did the Roman underground. Like I mentioned earlier this was something else.

We had wine and beers along the way and shared the day with Caroline and Mike, who we met on the bike tour.

Seeing the city with others is an enriching experience as more is discussed and more ideas are exchanged.

View while walking along the waterfront.

From the end of the cable car we walked up to a castle who's history had been long, with rebuilds on rebuilds. Such is the way with castles.ñ

The view of the Port of Barcelona was spectacular with a full container yard and ship docking ports.

A huge harbour surrounded by rock had been built to shelter the port from the wave action.

Full size cargo and luxury cruise liners laid on the docks. Outside the harbour lay many ships waiting to unload or be loaded.

After this we bussed down toward another grand building with majestic water features.

Here are Caroline and Mike who we spent the day with standing by a water feature outside Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

Barcelona was nice and I would encourage anyone to go there.
Sam

North of Gibraltar

Covered some ground from Seville to Gibraltar and stayed in Estepona camp ground.
Very close to the beach with not much around to look at.

Sometimes we just blob out and take care of a few chores like washing and sitting on the beach.

These are the kinds of houses that are typical along the Spanish coast.

These are very large and could be apartments.

Valencia was our next stop with a city trip and sight seeing of course.

This guy was a delight to watch. 

He would sit motionless until someone gave him a coin or two when he would suddenly come to life and perform. Quite an inventive way to earn a crust. 

More massive cathedrals and towers.

Just amazing how much the Catholic church built over the years.

They certainly didn't do things by halves.

The motorcamp here was the noisiest yet with bird scarers going off through the night at 10min 30 second intervals. Argh. ...we were positioned next to an orchard.

Next stop was in a small town called Case, right by the beach. The campgrounds were the best yet.

Photos from this morning's sunrise.

We are in Barcelona for 3 days and will post something later this week.

Sam

France, Spain into Portugal

Hi all

Bit of a catchup post of stuff we did these last few weeks.

In France we went to Lascaux ii caves.
This cave was discovered in 1940 and has since become a world Heritage site. Tourists cannot visit the original cave as problems with deterioration started happening. The French govt made an exact copy of the cave a few hundred metres away. They have done an excellent job.
17000 years ago Cro-magnon man painted on the walls inside this cave. See below.
There are a number of sights in France and Spain where this happened.

Above we can see different animal species. Photo taken from Google as photography is banned inside the cave.

We left Lascaux ii in the rain which followed us to a small rural campsite in France. 

The owner was Dutch so we had to have a drink with them at happy hour or three.

We stayed in a cottage that night as the weather was shitty and we couldn't be bothered setting up in the rain.

Next morning we departed with rain chasing close behind.

Around that time they had major hail in Cognac and flooding in France.

That morning we drove into San Sebastion for a look around. We parked quite a distance from the central historical area (Centro Historico) and walked along the bay front.

Big black skies above towards France.

It rained when we reached the central area so we splashed out and got some brollies. 

Nice city with lots to see. 

Next stop was Burgos at another camp.

Sight seeing off course.

At this camp we met De and De. 

Pommy ex  hoteliers. Full of mirth and liked their ale.

Next stop was Salamanca.

Here is Linda by one of the many monuments. 

Another nice place with similar scenes.

Next stop was Portugal.

We started seeing scenes that were reminiscent of South America. I guess SA was influenced by Portugal.

Lots of rocks, tight scrub and brick buildings. The main difference was that it was clean and tidy. No rubbish like SA. 

We stayed in Aviero for a couple of nights. 

Hot days were just starting. 

Next stop was Lisbon which is the capital of Portugal.

We stayed across the harbour, from town, in a smallish settlement. Just a quick ferry ride into Lisbon to soak up the sights. 

 All around we could hear Fado music being played as this is part of their culture.
Have a listen to this YouTube clip.
https://youtu.be/ARS7Zi-Zpkw

Plaza

Above is the Fado stuff.

Here is the cities big castle. This was an awesome sight.

Fishing boats are also part of the culture here.

From Lisbon we drove to Seville back into Spain 

Another big beautiful city.

To many photos to show here.

Well that's the blog caught up until Gibraltar.

Talk soon.

Sam