Roman holiday

A blissful way to spend a night is to sail on calm seas having watched a glorious sunset, under starry skies. The crossing from Patra to Brindisi has to rank as one of the best such journeys. The Greek coastline gives way to the islands and all the way the Aegean/med is just serene. We slept like logs and arrived breezily in the south east of Italy on July 2nd.

With vague ideas of heading to Naples, we thought it might be pretty to drive the coast road to Sorrento. Our ignorance of local geography was shamefully exposed: we hadn’t realised this is the world-famous Amalfi coast, home to rat pack playboys zooming around narrow hairpins and immaculate medieval towns towering on the cliffs. We spent a night in a garret apartment in Minori, sampling the gelati and – at long last – genuine Italian pasta! On the downside, we can’t believe how regimented beaches are, with pricey sunbeds in strict fenced off rows. After Greece, we didn’t partake. Rhys couldn’t believe that Italians don’t do Hawaiian pizza, and we had to hush him: no mentioning such a (albeit delicious) travesty in Italian company!

After spending a morning at the amazing hill top music-lovers delight of Ravello, we headed for Sorrento and our first taste of Italian camping. The setting was perfect, almost idyllic. The nation is a bit odd about swimming etiquette though– in many places, you had to don a ridiculous plastic cap to be allowed in! Slightly different from the Greek ‘anything goes, kids spitting and backdiving into the pool fine, shove 200 kids into one tiny pool’ attitude.

We loved the slightly cooler weather: our dreams were answered when we even had DRIZZLE on our first night! We loved the food, the insane roads … and after a couple of days I had to stop squealing with delight at the sight of each and every medieval hill fort town. Aside: they only built them on hills with walls to keep the mossie-infested swampiness and bandits at bay.

We then had a completely abortive attempt at Capri. After getting up at some unearthly hour to greet the 8.00am boat coming in, my stomach churned just watching it pitching and yawing – I saw me pitching and heaving all over the deck. When I announced I didn’t fancy it that much, it emerged quite clearly no one else was bothered either. Sheepishly, we had a lazy day instead.