Day 68: Tyred out

After a late breakfast, drove down to the town of Popoli for its weekly market. We bought some veges and then drove back over to Sulmona to get the winter tyres fitted, walking into the town once it was done to get some lunch. Sarah was really missing her Greek gyros, so we got some kebabs – the closest thing we could find.

 

Back in Roccacasale, we went for a short walk along the hillside behind the house - there's a long-distance hiking trail that goes right by the village and offers some great views over the valley (something that isn't exactly in short supply around here – our house has a rooftop terrace and I'm up there most mornings and evenings, entranced by the interplay of light, cloud, topography and industry). 

Day 67: To market, to market

When we walked down to the car in the morning, there was a hearse in the little piazza where we parked – a sad reminder of the depopulation of the village. The weather was suitably miserable as we drove down to the town of Sulmona – the largest in the area – to check out their market, which we eventually found in a lovely big piazza with a spectacular backdrop of cloud-wreathed mountains. We bought some prawns, some veges and a rotisserie chicken for lunch, but the rain was hanging around, so we didn't.

On the way back to the car, we stopped in at a little tyre shop to enquire about winter tyres. There are signs all over the area suggesting that you have to carry chains or get proper tyres fitted and there's snow forecast for the end of the week – and of course, not too long from now we'll be in the Swiss Alps - so the more we thought about it, the more we realised that we really should get some new tyres fitted, even though the old ones were in good condition. We found someone who spoke some English, but not quite enough, so he called his friend up to act as interpreter. Without the size of our tyres, he couldn't give us a proper quote, and the car was too far away to get the size easily, so we put the final decision off for another day.

Day 66: Rockin' Roccacasale

We just pottered around the house in the morning then headed out to find the local supermarket. We had been disturbed to see a Eurospin beside the road as we headed up to Roccacasale the previous evening, but Mark gave us directions to a Carrefour that wasn't much further away and we spent ages drooling over all of the lovely hams, salamis and cheeses in its deli section (although we later discovered that the Eurospin did better bread – really, really nice bread!).

In the afternoon we went out to explore the castle ruins that tower over the village. The walk up was steep and when we got among the ruins themselves, the path become pretty basic and a bit disconcerting, with a cliff in close proximity on one side, but the views were incredible. There isn't much left of the castle, but one large section at the bottom has been turned into what looks like a big hall for events.

On the way back down we took a different route and wandered around the other side of the village. Its origins date back to about 925 AD, but its population is aging and shrinking steadily – down to about 700 – and it's full of abandoned buildings in various states of decrepitude. I'm a sucker for a crumbling medieval village and was in heaven wandering around in a photographic frenzy. 

Day 65: Popping in to Pompeii

I was awoken early by a strong wind rattling the windows and looked out to see a pretty miserable, rainy day – not something we've encountered that often thus far, thankfully. After packing the car once more, we drove up the hill behind Maori, over a pass and were greeted by a spectacular view of Mount Vesuvius and Naples. We had planned to climb the volcano, but although it had stopped raining, it was still pretty windy, so we figured it probably wasn't a great idea (we had also had numerous people do their best to dissuade us from making the climb over the past few days, each for a different reason) so we headed to Pompeii instead.

And we were really glad we did. The site is truly impressive - incredibly extensive and, in places, just jaw-droppingly well preserved. Although there were quite a few people there – including several large Asian tour groups and what looked like a big art class – the place is so big, that we were often alone as we walked in and among the buildings. We stopped and chatted to an Australian couple – both nurses – who were travelling around Europe en route to a surprise visit to their son, who was living in Helsinki and had just had a baby. On their advice, we found a large display cabinet that contained the plaster casts of an entire family killed in the eruption (one family member had a lizard sitting on its shoulder). A little later, we found a small group of people crowding around the entrance of a small building, getting a descriptive talk form a guide. We made our way through them and then hurried the girls back out – turns out the building was one of Pompeii's brothels and was decorated with a collection of rather explicit paintings on the walls.

Heading back to the entrance, we discovered that the on-site cafe was a branch of Autogrill – a ubiquitous Italian fast-food chain that makes very good pizza. As we were all a bit peckish by this point, we stopped to partake in a slice each – with impeccable timing, as the heavens opened up not long after we sat down.

Back on the road, we drove up into the mountains and into the region of Abruzzo. Stopping for petrol and some groceries, we got a bit of shock when we stepped out of the car as the increase altitude had brought a serious decrease in temperature. At around dusk we arrived at the tiny hill-side village of Roccacasale, where we met Mark, who was renting us his lovely little house. Once again, we had a bit of a steep hike up from the car, although thankfully it wasn't as bad as the one in Ostuni. 

Day 64: A saint and a sinner

In the morning, we drove a bit further along the coast to the town of Amalfi. It seemed unusually busy, with a crowd of people milling around the bottom of the impressive stairs that lead up to the cathedral. We walked up the main road and then stopped for a coffee and some gelato on the way back. By now, the area around the base of the stairs was extremely crowded and it seemed as though something was about to happen, so we stopped to check it out. Before long, a group of men dressed in fancy red outfits came down the stairs holding a big purple umbrella. They were followed by another group dressed in white robes. It turns out that we were in town for the Festival of Sant' Andrea, which celebrates the feast day of the patron saint of Amalfi (apparently some of his relics arrived in the town during the 13^th century). 

Next we drove up into the hills to the town of Ravello, which was significantly less crowded. We had a bit of a wander – coming across the continuation of the path that we had taken the previous evening. We then stopped at a little cafe, miraculously coming across an Italian cafe that made bad coffee (thankfully I had opted to have a beer). 

We then tried to get a bit further along the coast, but the road was closed, so we drove back to Maiori. Kate and the girls went to a park on the seafront, where Sarah quickly accumulated a little posse of friends thanks to her gymnastics skills.

After dinner, we walked along the waterfront, stopping to admire a firework display taking place in Amalfi.