Pompeii

Growing up, I was always fascinated with history.  Most of my reading and interest was consumed with histories, ranging from the ancient world through to more modern topics such as World War II.  The history of the Roman Republic and Empire always held particularly strong hold on me.  Any reading of Roman histories was always bound to at some point go through the story of Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius.

We left Positano early in the morning and we had arranged for a car to drive us to Naples.  Since it was on the way, we had booked in a stop at the Pompeii historical site.  

There were tourists everywhere (as you would expect), but the heat of the day was almost overwhelming.  With almost no shade or cover, everyone was fully exposed the beating hammer of the sun.  One enterprising tourist had managed to find an enormous beach umbrella and was carrying it around with her to provide some additional respite.  Our guide seemed to be suffering more than most and spent most of the time trying to splash water on himself.  He was friendly and struck up a friendship with Veronica over their shared love of expensive sunglasses.  He was particularly delighted when Veronica noted how nice his Tom Ford sunglasses looked.  Recognising the effort he had put in seemed to make his day.

We only had a few hours, so we wanted to see some of the key sights.  The location is truly enormous, and it would be possible to spend an entire day slowly exploring all of the sights.  We didn't have that much time though.  Even if we did have the time, with the intense heat of the day, I don't think any of us would have lasted.  After about half an hour, our guide had run out of water and looked to be struggling.  I had a two litre bottle fresh out of the fridge in my bag, I brought it out and offered him a refill.  He eagerly accepted and responded with surprise when he took the first drink "oh my god, it's still cold!"

Refreshed, we continued walking and our guide took us to various spots around the city.  We saw the old ruins, the tragic plaster casts of those who had perished, the beautiful details around the streets and buildings that we would have completely missed if it were not for our guide.  It was the little things that I appreciated the most.  He pointed to the ground, and showed us the small chips of marble that were embedded into the road, placed to help reflect light up to aid with the evening transport of goods.  He showed us the hand marks at the fountains where people leaned in to drink, the showed us the small symbols carved into the walls.

It was all fascinating, but what really opened my eyes with wonder was when he brought us into one of the grand old villas which once contained an enormous mosaic depicting Alexander the Great charging towards Darius III.  The moment I saw this, I immediately exclaimed that it was Alexander charging towards Darius III.  I was astounded by this mosaic (which I later found out from the guide was a replica as the original had been moved to a museum in Naples).  It was an image I had seen countless times growing up in textbooks and documentaries.  I had no idea that it had originally been found here.  Our guide looked at me with surprise and declared that I was a unicorn - one of the few people he took around who actually knew anything about the history.  It was a nice compliment to receive.  We had been chatting throughout his tour, and I had been randomly asking questions here and there which probably put him on notice that I at the very least, knew something rather than nothing about our surrounds.  But now that he was convinced, he took extra care with us.  He looked at his watch and declared that we should go to another spot.  He took us to the old amphitheatre and demonstrated with claps the incredible acoustics of the place.  I was immediately taken back to when I was in Ephesus with the guys, all those years ago.  I remembered how amazed we all were walking through those ruins and how we all stood on the stage of that amphitheatre, yelling out obscenities to each other to see whether it was audible at the top row of seats.

With our tour done, we said our goodbyes to our tour guide and found the driver.  The next stop was to a local vineyard.  Our tour through the region had been done at a fast pace, but I wanted to take Veronica to at least one Italian vineyard on our trip.  We didn't have time to go up to Tuscany, so a short visit to one of the vineyards in the shadows of Mount Vesuvius seemed to be the next best option.  Our driver left the highway and started circling through what felt like quiet suburbs, until it opened up in row after row of vines.  He parked the car as we went in and sat down for our lunch. 

We sat looking out towards the vineyards and the mountains.  The food was as we had come to expect, hearty and cooked in a lovely homely fashion.  As always, the quality of the ingredients shone through as we ate.  I thought about what our guide had said.  This land was so fertile.  People from around the world had come here to trade, and they had brought the seeds of fruits and vegetables with them.  What had been small and tasteless changed once it was brought into contact with this deep and black soil, with the intense sun and with the plentiful water.  There was the constant bargain that the people lived with, the perpetual danger of Mount Vesuvius, but in exchange they received a true bounty that we were still eating.  The wines were brought with each course, each one being a local variety.  They tasted of minerals, having soaked up the nutrients from this amazing land.

The Amalfi Coast

It had only been a few days, but we were both completely enamoured with this part of the world.

There was an indescribable mood to this entire region.  I don't quite know how to describe it, but there was this intoxicating mix of extravagance, beauty (both natural and man-made), simplicity of lifestyle and joy.  Maybe it was this confused mix that was what made it so enjoyable?  There wasn't any particular trait which stood out, but all of it seemed to blend together well.  The happiness of the crowds and tourists was particularly lovely to be around.  Everyone was in such a joyous mood, it was infectious.  Wherever we walked, you just felt like you were walking through a strange idealised version of life.

In the mornings, we woke up and looked out from our balcony at the famous "pyramid" of Positano.  The large windows directly in front of our bed faced out towards this iconic view, and opening my eyes to the room bathed in a golden light with that perfect view felt like a waking dream.  Each day, the sky was perfectly clear and there was never even a hint of rain for our entire trip.  We would sit on the balcony and look out into the distance, just enjoying one another's company as well as the vibrant colours of the buildings.

With the time we had, we did some gentle exploring up and down the coast.  The ferries to and from Positano were frequent and nothing seemed to be very far.  The town of Amalfi was only half an hour away, so it didn't even take a day trip to go and visit.  Other people seemed to take to the winding roads, but this seemed to be a bit of a waste for me.  The coastline of this region was what I wanted to experience the most, and there was simply no better vantage point than from the ocean looking in.

In Amalfi, we did as the tourists did.

We walked up the main street, we ate granitas, sat in the restaurants and watched the enormous throngs of visitors pass by.

At the very heart of it all was the famous cathedral.  Even by Italian cathedral standards it was old, but it had a unique appearance that reminded me of the old Byzantine churches I had visited as a backpacker all those years ago.  The colours and the repeating patterns seemed far more Greek than Italian.

Inside the cathedral was as ornate and gilded as you would expect in any Italian cathedral, but again there was an style to everything that made it all seem that touch bit older than what I had become used to seeing in other parts of Italy.  It appeared more delicate and further removed, leaning more towards the Middle Ages than the renaissance. 

We walked further into Amalfi and saw the main street narrow as it reached the top.  Drivers slowed to a crawl as the tourists swarmed around them.  We seemed to be funneled from both the sides and above, with small archways reaching out across the street between the buildings.  There were parallel covered streets that stretched alongside this main street, each with small shops full of tourist gifts and knickknacks.

Outside of the town itself, we wandered further up to get a better glimpse of the famous stretch of beach.  The walk up was slightly treacherous, with the sidewalk disappearing and tourists braving the racing cars to stand at the corner of the road which provided the perfect panoramic view across the beach.

Within the town itself, there were locations off of the main street which opened up to idyllic visions of village life in Amalfi.  In a small square, less than five minutes walk from the front of the main cathedral, there was a quiet spot to look out to the ocean completely uninterrupted by any other visitors.  I was amazed that this location was so hidden and peaceful, but it's a recurring theme I've noticed over the years.  Tourists will generally stick to the main and heavily frequented areas, and these very short walks to the side can often reveal untouched locations like this.

Back in Positano, we embraced and enjoyed the perfect life.  There was nothing negative about the experience.  Even the stairs up and down the various parts of the town felt fun as we moved around from place to place.  At the beach clubs, we lay back and looked out at the clear waters.  We swam in the cool waters, lay on the chairs to warm ourselves and repeated this over and over again.  We drank granitas, read books, and enjoyed one another's company.

On our final evening, I arranged a special dinner for us.

A minivan came and picked us up in front of our hotel along with others who were heading to the same restaurant.  The minibus climbed high up in the hills overlooking Positano.  It went into the winding roads that seemed to narrow the higher we went.  Finally, we stopped in front of wooden gates, which opened up into the restaurant.  This wasn't just any simple restaurant though.  It was set in a farm perched on the cliffs directly above Positano.  We had seen many unbelievably beautiful views during this visit to the Amalfi coast, but it seemed like this may have been the best one of all.

We walked down a set of stone stairs and into the restaurant.  Inside, there was an enormous hearth that one of the chefs was grilling meats over.  We were led to our table, but we got up almost immediately to go and look at the farm.

The farm sat underneath the restaurant and was full of animals, fruits and vegetables.  We walked through, petting the animals and looking out at the views in the distance.  It was nice to be surrounded by the farm.  We had both dressed up for dinner, and it felt surreal to be in such a rural surrounding in our more refined attire.  Others were also walking around, enjoying the opportunity to see this working farm in the middle of this idyllic tourist location.  It was something that was an important part of this part of the world, the fact that the land was still so fertile and in use.  It made it all feel so real a 

Back inside the restaurant, even with the open verandah, the smell of food filled the room.  We had no choice of food or drink.  Everything at this restaurant was decided by the owners.  When one of the waiters brought us our first enormous plate of vegetables and stewed beans, I asked him why they took this approach.  He happily explained to me that they wanted to serve us all what they liked to eat, not just what the tourists "wanted".  In a tourist location like this, they thought that the food choices available were changing.  Restaurants were only serving what the tourists "wanted", which at times wasn't local and didn't embrace the produce available in the region.  Instead, they wanted to serve to us what they ate, the types of food and dishes that people normally didn't order or know about but which had been keeping them nourished in their homes.  What they served felt more homely and authentic.  The simply cooked vegetables, the stewed beans, these weren't fancy or expensive looking dishes.  But they tasted of the ingredients.  The beans in particular I loved.  Cooked in fat, they were moreish and satisfying.  The waiter was right as well, something as basic as stewed beans wasn't something I could imagine people ordering regularly in this part of the world. 

As the sun eventually set, the views outside changed as well.

Looking outside, Positano was now bright in the distance.  It shone out clearly amongst the dark hills and the ocean.  The weather cooled and we could feel the breeze from the ocean.  The waiter brought us another bottle of wine which they made themselves on the farm.  It wasn't the finest of wines, but it was memorable.  Drinking the fruits of this land, eating the home grown vegetables, looking out towards the horizon.  There was no where else I wanted to be.

I had never been to a place which had completely taken me in so much.  This place had every warning sign to me about being a potential tourist trap, and it had still given me an experience that I didn't think I could ever shake.  The Amalfi coast exists as this perfect location, this dream of a location for tourists around the world, and it is a deserved reputation.  Steinbeck said that Positano bites deep.  It had certainly done so for me and more.  This place had burrowed itself deep inside my heart and mind.  I think any place I go to will now always be always be compared to this from now on.

Capri

The evening in Positano was as close to perfect as I could have imagined.  The ride in, the scenery, the boat, the food, the hotel.  Everything had just fallen perfectly into place in what really was an incredible place.  We didn't stay up too late though because we wanted to experience as much as we could.  We didn't have a huge amount of time in this region, so we arranged to go to the island of Capri for a day trip.

We woke up early and walked down the stairs of Positano to the pier.  From there, we waited with the other bleary eyed tourists for our ferry to Capri.  It arrived late, and when it did, dozens of eager day trippers disembarked to see Positano.  It's noticeable that during the day, there are far more people in the town than in the evenings.  Most people seem to come in and just visit these areas during the day and then head back to other areas for the evening.  Given the price of accommodation here, it didn't surprise me at all.

We got on the ferry and we were soon in Capri.  The ferry journey is only about 45 minutes, and the views of the Amalfi coastline are alone worth that trip.  Entering into the small harbour in Capri, we could see the small buildings and the imposing hill at the centre of the island.  It was all very pretty, but so far, the view from the ocean of Positano was far more spectacular.

We followed the crowds off the boat and decided that the first thing we would do would be to go and find another boat!  We had read that the quickest and most picturesque way of seeing the island was through the numerous boat tours available.  At the beginning of the pier/harbour area, there were companies all set up offering a variety of different tour types.  We didn't want to be stuck on the boat all day, so we settled on the shorter Blue Grotto tour.

The Blue Grotto is an ocean cave that can only be entered via small row boats.  It is famed for its beauty and the intense blue colour of the water as much as it is for the the unique way you enter.  I wasn't particularly fascinated or excited about going, but this was close to the top of the list of things that Veronica wanted to do on the this trip.  I was more than happy go along as well on that basis.  The tour boat took us along the coast from the harbour to the other side of the island where the Blue Grotto was.  Once we were there, we had to line up!  About a dozen other large boats of various sizes were waiting their turn for the men in the row boats to come and pick up their passengers.  There was a politeness amongst all involved and the organised chaos seemed to involve an informal line which all the boat captains kept track of.  Several times, the row boat captains (are they still captains of a row boat?) came to our boat and our captain sent them off to boats which had arrived before us.  Eventually it was our turn.  Each one of the row boats could fit 4 extra passengers and the oarsman (I think a better way to describe them) took us off to another larger boat which collected toll from us before we started towards the grotto itself.  At €14 per person along with a tip at the end for the oarsman, it was by now means cheap, but I learnt long ago from an older and wiser colleague that when you're on a holiday, just pay the ticket price.  You never when you'll be back or if you'll be back at all, so embrace the opportunities as they arrive.

Entering into the Blue Grotto was a famous part of the experience.

As we approached, the oarsman told us all to lie down on the floor of the boat, as he grabbed the chains which had been bolted to the roof of the cave and dragged us in.

Once we were inside, the oarsman took us on two loops of the large expanse inside.

There were probably ten other boats circling inside the cave and it was a beautiful spectacle to see.  The water was as clear and blue as advertised, but the entrance seemed to drag in the day light, making the entire water seemingly glow.  There was an almost an ethereal quality to it, like something from a fantasy story as the light shone out of the water, illuminating the cave in a delicate blue light.

By the second loop, our eyes had already adjusted to this dark cave and the light of the water seemed to become even more vibrant.  The pictures cannot capture the movement or the atmosphere of this two short circles we did of the cave.  The oarsman all sang inside, the passengers laughed and gasped, occasionally we heard a splash as someone decided to jump in for a swim.  It was a great time and Veronica's eyes were wide with wonder and joy for the entirety of our stay. 

Once we were all out, we found ourselves back on our larger boat and headed out back towards the harbour (a mistake we later decided, as we should have taken the opportunity to be dropped off by one of the small boats at the area next to the grotto).  One poor girl didn't have her sea legs and had been sick whilst in the smaller boats.  The choppy trip back did her no extra favours.

We were hungry though, and we wanted to enjoy more of the beautiful waters of Capri.  So when we reached the harbour, we took the funicular straight up to the middle of the island to where the town of Capri was situated.  We walked through the picturesque town relatively quickly and not looking anywhere near closely enough at anything, stopping only very briefly to buy a very overpriced (but pretty) hat for Veronica from one of the boutiques.  We had our plans set, and we wanted to go to the famous beach club, Lo Scoglio della Sirena.  Veronica had seen the pictures of this beach club, with its restaurant and beach chairs jutting out into the craggy rocks in the ocean.  It was certainly picturesque, but we had to be quick to get our spot.  We arrived to see lines formed, which immediately made our hearts dropped.  As we got closer, we saw people seemed to be waiting and lingering.  They weren't going in even though there was space.  We walked closer and asked the waiter if we could be seated.  He asked "drinks or lunch"?  In this location, we wanted to sit an eat so we wanted lunch.  He smiled and pulled us through the others and took us straight to one of the open tables. 

This was an exclusive beach club and restaurant.  It immediately made sense to us why we were allowed straight in.  Most others probably only wanted to stop by for a drink and a photo, so the restaurant prioritised patrons like us who were looking to stay for longer (and to spend more ultimately).  Even for the beach chairs, they asked us if we wanted to reserve them.  Since we were eating here, we were immediately afforded with the benefit of chairs being set aside for us.  The prices were indeed very high for Italy, but the food we had was also a highlight.  Intensely fresh local lobster, cooked with deeply flavourful Italian tomatoes with pasta is a hard combination to beat.  Eating this, with a glass of wine with a view overlooking the water, was this one of the highlights of my life to date?  It would be hard to argue with that.

Everything about this beach club felt perfect to us.  The water was clear and turquoise.  The weather was warm.  The skies were clear.  Like all of Italy, there was an infectious upbeat mood here.  From the staff through to the tourists, it seemed that everyone was universally feeling happy.  I couldn't blame them at all.  We sat and ate and drank and just soaked in where we were.

After we had finished eating and drinking, we decided to move over the the beach chairs and to swim.  We had a few hours we wanted to spend here and we ended up swimming three of four times.  We would go from the chairs to the water and back again.  Each time we lifted our heads, we could see off into the distance, towards laughing faces, green hills, blue waters.  Veronica had cleverly packed our goggles with us, so we dived deep into the waters from the rocks, chasing after the colourful fish which dashed between the swimmers.  One small brightly coloured fish decided that the skin of my feet was the perfect meal, and as I sat on the rocks with my legs in the water, I could see and feel it nibbling at my big toe.  Veronica looked at it and was convinced that it was a type of tasty fish her dad liked.  

A few hours passed very quickly.  The migration back and forth between the water and the chairs was fun, but I could have easily spent an entire day doing this.  It was time to go though.  We wanted to have at least a few hours left to explore the town of Capri before we headed back on the ferry to Positano. 

Back at the top of the island in the town, one of the first things we did was to get one of the lemon granitas with the splash of fresh orange juice.  The simple stand was near the top of the funicular.  We were both thirsty and this seemed to be the most touristy thing to do.  We got the cup to share, and after one sip, we lined back up to get another one.  Neither of us wanted to share.  It was such a simple thing, but the quality of both the lemons and the oranges just gave it an additional punch that we didn't expect.  How we perceive food and drink is very often impacted by our surroundings, so maybe we were just being pulled into the surroundings.  Whatever the reason, I wanted my own.

The town of Capri itself was well worth the extra time spent.  Like the other parts of the island we had visited, we could have happily spent far more time.  The town was perfectly manicured.  It was the representation and example of what a rich mediterranean town should look like.  The streets neatly paved, the shops all luxurious and expensive, the flowers in bloom, all the tourists looking chic.

Growing up in Australia, there had always been this tendency to name things after all things Capri.  Locations, styles, foods.  There was often this attempt to add a level of Italian glamour to things by adding some word association with Capri.  It never made much sense to me then, and it was only now after having visited this place that I understood more why it was done.  It was an attempt to link their own far less glamourous offerings with this idyllic island, but I did wonder whether there really was much point to it all?  I could see it all now, but this was such an exclusive place.  So few people really ever came and saw what this was all about, so how would it be that the name itself would ever evoke the feelings those marketers were trying to convey?  You after all cannot think of something you have never thought of before.

We made our way back to the harbour and then onto the ferry back to Positano.  It wasn't too late, so we would find a nice place to have dinner.  I wanted to come back to Capri.  There was more I wanted to see, and having walked its streets, I wanted to enjoy the place in the evening when the day trippers like myself were gone.  There would be a different atmosphere to everything and I wanted to experience it myself.

Positano

Our time in Rome was fun, but it was time to move on.  With the time we had, we had arranged to go South to visit the Amalfi coast.  Neither of us had been down to that region, but we had only seen and heard amazing things about the place.  It looked fancy, extremely touristy and very expensive, so it was a bit of a different type of location to some other places I had been, but it was still somewhere we wanted to go visit.

We departed by train from Termini station in Rome mid morning.  It was more stressful departure than we had hoped for.  We arrived at the station early, but looking up at the departures board, our train was nowhere to be seen.  After a bit of scrambling, we were finally able to work out that our train had been cancelled and we had all be shifted onto a train one hour later.  It was all a bit of unnecessary stress.  Other than that, the train ride was uneventful.  We arrived in Napoli station to our driver waiting for us with a sign.

The next part of the journey was amazing for me and less so for Veronica. 

The car ride out of Napoli was along standard roads and highways, but as we got out of the town and past Pompei, there was a bit of a change.  The snaking and winding roads started and this was something that Veronica did not like one bit.  Her motion sickness started in earnest and it wasn't long before she needed to close her eyes.  Sadly she made it worse by laying her head down on the seat instead of trying to stay more upright.  For me, it was the complete opposite as I looked out the windows at the incredible sights and views as we sped along the roads.  We went up into the mountains and past Sorrento (which looked incredible) and then went even higher into the side of the hills overlooking the ocean.  We started our descent and I knew that we were now on the cliff side road leading into what was considered to be the Amalfi coast.  I was excited as I knew there wasn't much further to go.  I woke Veronica as we arrived in Positano.

It is hard to describe in words or in pictures the beauty of Positano.  The natural beauty of the surroundings is almost harsh, and it sits in a sharp contrast to the refined elegance of the town itself.  The constant interplay between the light and shadow also kept changing the colours we seeing and I felt like I was looking at an ever evolving painting.  We checked into our hotel overlooking the main "pyramid" and went to explore the town.  As advertised, there were steps everywhere, but I didn't mind it at all.  The walking was a welcome escape from my normal life bound to a desk and it seemed to add to the adventure we were having.  In the middle of the town, there were tiny laneways, shops, little restaurants and cafes.  There was also people everywhere.  This also didn't seem to bother me much.  Everyone seemed to be in a joyous mood, with looks of happiness and wonder of all of their faces.  It made the whole atmosphere feel ever more upbeat and positive.

I had made sure that Veronica was in her bathing suit before we left as I had arranged for us to go on a private boat trip to watch the sunset.  After walking through the town (which is ultimately very small), we walked down to the beach and along a small jetty that jutted out the middle.  I had booked the boat online through the hotel and looking at the pictures, it had seemed like a small little boat.  Something cute and quaint that would be nice to look at the coast from.  Standing on the jetty, we saw all manner of boat buzzing about, some were just small wooden rowboats, some where mega yachts.  I saw a beautiful Italian motorboat approaching us. It had the lovely polished wood that made it seem like a "James Bond" boat.  As it got closer, the captain yelled out my name.... this was our boat!  It was not what I had been expecting at all.  We jumped onto the boat, and started to move out away from the beach.  Just this part of the trip was one of the most unforgettable experiences I have had.  This boat was eye catching and it drew people's attention.  Speeding out of the harbour, we could see dozens of people turning their heads to watch us leave.  We passed a ferry, and every face on board looked at us as we flew by.  Sitting on this private boat, I knew I was one of the very fortunate few who was experiencing something special.  As we got further out, the views became even more incredible.  From the distance out in the harbour, the town of Positano becomes framed even more dramatically by the high cliffs that surround it.  The town seems to be carved into the side of the mountain.

We spent the next few hours cruising up and down the coast.  Our captain was incredible and gave us a detailed explanation of all the things to see along the shore.  He pointed out the hotels, the bars, the restaurants that were famous.  He also made sure we could see all of the more natural sites.  What was best was his relaxed approach to it all.  The trip was only meant to be two hours, but he didn't care so much.  We were the last trip of the day and he said he liked us and wanted to show us more of his home town.  Instead of one stop, he took us to three different locations where he encouraged us to jump into the water to swim.  On two of the stops, he took us to small caves in the side of the cliffs.  I swam towards the first one, but just as I was about to swim in the wake of a passing boat started to throw me around and I thought better of going into a cave who's entrance was disappearing into the water.  The next cave was bigger and both Veronica and I swam in.  Inside, it was perfectly quiet.  We looked up to the roof as we floated and could see the stalactites.  We could here loud commotion outside of the cave as we floated and soon we saw a large motorboat coming into the cave.  Normally it turns out these boats would never come in, but since it was a bit later in the day this captain thought it would be fine to go in.  Our captain was screaming to warn him we were inside and thankfully he was well aware.  The other boat slowed completely and we waved at each other as he inched in slowly.  His boat was full with about a dozen passengers, all of whom were delighted to see the two of us floating in this ocean cave.  We waved back at them as they all waved and took photos before their boat left us again in the quiet.

As we continued along the coast, the captain pointed out the famous Fiordo di Furore to us.  Once again, the pictures do not do this place any justice.  The bridge spanning the gap sits high above the water and sitting behind it is a protected little beach.  Our captain, being happy to show us more of the region, pulled the boat up closer and encouraged us to go for a swim.  It wasn't on the itinerary, but he thought that this was a must.  We happily obliged and jumped into the water for the third time, swimming directly under the bridge.  Looking up at the span,  I once again felt a sense of privilege that I could be here, that I could experience not just the beauty of this place, but the sensation of the cool salty water as a floated.

Back on the boat, the sun was starting to set.

Our captain told us that he didn't feel that this part of the world was really the "best" for sunsets.  The sun set behind the mountains and so you couldn't actually see the sun fall beneath the horizon.  For us, this wasn't a problem and I was more than happy to sit at the front of the boat and enjoy the moment.  Our captain brought out a bottle of prosecco for us and we toasted to a lovely day and the beautiful surrounds.

We arrived back on the beach at dusk.  The sun was gone, but the sky was still bright.  The evenings of a European summer is a thing of glory that you don't get in the parts of Australia and Asia that I lived.  The light lingers for so long and seems to draw out the day far longer.  We went back to our hotel, relaxed for a brief moment before we changed for dinner.  Our concierge, the incredible Mauro, had booked for us dinner at a restaurant with one of the most famous views in Positano.  It was a strange restaurant, split down the middle by a street.  The main restaurant itself was in a building on the side of the street closest to the hillside, but most of the tables were on the other side of the street.  This was understandable given the views that those tables had towards the rest of Positano.

We sat at our table and looked out towards the famous pyramid of Positano.  We drank cold rose and ate our seafood.  It was very busy.  The restaurant was full and people were walking up and down the street to admire the views.  The waiters were seasoned professionals and managed to skip back and forth between the restaurant and the tables, carrying trays of food and drink, all the while avoiding the cars and scooters that drove on the street up the hill.

I cannot think of a more perfect that I have had.  It had been a busy day, full of travel and activities.  I had seen and experienced some things that I truly never thought I would.  This was a place that few people get to see in their lifetimes and I hadn't just glimpsed it, Veronica and I had been able to embrace it.

I love Rome

Rome is an incredible city.

There are few places in the world that have its combination of sights, sounds, culture and food.

This was the second time I was visiting the "Eternal City" and I was very glad that it was the first place I was visiting after all the time stuck in Hong Kong.  Veronica had never been to Rome.  She had only briefly visited a few parts of Italy as part of day trips on a family cruise.  It didn't seem like that should even count as a trip to Italy.  Her memories of the place were fleeting and uneventful, with most of the time spent being hurried from one location to another.

That wasn't the Italy that I thought so fondly about.  Italy wasn't a country that suits rushing from place to place.  It is a place to be slowly savoured.

Rome in particular is a city to slow down in.  I've never been somewhere so large which is still so well suited to walking.  Every street, every corner you turn, you find yourself standing in front of some historical monument, something grand, or something small and beautiful.  Flying from place to place by taxi doesn't feel right.  You don't get the random discoveries when you turn a corner, you don't get to look up and see the day to day beauty of the buildings.  You don't get the occasional wonder of seeing a monument as it glimpses out from behind a row of buildings.  You just end up missing too much.

With Veronica, we went on our first few days to the great and famous tourist sites.  We walked through Piazza Navova, we looked up in awe at the Pantheon, we explored the Spanish Steps and its surrounds.  It was all lovely and gave us some incredible photos together in these picturesque locations.

On that first night, we wanted to embrace our surrounds as much as possible and so we were lucky to find a roof bar near to Piazza Navona.  The weather was far hotter than I had expected.  We were in the middle of the European heat wave and there was an oppressive feeling from the sun as it beat down on both locals and tourists.  The locals at the very least seemed smarter than most and avoided the worst of the day, whereas us tourists had to make the most of our limited time.  So off to the side of the famed piazza, we made up way up the elevator to find a relatively open roof bar.  It was late in the day, but the sun was only starting to set, giving way to the long dusk that has inspired countless artists for centuries with its gentle light.  We sat and admired the 360 view of the entire city.  We could see far off into the distance towards the hills overlooking Rome as well as the domed roofs of the various churches and monuments around the city.  Rome is a relatively flat city and so these vantage spots provide an ideal way to enjoy these summer evenings.  I was a bit surprised that there weren't more of these bars around the city. 

Since we had both seen many of the more famous monuments and historical sites around Rome on previous trips, we had less of a rush to get to each of these places.  Some people hate the tourist trail of location visits, but I personally think that it's great to see these different places.  After all, there's usually a good reason that these places are popular and visited by many.  However, for us we didn't have this need on this visit to Rome.  Instead, we took a much more relaxed approach and focused instead of far more experience based enjoyments.  We sat in cafes, we strolled the streets, ate the gelato and lingered in the restaurants.

The food in Rome is consistently incredible as well.  If you weren't to visit any of the famous tourist locations and just focus on moving from restaurant to restaurant, you would have an amazing holiday.  Wandering the old city of Rome, there were countless trattorias and pizza shops that we visited.  We tried to find the ones that had the best local recommendations and we were lucky to never be disappointed.  In a city with so many tourists, there are bound to be places which don't quite meet the mark or which end up relying more on their name than their product, but we managed to avoid those for the most part.  Even when we went to some of the places that had become globally popular and famous (such as Bonci), we were left amazed by what we ate.  The baked goods were particularly fantastic.  We ate ricotta cakes in the Jewish district, pizza rossa at Riscioli, crazy Roman pizzas at Bonci.  Each one was worth the trip. 

Visiting in summer also meant the Tiber River markets were in full swing.

The atmosphere at night was lively and exciting.  I remember how much I enjoyed walking along the river the last time I had visited and this time was no different.  It was nice to bring Veronica along the banks of the Tiber as she had never been.  The stalls were teeming with people and we found ourselves standing with the throngs of Roman locals listening to the live music.  Old ladies would sit all at the front, clapping along to songs that were clearly old favourites.  The crowd would cheer and sing as well.  The happiness of everyone was infectious.

Another lovely thing to do in Italy was to visit all of the gelato shops.

There were countless shops everywhere, so you were never far from being able to quickly wander in for a sweet and cold respite from the heat.  I was happy to try them all as and when we passed any, but we did find ourselves going back repeatedly to the famous old shop, Giolitti.  There was something about their fruit gelatos which seemed to have so much more intense a flavour than the other shops that we visited.  

The days passed by for us in strangely paradoxical manner - feeling both fast and slow at the same time.  It did feel as though we the time to leave had arrived quickly, but each day had felt long and full of activity and enjoyment.  I love the city of Rome.  It is one of the best places I have ever visited and I will always look for more opportunities to come back.

Escaping coronvirus restrictions

I had been counting down the days.

For weeks, I had been waiting with excitement and now it was finally time.

I was leaving Hong Kong!

It was a permanent departure, but for a holiday.  It didn't matter though.  Having been trapped in the city for so long because of the never ending coronavirus restrictions, any escape was a positive.  For Veronica and myself, it was also important because we wanted to go on a trip together.  We had been lucky to have been in a city that didn't have any lockdowns, but things were dragging out in Hong Kong and it was starting to take a toll on us.  We decided that even with the quarantine requirements, we were going to go.

On the day of the trip, I felt an excitement I hadn't felt in a long time.  It was the feeling I used to have when I first started traveling.  It had been a long time.  Sitting on the Hong Kong airport express, I felt a grin on my face as we sped along.  Even at this point, there was a reminder about what things were like now.  The wait for the train was a truly insane 20 minutes (it used to come every 6 minutes) and the carriage was eerily quiet.

The airport itself was also a ghost town.  All the shops were closed and as we walked between the lounge (which was thankfully open) and the gate, we may as well have been the only people.

It didn't matter.

We were seated on the plan, we were headed off on our trip.

The trip itself was great.  Qatar Airways has always been a great airline and the pandemic has changed nothing. After a short stop in the lovely Hamad airport in Doha, we arrived at our destination.

Rome.

This would be an amazing trip away.

Coronavirus and a growing debacle

Hong Kong has descended into a bizarre level of madness that is difficult to comprehend.  The tragedy of it all is that the local population are all generally opposed to everything that's happening, but instead they have all been dragged along for a horrific ride by bureaucrats who don't seem capable to implementing, let alone making, any positive decisions.

It's been frustrating over the last few months as the local government have constantly shifted and changed their requirements for how we will live our lives going forward.  Initially, most people seemed to agree that the stringent measures taken were acceptable.  With no vaccine and the dangers to both individuals and the health care system, it was all deemed necessary.  That's all changed now.  With ready and abundant access to vaccines and the foreign experience showing that the new omicron strain isn't anywhere near as much of a cause for concern in comparison to its predecessors, the rationale for the continued actions has now become increasingly less justifiable.

The next challenge for the people of Hong Kong was now "will they, won't they" game the government seemed to be playing with a full city lockdown.  Initially, all the public announcements were that there would be no lockdown, then suddenly the Health Secretary decided to declare that a lockdown was being considered.

Given the inability of the government to manage even the small Penny's Bay quarantine facility, people were unsurprisingly lacking in the necessary confidence in the government to be able to provide for their needs during any such lockdown.  So the of course, the panic buying  has started.

 

Shelves are being completely cleared.  Fresh produce and meat are sold out.  The fear that there will be an inability by the government to maintain a supply of food to Hong Kong is real and so the people are reacting accordingly by stockpiling themselves.

I wasn't going into the full panic buying mode that some were (not yet anyway), but I still thought it was prudent to get myself prepared.  Fruit and vegetables didn't seem to be the best idea given they probably wouldn't last until the date of any lockdown starting, but stocking up on some non-perishable items seemed to be a good way of providing myself with some insurance, just in case the worst case occurred.

It seems strange and it is definitely depressing having to deal with all of this two years into the pandemic, particularly when the rest of the world is now slowly moving on and getting back to normality.

Living in the age of coronavirus and getting coronavirus

Well I have covid.

Over the last few years, I had managed to avoid getting covid, but I had succumbed this current wave in Hong Kong.  Veronica didn't have it at first, but she too soon caught it (I'm assuming from me).

Was it bad?

Not really.  A couple of days of headache, a bit of a fever and some coughing.

To be very honest, it was nothing compared to the respiratory infections I would normally get every couple of years.  No one wants to get sick, but compared to other illnesses I had previously experienced, this was certainly nothing serious at all.

With this new less deadly strain and everyone all vaccinated, the restrictions in place seemed ever more draconian and unnecessary now that I had the first hand experience.