"They can't be expected to put EVERY giant church on the map!"

From Greece, we took a ferry to Bari, and a train directly to Naples.  Our first impression was of a very dirty city.  Of course, this may have something to do with the sanitation strike.  We stayed in the old city and saw many impressive churches, so many they didn't even bother to call them all out on the tourist map.  We also walked through a castle on the waterfront (first castle I ever saw with an elevator!), and the archeological museum, packed with artifacts from Pompeii, and the most impressive numismatic collection I've ever seen, with coins going clear back to the invention of ... well ... coins!

Castle on the Naples Waterfront

We had some lucky timing, as we arrived during the "May of Monuments", which meant that the museums and historical sights were all free, including Pompeii itself.

Pompeii was definitely my favorite thing to see in southern Italy.  From the very first glance it took my breath away.  The idea that I was walking through an ancient city was truly wondrous.  It really is very well preserved.

Someone's House in Pompeii

The level of access accorded tourists is downright scary.  We walked through houses, touched bakers' ovens, coutnertops, and painted walls.  We walked on 2000-year-old mosaics!  We wandered the city for 5 hours, including the colosseum, cemetary, gardens, temples, homes and shops.

I particularly liked things that showed the everyday humanity of the residents, like the mosaic at the entrance of a house depicting a dog on a chain, with the latin for "beware of the dog".

Beware of the Dog

You can see the rest of my Pompeii photos on my flickr site.

After Pompeii, we continued on the train to Piano di Sorrento, where there was a fantastic campsite perched on the top of a cliff over the sea.  There we met Richie and Euan, a couple of ski instructors who migrate with the seasons.  Euan gave us some good advice for visiting his native Scotland.

From Piano, we walked to Sorrento, which I found very touristy and too upmarket for my taste.  The views were beautiful, though.

Sorrento

The next day, we took a bus to Positano, which was much mure secluded and pleasant, if still heavily touristed.  It's a very vertical town with a nice beach at the bottom.  We took a much-needed beach afternoon, just relaxing before the ferry to Salerno.

On the ferry, we met some kids on a school trip.  After listening to us speak English to each other for a while, they worked up the courage to engage us in conversation.  Their English was quite good, despite the assertion of their Italian teacher that they were "not such good students".

Ferry Friends