Pompeii – a day to remember

And these are only some of Pompeii’s less well-known sights!

Today was the last full day of my Italy trip and I devoted it to visiting Pompeii, the famous archaeological site located half an hour away from Naples on a very crowded train. I arrived as early as I could, to avoid the heat of the afternoon sun and as many of the crowds as I could. I still faced a short queue to get in, and had to squeeze pass various tour groups just after the entrance to the complex.

Pompeii has a long history and was settled by various peoples but is best known as the prosperous Roman provincial town which was buried by the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD79. After this disaster it remained hidden under volcanic ash until the 16^th century when it was rediscovered. Major excavations only started in the 18^th century and were accompanied by looting of some of the site’s art works. In recent years the excavation of Pompeii has been carried out to high archaeological standards, and even today the site continues to offer up new surprises. This was actually my third visit to Pompeii; my first was 50 years ago when I was a little cub, and I don’t recall much of it. The second was in 2000 twenty five years ago, and I remember a site which impressed by its size but not always its beauty, with lots of long, dusty and empty Roman streets laid out in a grid. But Pompeii is possibly the world’s most famous archaeological site, so I decided to make a third visit, and was very glad that I did.

I am not sure what exactly had changed since the year 2000, but this time I was enchanted by Pompeii. There seemed to be a lot more art work on display in the ruined houses, and a much bigger area to explore, including some gardens that provided a partial respite from the heat.

The forum – everyone’s first stop in Pompeii

My first stop was the forum. Since this is located on the only road in from the main entrance, it is also everyone else’s first stop, and it was quite crowded. But it was still very impressive, with a fine view of the ruins and Vesuvius towering in the background. I was visiting on National Monuments Day, and to celebrate this the park authorities had arranged for staff to dress up as Romans and pretend to shop or participate in ancient religious rites.

After the forum the many visitors could disperse along several different routes into the ruins and explore them at their leisure, and except for the times I bumped into a tour group visiting the same house, I found it pleasantly quiet. I used the map provided with my ticket to plan my route and try to visit as many as the highlights as possible – seeing everything is simply not possible on one visit. Places of special interest were marked by blue dots on the map – one famous example is the House of the Faun, probably the most opulent residence in the town and owned by an important family. It is named after a small but beautiful statue of a faun that stands in its entrance.

This house is also known for a famous mosaic, showing Alexander the Great in battle with the Persian Emperor Darius. The original has been moved to the Archaeological Museum in Naples (sadly not on display though when I visited) and what you see at Pompeii now is a reproduction.

A copy of the famous Alexander mosaic in the House of the Faun

Although the Alexander mosaic is a copy, there are many other magnificent original mosaics and frescos dotted around the ruins. Some of these are well known, marked by a blue dot in the map, and attract a steady stream of visitors……..

….but others, including a couple of my favourites, were less famous…

Apart from houses for rich people, with their amazing artwork, Pompeii also had many buildings providing essential services like shops and bakeries. I particularly liked this bread-making shop, with its well-preserved ovens.

There were also leisure amenities, such as two sets of extensive baths, two theatres and one amphitheatre. That a town with a population of ten to twenty thousand could have such a range of entertainment options gives some idea of how rich the Roman Empire must have been.

After wandering around the part of the ruins accessible with a standard ticket, I paid for a “Pompeii plus” supplement to see a couple of sites located a short way outside of the main town. The first was the Villa of Diomedes, a large property with an amazing view of the surrounding countryside and pleasant gardens.

The garden in Villa Diomedes, with Vesuvius in the background

The second was the Villa of the Mysteries, so called because it contains an exceptionally preserved and beautiful fresco of what is thought to be a woman being inducted into a religious mystery cult.

The amazing fresco in the Villa of the Mysteries

Back in the main part of the town I explored some of the greener areas – one particular highlight was the Garden of the Fugitives, which contains the casts of thirteen victims of the disaster, adults and children. These people had probably successfully fled the initial phase of the eruption and had managed to take shelter here. However, a second phase saw a cloud of blisteringly hot toxic gases sweep the city and kill all remaining survivors. Their bodies were covered by volcanic ashes, and over time the organic matter rotted away to leave a hole. During the excavations these holes are injected with plaster to make a cast of the victim. Out of respect for those that died, I won’t include a picture of them in this post, but here is the garden….

Looking down onto the Garden of the Fugitives

After five hours and 20km of walking, my little teddy legs were feeling tired, and it was time to head back to the main entrance. On the way, I visited the Sanctuary of Apollo, which had been crowded on the way in but was now deserted. I stopped to take a last, rather naughty, selfie:

A naughty selfie in the Sanctuary of Apollo

It had been an exceptional day. Pompeii seemed to have improved since my last visit twenty-five years ago – certainly more has been excavated, but there also seemed to be more mosaics and frescos on display, many of them of exceptional quality. The structural integrity of some of the Roman buildings, some standing for two thousand years, puts some of Naples’ crumbling monuments to shame. Finally, I don’t think the onsite coffee shop existed earlier, and the ability to get some caffeine and cold drinks halfway through my visit had definitely helped me keep going for so long. I hope that I will be a fit enough bear to make at least one more trip to Pompeii, in another twenty-five years’ time. Excavations continue, and it will be fascinating to see what treasures they unearth.

Well, that is all for this series of posts about South Italy. It was a great trip, with a bit of everything – the amazing and anarchic city of Naples, the scenery of the Amalfi coast, the beautiful villages and cities of Puglia, and the amazing ruins of Pompeii. I will be back, in particular to explore Naples, where there were very many things that I missed, and the surrounding area where I have yet to hike up Vesuvius, visit the ruins of Herculaneum, sail to Ischia…….the list of things to do is very long!

Previous Post: Naples

3rd October 2025 5

Naples – a city like no other

Naples, Centro Storico – courtesy of Colette Hewitt Photography

For the end of my exploration of Italy’s south, I had reserved a couple of nights in Naples. I had already spent one night here at the start of my trip, in an upmarket area near the port and the sea. This time I had chosen to stay in the centre, and my accommodation gave me a good introduction to the joys and frustrations of the city. It was a bed and breakfast establishment located in a typical Naples side street, lined with tall houses that might once have been grand, but which were now in need of refurbishment. A large wooden door opened into a rather dingy internal courtyard, from where a rickety lift took me up to the top floor of my building.

At the check in, my host led me to a room which was bigger, but not as nicely furnished, as the one I had booked. I complained and was told via Google translator that my original room was occupied. After I insisted, I was told I could have my chosen room after a two-hour wait. I was regretting my choice of accommodation until I was led up to the owner’s roof terrace for a welcome aperitif. There I enjoyed an Aperol spritz and some nibbles…and an amazing 360 degree view of Naples, a city with one of the very best settings in the whole world.

The magnificent view of Naples’ Castel St. Elmo from my terrace, looking west…

….and the view east over the Bay of Naples

After freshening up, I set off to explore. My first stop was the Naples National Archaeological Museum, which has one of the best collections of ancient art in the world. I was lucky to visit when they had a special evening opening, and the galleries were quiet and very atmospheric.

Statues from Pompeii at the entrance of the Naples National Archaeological Museum

An immense display room on the second floor of the Naples National Archaeological Museum

A mosaic of an upwardly mobile Pompeian couple, Naples National Archaeological Museum

Many of the museum’s exhibits come from nearby sites like Pompeii and Herculaneum, but the museum also houses the magnificent Farnese collection, first assembled by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (later to become Pope Paul III) in the 16^th century and originally kept in his palace in Rome.

The museum is huge, and you could easily spend a day there, but I was a bit tired and limited myself to a couple of hours seeing the highlights. Apart from the magnificent mosaics and sculptures, there was also a fun exhibit of items that had been recovered after being stolen, together with the stories of their recovery. Some of these were quite funny, involving organised crime, disorganised crime, corrupt officials, innocent grandmas, bankrupt aristocrats or dodgy art dealers versus a special unit of the carabinieri set up to recover lost art work.

My next day was spent exploring central Naples, a chaotic, dirty, occasionally beautiful and always lively city. It is a good place to explore on foot – which is a good thing, since the traffic is terrible and the driving mad. My exploration started in the Rione Sanita district, a short walk from my accommodation. This was once where aristocracts lived, but became one of Napoli’s poorest areas with a reputation for corruption and crime. Today it is considered safe again to walk around but is still a poor, working class district, which features narrow streets lined by tall, once grand but now crumbling buildings, whose walls were covered in graffiti and from whose balconies clothes were hanging to dry. Even here though, in one Naples’ least touristy neighbourhoods, there were some stunning buildings to be seen by those brave enough to venture here.

The Palazzo dello Spagnuolo seen from the street

The magnificent staircase inside, if you venture into the courtyard

Every street seemed to have a small shrine in the wall of a house, and every small neighbourhood had a church – some dilapidated, some magnificent. Apart from Christianity, Neapolitans’ other religion is football, and every street also had a mural either devoted to the fact that Napoli had won the Italian championship four times or to the former star player Diego Maradonna, who last played for them in 1991, but is still worshiped locally.

Maradonna murual in the Centro Storico, courtesy of Colette Hewitt Photography

My walk then took me into Naples’ Centro Storico, the heart of the city. This was a noticeable richer area, with many more visitors. Compared to Raino Sanita, it had the same narrow streets, more old buildings, slightly less litter and graffiti, but also had cafes, restaurants and shops for tourists.

Centro Storico typical street, courtesy of Colette Hewitt Photography

Amid all this seething, dirty and fascinating urban sprawl are many world-class tourist attractions – so many in fact that I only had time to visit a small portion of them. Best known is Naples’ Duomo, which was my next stop. It has a magnificent interior, and which houses the skull and two vials of dried blood of San Gennaro, the patron saint of the city. The latter were collected after the saint’s beheading in 305AD and the blood inside is supposed to miraculously liquefy on specific dates three times a year – a time of great celebrations amongst devotees.

Naples’ Duomo, courtesy of Colette Hewitt Photography

A short stroll further into the Centro Storico brought me to yet another beautiful church – this time a small baroque one.

The cathedral is indeed impressive, but I found the Church of Gesu Nuovo (“New Jesus”) even better. This huge building was originally a palace, dating from 1470, but its owner fell into disgrace and it was confiscated and sold to the Jesuit order for them to convert to a church, whose construction began in 1584.

The distinctive outside of the Church of Gesu Nuovo

Today it is in my opinion the most beautiful church in Naples and certainly the biggest. A curious addition to the usual pictures of saints adorning the walls was an unusual twisted chunk of metal – an inscription explained that this was a bomb that fell through the church roof during WWII, but which failed to explode – something of course put down to divine intervention!

My stroll carried on past yet more interesting squares and buildings, like the Piazza Bellini and Piazza Dante.

I finally ended up on Via Toledo, a main road in a more modern part of town. The metro station there is one of several in Naples that have important modern art installations, and is worth a visit even if you are not travelling anywhere.

Art installation at Toledo Metro Station, Naples

I took the metro back home and sat on my terrace enjoying the view and working on my blog as the sun set. I was hoping to see Naples’ many monuments at night, but the local authorities do not light up their buildings in the evening, so they were all hidden in darkness. This was a real shame, since I am convinced that nighttime Naples could be a spectacular sight, like Paris or Moscow – if only they would illuminate their city. To console myself I headed out for dinner in a local pizzeria, which was, as I expected, excellent and very reasonably priced. Apart from an imaginative and tasty octopus pizza and good wine, it was nice to be eating at an outside terrace in late September when I know that in London I would be shivering indoors.

A well-earned pizza after a long day’s walking around Naples

Over dinner I reflected on the last day and a half in Naples. I had found it an exceptional city, quite unlike anything I had seen elsewhere in the world – it felt like somewhere that could have been in Africa, but with European architecture. I loved its energy, crumbling historic buildings and magnificent setting on the Bay of Naples – and could forgive its chaotic traffic, noise and dirt. With some investment, Naples could rival Paris for its beauty – but for the moment I am rather glad that it remains as it is. I now had one day left to spend in the area, which I devoted to one of the world’s most famous sites – stay tuned to see which one (although I imagine many readers will already have guessed!).

Previous Post: Martina Franca and Alberobello

Next Post: Pompeii

2nd October 2025 4

More deepest Puglia – Martina Franca and Alberbello

Today I continued my exploration of deepest Puglia with visits to two more hilltop towns with old city centres. The first was Martina Franca, the biggest city in the area (albeit with a population of only 49,000). I found it similar to Cisternino – very picturesque with a well-defined old town which contained winding streets, churches, and a pretty main square. It was also not too busy, and was another nice place to happily lose oneself in for a couple of hours after a coffee on the main piazza.

Enjoying a cappuccino in Martina Franca’s piazza

I thought that Cisternino’s small streets were more interesting, but Martina Franca had the more impressive monumental buildings, including a large church and a palace.

Building in a side street, Martina Franca

The outside of the Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca…

Next, I visited yet another hilltop village – Locorotundo, which I found to be more like Ostuni. It had a picturesque hilltop old town, visible for miles around from the surrounding plains, but its centre was too small to get properly lost in, and too crowded to get a feeling of discovering something for oneself. I took a couple of photos to prove I had been there before returning to Cisternino for dinner.

A photo of Locorotondo to prove that I was there

The next day I woke up early to make the four-hour trip back to Salerno to return my hire car. On the way I made a short early-morning stop at Alberobello, a small town known for its remarkable number of trulli – 1,600 apparently. These earned the town its listing as a UNESCO world heritage site, and a place on any tourist’s list of things to see in Puglia. The trulli were indeed a spectacular and strange sight, and I spent half an hour exploring them.

I looked at my watch, and wondered briefly whether I should not stop here longer to explore more deeply. But I had a deadline to return the hire car before the rental office in Salerno closed for its 1pm siesta break, so I decided to drive on. Leaving at that time turned out to be a good decision. On my way back to the car park, I crossed streams of other visitors heading the other way, and as I drove out of the town, I passed a veritable armada of tour buses driving in. It was clear that by 9.30 the small town would be overrun.

Hundreds of Alberobello’s trulli sit on one picturesque hillside

My drive back to Salerno proved challenging. Not because of the driving habits of local drivers, which were actually quite good, but because of the crazy rules imposed by the authorities. There were frequent road works (but no sign of anyone working) which were an excuse to limit the speed on perfectly good stretches of road to 50km/h (30 miles/hour) or even lower. It seemed that the government has bought thousands of “max 50km/h” signs that they did not know what to do with. The local drivers ignored these ridiculous limits and drove at an appropriate speed for the road conditions – often at twice or even three times the advertised limit. The rare speed cameras were well advertised in advance by signs and could also be spotted from far away by watching for when the drivers ahead braked suddenly. As a law-abiding foreign bear, I had an uncomfortable choice – obey the speed limit and cause a big queue of angry drivers to build up behind me, or drive like the locals. I won’t reveal my decision but let it be said that I arrived at Salerno in a slightly stressed condition just in time to return my car.

From Salerno I took the train to Naples for the last two nights of my Italian trip. I had enjoyed Puglia but thought that I had seen enough pretty villages and trulli and was yearning to experience the excitement of a big city once again. Whilst not always easy, Naples turned out to be exactly what I needed, and an exact opposite to the cute small towns of the last few days. Check out my blog tomorrow to find out more!

A teaser for my next post – the view of Naples from my accommodation!

Previous Post: Ostuni and Cisternino

Next Post: Naples

1st October 2025 6

Trulli, madly deeply – Ostuni and Cisternino

My next couple of days were devoted to exploring inland Puglia, with its pretty, white, hilltop villages and strange “trulli” (more about these below). I said a sad goodbye to Lecce and drove north to my first stop, Ostuni. This is arguably the prettiest town in Puglia, whose old town has a maze of windy lanes snaking up a hill. It dominates the surrounding plain and its visual impact is enhanced by the brilliant white colour of its houses, like villages in Greece.

However, Ostuni’s beauty, and its proximity to the coast and the airport at Bari make it a popular destination for tour groups, and when I visited, it did not have enough small passageways to absorb the number of tourists it gets. I took lots of photos, but after a couple of hours wandering around, always seeming to come back to the same crowded piazza in front of the town’s 15th century cathedral, I had had enough and decided to drive on.

The crowded piazza in front of the cathedreal

My decision to leave Ostuni earlier than I had planned left me with time to kill before I could check into my accommodation, and I decided to visit the little-known town of Cisternino. Unlike Ostuni, whose brilliant white old town is clearly visible for miles around, Cisternino’s was hidden behind more modern buildings, and on first appearances the city looked an unremarkable place. I had lunch in a local trattoria where I got a plate of excellent bombetti (little parcels of meat) for a ridiculously low price. Feeling very full after a big meal, I set off to look for the old town. I found a small archway in an ordinary looking modern building, and ducked under it to enter a different world – once again made up of winding narrow streets, white-painted houses and churches.

The residents of the old town had gone to great lengths to make the area interesting, decorating it in all sorts of imaginative ways. In some alleys, children’s swings with poetic inscriptions on the bottom of their seats hung above me; others were lined with red hearts and red flowers, and yet more displayed models of small hot air balloons hanging in the air above me.

Red flowers and red hearts in Cisternino

There were also some larger installations around the theme of countries in Asia – here is the one devoted to Persia:

It was wonderful strolling around to see what new artistic ideas might lie behind the next corner. It was also very quiet – bumping into a fellow tourist was a pleasant surprise rather than a constant nuisance, like it had been in Ostuni. From being a stopgap to kill time before check-in, Cisternino had become one of the highlights of Puglia, and I was charmed by the place. But eventually it was time to go, and I drove on to my accommodation – a “masseria” or fortified farmhouse. The road led through the dry Puglia countryside down tiny country roads that crossed fields of olives or vines and were dotted with “trulli” – traditional stone huts with conical roofs. These were originally built as temporary storage facilities for farms, or as modest dwellings for agricultural labourers – but now many have been restored to provide accommodation for tourists.

I eventually reached my masseria late in the afternoon. I had booked a room in one of these converted trulli, a popular idea with the many farmers who now make a living from agrotourism alongside cultivating crops. Staying in a trullo was something I thought I had to do whilst in Puglia, and was fun to do once, but I found the room a bit dark since the windows were very small.

After check-in, I lay by the pool catching up on my blog. It had been a day of contrasts – I had been a bit underwhelmed by popular Ostuni, but charmed by little-known Cisternino, and was curious to see what other gems lay hidden in this remote part of inland Puglia – so remote in fact that my masseria had no mobile phone coverage.

Previous Post: Otranto and Puglia’s heel

Next Post: Puglia – Martina France and Alberobello

30th September 2025 5

Otranto and the tip of Italy’s heel

Today I made a day trip out of Lecce down to the very tip of Italy’s heel. I drove a short distance east to reach the coast, and then headed south. At first the road was not especially scenic as it went through a series of seaside resorts, some of which were so shabby that even the backdrop of the deep blue Adriatic Sea could not make them attractive. After an hour things improved when I reached the historic city of Otranto. This has Roman origins but is most noted historically for a particularly bloody event in 1480, when an Ottoman force laid siege and eventually captured the city after a fierce struggle. Much of the population was slaughtered in the aftermath of the battle, including the bishop, who was sawed in half. Surviving women and children were sold off into slavery, but eight hundred male survivors also remained. They were offered a choice – execution or conversion to Islam. All chose the former and were martyred on the spot.

Otranto is now a pretty town with an imposing castle and an interesting looking duomo (cathedral). Seeing a large tour group enter, I opted to explore the winding streets of the old town first, but on returning found that the duomo had closed for a two-hour lunch break.

I continued my drive and the scenery became more beautiful and the seaside towns smarter, some with some interesting Moorish-style buildings.

One of the moorish-style buildings lining the coastal road

My final destination St Maria de Leuca was a pleasant enough place, located at the very tip of Italy’s heel. I stopped for a coffee to celebrate reaching one of the extremities of Europe.

One my drive back to Lecce I discovered what was probably the highlight of the day – Presicce, yet another beautiful small Italian town where time seems to have stopped. I arrived in the late afternoon to find the place almost deserted and all of the shops and cafes shut, except for one bar in front of the town’s ancient church. The hot sun and somnolent town risked sending me to sleep, so I ordered a gelato and coffee to wake me up before exploring a bit more.

The town was exceptionally beautiful but seemed to be not only completely off the tourist trail but also slowly dying as native people left; I noticed several houses with “for sale” signs on them. This depopulation of small rural areas is a big problem in Italy’s south, so much so that the government offers tax breaks for people to go to live in small municipalities. But although Persicce was a wonderful place to visit for an hour so, it was so quiet that I wondered how I could possible live there, and headed back to enjoy the relatively busy street life of Lecce for my last evening there.

Previous post: Lecce

Next Post: Ostuni and Cisternino

27th September 2025 4

Lecce

My next destination was Lecce in Puglia, an ancient city famed for its baroque buildings. Lecce was first settled in pre-Roman times, became a Roman city with an amphitheatre which survives to this day, and then spent the next few centuries changing hands between Ostrogoth invaders, the Eastern Roman Empire, Normans and Lombards. It eventually ended up as part of the Kingdom of Naples in 1463, and had a period of peace and prosperity that saw a building boom of baroque-style churches in the 1600s. Today Lecce is a popular tourist destination with a compact old city centre, which is a joy to visit on foot.

I spent a full day exploring Lecce, wandering down old streets from one beautiful baroque building to another. There are famous sights, which attract tourist groups, like Lecce’s Duomo –

…..and the stunning Basilica di Santa Croce

Then there are less-known baroque churches which are part of a multi-site ticket issued by the tourist office, like San Matteo –

The Roman amphitheatre however is a bit of a disappointment if you have travelled a lot like me…..

Probably the real joy of Lecce though is wandering around from cafe to cafe during the day and bar to bar at night, catching a glimpse of everyday buildings where people still live but which still have astonishing baroque features – like this quiet courtyard…

…..or this balcony…..

…or this gate leading into the old city.

Once I had seen the major sites in Lecce once, I visited them again and again, enjoying how the atmosphere changed in the light of early morning or the evening. So here is the Duomo again, twice…..

and Santa Croce……

The Amazing Carvings on Santa Croce’s facade

It all made for a very satisfying, relaxing stay. But as I sat down in front of my computer at the end of the day, I wondered what to write for my blog. There had been no problems, no amusing episodes or unique experiences to write about. I had simply had a very nice time in a beautiful city. So I decided to let the pictures do the talking for me, and this post has a lot of them, but few words.

Previous Post: Matera

Next Post: Otranto and Italy’s heel

26th September 2025 5

Matera – a hidden gem

The next day I said a sad farewell to Amalfi as I took the ferry yet again – south this time, to Salerno, where I picked up my hire car and then drove south west inland towards my next destination, the city of Matera. This is an ancient settlement, probably first inhabited in distant prehistory as a series of cave dwellings carved into the soft limestone of the cliffs of a steep ravine. In the Middle Ages the city grew to fill the ravine’s western side, and then spilt over the top of the cliff onto the surrounding plane or “Piano”. Over time, richer people moved up to the Piano, whilst the lower areas of the city, known as the “Sassi”, became crowded and desperately poor. In the 1950s the Sassi were declared unfit for human habitation and the government forced its inhabitants to relocate to new housing in the Piano. In 1986 a new law allowed reoccupation of the Sassi, and a wealthy new middle class started to move in. The area has now become a thriving tourist and cultural centre.

The first highlight of my visit to Matera was my accommodation – a large “palazzo” on the very edge of the Piano, whose aristocratic owner lets out three of her rooms to tourists. My rooms were enormous and had a faded elegance that I found charming.

The palazzo also had a garden with views over the Sassi, and after admiring the view, I set off down a set of steep steps to visit them.

View of the Sassi from my palazzo’s garden

The Sassi are an extensive maze of old buildings and narrow passageways, and my exploration lasted a full day and a half, with occasional trips back to my rooms to rest during the hot afternoon sun.

In the Sassi. On the hill, carved out of the rock, is the Church of our Lady of Virtue

The area includes bars, restaurants and souvenir shops – but not so many as to spoil the atmosphere – as well as many ancient churches, some of which are carved out of the rock. You can also visit places showing the history of the Sassi – for example caves where an entire family and their animals fitted into one small living space, with no running water.

A cave where a whole family and their animals lived

A cave complex where wine barrels were stored

I bought a ticket to visit a group of three rock churches managed by the local tourist board, and had great fun trying to find each church on the list.

Indeed, simply wandering around the Sassi and discovering secret courtyards, narrow alleyways, and new perspectives for photos was a wonderful experience and made Matera one of the highlights of my Italy trip so far. My exploration also took in the upper city or Piano, that includes the fine cathedral and many more beautiful churches.

A fine building in the Piano, now a museum

The transformation of the Sassi slums is now so complete that the area hosts three Michelin-starred restaurants, one of which I tried on my first night.

“Black pizza” in a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Sassi

Dinner on my second night was simpler – I bought a pizza and bottle of wine from a nearby shop and enjoyed watching the evening’s shadows grow and slowly swallow the Sassi below. I noticed small groups of people on the top of the other side of the ravine, and on checking my guidebook found that this was a national park with yet more churches carved into the rocks and belvederes offering fine views back over to Matera.

On my last morning in Matera I had breakfast in one of the elegant rooms of the palazzo….

….. before quickly making one last trip into the Sassi, and then further down to the base of the ravine where a suspension bridge led across the small river.

The suspension bridge leading to the other side of the ravine

I then clambered up the other side of the ravine to get one last view of Matera. I had never heard of the city before starting the planning for this trip, but yet it was certainly one of the highlights. Let’s hope that it remains relatively unknown so that I can come back one day and enjoy wandering around its Sassi once again, without the crowds of more popular Italian tourist destinations.

Matera seen from the other side of the ravine

Previous Post: Capri

Next Post: Lecce

24th September 2025 8

Scusi, Scusi! The Amalfi Coast – the Path of the Gods and Positano

As well as its spectacular coastline, the Amalfi area is known for its brilliant hiking tracks. A dense network of trails links the coast’s mountain settlements and seaside towns. Today I ventured onto one of the best known hikes – the Path of Gods, which starts at a small village called Bomerano, accessible by bus from Amalfi. I set an alarm to wake up early to catch the 08.15 bus promised by SITA’s oneline timetable and got to the bus stop with a few minutes to spare. Several other tourists were waiting but as 08.15 and then 08.30 came and went, I approached the SITA employee selling bus tickets only to be told that the next bus was at 09.15. Along with the other early rising tourists I trudged off grumpily back into town to kill another 45 minutes, but at least I got another good view of Amalfi’s cathedral without the crowds.

After my false start – back in Amalfi’s Piazza in the early morning

When 09.15 came, so did (this time) the bus. It was a very popular hike, and I was lucky to get a seat and not to have to stand as the driver sped up narrow mountain roads, testing himself, his vehicle and his passengers as he saw how quickly he could make the trip. The views of the coast far below, best glimpsed at the road’s many hairpin bends, were spectacular but fleeting – there was no question of being able to photograph them as the bus driver tested the laws of physics and centrifugal force with his bus. We soon arrived at Bomerano, and although the bus’s route carried on further, almost everyone disembarked. Indeed, the Path of the Gods is not a hike for those seeking solitude, and I set off behind a long straggle of fellow passengers along an easy path, which usually sloped gently downhill. As expected, the views were amazing and more than made up for times I had to negotiate my way through several organised tours of slower walkers, testing my Italian for “excuse me” (Scusi! Scusi!).

Near the start of the “Path of the Gods”

The walk justified its reputation was one of the most beautiful of the Amalfi Coast – even though I felt that each view, although breathtakingly beautiful, was similar to the previous one.

Yet more stunning views on the Path of the Gods, Amalfi

After a couple of hours, which had passed surprisingly quickly, I found myself at the end of the main walk in a village called Nocello. The place was used to receiving tired and thirsty walkers and had a nice kiosk selling coffee and – even better on a hot day – lemon granite.

From Nocello there was supposedly a bus down the mountain to Positano, the nearest village on the coast. But my earlier bus experiences had so disappointed me that I did not even bother to try to find it, and set off on a path leading steeply downhill.

This might have been a mistake – there are 1700 steps on this path, and soon the calves of my little teddy legs were aching. I found this abrupt descent far harder than the steep climb up to Ravello I had made the day before. At the least the walk offered some nice views of Positano and the many boats anchored just offshore, which got bigger and bigger as I descended.

Soon I reached the main coastal road and had a decision to make – try to take a bus back to Amalfi or walk into Positano and take a ferry. Finding the bus stop answered this question quickly – there was already a large queue of hopeful passengers waiting for a bus which was supposed to have appeared ten minutes ago. I figured that even if this bus did eventually show up, the chance of me getting a space on it were as small as my little teddy legs, so I continued walking on into Positano. This is one of the Amalfi Coast’s most famous towns, but I disliked the bits I saw – narrow roads lined with shops selling upmarket goods and hopelessly crowded with fellow tourists. It took me another twenty minutes of “Scusi, Scusi!” to fight my way to the port – where my luck changed. There was a boat to Amalfi leaving in fifteen minutes, and I was soon enjoying the more civilised way to get around this region – by sea, enjoying once again the beautiful coast line between Positano and Amalfi, this time from sea level rather than from high on the mountains.

Interesting rock formations on the coast between Positano and Amalfi

It had been a mixed day. I had underestimated the difficulty of the long descent to Positano, the crowds in this popular town, and the unreliability of Italian buses. But the amazing views from the Path of the Gods and the pleasant ferry ride back to Amalfi more than compensated for these struggles. After all, this beauty is why the Amalfi Coast is so crowded in peak season.

Previous Post: Amalfi

Next Post: Capri

22nd September 2025 6

The Amalfi Coast

Back on the road again! The next few posts will devoted to my trip around southern Italy – Naples, the Amalfi Coast and Puglia. After a flight to Naples and one night there (more about this interesting city in a future post), I was soon on the morning ferry for the two-hour cruise to Amalfi. There were great views of the Bay of Naples with Mount Vesuvius looming behind, before we reached our first stop, the port of Sorrento. It looked a very smart place, but it was not the destination I had chosen for my stay.

Instead, I stayed on the boat as it rounded a cape and cruised past the island of Capri to the Amalfi Coast proper, with the scenery becoming more and more spectacular.

I arrived at Amalfi at around noon to learn the good news that I could check in early to my flat. I fought my way through the crowds in the town’s main road in the heat of the midday sun – even though it was mid- September, the temperature was 30C and my fur was hot and sticky by the time I arrived. I had a quick rest and some coffee before setting off to explore. My first stop was Amalfi’s cathedral, which was pleasantly quiet compared to the bustle of the main street. It was started in the 10th century, with many additions over the following years, and contains a mix of architectural styles. First I visited its peaceful and cool cloister with views of the surrounding mountains……..

….and then a crypt which houses the remains of St Andrew. These were brought here by participants of the Fourth Crusade, who changed plans and sacked Constantinople instead of trying to conquer the Holy Land.

From the crypt, stairs led up to the stunning cathedral itself:

The main square in front of the cathedral was packed with tourists. Many seemed to simply arrive on boats and then sit in cafés, or queue for one of Amalfi’s specialites – lemon sorbet. The region is a big centre for growing lemons and production of Limoncello. I could not resist and sat down to try a huge sorbet, which was delicious but also very expensive – the Amalfi Coast is a justifiably famous destination, and has prices corresponding to its reputation and the deep pockets of the richer tourists that go there.

Refreshed and 24€ poorer after two sorbets, I decided to walk to Ravello, a town perched on top of the mountains surrounding Amalfi. The path first passed under the cathedral and then along many narrow winding staircases and alleyways to the nearby town of Altrani, which was pleasantly quiet compared to Amalfi.

Then my route headed steeply upwards. I sweated heavily in the heat of the late afternoon, but at least most of the path was in shade, protecting me from the fierce sun.

With great relief I finally made it to my destination, which turned out to be a charming place with some amazing views.

Finally – hot and sweaty but Ravello was worth the climb!

I had a drink in the main square to replenish my forces and noticed an interesting looking building at the edge of the piazza. This was the Villa Rufolo, originally built in the 13th century by the powerful family of the same name, but later extensively remodelled over the years. It has gardens with some of the best views of the Amalfi Coast (or perhaps of anywhere in the world….)

One of the best views of the Amalfi Coast

After visiting the villa it was getting late. I didn’t want to walk all the back to Amalfi in the fading light, and checked online to see if there might be a bus. The local bus company is called SITA and their website affirmed that there was one at 19.10, but on arriving at the stop there was a sign showing a different timetable and with a 19.20 departure. It turned out that the bus really left at 18.55, and I was quite lucky to have turned up early to catch it. Our driver negotiated the winding roads with extreme confidence and amazing speed; the other road users seemed to know it was wise to let the SITA bus have right of way.

I got back to Amalfi in the early evening and rewarded myself with a well-deserved drink in a seafront café after a very full day. Walking back to my flat I could also enjoy a great view of the cathedral, without the daytime crowds. I was looking forward to my next couple of days exploring the Amalfi Coast.

Next Post: The Path of the Gods

21st September 2025 7

Moscow: 2008-2009

The classic view of Moscow – the Kremlin

In the next couple of posts I will cover Russia’s capital city, Moscow. I lived there twice, from 2008-9 and from 2013-2019. The two experiences were completely different, and in this post I will describe the Moscow of the earlier years. I arrived in December 2007, just in time for the Russian winter, and my overwhelming memory of this time was of dark, grey skies, intimidating buildings and insane traffic jams.

The streets were cold and unfriendly. There were a lot of stray dogs roaming around, a few beggars and homeless people, and old “babushkas” trying to make ends meet by selling items they had knitted.

My own flat was in a well-known building, the Dom Rossiya, built just before the revolution to provide flats for Moscow’s emerging middle class. After the revolution it was converted to communal flats for workers, with each large apartment converted into several small ones, accessed from a long corridor leading to a communal kitchen. With the return to capitalism, many of these “communalkas” had been converted back into large flats, offices, or artists studios. Dom Rossiya’s many entrances and staircases were a hive of activity and each was slightly different. Mine was particularly run-down, and often smelt of urine, since homeless people (“Bomsh” in Russian slang) would come in and sleep there at night. But once I crossed the threshold of my flat, I entered a completely different world………..a 300m2 apartment, of which half had been designed as a venue for concerts, with rows of seats on two levels in a semi-circle around a grand piano.

Many people assume that the Russian winter is hard to live through because it cold, but is not true – the interiors of buildings are kept warm (and often uncomfortably hot) by a huge city-wide communal hot water system. No, the Russian winter of 2007-8 was hard because of the lack of light. For five months the sun rises late and sets early, and even during the day the sky was usually a dark grey colour, as the city was covered with the smog from thousands of old cars sitting in huge traffic jams. After the long winter comes a short spring, but things don’t get much better. The winter snow thaws and turns into a yucky brown slush that coats your trousers and shoes.

Finally, the snow melts away and the good weather arrives – and everyone leaves their cramped apartments and comes outside to celebrate. Sometimes this happens early with the orthodox Easter in late April or early May…….

But more traditionally the good weather starts around Victory Day celebrations on the 9^th, which are taken very seriously in Russia, a country that lost around a quarter of its population during World War II through military action or starvation. Of course, there is the famous parade on this day, but there are dozens of other activities taking place all through the city – concerts, lectures, fairground activities, street stalls selling WWII soldiers’ rations…. In 2008, there were still some war veterans alive, and there was a touching tradition of people offering them flowers.

June, July and August bring the Russian summer. Just as winter is cold and dark, the summer is warm and light. The sun seems to hang in the air as a great glowing ball of fire, reluctant to dip below the horizon, and bathing the city in a strange orange light. The streets, once lonely and cold, fill with people enjoying drinks on pavement cafes, listening to excellent street performers, or simply strolling around and enjoying the weather.

Moscow City Day, 2008 – crowds on the street

Apart from enjoying central Moscow, summer is also a great time to visit some of the attractions a bit further away, like VDNK, an exhibition centre built to celebrate the different republics that made up the Soviet Union and their supposed harmonious friendship….

The Fountain of the Friendship of Peoples at VDNK

….or some of the old aristocratic or royal palaces that surround the city

….or the pretty towns of the “Golden Ring”, like the important religious centre, Sergeev Posad.

The Moscow autumn is very short. The weather beings to change in September. In October, the leaves suddenly fall from the trees over a couple of short weeks and in November, the first snow usually falls, and the long winter begins again.

The Moscow of 2008-9 was an amazing place, full of contradictions and (usually pleasant) surprises. At first site, the Moscovites were a dour, unsmiling bunch, but once I got to know people, I made many lasting friendships. The city felt safe, because there were always lots of police on the streets, but in my relatively small expat community there were several violent deaths from bungled robberies or traffic accidents. When you went out, you could never be sure how the evening would end – quietly going back home or getting caught up in some drunk adventure with crazy Russians. One day I was walking over the bridge leading to the Kremlin with my chief editor, when we were accosted by a group of very merry ladies who were standing next to a stretch limousine and drinking cognac. They invited us to go for a drive, and……. the rest of the story can be read in my book, Caviar, Vodka and Tears.

There was one special place that for me summed up the chaotic Moscow of 2008-9. It was a small parking area a short distance away from Red Square and was usually deserted. Directly in front of me, was a beautiful 17^th century orthodox church. In the distance on the horizon, stood one of the “seven sisters” – impressive buildings commission by Stalin to celebrate the might of the Soviet Union.

My favourite Moscow view, left hand side….

And to the right was the shell of an abandoned hotel surrounded by waste ground. This was the once elite Rossiya Hotel, used to accommodate dignitaries visiting the Kremlin. It was finished in 1967 but aged rapidly and was closed in 2006. A project was agreed to convert the area into an entertainment complex, but the developer who won the contract was accused of corruption and fled to the UK, leaving the decaying site you can see in the photo below.

The power of the church, the state, and omnipresent corruption – this one vista summed up contemporary Moscow perfectly.

My next post will present the Moscow of 2013-2109, a city transformed by massive investment. Stay tuned to see how it changed and what happened to my favourite view!

Previous Post: Off the beaten Track in St Petersburg

4th August 2025 3