Italy.

Italy Feeling quite stressed with this forage into new territory - driving Molly for the first time in darkness, filling up with diesel (not petrol Cal) in a large city and finally finding the port and the correct area to wait etc.- we finally set off but not before we learned from Wendy that we had to also find the company office to collect embarkation documents even though we had booked our passage on line. Surprisingly enough it all worked really well, even though we hit the evening rush hour, and we arrived at the correct place with a full tank and time to spare. Looking and feeling like campervan professionals we threw open the camper door to let in the balmy evening and set to making "a nice cup of tea". Within seconds, and with a whoop and a roar, up pulled Mark and Wendy behind us. They are savvy travellers, we are just learning still, and had done a  full reconoitre and document collection in daylight so were very relaxed about the whole deal. Sharing a lovely cuppa we waited and then we were boarding. Through passport control, finger biting stuff, onto the boat to our booked reclining seat.......this was our second mistake for, although the crossing to Bari was good, we were frozen all night and could not get back down to Molly to get more layers or blankets. Seeing W & M next morning bright and fresh after their "cabin sleep" our lesson was learned.....again. 8am we were allowed downstairs to Molly. We were last in the queue again! Now this is where we learnt another lesson, don't trust the GPS! Kate the gps was instructing us to exit to a main road.... The guard at the gate waved us away energetically - twice!!!! The second time round the block he had to assist us to back out into traffic and we were told the exit from the port was 3km up the bumpy road.  But we survived and headed north off the boat to Manfredonia to a lovely, quIet campsite on the beach on the East coast of Italy where no one spoke a scrap of English!!!!????!!!! It was here though that Gary managed to fix the upper light on the back of Molly, where we went for swims in the ocean, long walks along the beach and met a lovely, hard workIng couple from the Netherlands who owned a business with everything to do with sailing - from teaching sailIng to brokering sail boats. They had the most wonderful 6month old puppy with them called Yesee and although she was not a pure bred she was 80%  Pharoah. Sooooo intelligent, so obedient, so happy to entertain herself - I could have taken her with me. Her owner was surprised at how easy she was and how eager she always was to please......beautiful. So we stayed for a few days and then decided to cross Italy to Pompei near Naples and, as Is our norm, not via motorways. Taking the lesser roads we always see the country in depth; the beauty of the surrounding countryside; the pretty, narrow villages and basically the heart of each country. Just not this time!!!! Poor Molly! This journey took several, bone shaking hours on roads that defy explanation and don't deserve an entry in this blog. A disgrace and a huge disappointment with rubbish everywhere. We have seen bad but this was worse. Arriving in Pompei was no better either and we had by now developed a "clonk" underneath Molly which was making us nervous. But hey! We were in Pompei!!!!!! A place we never expected to see in our lifetime and what a place. Firstly though came our trip to the crater of Mount Vesuvius. Absorbing all the wonders as we snaked our way up the mountaIn, once again we were hit by the sight of decaying rubbish in truckloads on the roadsides. This was a fantastic place with beautiful views over Naples where, once we reached the actual summit, we indulged in a glass of "blessed vino roso", kicked back, people watched and took In the enormIty of what Mount VesuvIus had achIeved In her lIfetIme. And so It was that next day, In the quIet early mornIng, we walked Into Pompei and, as we entered, I was completely overwhelmed by the abject misery it exhuded. The feeling was surreal, It rushed at me and hIt me In the chest. It took a long while to dissipate and for me to feel myself again. I have never experienced anything like it before but maybe Pompei does that to many? Pompei itself is incredible as I hope our Facebook photos show. We spent a whole hot day here and it was mind blowing. Stopped in time, preserved and then unearthed again it is clear that, to be honest, we have not progressed that much - except perhaps in IT and travel. Clearly they had takeaways, beautiful houses, fresh and pure water, raised pedestrian crossings, plenty of shops, laundries, brothels, good roads, entertainment. To have died such horrible deaths at the base of Vesuvious leaves us wondering why Naples, also at the base of Vesuvius, is the most densely populated city in Europe? Always having longed to venture around the Amalfi coastline but not recommended to do so in a campervan we took public transport as the easy option the following day. Our campsite was perfectly placed beside both the entrance to Pompei and the Pompei train station so a short traIn rIde to Sorrento and a very long and very haIry coach rIde all along the coast through PosItano to AmalfIe got us there just in time to miss the last and only boat to Capri! Never mind next time? Once again Amalfie is a very cute and quaint, quite small township geared for tourists and settled on the edge of the Adriatic. It was a very warm day so a paddle, something to eat on the beach and a walk through the tourists shopping area where we bought home-made Limoncello and cheap Parmesan cheese - oh and another stretchy growy thing for "little bleep" who incidentally is due in 2 weeks time - and we were once again into our even more reckless journey back along the narrow roads and haIrpIn bends to Pompei. . So now the inevitable was looming - driving Molly, with the "clunk", out of Pompei along cobbled and potholed roads till we either found a mechanic or at least got on to a better road surface on the motorway. Gary had gIven Molly a complete look over but could fInd nothIng amIss at all. We decided to leave at 7am the next morning to beat the traffic and maybe take a shorter 1 minute route the wrong way down the one way system straight onto the motorway - it was after all just at the bottom of the road! Neither of us slept much that night wondering what the problem might be so we were up bright and early for the off. Sadly even pre 7am does not beat the set up process for a tourist day in Pompei so we were forced to follow a circuitous route around the one way system which actually was not too bad. Once on the motorway Molly was her happy self with no more "clunks" to be heard and we happily headed for Rome albeit completely via the motorway system which in Italy is very expensive as are most things! Rome. Finding open campsites at this time of year is proving difficult but Gary always seems to come up with a good one and this one at PrIma Porta had a free shuttle to and from the train station which would take us directly to Rome in about 20mins. We arrived at this campsite on Halloween, big in Italy, and they were having a special dinner and live music in the restaurant that evening. We seem lucky to come across these special things from time to time which can change your whole perception of a campsite so we decIded to joIn In. The wIne was plentIful, the food good but the lIve musIc was overruled by the soccer match on TV so left early ready to face Rome the next morning. We had planned to visit Rome over a few days but found one day sufficient for us as we really are not big city fans. Once again we set off early to beat the crowds and we managed that initially. Buying a hop on/hop off bus ticket and walkIng we saw most of what we both really wanted to see, and some sights we really wished we hadn't seen, but were happy to leave the throbbing crowds behind as we battled our way back up to the station In the darkness. St. Peters square and the VatIcan was nothIng as I had ImagIned It to be and I stIll wonder whether we were at the correct place really - although I Know we were. The Colluseum was Gary's want so he was happy too and yes it is a fantastic place to visit but oh the crowds!!! Once on a bus there is NO WAY you would contemplate getting off to see a specific site because getting on another bus is almost impossible even though you pay double figures for the priviledge. Once at a specific site queuing for hours is mandatory and for us just not worth it. So we hopped on, stayed on, went round and round and got off only when we knew we could walk the rest of the way to what we wished to see. Doing just that we stumbled across a really quirky cafe in a back street where nothing was built square, everything was topsy turvy and embellished with wonky half columns and love seats and Roman figurines. It was dark, nothing matched but the food was awesome. You could choose from dozens of different, fresh dishes exactly what you wanted and all for 6Euro??? Plates piled high we discovered they had free wifi too which was an added bonus. So we enjoyed our day in Rome and left the campsite the next morning heading for Tuscany which is where we are now In BarberIno Di Mugello. High up in the mountains, in the fog and pouring rain but this campsite is immaculate and seems to be run by 2 old ladies, who make a mean cappucIno, with a little help in the evening in the Pizzeria. We think we are the only people staying here though but we also presume people come from the village to eat and drink in the evening as they always seem busy and have a vast array of goodies for sale in the very well stocked deli and shop. We were met with a handshake and a tour of the place, it is only small and stuck on the side of a hill. If the weather were better it would be gorgeous but it is definitely Autumn here. Tomorrow we wind down off the hill to Venice where we plan to celebrate Gary's birthday on 5th November. X