Cadaques to Pompei

After dropping the olds off at Girona Airport we set sail for our first stop over the French border, the rather lovely Collioure. We stayed in a nice aire and took some lunch down to the waterside.  Going from Spain to France was a bit like coming home a day out at Alton Towers. From fun to familiar. From frenetic to bucolic. From skank to plank. (excluding Marseilles).

Our route was to follow the south coast of France heading for Italy. We took in quite a few very pretty places along the coast including Collioure, Leucate and Carnon. We then headed to inland Provence stopping at Arles, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and Gréasque. Then on to coastal Provence stopping at Ramatuelle, St Tropez and Cannes.

Roman amphitheatre in Arles

St Tropez out of season - not a soul to be seen!

Soaking up some Autumnal sunshine on the beach in Cannes

When in Aix-en-provence we took the train to Marseille for the day. If you don't know already, Marseille has a reputation of being quite rough around the edges as though being Paris' tracksuit wearing alter ego. We can confirm it lived up to this. We were serenaded over lunch by a local nutcase roaming the square shouting abuse at passers by. A really fun place to visit with a great vibe very free of pretension. No idea how they'll cope with being capital of culture in 2013 though.

The old port in Marseille

We decided to get the van serviced and checked over just outside Nice in Villeneuve-Loubet. We found a great campsite with a spa really close to a train station from where we went to Nice and Monaco on the days the van was in the garage. The only issue being a speedo only rule in the spa. I can only assume they're worried about swimming shorts being sucked into the workings of the jacuzzi. Anyway, my pants sufficed.

Nice's seafront

The day trip to Monaco was pretty enlightening. It turns out to not pay tax you have to live in the most cramped and ugly place ever. There really isn't a spare spot of land without an high rise on it. Because of that and the sheer cliffs on which they're built it's really quite a spectacle though. And although all the showing off of wealth with the wank cars, blazers, ya-ya-ing and yachts made me sick to the stomach, I still really enjoyed the brashness of it all.

An amazing coastline raped by tower blocks for tax dodgers

Exactly as I remember it from Geoff Crammond's

The drive over the French-Italian border was amazing. We took the motorway which passes through the mountains in the most incredible way. Gigantic tunnels interspersed with gigantic bridges high up with dizzying views down cliff sides to the sea. Our first Italian stop was at a lovely beach side aire (or 'sosta' in Italy) in San Remo. We cycled along the front to the centre of town and explored the medieval streets that wind around the hillside. This was a great introduction to Italy with a definite identity quite different to anywhere we'd been before. All this travelling has given us some kind of fatigue which means we can, on occasion, go to amazing places and be completely non-plussed. San Remo rejuvenated our spirits.

The view down onto San Remo's coastline from the steep hillside of the Medieval old part of town

The twisty, narrow, medieval alleyways of San Remo

From San Remo we headed along the coast to Genoa then north away from the Ligurian coast to Milan. Milan introduced us to the Italian Aperitivo, a marvellous concept of having a little something to eat with a drink before heading home for dinner. Fortunately for us cheap-skates that little something to eat is an all you can eat buffet. We've found this to be a most cost effective way to eat out of an evening in an otherwise fairly expensive Italy. We explored Milan's massive castle, we walked past the entrance to the church with Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper fresco and we wandered Milan's canals. Unfortunately you have to book about a month in advance to see the Last Supper and the canals were curiously empty of water, but hey ho.

Milan's main square with a huge cathedral

Milan's nightlife goes on around its canals.  But where has all the water gone?

Not far from Milan are Italy's famous lakes which is where we headed next. I'd wanted to go to Lake Como despite it being clear that our stopping options were either closed for the season or crazily expensive. Lake Como is a rather well to do destination where people like George Clooney have villas. I was pretty certain we'd be able to find somewhere to just park on the side of the road. Unfortunately not. So we saw Lake Como out the windows and carried on to Lake Garda instead.

We stayed on the outskirts of Sirmione first in a paid for Aire and then just in a car park a bit further down the road. It's easy to see why the Italian lakes are such a popular holiday destination in the summer. Even out of season with rain and coldness this was a lovely place to be. The old part of Sirmione itself is on a thin spit of land and at points you can see the lake on both sides of you.  To get to the end of the spit of land you have to cross a bridge into the old fortified part of the town.

The crossing into the fortified part of Sirmione with Lake Garda in the background

Continuing east we stopped in Verona. The highlight of Verona for me was the amazingly well preserved Roman amphitheatre which is right in the heart of Verona. It's dizzyingly tall and Lucy had to fight some serious vertigo to get to the top. We also took a look around the Castelvecchio which doubles as a museum. A fog settled on the river alongside the castle accentuating the atmosphere of a place extremely rich in history.

Verona's astonishingly well maintained amphitheatre

Eerie mist on the river in Verona

On to the Adriatic and Venice. We stayed on the mainland across the lagoon from Venice in a campsite in Fusina. Right outside the entrance to the campsite a regular ferry takes you over to the main islands of central Venice. Venice really lived up to my expectations and was a completely unique experience. We had a terrific time simply getting lost in the maze of alleyways, continually going down dead ends finding nothing but canal at the end. We went into the Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica Di San Marco, Venice's main museum and cathedral respectively.  Both were terrific and really gave an indication of how prosperous Venice once was.

It's a little sad to see how Venice has become little more than an attraction.  We went decidedly out of season but it was still packed with hoards of us foreigners.  I guess as a result the exploitation is extraordinary.  I must have been brought up to be a tightwad as paying €1.50 to take a piss in a public loo left me busting on our first day there.  And maybe I'm just not romantic enough but to pay €100's for a poxy gondola ride surely means you're guilty of something?

Saying that, we got a go in a gondola by going on one of the “Traghetti” which is a gondola based ferry across the Canal Grande.  Not quite as romantic but fun nonetheless.

Being ferried across the Canal Grande, Venice

Our Renaissance period followed heading through Ferrara, Bologna, Florence, Pisa and Siena. These places all seem to have competed for the most elaborate public spaces and collections of art.  It reminded me of what I learned at school: Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cool but crude, Michelangelo is a party dude.

Ferrara surprised us by being hugely bicycle friendly. We stayed in a car park just outside the city centre and joined the crowds cycling their way around. For pedestrians it's pretty precarious but as a cyclist it's a good laugh! I considered it a taster of what it must be like to own a scooter in Italy.

Big castle in Ferrara

At Bologna we stayed in a campsite right on the outskirts and got a bus into the centre. The feature that stands out in my memory is that almost every pavement is covered by a portico.  According to the guide book it started out in the 13th century to protect against sun and rain and just caught on as a fashion.  Now they're these ornate stone archways tall enough (supposedly) to ride horseback under.  We had a nice evening in Bologna going to an Osteria which is a restaurant serving local food.  This one had long wooden benches which we shared with a few other groups of people to have our authentic spaghetti bolognese.

Florence is as beautiful as reputed. We stayed in a campsite on a hillside overlooking the city below. The short downhill walk into town was filled with fantastic views of the city. The first day we just wandered around and took a look at all the main sights.  The next day we took in the Ufizi museum which is stuffed full of masterpieces by famous artists.  Good thing we hired an audio guide as otherwise I wouldn't have had a clue.  The last day in Florence as a bit of an antidote to all the classical culture we watched Skyfall and had a kebab.

The view of Florence from the hill the campsite is on

The original Michelangelo's David is safely tucked away in a museum so this replica one stands in its place

At Pisa we stayed in an Aire and cycled into town. We just stayed for the night and avoided the daytime crowds at the tower. It's a pretty quiet place but really nice for an evening stroll with some really nice bars near the riverside.  Otherwise not a lot to the place so we moved on in the morning.

As I'm sure everyone says, a photo really doesn't do justice to just how wonky this thing actually is

Of all I probably favoured Siena. It doesn't have the scale and grandeur of Florence but it has a really good, laid back feel. At Siena we decided to pamper ourselves and checked into Hotel Italia for the night. They gave us a free upgrade to a 'Superior' room so we could have a bath.  Ahhh bliss!  First bath since August, and if you're not also a bath-a-holic then you can't fully appreciate how good it felt.  We had a lovely meal at Osteria Del Gusto in the evening and the next day gorged ourselves at breakfast and explored Siena in daylight.

Siena's main square, Piazza Del Campo. A couple of times a year they run this insane sounding bareback horse race (Palio) around the square.  Anything goes before and during the race including doping rival horses, whipping rival jockeys, bribes, etc.

Siena's strikingly stripy cathedral

In between Pisa and Siena we stopped at a couple of Tuscan hill towns, Volterra and San Gimignano. Both were stunning and reminiscent of the Spanish white towns. They both retain a strong medieval feel and give a great sense of Italy's history.

Volterra is definitely what I expected from a Tuscan hill town

San Gimignano used to be an extremely affluent place with the major rival families competing with one another by building gigantic towers

After leaving Siena we hit the road for Rome. Feeling a bit lazy we had a stop over for the night in the middle of nowhere at Monteleone d'Orvieto. The next day we got up early (10-ish) and drive to "Happy Camping" just north of Rome. It was a big old campsite with just us and a French couple resident. The campsite runs a free shuttle bus service to and from a mainline train station into central Rome. We built a fairly good comradery with the French couple as we risked our lives being chauffeured by a fairly standard Italian driver.

We spent 3 full days exploring Rome. The first day we headed for the Vatican going to St Peters and then to the Vatican museum. The Vatican museum is probably the best collection I've ever seen in a single place. The diversity of ancient Egyptian and Roman right through every major art movement to contemporary works gave us major museum headache. The headlining Raphael rooms and Sistine chapel were worth the entry fee alone. Incredible to think how much favour the head of the catholic church commands, the value of the collection must be phenomenal. Pretty sure I wouldn't donate my statues to no pope.

The second Rome day we explored the Centro Storico (the old central area), following a fountain themed walking tour starting in the Jewish ghetto and culminating at the famous Trevi fountain.  Along the way we popped into the Pantheon and listened to a Rick Steves guided tour.  Lucy made the Rick Steves discovery.  He's a famous US travel writer and has a load of free walking tours to download from his website.  They're pretty good and ultra cheesy.

An old Roman theatre with some later medieval extension work on top

Packed at the Trevi fountain

The third day was probably the most exciting day for me since the Alton Towers trip back in April. We headed to the ancient Rome area starting at Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio on the Capitoline hill before heading into the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. We took in an official guided tour of the Forum which was well worth it and another cheesy Rick Steve's tour of the Colosseum. Staggering.

The Roman Forum as viewed from the Capitoline hill

Where've all the seats gone?

Continuing south we headed for Pompei, our base for the municipality of Naples. We stayed in a campsite right next to the Pompei stop on the Circumvesuviana train line giving us easy access to pretty much all the sights of the region. Being here brought back memories of a Geography field trip I went on when taking A levels. This time around there were less hangovers, fewer bollockings over the previous nights escapades, and I managed to avoid getting sunburnt feet.

The first day we went to the ancient remains of the Roman city of Pompeii.  I had really fond memories of the last time I'd come here and it didn't disappoint the second time around.  I still giggled at all the phallic symbology intended to ward off the evil eye.

Pompeii's Forum.  You should be able to see Vesuvius in the background but you can't. So there.

The second day we headed into Naples.  Absolutely incredible experience.  It's tempting to describe it as a shit hole and it's actually not far from it.  It's rough as, aggressive and moody, has rubbish strewn everywhere and appears to be falling to ruin.  But despite that initial facade there was little threatening about the place and when we got strolling amongst the Saturday crowds it became a fascinating day.  We had an authentic pizza and went to the archaeology museum which houses loads of the finds from Pompeii, Herculaneum and other ancient sites.  There's a special age-restricted "secret room" where I learned that the Romans were a dirty lot.

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The third day we caught the train to Sorrento.  We were pretty shattered after all the walking around and museums and whatnot so just had a gentle amble around not really doing a lot.  Stopped for a nice lunch on the beach.

The view toward Naples from the restaurant in which we had lunch in Sorrento

The fourth day we got the bus to Vesuvius.  This was made increasingly complicated by everybody we spoke to in Pompei insisting the buses have stopped for the season and the only way to get there is by taxi.  Not convinced we checked the EAVBus timetable and waited at the bus stop only to have a man come up to us and tell us yet again there are no buses to Vesuvius.  A couple of minutes later the bus arrived and we hopped on and went to Vesuvius.  We were lucky to not have much cloud cover so got some pretty impressive views.

Looking down onto Naples from the top of Vesuvius

Vesuvius' crater with steam and everything

The fifth day I went to Herculaneum whilst Lucy went to get her hair cut.  Herculaneum is a smaller but better preserved version of Pompeii.  It has more frescoes and antiquities in situ than Pompeii (most in both Pompeii and Herculaneum have been moved to museums).  Intriguingly because the buildings are taller and better preserved, because they are butt up next to modern Ercolano and because modern Ercolano looks like its falling apart, from a high vantage it isn't immediately apparent where Herculaneum ends and Ercolano starts.

Ancient Herculaneum, modern Ercolano and Vesuvius

Next we're back off to Rome where we're putting the van into storage for a month whilst we go backpacking across Morocco.  Exciting!

Ciao mes petit amigos.

Some notes:

• Never buy a second hand car from an Italian.
• Didn't see a single famous tax dodger in Monaco. Not even John Cleese.
• Discovered the “Da Vinci” in Leonardo Da Vinci simply means “Of Vinci”. As in it's just where he came from. Decided my new DJ name is Ralph Da Brum.
• Saw the best verbal fight ever in Monaco. A French lorry driver went completely mental at a German bloke for parking in the lorries only area. Never seen anything like it! We were a good 300m away but could hear everything, especially as they were shouting in English. My favourite line was "I thought you f-ing Germans knew better".

More photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101454232293966616010/albums/5861930037303886849?authkey=CO21mPXwmZmYCw