Chad Is Everywhere

If there was ever something that stuck in my head from our Amalfi tour guide Giovanni it was the pronunciation of Italian cities we were visiting. You see you couldn't just say we were visiting Positano. In Italian it was Pos-it-an-o. The town of Praiano was Prai-arn-o, and the Island of Capri was no exception. Over and over there was Giovanni making it sound so much more exotic. "Today we go to Car-pre". It did sound a bucket load better when he said it. Alas Ford thanks to their vehicle of the 1990s has so much to answer for having butchered how the town is pronounced by the English speaking world. Perhaps any future Italian friends and visitors will forever roll their eyes when I put on what seemed an over the top exaggeration of speaking Italian. Anyway the day over to Capri could not have been any nicer. Especially considering as the day before had ended in an afternoon storm. From Amalfi it might have been just over an hour of ferry cruising via Positano to arri...

The Floor was Lava in Pompeii The afternoon of the 2nd day of the Intrepid Tour was focused on a walking tour of Pompeii . Although entrance to the site was included a guide was extra. Fortunately our own tour guide was more then encouraging and helpful to arrange. And the whole tour was in on splitting the cost of €120 for 2 hours. Still leaving us a bit of time to do our own exploration. Money well spent. Would not have had a clue without. And well Pompeii isn’t just a 3 Street site. It’s a whole suburb. Well by suburb I mean it was a suburb of the main city centre as we would compare. Pompeii was a major trading centre with the homes of the elite business owners. It's main street serviced the many who flocked to the city for trade as a major shipping route. A major shipping port is probably a closer description. One with chariots buzzing through. So best to keep off the streets. If only the locals knew the giant volcano in the background was to be the huge issue. ...

GoPro Walking around Mt Vesuvius  I created a GoPro video of the hike around the edge of Mt Vesuvius . And as a little highlight I included the bit where I had a little slide as we walked down. Walking on volcanic screed isn't easy. And well I'm not featherweight so my ability to move dirt is much better than most. Might I also mention there was a reason why I didn't put the camera in my hands as we walked around the rim. That path was not that wide. One slide and you were either down the mountain or inside the rim after a big big fall. Most of the group did make it into the rim at a platform and played with the echo.

Day 2 of the Intrepid Tour had our group of 10 leaving the city of Naples to start the real adventure. This was the morning when the the tour would earn it's "Walk" stripes for the title of the tour. And gees didn't we earn it. If you visit Vesuvius with just the standard visitor's package you walk up the mountain from the carpark with all the switchbacks then enter the crater proper to walk around about half the rim. It's all pretty impressive. However if you're really wanting to experience the rim and install a level of fear into oneself by walking on the edge of a volcano you need to get yourself on a tour like we had with one of the extreme mountain guides. This place would be heavily restricted back home I'm sure. Walking around the rim of an active volcano like this is not easy. The ground we walked on had not been nicely compacted. you're walking on rocks with a dubious hold onto the side of the mountain. Mostly it was a rocky volcanic s...

After a quick trip to London it was time to get into the first of 2 major destinations of my trip this year, the Amalfi Coast. So I flew into Naples to start an Intrepid Travel tour of the Amalfi Coast. A hike, boat, and kayak tour. The starting accommodation was very central if not a bit obscure to find. Alas the hardest thing was getting my bearings when I got off the airport bus at the port. Perhaps in retrospect I should have gotten off at the first stop as it was an uphill slog with my backpack. The trade off was though that I did see the Castel straight away on arrival. Napoli itself is nice. The old town with it's narrow streets has the atmosphere I expect of a historical centre. It was though Sunday, and as a result hardly anyone around. Even with the favourable exploring conditions I didn't really achieve much. I played it safe sticking to the main street. It wasn't until the next day when we were leaving Naples in our tour transport I even realised there was ...