Terme di Rapolla

Nous avons pris l'autobus publique pour atteindre le sommet du vesus, le volcan n'a pas tellement a offrir, mais la vue sur la bay est vraiment belle. Ensuite, nous avons visités les ruines d'Herculaneom. Une autre ville disparue sous l'eruption du vesus il y a pres de 2000 ans. il y a encore beaucoup de travail d'archeologie en cours, mais on peut voir que la ville est meiux conserver, il y a meme des batiments de 2 et 3 etages et des pieces de bois qui ont traversé le temps !

I am so far behind with this blog. Partly, it's because we have traveled every single month during 2009. There's so much to tell & show that unless I write every week, I'm always several trips behind. The other problem is ...

... half of the ruins, but saw some really amzing stuff.
Pity we couldn't get into the large arena as it was blocked off and looked really impressive from what we could see from the outside.

... so far.
Naples is not a nice city, but it's a cool city. Venice, Florence, Verona are all nice, but once you've seen the sights, there isn't much else to them.

Walking around the Spaccanapoli district saw some really cool stalls and shops - some that looked like they had been there for ages and not changed much at all. Old school book stores with books piled high and seemingly without any order or system, a stretch on San Sebastiano that ...

... and nice to travel on a bike.

Surprise 2:
The roads in Italy are NOT at least better than in Greece and Turkey (why they are member in the European Union and don't provide proper roads!?). Meaning, that my back shock, which has started to leak damping oil since Turkey, is about to break this way the roads are bloody bumpy ...

Had a great time in Potenza, resting eating, enjoying some quality time with Pino's sister's family - Olympia, Angelo, Pasquale and Simona. I went site seeing with Olympia and then site shopping with Angelo when he got back from his work in the Batipaligia carbinieri (we went looking for a present for Betty's commune "festa" on Sunday). The next morning, a little weary of re-enacting my Salerno-Potenza journey I picked a fairly close destination and started pedaling again.

What a ride! 130Km of hills, hills and more hills. The Apennines were magnificent, the road though left much to be desired - biking wise. It was one of those roads you just have to shout out: "didn't these planners have non motorized vehicles in mind!". The road begins by climbing uphill from the sea line and then continues with a series of descents and ascents that can ...

29.7.06 The Sistine Chapel we didn't see. It was hot, humid and steamy in Rome but we had to make another trip into town to buy maps for the Asian countries we plan to enter. (The maps we have from Australia are not comprehensive enough and we should have spent more time getting better maps in our own country or Great Britain, so the information is all in English) We thought we'd make an early start to the Sistine Chapel with the first shuttle bus from the Camp Ground leaving ...

Rode upto Bari hoping to jump on a ferry to Dubrovnik (Croatia)...not to be. The ferry wasn´t leaving for another 3 days, so off we go up the Italian coast, thinking that we might be able to get a ferry from Pescara. Camped the night just south of Trani.

The next morning we left early and headed to Matera... As we were arriving in the city a man on a motorbike/vespa thing pulled up beside us and told us that for $10 he would show us where to park the car, and get the best pictures from, and also explain the Sassi di Matera to us.... The place is fascinating... people still live in the houses carved into the rock... worth visiting :)