AMALFI COAST, SORRENTO

It was another very early breakfast in bed day as we had to be up! 

We were docking in Naples and were booked on a tour to Positano, Sorrento and Pompeii.

It began with an awesome bus ride!

I have total respect for the bus drivers who drive along the stunning Amalfi Coast.

Somehow a road has been carved into the cliff (that, in itself, is mind boggling) and depending whether we were on the way there or on the way back, we all had arm ache clicking our cameras to get shots of the villas and hotels perched on the cliffs and of the Med, twinkling 500 feet below us.

 Our first stop was Positano on the most spectacular stretch of the coast.

The Galli Islands,that used to belong to dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

Positano, The Virgin Mary.

After a short stay in Positano we reboarded the bus and made our way to Sorrento.

  Brozie and Wills had visited Sorrento the week before we were there and had told us how picturesque Sorrento harbour was but we were pressed for time as we had had strict instructions not to get back on the bus until we had had a margherita pizza. Husb was not complaining. Strange, that.

Having had ALL the details ALL the way there, of how to make the perfect pizza including how NOT to slice a tomato but to merely squeeze it, and how NOT to use anything other than the finest mozzerella cheese (and none of this ham and pineapple malarkey and DEFINITELY NO SEAFOOD shock horror) it seemed rude not to visit his highly recommended best friend's pizza place (pizza was invented in Naples after all) so basically we didn't have long to look round.

We went inside this church...

...but didn't have time to visit the Picasso exhibition.

The cheeses were immense.

As were the lemons.

A particular kind of lemon MUST be used to call the lemon liquer LIMONCELLO 

and the recipe uses only the rind of the lemon not the juice.

There was Limoncello everywhere! Every shop! 

Naturally we bought a couple of bottles home.

I vaguely remember buying a selection of liquorice but that DIDN'T make it home. :)

We really liked Sorrento.

Next stop - POMPEII!

OLYMPIA, GREECE.

OLYMPIA!!! 

This is where the Olympic Torch is LIT!

This was a greatly anticipated day because we were booked onto a trip (with Cruise Excursions) to Olympia, a sanctuary of ancient Greece, known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times. Like today, the Games were held every 4 years,the very first Olympic Games being held in honour of Zeus.

A combination of earthquakes, floods and vandalism caused so much damage that only ruins remain, however we could see just how impressive this site would have been in ancient times. Plus, we bought the book!

The Gymnasium was the first place we saw. 

There would have been changing rooms and areas to train for wrestling and boxing. 

Athletes have been exfoliating for years- here athletes rubbed  oil the body (eleothession) and then sand and dust to smooth the skin (conisterion)

The Prytaneion had the banqueting room for the victorious athletes...

and would have looked like this...

The Temple of Hera is the oldest temple of the Sanctuary and a good example of Doric architecture, columns are wider at the bottom than the top. 

All six columns (short side) by sixteen columns (long side)  were different in design and decoration.

This is how it looked...

We then walked through to the stadium itself where the main events took place.

There was room for about 40,000 spectators on the grassy slopes surrounding the track.

Legend has it that Hercules place heel to toe 600  times to measure out the track...200 yards.

The starting line and finishing line were marked out with marble slabs and there was enough room for 20 runners.

Competition was poor the day we went.

As you can see...

I WON :)

And if there was any doubt, this was the photo finish.

The chappie in shorts had conceded victory!

Evidence of an earthquake,sending the pillars tumbling down.

This was me standing in a top VIP  hotel.

The colours were stunning, all the different greens against an intense blue sky.

Whoever said "Blue and green should never be seen"?

It may only be a pile of stones and ruins now but the Olympic Torch is lit here to this day.

The guide left us to mozy round the village of Olympia so we bought a couple of teeshirts and a couple of mugs (mugs? Surely not?) and a book of the "Then" and the "Now".

Nike looking victorious.

Katakolon, where the QE was waiting for us, was just a main street with the usual tourist ware, but I managed to get a red Mulberry purse which went down well at dinner time.

The Mulberry purse!

The following day was a sea day, travelling to Naples. We passed through the Messina Straits between Italy and Scicily ...

...famous for its many different currents.

and dinner was hilarious as usual with  Alex, Andy, Georgina and Annette,

Nigel and Sheila,

Stewart and Mary.