First of all, this photo was taken at a local walk a few weeks ago, called the botanical trail. It's full of lovely wild flowers in the spring and usually, lots of butterflies too. However this time we walked to the end of the path having seen only one white butterfly! That was really very odd. At least there were a few more on the way back and we finally saw one Orange Tip, a few Cleopatras, a blue of some sort and a Wall Brown. Even so we normally see far more than this. What made up for it at the end were several Owlflies flitting about together, always a lovely sight. No photos of anything with wings as everything was too flitty. Oh, heard first cuckoo too!
Back home and I spent a fortune in both a garden centre and the local nursery buying plants for my pots, to replace all the ones I lost to the sudden freeze. It took ages to pot them all up.
I have put a few plant pots out the front of the house but there are plenty here and I hope by the time we come back from our holiday they should have bushed out and be a riot of colour! I've gone for more pinks and purples this time to make a change, as I had a lot of yellow and orange before.
I now have three plant stands in black cast iron (or faux cast iron, probably) which I have picked up from brocantes (flea markets) in our village, and the most recent one I found in a brocante shop. The most expensive was 5 euros and the most recent only 3 euros! Bargain! You can see the other two in the previous photos - they just take one plant.
Our Pyracantha hedge is covered in flowers, but it never seems to have as many berries. Possibly because it doesn't get trimmed until the autumn as we are not supposed to cut hedges during bird nesting season, which is a very good thing. Of course not everyone takes notice but if just some of us take note then that is a help for birds. Anyway, it then is not so easy to prune back without losing some of the berries. The yellow labels are marking where the orchids are - right now there is a mass of Pyramidal Orchids coming into bloom.
This is my Meyer Lemon which lost all its leaves after minus 6.5C and I thought it had died at first. However, there were some branches that were still green, not brown, and I was over the moon when it started sprouting. Now it has really healthy leaves all over, even on the trunk, and even one flower bud! It has never looked so healthy before.
We bought a new Kaffir Lime - I wasn't going to but Keith spotted one in the garden centre and we decided to get one after all - but from now on I am bringing it inside to an unheated room in winter. There isn't much room as my huge lemon grass goes in there in the winter, but I'll make space for it somehow.
I’ve planted out three cherry toms, one courgette plus two chillies which I bought - yet I'm laughing as self seeded tomatoes are appearing in the new veg bed from our own compost! I thought I’d try to keep a couple, if they survive this holiday, as they are too small to tie to a stake yet. The poor toms are shivering as it’s been really windy and we are going through the usual mid May dip in temperature.
Well they will either live or die, I do have a housesitter who I hope will water regularly though!
I don’t have time to finish the Italian trip before we go away as we’re off to Croatia (and briefly, Slovenia and also Mostar in Bosnia) for 4 weeks on Sunday. I’ll sign off now and see you in about a month!
I mentioned the crush to get on the bus in the previous post, but I didn't tell you about the fun and games involved in driving a full sized bus up these narrow winding mountain roads. One of our buses was driven by a woman who liked to parp her horn going around every corner (probably a sensible thing to do) and there were times when we would meet a car coming towards us and there would be some interesting maneouvres to get past.
At the bus station in Amalfi the drivers really showed their incredible skill. They would back the buses into their parking slot amidst hundreds of people all rushing up trying to get near the doors to get on the bus, cars trying to drive past and just general tourists milling about.
On our first trip in to Amalfi, we had to get off the bus about a kilometre from the town as the bus couldn't get past something - we were not sure what that was about but it looked like some roadworks. As it happened this was great as we got to see the town from a different vista and take more photos!
I didn't bother taking my heavy camera and just took photos with my phone.
The jetty for the ferries up ahead. At times the queue was the length of the jetty. I would have loved to go to Positano by ferry, but it was in the other direction, past where we were staying. But we couldn't get there any other way (as far as I could figure) than to go all the way to Amalfi, then back again. Just too much hassle, sadly.
The famous Amalfi lemons! (Or are they the famous Sorrento lemons? They actually look more like their oval shape). They are huge, aren't they? Compare them to the basket of oranges!
The Duomo, or cathedral, of Amalfi, Sant'Andrea. Building began in the 9th and 10th centuries, but it has changed over the centuries using many different styles and now sports a Norman-Arab-Byzantine facade, after part of the previous facade collapsed in 1861.
Looking back down from the top of the steps at Piazza del Duomo.
Before entering the cathedral we walked through the Cloister of Paradise, built in 1266 in the Arab-Norman style. I must say I have never heard of this architectural style but apparently the Norman bit is actually Romanesque, so it's a fusion of Arab, Byzantine and Romanesque, which is known as Norman in Britain.
When we entered the church, it was quite a surprise. It is simply breathtaking! I read that it is C18th Baroque style but with elements of many other styles.
I think this might be the most ornate Italian church we have ever been inside.
Back outside and we indulged in a little window shopping.
Funny! 😁
I have to say, not for me. 😂😁😂 Though very much photo worthy!
Wandering back to the seafront there was a beautiful old ship which sailed off somewhere whilst we were there. 'My' boat is the one on the left, however. It's about the right size for me, I reckon. 😁
Looking back at the town which is so scenic with the mountains towering above it.
More wanderings back in the direction of the ferry jetty, we stopped to have a look at this little marina area. There was a private beach here (out of view) with plenty of people on it, although I wouldn't fancy swimming where so many boats were moored up.
Now this is another boat that caught my eye. It's not as big as my ideal 'gin palace' but it would do at a pinch. ;-)
We then wandered back to the bus stop area to get our bus home. It was all a bit confusing and we waited around for when a bus put the name of San Lazzaro on the front of the bus. However when our bus arrived, we couldn't get on as too many people were in front of us.
A few minutes later a bus pulled up across the road and lots of people rushed towards it. I got on and asked if it was going to San Lazzaro, but they told me 'Bomerano' which of course didn't make any sense. Amazingly the drivers all seemed to speak English so said this bus was going to an area not that far from San Lazzaro, so we decided to get on it rather than wait another hour for our proper bus.
When we got off at Bomerano, we realised that we would still have to wait another hour for the next San Lazzaro bus. Some Italian people phoned someone who came to pick them up. Then some young guys hitched a ride. Some time later a taxi was going past and some of the other people at the bus stop hailed it and got in. Left at the bus stop were just K and me, and another couple. Resigned to wait another 20 minutes, suddenly a taxi appeared so I rushed out and hailed it. We negotiated a price and offered to share with the other couple, who were going to San Lazzaro too. In fact it was only about a ten minute ride!
The owner of the camp site was out the front when we arrived, and being a very friendly soul, we told him about our fun and games. He said that the young guys were staying at the camp site too, and so were the other people who took the first taxi. And it turned out it was the same taxi who dropped them off, then came back in the hope of getting more customers, i.e. us!
So you see why after the bus shenanigans the following day, we had totally had enough and headed north towards Umbria and Tuscany!
After Pompeii we headed to the famous Amalfi coast, which is only about an hour from Pompeii and around a headland from Sorrento. However, it turns out that you can't drive a motorhome on the corniche road, which when you go there you realise why - it's much too narrow, windy and busy. Even cars are limited to every other day according to their reg. number. So there was nothing for it but to stay at a campsite up in the hills, and get a bus in to Amalfi.
We stayed in a village called San Lazzaro, which was high up in the hills overlooking the coast. The road was a dead end and ended up with these fantastic views up the coast, here looking in the direction of Amalfi and Salerno, which are out of view.
Looking straight down - the sea is not so far as the crow flies. We had dinner at a restaurant near here with a large terrace with these views (not that we could see, it was dark!).
The next day we visited Amalfi, but I will do that in the next post as I have many photos. The following day we visited Ravello, which this post is about.
It took an hour to get to Amalfi from San Lazzaro and after much winding about down the mountainside we came out onto the corniche road, which was very scenic. We then had to get another bus to Ravello, which was another half an hour ride up the mountainside again! The views from where we got off the bus were worth it though. Here we are looking towards Maiori, in the opposite direction from Amalfi.
Ravello is only a little place so it didn't take long to wander around. We had a pizza on a terrace overlooking the sea (yes, there are lots of restaurants like that around here!)
Above and below, the Duomo (cathedral) of Ravello and the old tower on the right is the Torre Maggiore, a part of the Villa Rufolo. It dates back to the 13th century.
Typical souvenir shops include a lot of lemon related paraphenalia - Amalfi lemons and the slightly different Sorrento lemons have been grown in this area for centuries.
After lunch we visited the Villa Rufolo which is next door to the cathedral. The villa was empty which was disappointing as the only thing of interest were beautiful patterned tiled floors (I should have taken a photo) but it was really about the outside and the views to die for.
Part of the villa and our shadows at the bottom! This is part of a Moorish cloister.
It would be nice to have a garden with a view like this!
We were lucky to have the perfect weather which really brought out the blue of the sea. It was far less humid on this side of the headland - I think the humidity around Naples is caused by the smog. Who knows.
And back out into the village - they sell some interesting things here! 😀
The day was spoiled somewhat by the crush for the bus from Amalfi back to San Lazzaro and missing the first bus as we were nowhere near the bus doors when it stopped, so no chance to get on. We waited an hour for the next one, which luckily pulled up right where we were standing. Again there was a huge crush to get on but this time we were determined so we elbowed our way on, and got seats!
It was great to stay here for a few days but we wouldn't have wanted to go through that experience again, having already had a hassle the day before getting back from Amalfi which I'll tell you about in the next post. Really there are just far too many people for the amount of buses. Probably the best thing to do is to visit later in the afternoon, have dinner out then get a later bus back. But you don't know until you know.
