Last days in Rome

I wasn't well yesterday but Malcolm took an early bus and visited the Colosseum and the Forum.

We are staying in the red house, the dungeon floor.  The apartment faces onto a shady courtyard on the other side though.  This is the bus stop.

This morning we walked around some of the other Roman ruins etc along the Appian Way.

17th century Basilica of St Sebastian, entrance to some other catacombs.

Just past here we came to the ruins of St Nicola Church and opposite...

The tomb of Cecilia Metella (50 BC)- these tombs were circular, this one was fortified in medieval times.

Inside the adjacent buildings were random bits of statuary found along the road.

Here we retraced our steps, past this medieval farmhouse tucked into the ruins of the  imperial residence of Maxentius...

...where there are the remains of a circus for chariot racing (250 metres x 92)...

...with views back to the Cecilia tomb...

...the remains of a villa and this tomb to Romulus, Maxentius's son.

Inside this tomb...

...and outside.  The Appian Way stretches much further but you would need to go by car to explore the rest of it.  This was enough for us and we were home before the heat of the day built up.  It has been 35 and 36 degrees - not good fro walking around in.

Roamin' in Rome again

We are staying about 15 mins by bus from the Colosseum beside the Appian Way Regional Park, by the Appian Way itself. Along this ancient road are many monuments, towers, churches, tombs and catacombs. This morning we looked at some of the things close to us, this is the 17th century chapel of St Maria on the site of a 9th century chapel.

This is a medieval tower on top of the tomb of Pricilla, wife of a wealthy Roman.  Her tomb is in the adjacent farmhouse cellars apparently, until recently used for storing cheese.

This is where our side road joins the Via Appia.  We had drinks in the bar yesterday afternoon.

The entrance gates of Rome, the Appian Way leads from here.

Next we took a tour of the Catacombs of St Callixtus. Unfortunately we couldn't take photos in the catacombs. Then we waited 20 mins in the 36 degree heat (no shade) for the bus to Rome. 

The entrance to the catacombs.

The wait for the bus...

... where we got off in Rome.

We went to the Palatine Hill entrance and got our ticket (it covers the Palatine, the Forum and the Colosseum) - there was no queue! Now we have the ticket we can visit the other two places tomorrow. It was super-hot looking around the Palatine and we were happy to get back to our apartment for cold showers. Of all days I forgot my hat today so suffered a bit :and I have a heat rash on my legs :-(  Think it's time for a wine.

The Palatine

Looking down at the Forum from Palatine Hill.

Vesuvius, Stabia etc

A couple of days ago we went up Mt Vesuvius.  We didn't do our homework here and found that part way up you have to pay for parking (5 euro) get the shuttle bus (2 Euro) to an office where you can pay 10 Euro to walk to the top (2 and 1/2 hours - not sure if that's return).  Anyway it was hot and none of us was wearing suitable shoes or planning on spending so long getting to the summit so we just stopped at that point and took some photos.

Faith and Quentin headed off to a winery for lunch and tastings,  while Elizabeth, Malcolm and I just found a restaurant on the slopes of Vesuvius overlooking the Bay of Naples.  We all spent the afternoon back at our accommodation resting.

That evening Malcolm and I wandered around San Lazzaro (where we were staying), this is one of the churches.  There were views from the cliff out to sea and along the coast in both directions.  Then we all met up for dinner in a family run restaurant in the village. 

Yesterday Faith and Quentin went to Naples while Elizabeth, Malcolm and I visited 2 Roman Villas at Stabia.  These villas were destroyed by ash during the eruption of Vesuvius but have been excavated.  They are quite hard to find (tiny signs point to narrow lanes) but well worth it.  They are free to visit and give a good idea what life was like for rich Romans in their seaside villas - on the edge of a plateau overlooking the Bay of Naples.

Some mosaic floors and some of the wall artwork has been taken to the museum in Naples but lots remain.  These pictures are just some of hundreds of photos we took!

The villas were on two levels and the coastline was much closer pre-eruption, they could walk down steps to the beach.

View from the villas towards Vesuvius.

Our final accommodation before the others fly back to London is in the countryside outside Rome.  We spent some time enjoying the pool area yesterday...

...before having another great Italian dinner.

Path of the Gods

Today we walked the Path of the Gods between Bomerano and Nocelle.  The others dropped us off before heading down to Amalfi.  We walked through this amazing scenery along cliff tops and through mountains.

When we were close to the cliffs we could see both ways along the coast and out toward Capri.

Nocelle is a hamlet high in the mountains.  From here we walked down steps for 40 mins to the road, then into Positano.

We booked a boat back to Amalfi and had time before the boat left to sit and have lunch and some wine and beer.

From the boat

Faith and Quentin had spent the day at the beach but by lucky chance we saw Elizabeth gettig off another boat so we grabbed a drink then took the bus back up into the mountains to our accommodation.  Faith and Quentin arrived back soon after and we all went out for dinner in the village where we are staying (San Lazzaro).