Spartacus and the Quest for the Blue Grotto

Another post for you avid readers! We are now in Pompei and have been for the last week, after catching a train straight here from Rome. We have ahad a cool week basing ourselves in the Spartacus campground beneath brimming orange trees right opposite the Pompei excavations!

We left Rome having finally made it into the collosseum after several attempts (there were very large ques and restricted opening times!). We had an interesting trip down on the train, nearly being charged 50 euro cos we hadn't stamped our ticket (which we were never even told we had to stamp!) The horrible ticket man made Chris get off at a stop, run madly the length of the train to the stamp machine and then jump back on just as the train departed! But Chris jumped in a different door which i didn't see and the ticket man told me the train had left without him! He was a horrible horrible man.

Pompei

The next morning we got up and splashed out on audio guides for Pompei, and spent about 8 hours wandering through the ruins. We really enjoyed it and the audio guides which we would normally cringe a bit at made it even cooler. There were not many people there (it was cold and grey) so we could explore the ruins on our own.

Mt Vesuvius

The next day was the day to conquer Visuvius. We headed panierless up the hill on our bikes, past barking dogs and endless piles of smelly rubbish lining the streets till we had panted our way about half way up the mountain. Then we reached a locked gate. The national park was 'shut'! Furiously we stormed back downhill and it turned out we had to go up a completly different way to get up. So we cuaght the train round to Ercolano, up another busy smelly road, and finally out of sprawling Naples into the National Park. The road had large barb wire fences on either side, bcause the national park is 'off limits' except for many roaming stray dogs and rubbish. We were rather annoyed and when we reached the top carpark were faced with a steep fee to wlak up a narrow track which went along the crator but not to the summit. We did get great views across Naples and Pompei, but vesuvius was an eye opening experience into Italys management of its National Parks.

Kayaking!

The following days mission was to somehow go sea kayaking. Tricky, when almost everything is closed for winter, but we attempted it anyway. We caught the train to Sorrento which is a very pretty city on the coast towards Capri. There we hunted around in vain until we spotted some kayaks on the beach. After asking about 6 different people we assitained they belonged to some sort of club. There was a model boat contest on, and the president amongst them was apparently the one to ask. However, an officila looking guy kept sending us away, so when he disapeared for a coffee we snuck in and Chris went round saying 'President? President?' till up popped the very friendly President who lent us a double sea kayak for the whole day for free!

We kayaked along the coast which almost entirely vertical sea cliff with little houses perched everywhere. It was great fun, we explored some caves and blowholes. After catching the train back to the campground we went out to dinner with 4 friendly Australians who were staying in the campground too.

Blob Day

The next day was rainy so we blobbed.

Capri and the Blue Grotto!

Well, this really was the exciting bit, and what you've all been waiting for. We headed back to Sorrento on the train (it was a nice sunny day, not super hot, but not too cold either). Once in Sorrento we caught the ferry out to Capri. The Island is very cool with steep sided cliff, and all those coloured mediteranian houses all on the cliffs. The 'Blue Grotto' is a sea cave on one side of the island with a one metre wide entrance and inside is a big blue pool. You can only get in by swimming in the sea. Of course Chris wanted to go there (suprise surprise). Normally they go in there in these little boats, but the sea was apparently too rough so noone could go there.

We met two friendly germans, Tim and Albert, who were also drawn to the allure of the evasive blue grotto. However, after some consideration we all settled on a boat trip round another part of the Island. The sea was pretty rough, and it was quite exciting going underneath the big arch.

After the boat ride Chris and I dived into the inky blue sea at the Marina Piccolo to the amazement of some of the locals, but at 20 degrees the water seemed pretty warm to us!

After lunch we parted with the germans who had given up on the blue grotto. But Chris had not! We bused up to Anacapri town, then walked through a maze of streets past barking dogs till eventually we found a hidden little path which led downwards.....

There were some fishermen fishing, but not another sole in sight when we got to the Grotto. The sky was grey, it was cold, there was a sign saying it was forbidden to swim in the grotto, but nevertheless we had to do it. (We had seen photographic evidence of people swimming in the grotto in books and postcards all round the town, and our boat driver assured us everyone does it!). So, ignoring all the deterrents we jumped into the sea and swam into the grotto (about 5ms swimming just in case I was making this sound too difficult). The grotto was an awesome blue, and you could sea hundreds of metres down below your feet. Just as we swam out a big cruise boat turned up and the people on board thought it was hilarious, waving and clapping.

Unfortunatly our fantastic movie of the grotto is too big to put on here and the photos are not so exciting (no delicious blue colour shows)...

So this picture here shows what it did to look like:

So, victorious, we wandered up to the highest point of the Island for a beautiful view as it got dark and all the lights went on. Our German friends were most jealous when they saw our video and I think the pull of not swimming in the blue grotto may well lure them back to Capri (0:

When we got back to the orange grove we were fed dinner in the caravan of two very friendly older Italien men who hardly spoke any english, but insisted on filling us with a good italian pasta and coffee to follow.

Now we are in Pompei again, and its raining, yucky. But tommorrow we plan to finally leave our orange grove and cycle round the famous Amalfie coast to Paestum. Then onwards South to the warm Isles of Sicliy. Back to eating more oranges!