Now we are in Brindisi at the foot of Italy, after being rudely awakened at 5 am. Brindisi is in the province of Apulia at the extreme southeast of Italy. Breakfasted on lemon tea and as many rolls as we could manage to eat, not knowing when we shall eat again today. Re-packing next. I think we are both sorry to leave the ship in a way. It has been extremely pleasant and has served to create an interest in cruising. But now, the road again, like a pair of tramps. On second thoughts, tramps do not do their tramping in a car! There was a little time to wait as the dock workers don’t start work until six o’clock. But afterwards, things progressed very smoothly. While waiting, I was talking to two of the Americans. It turned out that one of them had studied for some time at King’s College, Newcastle which I was happy to say I knew. The Americans we have met on the Ship have been extremely nice people and I will never again say I don’t like Americans.
At last we got away around seven o’clock but not before the Italian customs officer had touched us for 500 lire – for sevices rendered! Had we refused, I suppose he could have made things a little difficult.
Although it was early, Brindisi was well awake. The roads into town were full with hordes of farmers swarming into town for what looked like market day. The wheels of their carts are quite astonishing, being over six or seven feet in diameter and present rather a curious spectacle.
We drove northwards, along the old Appian Way which ended at Brindisi. The sky was dark and rainy from horizon to horizon. Occasionally the Adriatic, looking cold and inhospitable came into view, breaking up the flat, uninteresting countryside. Even the Romans did not venture this far south in any great numbers. No ancient temples or villas were to be seen. However, we did see something peculiar to this part of Italy. That was in the form of little round houses, made of shaped stones put together without mortar. They are known as “Trulli” houses.
The next large city was Bari, still on the coast. Modern and much nicer than Brindisi, it is the capital of Apulia. Yet we drove straight through, and I had:-nothing of interest to report.
Carrying on, the road hugged the coast as far as Barletta when it turned northwest. The countryside is much more thickly populated than I had thought. All along the way, we drove through many small towns. The overall appearance of these towns made a welcome change from the Greek equivalents. Not that they could be called clean by our standards, but bastions of hygiene when compared to the Greek towns.
This area is mainly agricultural. Rows and rows of vines strung up on poles filled the fields. Alas, it is the end of the grape season so there was nothing left for us to “scrump.”
Foggia next at the foot of the Appenini, the mountains which form the spine of Italy, much like the Pennines at home. It does not take much imagination to see where the word Pennines was derived from. The Appenini are not as bleak as the. Pennines and compared to the Greek mountains – are thickly vegetated.
The road became a 1 in 7 gradient. At the very top, at a height of three thousand feet was the village of Adriano. There, housewives were doing their laundry at a communal pump out in the open. Now what would the women at home say to that? The road began to descend just as steeply. We passed three lorries, broken down due to the effort of climbing the steep hills. At the next town we stopped to buy some provisions. Bread rolls, and white ones at that! Butter we had not had at all in Greece. We also bought some bananas. The resulting meal tasted delicious.
The rest of the journey westwards passed uneventfully until about twenty miles out of Naples. There, Vesuvius came into view. Its crater was wreathed in dark rain clouds, but it was nontheless a thrilling and imposing sight.
And so we came to Naples.
Squalor, ramshackle buildings which would have been pulled down long ago in England; aren’t any of these southern European cities clean? Even the best of them look as though there are no painters left in Italy! No doubt these are the “quaint” buildings so often written about by travel writers. But I want to be truthful and describe exactly – as best I am able to – what I saw. Now I am thinking, this truth must also apply to parts of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow. Be honest Peter; England also has its warts.
We had trouble pin-pointing our position on the map. But before long we were off in the right direction. The official camp site is on the other side of the city. We reached it without getting lost. Now we could see that the slum appearance covers about half of the city which soon gave way to a more attractive part of town. Luckily, this is where the camp site is – nice! To reach the site, one must take the road out of Naples which passes through two huge road tunnels – very impressive! Once again, the tent was errected.
We two adventurers set off to find a vantage point overlooking the famous Bay of Naples. But after stopping to buy much needed groceries – learning one or two words of Italian in the process, it was too dark to see anything but the lights. Even so, we think we managed to discern the lights of the islands of Ischia and Capri in the distance.
The intention was to go back to camp, cook a meal and then sally forth to see some of Naples’ night life. But we are both too tired.
Tomorrow we plan to visit Herculaneum, a Roman city that was engulfed by Vesuvius at the same time as the more famous city of Pompeii which is also on the itinery. We shall drive along the coast to Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, all famous resorts. Salerno, Sorrento, and with a bit of luck, Capri. Quite an ambitious day’s program. The day after we leave for Rome. Pompeii! The desire to see it has been with me since childhood. And so yet another ambition will have been fulfilled the fourth one on this odyessy.
Being so tired, we are turning in at eight o’clock. After all, we have been up since 4 am. I hate to admit it, but admit it I must. Although I am looking forward to what is left of the tour, I am also looking forward to getting home.
Goodnight.
Speedo reading: 16775. 282 mls. (3211)