August 2015 – Sorrento, Italy
The 
end of August saw Gerry take his first flight in over 18 months as we headed to Sorrento in Italy for a week’s holiday.
We stayed in Sorrento which was a very busy town with many, many tourists.
A visit to the cathedral is a must. The external appearance is quite austere and almost boring but inside it is magnificent. We did find that we could get away from the crowds by walking in the narrow back streets and descending to a small fishing village called Marina Grande which was just below our hotel and much more inviting for us than the artificial bathing areas with hundreds of parasols and deck chairs!
Our first visit to a historic site was to Herculaneum. Like Pompeii it was destroyed in AD 79 when Vesuvius erupted but unlike Pompeii, the deep volcanic ash which covered Herculaneum preserved wooden and other organic-based objects. It was very hard to accept that what we were seeing had been preserved by the ash. The buildings looked so natural as did various artefacts and mosaics (although we were to see a lot more and much better examples when we visited Naples’ archaeological museum later in our visit).
We then visited Pompeii.
Again it was hard to realise that hat we were seeing was from AD 79.
The streets had very deep kerbs and there were pedestrian crossings constructed so that pedestrians could cross the road without getting their feet covered in whatever was flowing down the road (there were no sewers or drains).
The exhibits in the museum were truly amazing. I was particularly taken with the mosaics of two faces that looked almost 21st century like.
We did not spend all our time studying history but enjoyed a wonderful day out exploring the Island of Capri. We took a boat trip around the Island and marvelled at the stunning coastline and houses perched on the tops of cliffs (well beyond our price range!!!!!) as well as the blue waters of grottos and caves. We then took a bus to the town of Anacapri and were again treated to stunning views and a beautiful church (now a museum) where the floor depicted the expulsion of Adam and eve from the Garden of Eden.
Another day was spent travelling around the very beautiful Amalfi coast. Once again we marvelled at the stunning views and the exceedingly narrow roads hugging cliff faces with groups of houses seemingly glued to the hillside.
The Cathedral at Amalfi was magnificent on the outside and truly stunning inside.
We were based in Sorrento for just one week and although the time went by very quickly we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and learned a lot about AD 79!
