Rome to Pompeii

Rome to Pompeii - 155 miles

We've noticed that our planned time away is getting short and there's still a lot we want to do and see so decided that we'd drive from Rome to Naples and Pompeii in one day, using the autostrada rather than having a break on the coast somewhere. So an earlyish start on Tuesday (15^th May) saw us heading round the manic Rome ring road until we picked up the A1 Florence/Rome/Naples road, pausing for fuel once we were clear of Rome. The overall toll was around €20 which wasn't expensive for the distance and time saved.

It had rained quite heavily during the night in Rome, so much so that a couple of pitches on the site were waterlogged, thankfully with nobody on them. Although our day started dry we endured several heavy downpours (well it gives the van a wash!) one of which was when we paused for lunch on a service area.

We had decided to go to Pompeii and had selected an ACSI site, purely on the grounds it boasted of being less than 100m from the entrance to the ruins; there were a couple of others which turned out to be almost next door, but we stuck with our choice. Our arrival coincided with a torrential downpour which left the roads well flooded and the traffic chaotic, yes more than normal! The site proved to be quite small but the young receptionist, Pascale, guided us to a pitch sufficiently large to park us together. It appears that during the day they use the empty pitches for visitor parking for the ruins and it seems to work out – as visitors leave motorhomes arrive and vice-versa.

A n hour or so chat over a cuppa before an early night. Subject to weather we'll “do” the Pompei ruins tomorrow then maybe visit Naples by train, it apparently only being 15 mins. We also considered Sorrento by train but that's over 45 mins; we'll think about it.

Rome

We left Jamie in the van with plenty of water, treats and ventilation (we chose a pitch with plenty of shade) and walked to the local station, stopping off to buy tickets at Reception, an easy enough walk but a bit convoluted due to the road system. Having worked out how to bypass the non-functional barrier we boarded an urban train to Flaminio which spilled us out at Piazza del Popolo. Really having no idea of the best way to do things we decided to use one of the open-top hop on/off buses that circulate around the city and bought tickets at a kiosk.

However the nearest joining point was a little way away so a stroll took us along some of the shopping streets and through piazzas. We found ourselves at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, which like all the attractions in Rome were absolutely packed. From there we threaded our way to the Trevi Fountain where we fought the crowds to get a photo before finally taking seats on a bus.

From then on it was a whirlwind of sights and information from the commentary, as well as trying to take photos from the bus. We got off at the Colosseum but there was no point in even trying to get in so we rejoined the tour as far as the Vatican stop. Being late lunchtime we ducked into a cafe for sustenance before realising that time had flown by and we should be getting back to base for the dog. So a quick change of plans; we would head back to Flaminio and return to the campsite, have a lazy couple of days thus avoiding the weekend rush, then return on Monday to “finish off”. The train fare was only €1.50 but as the barrier did not work at Due Ponti, the campsite station, we ended up with spare tickets we could use then.

Jamie was fine and we relaxed with a cuppa and feet up for an hour then the weekend passed as planned. With fine weather some domestic chores got done, although it was changing and Sunday night saw heavy rain showers which fortunately dried up by morning.

Then a repeat of Friday although we didn't use the tour bus and also went separate ways as we wanted to do different things. Leaving our return until Monday proved to be a good move as the crowds were much thinner and it was much cooler, the rain holding off until the evening. Our objective was the Vatican but wherever you roam in Rome there is always lots to see. To be honest we were somewhat disappointed with Vatican City; apart from it being crowded we were constantly pestered by “guides” touting no-queue tours which were clearly impossible – we had already decided that a three hour wait to see the Sistine Chapel was not on the cards. We enjoyed our wander around thereafter much more, just finding the real Rome. Lunch close by the Pantheon then a slow wander back to base, managing to get off the wrong train before it pulled out of the station!

Rome, like Florence, needs a dedicated trip with pre-planned visits to see inside the various monuments; trying to do it independantly whatever anyone says is not feasible unless you've got oodles of time to spare. We will look into attempting this at some time but for now can say we really liked the city and will certainly return again.

As for photographs, we took dozens and apart from the obvious we've got little idea of what is what. So there follows a gallery of some of the better examples – on a technical point please note that many have had to be cropped and adjusted to avoid pictures of thousands of people so don't expect a professional finish!

Enjoy!

FRIDAY

Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo

Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps)

Trevi Fountain

Il Papa

Monumento a Vittoria Emanuele ll

Roman Forum

Guess!

Correct

Arco Costantino at Colosseum

MONDAY

Ponte Vittoria Emanuele

Piazza San Pietro

The Pantheon

Piazza Navona

Fonta Piazza Navona

Found hidden in a back alley

And finally, how not to modify an ancient building!

Bracciano Aeronautical Museum - Vigni di Valle

From early aviation history in Italy there has been a seaplane base on Lake Bracciano where several quite famous seaplanes and their pilots prepared for air races, such as the Schneider Cup. Indeed the last Italian entrant is now a part of the exhibition.

It is a government sponsored, free and very well appointed museum on the southern edge of the Lake, and is still actually a military base though no current aircraft are based there. There are a few outside displays but generally all the exhibits are in two of the original large hangars which have been modified to show the displays to the best advantage. Obviously most are of Italian manufacture but there are a small number of iconic aircraft, such as Spitfire and C47, some of which served in the Italian Air Force.

Although we both have an interest in aviation by no means are we enthusiasts so the names mean very little to us and we have not labelled any of the pictures. Here therefore are a selection of some of the exhibits. If you require any further information there is an excellent website.

The museum is about 20 mins drive from the north Rome ring road and is well signposted as you approach Vigni di Valle. There is the usual souvenir shop and a small cafe. It is worth a couple of hours if you are passing and for the enthusiasts it would be easy to take a whole day.

Marina di Castagneto to Vigni di Valle then Rome

Camping Etruria turned out to be a very nice place to be sat doing nothing for a few days. Well shaded but plenty of space to take in the sunshine when we wanted as the pitches were all just clearings in the trees; no regimented rows of white boxes. Perhaps 10% of the pitches were occupied and pretty well spread out although there was a little bit of bunching around the more popular areas. The facilities were excellent, but despite there being fire hydrants everywhere there were no taps away from the toilet blocks so servicing the van was a bit of a chore, toting gallons of water around. But it provided some exercise and we weren't complaining.

A large area near the reception building had a variety of shops including a mini-market, cafe and restaurant where we had a nice pizza, bar and even a well-being centre, although we're not really sure what that was about! The beach, with a cafe/bar was only a hundred yards away with clean coarse gritty sand – the site had it's own “beach” which was just a roped off area containing parasols and deck chairs as part of the public beach. Although there were signs prohibiting dogs, nobody was taking any notice so Jamie had a few race-about sessions until he was sort of attacked by another dog and then wasn't quite so keen. We do wish people would keep unpredictable dogs on leashes, but no harm done.

The weather took on a bit of a pattern for most of the days we stayed – dullish cloudy start, improving to bright sunshine but on the first few days this later turned to thunderstorms with torrential rain. With no wind we were happy to leave the awning out to give us some protection whilst we watched the waterfall off the end! On our last 2 days the rain held off although thunder could still be heard rumbling around inland.

A drop of rain!

So apart from the usual chores, we did practically nothing, which is the idea of course of a holiday! We learned that our friends were returning early from Sardinia so started making plans to meet up with them, deciding on Vigni di Valle just north of Rome where there was an aeronautical museum with exhibits Derek particularly wanted to see. So on Wednesday (9 May) we set off south using a reasonable dual carriageway road with a short section of toll autostrada before turning off. TomTom led us to a reasonable campsite, not as good as we have been using so far, but perfectly adequate for our purposes and our friends joined us shortly afterward. It was great meeting up and chatting together again.

Castegneto/Vigni di Valle/Rome - 180 miles

So Thursday saw us up early to go visit the aeronautical museum, getting a police escort when we got slightly lost in the narrow lanes! There'll be a separate page with some nice photos and information.

From here our plan was to travel a short distance to an ACSI campsite with good travel connections close to Rome for a visit. Once again TomTom did the honours and once again giving us an unexpected ride through the Italian hinterland “taking a short cut”. But it was no problem and we arrived at Camping Village Flaminio, a very nice site, if a bit scattered but with excellent facilities (by far the poshest showers we've ever come across!) and a train station across the road directly into the centre of Rome. It was, however, quite busy and the first pitch offerings were unsuitable for two largish vans; we spotted two somewhat better and reception were quite happy to change.

Lunch and a discussion of plans and a decision to try the restaurant this evening. Our friends have been here before so know the score.

Florence to Marina di Castagneto

Florence to Marina di Castagneto - 85 miles

A frustrating day!

It started off okay with fine weather and a plan to head for the coast for a few days, find a nice beach for Jamie and just chill out. We planned a route away from the motorways, following an idea from our Rough Guide for a scenic drive through the Tuscany hills via the hilltop town of Volterra. We also needed some shopping and we hoped to find a decent supermarket along the way.

Despite what people say not all the Italian roads are poor, we found that our route generally was fine although we did encounter a few rough patches. We enjoyed a pleasant run through the hills, often encountering sections of hairpin bends but at the same time giving us nice views although it tended to be a bit hazy and photos weren't working out too well. At Volterra we found a somewhat mediocre hilltop town but with a decent supermarket so we parked up and shopped.

Our target area was the coast between Cecina and Grosseto and there were any number of nice looking ACSI campsites; we eventually chose a small site at Bibbona. However a quick inspection showed it was really too small for motorhomes, the parking area being very flat and open and a long way to the beach. Not to worry, there was a selection at Marina di Castagneto so we found and booked into Belmare Camping, which turned out to be huge, absolutely deserted and with no electric hookups to be found. Neither of us were happy so we booked out again to try Camping Continental next door, but despite driving round and round we couldn't find the entrance! By now it was well past lunchtime and Jamie was starting to make unsettled noises.

Finally we programmed the last into TomTom, Camping Etruria, and set off. Despite it being close by we were directed quite a long way round the village but did indeed finally find a place which looked much more like what we wanted. The idea is you wander around, pick a pitch you like then book in. Now it was not very busy, about 35 units on a 250+ place site and which were quite well spread out but Terry somehow managed to select one of only three pitches that had a reservation! By now not being in quite the best of moods another pitch was selected and we booked in.

But our frustrations didn't end there, oh no! Directed by the receptionist to the “best route for a camping car” we got hopelessly lost on this rambling site and almost stuck amongst rows of chalets and trees sticking out everywhere. Of course we eventually found our pitch but due to the directions approached it from the wrong direction and couldn't get onto it! However some shuffling around got us properly placed and we settled down to a very late lunch. We did notice later a nasty scratch right down the side of the van, including a window, but fortunately it polished out.

And the baguette was stale!

The story doesn't end there either. Once we'd got set up, the skies started to darken and before long we were in the middle of a full blown thunderstorm with torrential rain – luckily there was no wind so we extended the awning to give us some protection. It hardly stopped raining for the rest of the day.

May The Fourth go with you! Huh!

We stayed at:

Camping Etruria, Marina di Castagneto. In a pine forest with good shady spacious pitches right next to a sandy beach. Mini-market, fruiterer, butcher, bazaar, cafes, bars, restaurant and take-away. 

ACSI €17.00 inc. 6 amp electric. Limited mobile phone signal.

Montecatini to Florence

No we haven't dropped off the map, it's just that we'd planned to have a few days just chillin' and there was nothing of any significance to tell you about. What we do want to say, though, is how nice this campsite is, probably one of the best we've ever stayed on. For no particular reason either, it just has that gentle relaxed ambience that, despite getting busier over the 5 nights we spent, never felt that way.

We did some washing, bought bread daily from the small shop, walked the dog a lot and enjoyed the views over the Tuscan countryside. We never strayed off the site, the local village being quite tiny and Montecatini Terme, in the valley below, a bit of a faff to get to despite there apparently being a (€7) funicular and with nothing that attracted us. We met a few Brits, one couple parking next to us with two dogs who Jamie wanted to play with all the time, and spoke to several others.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated over the five days with some quite heavy rain showers although it stayed reasonably warm. We stayed a day longer than intended simply because it wasn't worth getting wet and anyway we fancied trying the popular site restaurant – a little pricey and the portions weren't large but it was very nice and the half bottle of Tuscan red went down quite well.......

But move on we must and with the forecast looking a little better we decided Thursday to move on to Florence. Once again we planned to leave early, get parked up and go explore, it being less than an hour to get there. That's if, of course, the navigation aids were working but would you believe both TomTom and Nellie decided to play silly whatsits and got us quite thoroughly lost up narrow roads. In the end we just trusted to instinct and got ourselves back on track whereupon both “aids” sorted themselves out, providing us with a mix of ordinary roads and autostrade to enjoy.

We had picked out the closest sosta to the city, on the south west corner at Parcheggio Gelsomino, Camper-contact telling us it was a 2km walk to Ponte Vecchio or you could catch a bus from right outside the site. We found the place okay, a little pricey but in view of the location understandable, and once we'd persuaded the barrier to open for us found plenty of room and parked up. It still being late morning we decided to leave Jamie in the well ventilated van, packed waterproofs and snacks and also took TomTom, set to walking mode. It was actually an easy 30 min walk down to the town walls and thence to Ponte Vecchio, the “old bridge”, which we had decided to use as our starting point.

Ponte Vecchio - difficult picture

Rio Arno from Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

Then it started to rain! Ah well, waterproofs on and don't worry about it. But boy was it crowded. We'd thought that mid-week away from the public holiday would be better but obviously so did three million other tourists and we spent a lot of time dodging “crocodiles” and small groups of guided tours, just to take photos. When the rain finally decided to desist we bought “sandwiches” and a gorgeous cake which provided us with a light lunch.

Palazzo Vecchio

Uffizi

Piazza dela Republica (the old centre)

Baptistry

Duomo - east face

Duomo - south face. Piazza del Duomo

Bell Tower - Duomo

But what of Florence itself? To be perfectly honest we were not all that impressed, finding it somewhat scruffy despite some excellent architecture. It seems that, as in Pisa and Lucca, the main attractions are properly looked after but everything else has to take it's chance. We wandered around the many streets of shops, cafes and tourist traps but decided you really need to go in to those places – and the queues were horrendous, not to mention the entrance fees! We concluded that Florence was a city of museums and art galleries and you needed a few days to see them, which unfortunately wasn't in our plans for this time. Maybe we'll come back with a better idea of how/what to do.

So early afternoon we walked slowly back to the van (we'd have used the bus but had no idea of where to catch the right one) to a slightly deliriously happy Jamie and a welcome cuppa, snooze and late tea. We'd already decided that despite the cost, we would stay the night here and move on tomorrow.

We stayed at:

Parcheggio Gelsomino, via de Gelsomino. Water and waste disposal €15/24 hrs (possible to pay hourly for a short stay). Note: machine only takes notes/coins. Secure, some road noise but closest m/h parking to the city centre. Bus stop outside gate.