Pinch Me Moments - Travel Linkup

I have been quite privileged to travel as much as I have and to continue to experience moments that take my breath away. 

The beginning of my travels started in a conference room in a hotel somewhere near Sydney Airport where I was told I had just been picked to join an airline in the sand pit. I was so shocked that I hugged the a girl who i'd only met 5 hours earlier just because I needed an outlet for my emotions.

That job led me to several travel a pinch me moments including my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in Paris which seemed to cure me of how sick I had been that day. It also led to my first layover in London which was 2 full days of pinch me moments not to mention the truly amazing moment where I was able to pet a lion cub in Johannesburg.

More recently...One day I received a visa in my passport granting me 2 years to live and work in London. Up until the moment I saw that visa I didn't think it would happen. I was stunned, speechless, my eyes hardly able to believe it - it was the quiet before the storm - soon I was running around the house, bouncing off the walls with a smile so big my face hurt. A life in London, the whole reality of it exploded inside me but I still needed someone to pinch me because it was a dream come true.

Living in London still takes my breath away, from glimpsing the dome of St Pauls Cathedral to spotting old London in the every day like the traditional gas lamps. And two years there allowed for some great adventures and pinch me moments.

Outside of London my trip to Japan in April 2012 was full of amazing moments. There were the bright lights of Shinjuku, the cherry blossoms in bloom, real life Maiko and Geisha in Gion, Kyoto (let me tell you they are rare and when one exited private ochaya (teahouse) right in front of me I was like a deer in headlights) and the A-Dome in Hiroshima.

Also, there was seeing the Coliseum in Rome bloom out of nowhere as the bus from the airport took me to the centre of town. Cruising down the Grand Canal in Venice at night. Seeing the mesmerising Northern Lights in Iceland, though admittedly if someone had pinched me then I wouldn't have felt it i was so numb with cold, hehe. Arriving in the heart of New York City and pretty much my whole time there was unbelievable I just could not get past how surreal the whole thing felt.

Looking back on all my travels and experiences, it strikes me that I have been living an amazing dream. Being able to travel and see the world was a big dream for me and up until I was 23, I never thought it would be possible. Its truly amazing where life takes you.

As always thanks to the lovely girls Emma and Kelly and Rebecca for this travel link up. Anyone is welcome to join in the linkup, visit the hosts pages for more details.

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Day trip from Naples to Sorrento

I fell in love with Sorrento within 5 minutes of arriving there. I went there as a day trip from Naples but i could have easily stayed. It was exactly what I needed after the cool weather of Venice, falling ill in Florence and trying to stuff all of Tuscany in to a day. Sorrento was warm, sunny and relaxing.

To get to Sorrento from Naples I took the local Circumvesuviana (about 8 Euro for a return ticket) from NAPOLI P.Nolanan station. The train ride wound its way around Vesuvius, across valleys, through various small towns including Ercolano and Pompeii which I'd be visiting the next day and about an hour later pulled in to Sorrento. You can take this train from Napoli Garibaldi station which is the main train station in Naples and is only around the block from Napoli P.Nolana but you might not get a seat (timetable link).

Sorrento is a lovely town perched on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and Mount Vesuvius in the distance. It’s not beach side town although you can go swimming or sun bake on the platforms in the bay. Its beauty is in the stunning vistas, the cobbled streets of the old town which are filled with little cafes and restaurants, shops selling everything from typical souvenirs to local produce to made-to-order leather flip-flops and inlaid wooden boxes. It was charming, inviting and very relaxing, it definitely slowed the pace of my trip a bit which was a refreshing change.


 

Dinner that night was at the Foreigners Club which I initially had misgivings about. It looked touristy, empty and promised stunning views which usually spells rip-off. But it was worth the risk, the views were indeed stunning! While having my yummy dinner, I had 180 degree views to watch the sunset trail purple and pink across the sky, I even saw the storm clouds over Naples and thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t there. The food was fresh (I love that they mark the menu where they use frozen food), generous and filling.

It was the perfect way to end my day trip to Sorrento before hopping back on the last train to Naples and it let carry me back through the night.
 

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Top 4 tips for visting Herculineum (Ercolano) and Pompeii

Herculaneum, also know as Ercolano, is an archaeological site of a town that was ruined in 79AD following the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. Pompeii was ruined in the same eruption. Although smaller, Heculaneum better preserved than Pompeii is.

The overwhelming feeling of walking around both sites is awe...its so hard to believe that this was once the homes of people who worked, lived, loved and laughed. They had their own lives, their own stories, beliefs, dramas and woes. All that was obliterated. All that's left is the skeleton of their houses, the streets they walked. If you ever thought you had forever, this will change that.

Ercolano was amazing. Being able to walk into someones home, step on their mosaic floors and see the same fresco walls they would have seen everyday is staggering. The other difficult thing to take is that this town (like Pompeii) was by the sea. The eruption moved the coastline away from it, you can still glimpse it off in the distance from the site, between the buildings that now occupy space. The sheer scale Pompeii is impressive, after all, it was a city. Its boasts two theatres, a gladiator coliseum which is well preserved and a gymnasium where they found ancient graffiti in the change rooms. The most amusing feature is the raised stones used to cross the road when it was flooded every day to clean it.

The eerie side of the coin is that in both Pompeii and Ercolano, you can see some of the "statues" taken of people who had died and been petrified in a recognisable state.


My top 4 tips for visiting Ercolano and Pompeii are:

1. Visit Ercolano first then go to Pompeii. Seeing Ercolano will allow you to imagine Pompeii better
2. Give yourself plenty of time for each. I spent a good few hours at both though i could have easily spent more. If you are squeezed for time, you can do both in a day, but be smart and choose what you really want to see.
3. Take the local train - its cheap, easy to follow and gives you a feel for typical travel in the region
4. Get an audio guide - if there are two of you, take a set of earphones that way you can share and save a little.

Till you get there yourself, here are some photos. Enjoy!


Ercolano

The streets of Ercolano

Ercolano colonnaded street

Ercolano - two level home

An Ercolano lunch restaurant with fresco

View of the site of Ercolano - how weird would it be to live in the newer houses that overlook this site?

The homes of Ercolano

Two story Ercolano school for freed slaves.

Fresco walls of an Ercolano home

A courtyard and mosaic floor of an Ercolano home

Fresco walls of an Ercolano home

Stunning bathroom mosaic

Beautiful mosaic floors of communal bath area

Cast of petrified Ercolano resident - it is not the actual body, when found there was a process to make this cast

Views of Pompeii

Pompeii archway near the temple of Jupiter

Pompeii theatre

Pompeii forum

Pompeii artifacts, you can see another cast of a petrified resident

Pompeii forum

Pompeii coliseum / amphitheatre

Inside the Pompeii coliseum / amphitheatre

Gladiator barracks

A doorway from the forum

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Tuscany in a day: Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena, Vineyard visit

This was a tough day, i was so sick all i wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep until i couldn't sleep anymore. I was achy everywhere and felt like id been run over by a bus, a couple of times, just for the fun of it. I wanted bed, sleep and to see nothing more than the inside of my eyelids.
Instead, i got myself a good dose of delicious Italian coffee and let the tour coach do its thing. I was absolutely knackered but it was worth doing and i know, if i was feeling 100%, it would have been a great day.

The tour guide was great, he knew a lot but didn't feel he had to talk the whole time - my headache thanked him heartily for that. My nose and chest however were not happy with the inconsiderate bogan Aussie who smoked like a chimney at every stop and then sat behind me reeking of cigarettes - if i had the strength, nothing would have delighted me more than throwing her off the nearest cliff. Yes being sick makes me cranky and short tempered. Lucky for her though, i had a sample of perfume in my bag which i spritzed everywhere while blessing the cotton socks of the sales person who put it in my hand.

Anyway, sick or not, here is the armchair traveller's, smoke-free version of the tour. Do let me know if you enjoy it!

Pisa

 

Tuscan countryside and vineyard visit

Our lunch stop for the day at the Tenuta Torciano Vineyard

Appetisers at Tenuta Toriano delicious olive oil on fresh bread, cheese and bruschetta followed by a simple tomato pasta drizzled with truffle oil and almond biscuits. The group also got to sample different wines with each dish, many were quite merry by the end of our lunch!

The grounds of Tenuta Toriano

The grounds of Tenuta Toriano

San Gimignano

Piazza della Cisterna - a charming town square in San Gimignano

The view of San Gimignano from the ruined turret of Rocca di Montestaffoli

Piazza della Cisterna

The ruined towers of San Gimignano

View from Rocca di Montestaffoli

Siena

Siena - Piazza del Campo and Town Hall. The Piazza is home to the  Palio di Siena (Il Palio) horse races.

Beautiful inside and out - the Cathedral of Siena.
Its floors are different paintings with different marble used for colours - simply stunning!

The Piccolomini Library inside the Cathedral of Siena,
This is a small library that houses the huge hand written and painted choir books. The detail in the books and the bright, well preserved, colours of the room is worth a visit.

Well, thats all for this photo tour of Tuscany. I hope you enjoyed the photos!

VP

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