Italy - Salerno June 14 - 20 Week 2.

Starting afresh we were a lot more relaxed and happy. We were again very lucky to find our new class at the same level as us and everyone seemed really friendly. Our new class was very diverse in nationalities, there were 2 Swiss, 2 Swedish, 1 French, 1 Russian, and 3 Australians (us and a young girl (15yo) from Darwin).

Generally this week was great, our new home with Signora Clara was fantastic and our Italian was making sense. 
We also had discovered our 'local’ pub with some Swedish mates form school. It showed every game of the soccer world cup so we spent a fair bit of time there.

In Salerno we visited ‘Castel Arrechi’ which is the remnants of an old castle perched high on the hills around Salerno and was used to help defend this area of the coast. We also visited the Duomo (St Matthews Cathedral) which is the city’s pride and joy. The Duomo is magnificent and dates back to 1085. It contains mosaics and frescos, a couple of which are still in original condition. It has a crypt underneath which is also beautifully decorated.

This weekend we ventured to Pompeii and walked to the top of Mt Vesuvius, and on Sunday we explored Naples.

Mt Vesuvius, being the only active volcano in Europe, was fantastic. It last erupted in 1944 but was famous from its eruption in 79AD when it completely covered Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

The bus from Pompeii takes you to 1000m and you then have to walk to rest of the way to the crater. The crater is huge and there are still occasional steam jets coming out of the rocks. If the weather had have been better it would also be a site for fabulous panoramic views of the Italian coastline around Naples.

Pompeii ruins are also huge. They take a good 2-3h to explore and possibly longer to do it extremely thoroughly. Walking through the ruins was a great experience. The most moving was the fossilised bodies which were preserved showing the fear and unexpectedness of the eruption in their positioning. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to also visit Herculaneum which is a neighbouring town which was not covered by ash but instead was buried under mud. Because of this it is apparently fabulously preserved.

Naples is quite a pretty city with its old town centre being typical of Italian historical centres being made up of narrow cobblestone streets and lots of magnificent churches and convents. It is also on the coast and has a beautiful coastline dotted with many restaurants.