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Returning to Roman times…

Pre-trip report: what shall I get Mark for Christmas?

Dates: Saturday 4 – Monday 6 May
Adventurers: Me, Cheryl (40) and DH Mark (47)
Destinations: Sorrento, visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum
Resorts: Hotel Prestige, Sorrento
Meets: none
Celebration: Mark’s Christmas present and a return to Pompeii for the first time since 2007

Each year, I wonder what to get Mark for Christmas and his birthday. Sometimes I’m not sure how I come up with the idea, and that’s the case here. The thought came into my head somewhere in summer 2012, when I remember thinking how we’d commented all the way back in 2007, when we took the first ever Disney cruise around the Mediterranean, that we wanted to go back to Pompeii. Then, we’d taken an excursion to Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii. It hadn’t quite worked out how we’d expected.

We were told before we left the Magic that day that we wouldn’t be visiting Capri, due to rough seas. Ok, that works for me, as neither of us likes rough seas. Well, we certainly found them. We took a hydrofoil from Naples to Sorrento, and it was horrendous. Honestly, about 60% of people on board were physically sick, but not me, thanks to the wonderful woman who gave me some new travel sickness tablets. I’ve sworn by the things ever since. When we finally reached dry land, I really wanted to kiss the ground, it had been that bad. We were given a credit back off the excursion by Disney, the experience was that bad.

As a result, we didn’t really enjoy our time in Sorrento, as neither of us (and especially not Mark – the whole thing messed with his head ) were feeling that great, but at least by the afternoon, we felt a bit better for the bit we really wanted to see – Pompeii! We loved our time here, but it was only two or three hours, and it wasn’t nearly long enough for us. When we came out of there, and I later looked at my Naples guidebook, I realised that we’d barely scratched the surface of this place, and we hadn’t seen some of the areas that the guidebook recommended as highlights. That’s when I realised we’d need to go back…

As I say, where that memory came from, I don’t know. But it was the impetus I needed, so I went ahead and started to look for flights out from Gatwick to Naples. I was stunned to discover that British Airways had a flight out that was reasonably priced over the Bank Holiday weekend in early May. It’s a three day weekend, with Monday a Bank Holiday – hence the name of the weekend, so I went ahead and booked flights out on Saturday morning, with the return flight on Monday evening.

I did some shopping around, and looked at the prices for booking car rental, and hotels separately, and it ended up that I could get the hotel cheaper, but not the car rental, so I added that on to my booking. We’ve always talked about getting a convertible car in the States, but it’s never practical, as they don’t have too much space in the trunk, because of the mechanism needed for a convertible, and we always have too much luggage. Knowing this, I figured that a convertible would work here. After all, we were only going to be gone for two nights, so we’d only have one case with us, so I went ahead and booked one. There just seemed to be something right about the idea of driving around the twisting, turning roads of Italy in a convertible!

I had a look through TripAdvisor to see which hotels would be good for our stay. I wasn’t sure where to stay, as although we’d be flying into Naples, Pompeii is south of the city, and Naples really wasn’t somewhere I wanted to return to. I know there’s a lot to see there, but for a long weekend, it would just be too much. In the end, I had a look around the Sorrento area to see what hotels were available. After much debating, I ended up going for the Hotel Prestige, which had some great ratings on TripAdvisor, and yet it was still a very reasonable rate. It looks like a superb place to stay, and I can’t wait to sample it. I will admit that the roads leading to it certainly look very twisting and turning, so I’m not sure how much I’m going to enjoy that…

As far as our plans for our time away go, well the first most obvious thing is Pompeii. I want to allow as much time as possible for that, so it seems logical to head there on the Saturday. I figure we’ll be there for a long time, but I’m hoping that maybe we’ll have enough time later in the day to then head for Herculaneum. This isn’t as well known as Pompeii, although it too was destroyed in the same eruption from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. However, where it’s different is that it was buried so deep that even the upper storeys of buildings remained intact. The hotter ash there also preserved ordinary household objects, like beds and doors. Additionally, it was a richer town, so bearing in mind the amazing colours that you occasionally caught a glimpse of in Pompeii, I’m sure Herculaneum will be even more vibrant.

So that leaves a couple of half days either side then. The plan for Saturday is pretty loose, as we don’t get in to the airport until 12:30pm, so we probably won’t make it to the hotel until at least 2:00pm or later, so we’ll see how we feel. We may even want to go for a swim, because at the moment, the forecast for the weekend is for temperatures all weekend in the mid to high 70s. Considering at home, temperatures are in the low 50s this week (we got up to the low 70s last week, then it dropped back like a stone ), that’s going to feel pretty hot to us!

On the Monday, I want to head down the Amalfi Coast to visit Positano, as it looks amazing in every photo I’ve seen of it. I know it can get exceptionally busy though, so I figured we’d head there first thing in the morning. I want to ensure we can park there, rather than having to walk down the steep cliffs to get there, as then we’d have the walk back up again. No thank you!

So those are our plans for a long weekend away, exploring the history of this area, and seeing some of its beauty. I can’t wait!