We arrived early to the hotel excited to check in and eagerly await the arrival of our parents who had let us know they were boarding their flight. We indulged in luxury of multiple hot showers and spreading across a whole room! We dolled ourselves up and put a bottle of Prosecco on ice until they arrived. It was unbelievable seeing them all, we couldn’t have been happier.
The next day we were up and out of the hotel on a long walk to Herculaneum. Missing the midday heat proved to be pointless as the degrees ramped up before we knew it. We explored the ruins to find them very well preserved and using the free guide book learned of the purposes of the buildings so we could see the city rebuilding before our eyes. As we took the walk to the sea we came across a little man made beach so we stopped off for a cool drink where dad tested out his Italian on the locals who spoke not a word of the queens English. Not hard really when they all understand Peroni really but we had a laugh. Further down we came across a bizarre looking boat themed restaurant but hey why not. The cool back room was a blissful retreat from the burning sun and our red raw skin very much appreciated some time indoors. The food itself turned out to be amazing and we watched the chef get to work on fresh pasta and pizzas for everyone. That afternoon we took time out to have a real relax. We lay by the pool as if it were a holiday and soaked up some rays whilst catching up with our parents. It felt so nice to take time out. We constantly feel we have to be on the go and worrying about the van being left in one place for too long. Its must be a guilt thing. We go to all these incredible places that I am itching to get out and explore them, but when we were in that moment it sounds cheesy as hell but it didn’t matter where we were we were just happy to be with our family and spend time with them. That evening was pure bliss, after a cheeky afternoon nap we freshened up and headed to the restaurant me and my mum had picked. Just FYI there are literally a handful of restaurants in Torre Del Greco so we headed out into what felt like the wilderness. As we pulled up paper lanterns and huge wine bottles altered the lawn lighting our pathway. There must have been only a handful of other people in the restaurant so we were treated like royalty. The chilled red wine went down far too easily and we all had a full three course dinner!
The next day we treated ourselves to a relaxing morning before heading to the train station and onto Sorrento. Clouds were hanging in the sky like a little grey blanket which was a shame but it didn’t dull any of the sparkle from this beautiful little town. With the parents in tow we had multiple bar stops and walked around harbours both new and old before sneaking in some cheeky meat and cheese platters for lunch. Mum even dragged us to the Christmas shop…it was August! Still it meant we could have dinner at the restaurant opposite where Joshua accidentally flung a mussel at my vegetarian mother. The laughs. It was a great place to explore and wander down the streets. Cramped like sardines we shuffled past the many many shops selling all souvenirs you can imagine before stopping off at the supermarket so buy some very cheeky €2 bubbly to sip in the evening.
Pompeii was our destination of choice on our third day as per the previous we hopped on a train. This historic site was humongous in comparison to Herculaneum but on the other hand wasn’t as well preserve. Gross as it was I was looking forward to seeing the famous skeletons however turns out they aren’t…they take them out and the pictures we see are of the cast from where they have been excavated. Theres a little fact for you. As the evening drew to a close we headed back in time to catch a beautiful sunset from the rooftop bar before I whooped everyones ass at cards!
It was early start the following day. Up at the crack of dawn for an adventure in Capri. Me and mum had planned our journey to make sure it was all on track which worked perfectly until we arrived on the island. The mad panic of getting off the ferry was ridiculous, it was crazy. It must have been all the tourists in awe and stopping to get a snap which caused so much pushing and shoving. Once on dry land we took to finding out how you get over to Ana-capri, turns out its the worlds smallest bus with about a million people crammed onto it which zooms around the bends at breakneck speed. Thankfully we all squeezed on and survived the journey. We explored the little shops and of course sampled a drink at the bar. Me and Josh left our parents there for watering whilst we took the chairlift up the highest point. It was spectacular at the top. A 360 degree view over the island, seeing the famous D&G rocks (unfortunately David must have been away), many super yachts and the beautiful hotels and villas peppering the landscape. I even managed to squeeze in a call to my nan on the return chairlift where she told me she had done exactly the same thing when she came. When we finally reached the bottom we found our parents…well watered. They’d had a lovely time whilst we explored and we liked that they had chance to relax as we feel we go 100 miles an hour! We all didn’t fancy the bus ride back down the hills so instead we chose to walk. Boy was it a long, a lot longer than we expected but the beauty views were enough to keep us occupied and it was so lovely to chat to our parents. We made it back to the main harbour where we wanted to see Capri itself so we hopped on the cutest little funicular…I mean it has fun in the name! Along the top of Capri we ambled through the streets obviously only window shopping as each one was a super high end designer. After yet another drink pit stop. We rushed back to catch our ferry home and felt like we had only scratched the surface of this beautiful island. As we pulled into Sorrento we were positively famished. I mean the price for a beer was steep so we weren’t forking out on capri for food. Instead we headed to a little pizza place recommended to us by a friend. Pizzeria de Franco, not much to look at form outside and don’t be put of by the masses of hanging meat carcasses. They serve up the most exquisite pizzas I’ve ever had on a basic tray with paper. Its a no frill all flavour kind of joint and we couldn’t recommend it enough! Another bottle of fizz snapped up from the shop and we were on our way back to the hotel where replayed cards and drank late into the night.
The last day was so hard! Saying goodbye didn’t last long enough and before we knew it it was just us two again. We made the most of the hotel leaving checkout to the very last minute before spending the afternoon planning poolside.
