Touring Knights

Our first day in Turkey started out early, we were picked up at our hotel and a travelled for four hours from Istanbul to Eceabat, stopping for breakfast enroute.  Our first stop was at the RSL tours office to catch up with some people that Gadget had befriended when he travelled to Galipolli two years ago with conservation volunteers. After that we went to have a look at the Eceabat memorials. This monument is on the shores of Eceabat and is representative of many aspects war, the two notable images that stood out to me was the image of a mother weeping, depicting that all mothers, Turkish , Anzac, British and French who suffered the loss of their sons. The Turkish soldier carrying the Australian officer depicting that even during war, compassion existed. There is also a detailed 3D map in this memorial park that our tour guide used to explain the various battles, what the allied forces were hopping to achieve and what points they advanced to and why they were hoping ...

 For our second last day in Italy we decided a little adventure was called for. After our really fun Vespa tour in Rome we decided that we would like to do it again and where better than along the Amalfi coast. Originally we had decided to go by car but we are so glad we changed our minds. This was our first stop a beautiful lookout, before we reached Positano. Below at the base of the cliffs are tiny fishing villages. Our guide Vincenzo explained that no body really lives there anymore, sometimes the fisherman will stay overnight in one of the old cottages. What a heavenly place to stay . . . .  This is where I started getting a bit confident and snapped a few shots from the back of the Vespa, You can see Vincenzo in front of us, and Gadgets grin in the side mirror. He loved every moment of being on the Vespa. We actually owned one up until about 4 years ago, but sold it. I have a strong feeling we are about to acquire another one. The beautiful town ...

So today we went to Herculaneum. Herculaneum like Pompeii was lost after the eruption of mount Versuvius in 79 AD. However the cities were affected differently. Whereas Pompeii was covered with volcanic ash, Herculaneum was covered in a pyroclastic flow ( lava ). So this difference has resulted in different outcomes for the cities and their people.  If you zoom this image you can see a wall in the background that wall is the height of the ground after the lava came through. The lava pushed the coastline back 3 miles. The base of that wall is where the beach was originally in Herculaneum. Today the old city sits 20 metres below current ground level. For many years they thought that most of the people escaped Herculaneum, it actually wasn't until the second day of the eruption that Herculaneum was covered. Then in 1980 they did some more digging and they found the boat sheds and they found these poor souls. Four of the sheds ( that have been uncovered) have rem...

So today started off a bit slow . . . We got to sleep in . . . 8am . . We were both awake at around 7 anyway . . . LOL so since we had only the plan of visiting Naples in the afternoon we took the opportunity to get some gifts for our family and spend a bit of time wandering around Sorrento. These are just a few photos we have taken over the last couple of days. In the lovely Sorrento. The Main Street of Sorrento. The view from our balcony, a bustling little laneway filled with wonderful little shops. The beautiful bay of Sorrento from the foreigners club. And the sun setting on a little square just down the road from our B & B. We headed off just before lunch, catching a train to Napoli. We arrived in time to have some lunch, a pizza of course, which was pretty good. Then we caught up with our Tour guide Michele  for a quick tour around Naples  This is the Naples Cathedral. Officially it is known as the cathedral ...

Pompeii what can I say , was incredible, sad , amazing. I don't think I am going to babble too much about this, just let the pictures do the talking. But I will say this I took way too many photos . . . . . LOL Two thirds of Pompeii has been unearthed, at the moment their priority is stabilising and protecting what they have, before considering unearthing more..... The roads of Pompeii where you can see the tracks the carts made. The three stones across the road mean't this was a two way street, if there is only one of two it's one way .  .  My Versuvius in the background water fountain s were throughout the town, they would carve faces of people on the fountains which were for humans, and animals on the ones for animals. At the base of every fountain there was a hole which allowed the water to flow down the street and wash the debris away. One of the beautiful frescos found on a wall in a villa, this one was on a garden wall, an...