Far from the madding crowd

Wednesday 4^th June

Today has been a very relaxing day as we headed away from the hustle and bustle of the Amalfi coast area. We have travelled today across Italy from west to east and are now at a place called Termoli.

The drive across Italy was quite interesting as we first drove through the mountainous and rugged areas around Amalfi and Salerno, and then headed over a mountain range to find ourselves in a gentler rolling hill type landscape. It sort of reminded me of the hills just north of Melbourne. The road was excellent but the speed limit was only 80 – can’t figure out why as other roads we have been on are in much worse condition and they are 110. Along the drive there seemed to appear around almost every corner, a hill with a town perched on top. At the very top of the hill was usually the church. It really is just wonderful to look at. One thing we did notice on the drive was the rubbish on the side of the road. At every lay-by there seemed to be bags of rubbish just left there. Pretty disgusting.

Just one of the villages we spotted on the drive.

This tower sat alone on this rocky outcrop.

And this castle also sat alone on a hill.

We stopped briefly at a town called Benevento to look for an old aqueduct. Found no sign of the aqueduct but did find an old Roman bridge called Ponte Leproso.  

The paving - this looked to be of roman times,
or if not then certainly pretty old.

The roman bridge
- not too sure that this photo shows the bridge terribly well.

The road eventually followed along a river valley which had been dammed to form a big lake. The road didn’t just go along the edge of the lake, but down the middle of the lake on a huge bridge. As Rob said, the Italians aren’t afraid to build stuff.

After checking in to our B&B we headed in to the town of Termoli. No particular reason for visiting Termoli apart from it was on the east coast and about the right travelling distance for the day. We wandered around the old town which is on the hill overlooking the port. We considered going out to the Tremeti Islands tomorrow but there is only one boat there and back each day and it would mean 8 hours on the island so we decided to give this a miss. We drove along the beach and were able to stop and have a good look (no people) at the way they do beaches in Europe, and get some photos. We have got the parking meters sorted and always put money in the meters but often wondered if anyone checked. Well, today we saw the parking inspectors checking meters in Termoli.

 

Looking back along the beach at Termoli to the old town on the point.

Look - not another tourist in sight! Do I look happy?

Street in the old town of Termoli.

The beach - European style. Some people we were talking to
could not believe that you don't have to pay
to go to the beaches in Australia.

Rob has been having real difficulty with parallel parking the car
- wrong side of the car, wrong side of the road.
Then we saw this parking job and his look pretty good.

As we walked through Termoli searching for a restaurant for dinner we noticed the phenomena of the Italian evening stroll. There seemed to be lots of people out on the streets just walking. We had a lovely seafood dinner in the town – on the coast one has to eat seafood. Following dinner we wandered back to the car and along the way came across a photo shop that had a lot of photos of the town, both recent photos, and old photos. They were really fantastic and great to see the town over time and in different conditions. We didn't have the camera but should have taken some photos of the photos.

Our B&B is out in the countryside and very quiet and peaceful. In the distance you can see the lights from many small villages. Rob is snoring on the bed as I write this blog and it is time I headed for bed as well.