It took a while to get into port at Naples. As a result we got to the tour a bit late and one of the stops had to be dropped off the tour. We would not be stopping at the cameo factory. We did get to Sorrento in what was left of the morning. and we would still be on schedule for the boat cruise past the Amalfi Coast. (which will be in the next post). As we left the dock in a bus we drove by this interesting structure. Sort of a medieval castle looking kind of thing, probably built for some dude named King Charles I of Anjou in 1282. It looks like it was designed by French architects Pierre de Chaulmes and Pierre d'Angincourt (but it's not on our tour)
The buildings above were also near the water front as was the tower below. I suspect that these were original structures that were part of the early development of Naples. We drove by this bell tower below. Nice bell tower
On the way to Sorrento we went past several buildings and landscapes. They apparently do not have cable there.
The terrain was a hilly, the structure above a typical residential unit, below a church on the top of the hill.
Clarice and Jon were headed to Pompeii at the same time we were heading on a different tour. When I saw the mountain I thought of the event that made Pompeii what it is, the volcano of Mt. Vesuvius, but you will need to talk to Jon about those pictures.
The building below is another another residence.
Along the way to Sorrento we passed by several coastal towns like the one the below.
A few miles further on along the elevated coastal road we got our first look of Sorrento. You can see that the weather was a little cloudy, which was a little disappointing for photography. If it is hazy like this when we get to the Amalfi coast this afternoon those images will not be as nice as I would like them to be. Just now we were heading to Sorrento and would go visit a wood working shop that specialized in inlaid woodwork, spend a few minutes walking the downtown shopping areas and have lunch. The cliffs above provide difficulty getting to the water front. Below there is a fairly interesting ramped road to get from the city center to the beach/water front.
The drive we were on was a slow because of the traffic, which did give us quite a few good shots of the town below.
I could see how this site would be interesting subject matter for artist/painters. I took quite a few photos just in case one might have potential for a painting some day.
We were not able to get to the water front with the time we had. My guess is that this was an area that would be for loading into and out of boats or maybe its just a beach.
Occasionally the sun would peak out just a little and the view would brighten a bit.
Practically every vacation we have taken in the past five years has a shot of prickly pear cactus. Here above is the 2012 version. Below are other common plants in the Mediterranean, grapes vine and olive trees
Another church above and an interesting streetscape below.
When you look carefully at things you can see that the neat stucco buildings, so interesting and colorful from a distance, sometimes look a little shabby with the laundry hanging off of the balcony and when the stucco falls off like the balcony above. Paving can be interesting like this fish scale pattern below. This was in the plaza where we got off of the bus to go into the wood working shop.
Our tour of the shop started out with a demonstration of the techniques they use to do all of the fancy inlay work. Later on we would see that this art was commonly practiced by others in Serrento. Though I will admit this factory/shop had some of the nicest inlay work I have ever seen.
There were cabinets, platters, bowls, table, boxes, trays pictures of all kinds.
Here are a couple of inlay pictures, the one above is a view of Serrento from the opposite side of town that we had just driven by. I think the photo below must be of some local residents out for a picnic or something.
Above is a less detailed view of Serrento from earlier days. The serving tray below was really nice.
Some items like the chest above and the table below were just a bit over the top in detail for my taste, but certainly impressive craftsmanship.
They weren't giving this stuff away. The tag above was on one of the tables. That's 15,000 Euros, that's close to $20,000. I decided to leave the table in Serrento, it wouldn't have fit in my back pack anyway. Nice cabinet below.
After the factory tour we had about 45 minutes to walk to the town center on our own before lunch. We headed off through this arched opening and down some interesting narrow streets,
We popped out onto this street and decided to head toward the bell tower where there was supposed to be a plaza.
Along the way we went by and into several interesting shops.
The bell tower ahead was our planned destination.
We went by a section of the street where there were several fruit markets.
A network of interesting streets lead off in perpendicular directions, but we stayed on task and ended up in the plaza as planned.
The plaza was surrounded by several interesting building.
On the sea side of town was this large trench with lead to the ramp that we had seen earlier on the way to Serrento, As you can see they cut a significant ditch in the lime stone cliff and with the ramp system they were able to transport from sea level to main street level.
We needed to get back to the tour so we hustled off to the meeting place.
We caught up with the rest of the tour group and headed off to lunch.
We walked through a maze of walks and plants, trees and grape arbors
We spotted lemon trees with its fruit hanging within reach.
We ended up in this really neat restaurant, sort of an open veranda and greenhouse.
We had a nice lunch and had a few minutes to just enjoy the space.
After lunch we headed to the bus loaded up an headed out toward Salerno to take a boat ride past the Amalfi Coast. On the way we saw this interesting fern truck.
Olive trees are an interesting plant. We had seen these in Israel a few years ago. the trunks of the trees become massive with time, but the limbs are constantly trimmed back to keep the fruit closer to the ground and I suppose to keep the trees productive. This tree was in a prominent location and seemed to be pretty well protected.
A few more typical residential scale houses on our way to the coastal road.
Here you can see how steep and twisty the road was.
As the road climbed higher we got a few more nice views of the town.
We are basically back tracking the way we had come earlier in the morning. As you can see some of the haze has cleared a little, though it is still not bright and sunny.
These two photo above and below illustrate how rugged the terrain was.
We went by Bikini Beach photos above and below. Most of the coast line seemed to be steep and rocky, so I suppose and sandy beach is well used.
The picture above is more typical of what the water front looks like. No beach. Below in the distant the island of Capri. Clarice and Jon were going there of the tour they were taking.
We continued to the main highway pass by Naples and circle around overland to Salerno. We passed by an array of ancient and modern structures. It's interesting to see these hundreds of years old building next to modern structures.
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