Tag Archives: Mount Vesuvius

Review of the Year 2025

Posted on December 31, 2025 | 15 comments

As we leave 2025 please excuse my annual self-indulgent post to begin the new year as I peer through the keyhole to look back over the last one.

The top ten most visited posts on my Travel Blog always surprise me but then I don’t pretend to understand how search engines work. I say visited pages rather than read because I am neither so conceited or sufficiently naive to claim that a visit equals a read. I know that a lot of people will arrive here by mistake and swiftly reverse back out via the escape button!

I have been posting my Review of the Year since 2009 ( I know – that is so sad) and mostly there has been little change year on year but in 2025 there has been a bit of movement…

No. 1

The Taste of India – The Vesta Ready Curry Meal

Straight in at number 1. First posted in December 2024 and recording the highest number of visits in 2025 at 2090.

In the 1970s we had Vesta Ready Meals, six of them to choose from, Chow Mein (China), Beef Curry (India), Chicken Supreme (France), Paella (Spain), Chicken Curry (India again) and Beef Risotto (Italy), one for everyday of the week except Sunday I guess when you could still do a traditional roast if you really wanted to.

After a holiday in India earlier in the year and enjoying the curry I set out to recreate the Vesta Ready Meal.

No. 2

Mount Vesuvius

I first posted this in March 2010 so this one has been around a while and with 876 hits and a sixteenth year in the Top Ten it is becoming a stubborn stayer. In 2025 it has only dropped one place to number 2. It is also No. 3 in all time page views with 22,690 recordings. It has been viewed every month since first posted.

No. 3

Sicily, Taormina – A Royal Scandal and an Exotic Garden

First posted in July 2023 after a holiday in Taormina in Sicily and a second showing in the top 10, up one place . In 2025 it had 756 visits and there seems no good reason for that except some people seem to enjoy a royal scandal.

No. 4

The Little Chef All Day Breakfast

A bit of a surprise this one, first posted February 2021 and popping up in the Top Ten for the first time four years later with 705 visits.

Little Chef was most famous for its all day breakfast which thanks to a standardised corporate menu was pretty much similar in all of the restaurants. If you went for a breakfast then you knew exactly what you were going to get.

In one of my rare food blogs I set out to recreate the famous breakfast.

No. 5

Entrance Tickets – Malta and the Mellieha WW2 Shelters

A third year in the Top 10 Top and retaining the number 5 position, this is a post from 2017. 550 visits in 2025 up by 100 from the previous year.

In Spring 2015 we spent a few days on the island of Malta. This was a bit of an experiment on my part because I wanted to see if Kim liked it there as much as I do. It is sometimes said that you either love Malta or you hate it, it is like Manchester United or Marmite, there are no half measures, there is no sitting on the fence.

Kim liked it and we have been back several times, this picture was taken just a couple of weeks back, it looks like Kim is reflecting over our previous visits…

No. 6

Russia – Lenin’s Mausoleum

A real slow burner this one, first posted in July 2012 but staying in the Top Ten for a second year up 4 places and an extra 120 viewings,

Cameras and mobile phones are strictly forbidden because the authorities don’t want snapshots of Comrade Lenin turning up on the internet in Blogs or on Trip Advisor reviews so they have to be left in a locker room and if anyone tries to defy this and is caught by the thorough security checks then their punishment is to be sent to the back of the queue to start lining up all over again.

I didn’t take these pictures, I obeyed the rules but someone else must have sneaked a camera in…

No. 7

The Unlikely Story of Saint Lucy

First posted in January 2013 and entering the Top Tem in 2025 at number 7 with 460 visits.

St. Lucy was a martyr who was one of the earliest Christian saints to achieve popularity, having a widespread following before the 5th century. Because of various traditions associating her name with light (Latin – Lux) she came to be venerated as the patron of sight and the blind and was depicted by medieval artists carrying a dish containing her eyes.

No. 8

Taormina, Sicily – A Little Disappointing

Sometimes I like a place immediately and sometimes I don’t. Even within the first hour of arriving and sitting on the balcony with a fine view I knew straight away that I didn’t like Taormina. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but it was there nagging away at me.

My immediate impression was that it was all rather like Sorrento or Positano, a place on bucket lists for no good reason other than it is on a bucket list. Personally I prefer Naples, Palermo and Bari, places with grit and grunge and character. I just instinctively knew that this place would not measure up.

Surprisingly staying in the Top Ten for a second year with 453 hits

No. 9

The Treasures of Spain – Antoni Gaudi

A newcomer this year but I can’t say for certain because it might have been here before and then dropped out, 390 visits.

No. 10

The Berlin Wall

A genuine newcomer this one with 375 visits. In 2019 I went on a stag party weekend to the city of Berlin. When the youngsters went drinking my brother Richard and I went on a tour of the city.

Dropping out of the Top Ten this year

Royal Garden Party

This post has been in the Top Ten every year but sadly drops out in 2025.

In total it has 25,000 visits which makes all time top of the list, this year overtaking my 2011 post about Norway, Haugesund and the Vikings at 24,800.

This one has been around for a long time and has always been popular especially around the Spring and Summer when invitations to the Royal Garden Party are going out and when people are wondering how to get one or what to wear if they have one.

Another post that has been visited every month since first published.

Bratislava to Vienna Without a Passport

Catalonia – In Search of Norman Lewis

Passage Through India – Travel and Arrival

Sicily – A Sunset and Trouble with a Mosquito

If you have read one of these posts or any of the 3,600 others on my site ‘Have Bag, Will Travel’, then thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I guess it proves that George Bailey (It’s A Wonderful Life) was right when he said: “The three most exciting sounds in the world are anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles.”

Total visits in 2024 – 59,760 (up almost 10% on 2024

Total visits all time – 1,306,400

Countries where most visitors come from – UK, USA and Spain. Same as last year.

15 Comments

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Asia, Beaches, Bratislava, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, Greece, History, Literature, Malta, Natural Environment, Portugal, Postcards, Travel, Wordpress, World Heritage

Tagged Antoni Gaudi, Berlin Wall, Bratislave, Farol Norman Lewis, Lenin, Lenin Mausoleum, Little Chef, Mellihea Malta, Mount Vesuvius, Passport, Saint Lucy, Sicily, Taormina, Vesta Ready Meal, Wonderful Life.

Italy Top to Toe – Mini Europe in Brussells (Belgium)

Posted on December 23, 2023 | 10 comments

Mini-Europe is a theme park located near Brussels in Belgium and has reproductions of monuments in the European Union on show, at a scale of 1:25. Approximately eighty cities and three hundred and fifty buildings are represented and Italy is represented by six mini-models.

Read the full story Here…

But, before you go…

…I do like this from the Brussells Times…

The implications of Brexit are even being felt in the smallest part of Brussels as Mini Europe begins to adapt to accommodate for the UK leaving the EU.

While the models will remain, concessions will be made to reflect the new reality. Visitors will, therefore, have to pass through a small customs post if they want to move from Mini-Europe to the Mini-United Kingdom. Access between the UK and France or Ireland will also be adapted to better reflect reality.

I say leave them there, inevitably we will very soon see just how collectively stupid to vote leave, and we were, and we will be back. No weedy trade deal with Japan or Australia is ever going to compensate for leaving the single market.

10 Comments

Posted in Age of Innocence, Beaches, Childhood, Europe, Growing up in the 1950s, History, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage

Tagged Alberobello, Bourton on the Water, Brussels, Florence, Mini-Europe, Model Village, Mount Vesuvius, Pisa, Rome, Venice, Vicenza

A Postcard From Sorrento

Posted on April 7, 2019 | 13 comments

In the spring of 1976 I made arrangements for my very first trip to continental Europe and booked a Cosmos holiday to Sorrento in Italy with my girlfriend Linda. We were due to go on the 12^th June but at some point shortly before travel she fell for the charms of a reporter on the local newspaper and abruptly ended the relationship.

This created a problem because it was within the no refund period and so I was faced with the prospect of losing all my money. I could have begged I suppose but that would have been undignified so instead we had a family crisis meeting and the solution was found when dad enthusiastically stepped in and agreed to take her place. That’s what dads are for, I would do exactly the same!

Read the full story…

Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…

13 Comments

Posted in Europe, Food, History, Hotels, Italy, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage

Tagged bay of Naples, Capri, Circumvesuviana, Hotel Mediterraneo, Italy, Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Sorrento

Travel Memories – First European Holiday

Posted on January 21, 2016 | 27 comments

And so, on the appointed Saturday, we travelled to Luton airport for the Monarch Airlines flight to Naples. Apart from the Isle of Wight this was the first time that dad had been overseas as well and to be honest he was slightly overdressed for the occasion in his rather formal sports jacket and tie.

There again this was still a time when passengers still wore their best clothes to travel, it was something special, airport departure was far more civilized without the dehumanising process of security checks and where officers at passport control called you Sir.

Airline travel was so different in 1976, the flight had proper seat allocations and the plane had comfortable reclining chairs with adequate leg room and stewardesses who wore smart yellow uniforms seemed genuinely pleased to see you and served a complimentary hot meal and free drinks. These days they are called Flight Attendants in the same way that actresses are called actors. I really don’t understand why women/ladies/girls don’t want to be treated as feminine any more. I guess I am getting old.

The plane landed at a rather Spartan military airport base near to the city of Naples and after I had already taken a picture of the plane on my Kodak Pocket Instamatic we were firmly warned against taking photographs. It wasn’t an especially welcoming sort of place as we passed through a rather austere passport control and baggage reclaim hall both decorated in varying tones of slate grey and in dire need of a welcoming makeover and then made our way through to the coach that was waiting for us.

The twenty-mile drive to Sorrento took about forty-five minutes along a busy road running alongside the Circumvesuviana railway and on the way we got our first look at Mount Vesuvius which towers up dangerously close to the city, and then as we swooped down through cypresses, citrus groves and vineyards around the Bay of Naples we could see the Mediterranean Sea and the Island of Capri.

I think I remember being speechless. The sea and the sky were so intensely blue that at times it was difficult to be sure where one finished and the other started.

This was breathlessly exciting stuff because previously we had never been further than Cornwall or Norfolk and the blue, almost luminous, water looked a lot more inviting than the grey North Sea that’s for sure.

When the coach arrived in Sorrento it started dropping off the passengers at their various hotels and finally drove to Sant’ Agnello and a position directly on the coast on the top of the cliff and guests stopping at the Hotel Mediterraneo were invited to leave the coach. This was our stop and we were immediately impressed with where we would be staying and I smugly congratulated myself on a good selection.

The hotel was six stories high and painted a dazzling white, so bright it hurt your eyes to look at it, with smart green shutters on the windows. At the front it was surrounded by trees with attractive pink blossom and at the back there was a secluded garden full of citrus trees with oranges and lemons hanging invitingly low in the branches.

At the reception we checked in and the clerk handed over a room key attached to a bell-shaped key ring which would make it difficult to misplace and he had a surprise for me and handed over a letter from the pigeon-hole behind him. It was my birthday (22) in three days time and this was an envelope, which obviously contained a card, with an English stamp commemorating the bicentennial of American Independence.

This is one of the reasons that I am proud to be British – we can even celebrate our defeats without any bad feeling. In 1966 we had a Royal Mail stamp collection commemorating the ninth hundred anniversary of the Norman Conquest.

The handwriting on the envelope I instantly recognised as Linda’s and that made me feel rather sad.

Our room was on the fourth floor and the hotel had one of those old-fashioned lifts that were little more than a metal cage that went up and down the shaft and you could see the walls flashing by through the grill. This was the sort of lift that you don’t see any more because if you put your fingers through the frame it would rip them off and sensibly they have been consigned to history by European health and safety legislation.

The room was on the back of the hotel overlooking the garden and although it was basic it was clean and comfortable and we agreed that it would do very nicely indeed. There was a tiled floor and real wooden furniture, beds with crisp white linen sheets and a bathroom with an old-fashioned bath suite. Being 1976 there was no mini-bar of course and no television and certainly no Internet access. We allocated the drawer space, emptied our suitcases and made ourselves feel at home.

I was in Italy, my mind was racing, my heart was soaring and my senses were filled with a whole gazetteer of new experiences….

27 Comments

Posted in Beaches, Europe, History, Italy, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage

Tagged bay of Naples, Capri, Circumvesuviana, Cosmos Holidays, Hotel Mediterraneo, Italy, Monarch Airlines, Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Sorrento

Review of 2015 – Top Ten Posts

Posted on January 3, 2016 | 39 comments

As we nail down 2015, please excuse my annual self-indulgent post to begin the new year as I look back over the last one. I have ignored the WordPress annual statement to produce my own review.

The top ten most visited posts on my Travel Blog always surprise me but then I don’t pretend to understand how search engines work. I say visited pages rather than read because I am neither conceited enough or sufficiently naive to claim that a visit equals a read. I know that a lot of people will arrive here by mistake and swiftly reverse back out via the escape button!

Just to go back a bit, in 2012 the site recorded 170,900 visits and I was optimistic that as I kept posting this number was just going to keep going up but then in February 2013 Google made some devastating changes to its search algorithms and the numbers halved overnight and have never fully recovered. I finished 2013 with 79,470, a decrease of 115%.

I thought it was important to keep going so in 2014 I posted 320 times and the total number of visits recorded was just over 101,000 so there was some significant recovery. 2015 has not seen the same level of improvement but there has been consolidation. I have posted 311 times and the number of reported visits is 106,600, an increase of just 5.5%.

These are the Top Ten posts of 2015:

No. 1

Catalonia, Barcelona and Antoni Gaudi

No change at the top this year and this post has recorded 8,715 visits which is over 3,000 more than last. I posted this in August 2013 following a week touring Catalonia and pulling in a visit to Barcelona along the way.

I’d like to think that this is because it is a knowledgeable and scholarly assessment of Gaudi’s architectural contribution to the urban World but I think it is more likely because the image attracts visitors as it easily found in a Google search and people seem to like it because it has been copied several times!

No. 2

Royal Garden Party

5,870 hits, up from 3,300 and staying in the Top Ten for the sixth successive year which by that measure makes it my most successful post.

In total it has 17,800 visits which makes all time second after my post about Norway, Haugesund and the Vikings. This one has been around for a long time ( since June 2009) and has always been popular especially around the Spring and Summer when invitations to the Royal Garden Party are going out and when people are wondering how to get one or what to wear if they have one.

No. 3

Mount Vesuvius

This one has been around a while as well and with 1,610 hits and a fifth year in the Top Ten is becoming a stubborn stayer. A bit of a surprise to me really because this is the account of a day trip to Mount Vesuvius whilst on a holiday to Sorrento in 1976 with my dad. From my memories of the same holiday I posted several blogs about visits to Capri, Naples, Pompeii, The Amalfi Drive and Rome but these have only achieved a handful of hits between them.

No. 4

Alternative Twelve Treasures of Spain – Antoni Gaudi

A second top ten appearance again this year for the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (maybe I am an expert on Gaudi after all). After I had taken a look at the official Twelve Treasures of Spain I thought it might be fun to draw up my own personal alternative list. I included Antoni Gaudi in a general rather than a specific way. I posted this in March 2013 and this year with 1,455 visits it has risen five places to number four.

No. 5

Ireland, Ring of Kerry and I Temporarily Overcome My Fear of Dogs.

This is the first of this year’s new entries with a surprising 1,325 visits and no convincing explanation why that should be.

No. 6

Catalonia, In Search of Norman Lewis

The second of this year’s new entries and I must confess that I am rather pleased about this one.

There are some posts that I have written that I would like people to read and this is one of few that have achieved that. Before visiting Catalonia in 2014 I read the book ‘Voices of the Old Sea’ by Norman Lewis which is an account of the Costa Brava in the 1940s and the approach of mass tourism. In this post I attempted some research and some interpretation of the book and the area. It has recorded 977 visits and in this case I like to think that this is because of the subject rather than the pictures.

No. 7

Krakow, Wieliczka Salt Mine

This post has also been a consistent performer with five years in the top ten but in terms of visits is this year’s biggest loser, down almost 3,200 hits to just 790, dropping four places from last year’s number two and if that slide continues I expect it to be gone next year. I posted this in April 2010 after returning from a visit to Krakow in Poland. It was a good trip but I am not sure why so many people would hit on it. It is not as interesting as my trip to Auschwitz or the Crazy Mike Communist Tour.

No. 8

Every Picture Tells a Story – Benidorm c1960

I posted this in March 2010 and it finally made the top ten last year and I am glad to see it there for a second year. It has stayed in this year with 740 visits. It is actually one of my personal favourites and is a story about the Spanish seaside resort of Benidorm inspired by some photographs that I came across of my grandparents on holiday there in about 1960.

No. 9

Italy and Puglia, Domenico Modungo and the Eurovision Song Contest

The last of the new entries and another one that I am pleased about. This is the story of the Italian singer Domenico Modungo. Domenico who? I hear you ask. Well, let me tell you that Domenico is renowned for writing and performing what is claimed to be the most famous, most copied, most successful ever Eurovision Song Contest entry and most lucrative in terms of revenue, Italian popular music songs of all time. Think about it…have you got it…

“Nel blu dipinto di blu” or most popularly known as “Volare”. With 656 visits it has only just about crept in to the top ten but I am happy to see it there.

No. 10

Travel Journal

Seventh place with 636 hits and four years in the top ten which demonstrates the importance of an ‘About’ page.

Dropping out of the Top Ten this year are: Moscow and Lenin’s Mausoleum, The Twelve Treasures of Spain – Seville Cathedral and Weekly Photo Challenge – Signs

If you have read one of these posts or any of the 1,785 others on my site ‘Have Bag, Will Travel’, then thank you very much! I guess it proves that George Bailey (It’s A Wonderful Life) was right when he said: “The three most exciting sounds in the world are anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles.”

On reflection, not a bad year but I still haven’t been Freshly Pressed (Discovered). Do I care? Well, maybe a little bit!

I’d be interested to know about other people’s most popular posts in 2015 and the possible explanations why? Comment and let me know. I’m a sucker for statistics!

39 Comments

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Beaches, Cathedrals, Europe, France, Greece, History, Italy, Literature, Poland, Russia, Spain, Travel, United Kingdom, World Heritage

Tagged Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona, Benidorm, Costa Brava, Discovered, Domenico modungo, Freshly Pressed, Mount Vesuvius, Norman Lewis, Ring of Kerry Map, Royal Garden Party, Salt Mines in Krakow, Volare, Wieliczka Salt Mine, Wordpress Statistics

Review of the Year – 2014

Posted on January 1, 2015 | 30 comments

As we nail down 2014, please excuse my annual self-indulgent post to begin the new year as I look back over the last one. I have ignored the WordPress annual statement to produce my own review.

The top ten most visited posts on my Travel Blog always surprise me but then I don’t pretend to understand how search engines work. I say visited pages rather than read because I am neither conceited enough or sufficiently naive to claim that a visit equals a read. I know that a lot of people will arrive here by mistake and swiftly reverse back out via the back button!

I thought it was important to keep going so in 2014 I have posted 320 times and the total number of visits is recorded as just over 101,000 so there has been some significant recovery. My other companion blogs, Scrap Book Project and Another Bag More Travel have recorded about 105,000 hits between them.

Interestingly, WordPress statistics reports are consistently lower than third party statistics counters but I am reporting here on the official site numbers.

These are the Top Ten posts of 2014:

No. 1

Catalonia, Barcelona and Antoni Gaudi

A newcomer to the top ten and straight in at number 1 with 5,430 visits. I posted this in August 2013 following a week touring Catalonia in the North-East of Spain and pulling in a visit to Barcelona along the way. I’d like to think that this is because it is a knowledgeable and scholarly assessment of Gaudi’s architectural contribution to the World but I think it is more likely because the image attracts visitors as it easily found in a Google search and people seem to like it because it has been copied several times!

No. 2

Krakow, Wieliczka Salt Mine

This post is down from number 1 in 2013 to number 2 this year with 4,010 hits. I posted this in April 2010 after returning from a visit to Krakow in Poland. It was a good trip but I am not sure why so many people would hit on it. It is not as interesting as my trip to Auschwitz or the Crazy Mike Communist Tour. Once again it is probably the image but interest in this post however is on the slide because someone stole the image and their version of it now comes up before mine in a Google search. How annoying is that!

No. 3

Royal Garden Party

3,300 hits, staying in the Top Ten and up three places from number 6 represents a very successful year for this post. This one has been around for a long time ( since June 2009) and has always been popular especially around the Spring and Summer when invitations to the Royal Garden Party are going out and when people are wondering how to get one or what to wear if they have one. I think people assume that I have connections with the Royal Family and can be of some assistance.

No. 4

Moscow and Lenin’s Mausoleum

This post stays in the Top 10 for a second year with 2,225 visits after an original posting in July 2012. Cameras and mobile phones are strictly forbidden inside the Mausoleum because the Russian authorities don’t want snapshots of the great man turning up on the internet in people’s Blogs or Trip Advisor reviews so they have to be left in a locker room and if anyone tries to defy this and is caught by the thorough security checks then there punishment is to be sent to the back of the queue! I shamelessly stole this one – well, people steal mine!

No. 5

Mount Vesuvius

1,330 hits and a fourth year in the Top Ten but dropping three places and presently running out of steam. A bit of a surprise because this is the account of a day trip to Mount Vesuvius whilst on a holiday to Sorrento in 1976 with my dad. From my memories of the same holiday I posted several blogs about visits to Capri, Naples, Pompeii, The Amalfi Drive and Rome but these have only achieved a handful of hits between them.

No. 6

The Twelve Treasures of Spain – Seville Cathedral

This year’s second new entry with 1,050 visits. The “Twelve Treasures of the Kingdom of Spain” was a contest/poll that was conducted by the Spanish Television Company Antena 3 and the radio broadcaster Cope. The final results were announced on 31^st December 2007. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the eight out of the twelve that I have visited. Third in the competition was the mighty Spanish Cathedral in Seville, Andalusia..

No. 7

Travel Journal

Seventh place with 1,005 hits which demonstrates the importance of an ‘About’ page.

Completing the Top 10 this year are three more newcomers:

No. 8

Weekly Photo Challenge – Signs

I try and regularly take part in the Weekly Photo Challenge and often use it to provide a link to an older post. I get a respectable amount of visits but they are rather like a Mayfly and only live for a day but for some reason this one has just kept on going. Only posted in October 2014 it has attracted 905 visits and has muscled its way into the top 10. It is a signpost in the village of Ballyvaughan in Southern Ireland and I can think of no reason why it has been so successful.

No. 9

Alternative Twelve Treasures of Spain – Antoni Gaudi

A second top 10 appearance this year for the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (maybe I am an expert on Gaudi after all). After I had taken a look at the official Twelve Treasures of Spain I thought it might be fun to draw up my own personal alternative list. I included Antoni Gaudi in a general rather than a specific way. I posted this in March 2013 and it has made its way into the top 10 with 820 hits.

No. 10

Every Picture Tells a Story – Benidorm c1960

I posted this in March 2010 so it has taken a long time to get to the top 10. It is actually one of my personal favourites. It has crept in this year with 765 visits but I have no explanation about why it should suddenly spike like that! It is a story about the Spanish seaside resort of Benidorm inspired by some photographs that I came across of my grandparents on holiday there in about 1960.

Dropping out of the Top Ten this year were: Norway, Europe’s most Expensive Country, Travel Tips when Flying Budget Airlines, Danger in Naples, Camorra, Vesuvius and Pollution, Onyx UK and an Inappropriate Visit to the Moulin Rouge and Twelve Treasures of Spain – Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

If you have read one of these posts or any of the 1,475 others on my site ‘Have Bag, Will Travel’, then thank you very much! I guess it proves that George Bailey (It’s A Wonderful Life) was right when he said: “The three most exciting sounds in the world are anchor chains, plane motors and train whistles.”

I’d be interested to know about other people’s most popular posts in 2014 and the possible explanations why? Comment and let me know. I’m a sucker for statistics!

30 Comments

Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Spain, Travel, World Heritage

Tagged Antoni Gaudi, Ballyvaughan, Benidorm, Lenin, Mount Vesuvius, review 2014, Royal Garden Party, Seville Cathedral, Wieliczka Salt Mine

Italy, Postcards from Sorrento

Posted on April 12, 2014 | 1 comment

In the spring of 1976 I made arrangements for my very first trip to continental Europe and booked a Cosmos holiday to Sorrento in Italy and went there with my dad.

I mentioned before in a previous post that the currency was the Lira and the notes were so worthless (I seem to remember that the smallest denomination was 1,000) that it was normal practice for shops to give change in the form of a postcard.

Read the full story…

1 Comment

Posted in Europe, History, Hotels, Italy, Travel, World Heritage

Tagged bay of Naples, Capri, Circumvesuviana, Cosmos Holidays, Hotel Mediterraneo, Italy, Monarch Airlines, Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Sorrento

Italy at Mini-Europe

Posted on December 19, 2013 | 22 comments

In terms of the real thing I have visited five out of the six.

First of all, and rather inevitably, Venice the second most visited city in Italy after Rome and Mini-Europe provides a model of St Mark’s Square, the Campanile and the Doge’s Palace.

Alexander Herzen said of Venice that “To build a city where it is impossible to build a city is madness in itself, but to build there one of the most elegant and grandest of cities is the madness of genius” but at least at Mini-Europe it is sensibly on dry land.

Next is the Leaning Tower of Pisa which is probably one of the most instantly recognisable buildings in Europe and probably the whole World. I can certainly remember it from a school encyclopaedia article and when I was a young boy I was always intrigued by the concept of a building listing so perilously to one side that it was apparently just waiting for a strong wind to topple it over.

I had secretly suspected that the pictures had exaggerated the buildings predicament so I was astounded when I actually saw it for the first time and was able to satisfy myself that this tower really does lean over a very long way indeed.

Nearby is the Palazzo Publico from Siena which I visited one day in pouring rain in March 2006 so didn’t see it at its very best. I had always wanted to visit Siena ever since I saw the film star matinée idol Stewart Grainger swashbuckling to equine victory in the ‘Swordsman of Siena’ and to see the venue for the famous annual Palio horse race.

This is probably the most famous festival in Tuscany and was first recorded in the year 1273 and is a colourful medieval pageant that takes place twice a year on 2^nd July and 16^th August. It is so-called because riders race each other for a Palio or winners banner and it is a competition where seventeen seriously crazy jockeys hurtle bareback around a confined square with dangerously adjacent buildings and perilously close spectators; I have concluded that they are probably taxi drivers for the rest of the year.

Although Mount Vesuvius doesn’t make it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List, having been edged out by Mount Etna in Sicily it does get included at Mini-Europe where it regularly erupts to the delight of the visitors.

Guests may think this amusing but if it really was to erupt again then the consequences are potentially disastrous. It is difficult to be precise but scientists think that Vesuvius formed about twenty-five thousand years ago and today the volcano is rated as one of the most dangerous in the world – not because of its size but because of the proximity of millions of people living close by and if it was to go off again with a similar eruption to the one that destroyed Pompeii in 79 then it is estimated that it could displace up to three million people who live in and around Naples. The volcano has a major eruption cycle of about two thousand years so the next eruption is dangerously imminent.

Next are the Trulli houses of Alberobello which I visited and stayed in on my latest Italian journey. Although our accommodation had been restored and modernised to make it suitable for holiday accommodation it was a genuine traditional house with whitewashed walls and a stone cap roof and there was a framed photograph inside that was eighty years old to prove it.

Trulli houses are unique to this area of Italy, they are rather like an igloo with a conical roof and a single windowless room inside with shallow alcoves for bedrooms and storage. Where they first came from is a matter of some debate. One theory is that since Trulli can be built up and pulled down in a hurry, in past centuries their owners would demolish their own buildings whenever the tax man came to town to assess property duty, and then rebuild them when he had moved on.

So that is the five of the six and the one that I haven’t visited so far is Vila Capra at Vicenza which is a shame because a couple of years ago I stayed close by in Padova and visited nearby Verona.

Six good choices but surprisingly missing anything from either Rome or Florence but if you really need to see these places in a model theme park then they can both be found at “Italia in Miniatura” at a similar tourist attraction near Rimini in Italy itself.