15th/16th October

Singapore, a place we hadn't visited for 10years and noticed a big difference straight away.   The clean Streets, the green trees, the clean waterways and skyscrapers, the gardens, the people were friendly and we just loved being there. 
We visited the Gardens by the Bay, a magnifient project taking 6 years to build at a cost of 6 million dollars, whatever they do here is done beautifully as they have always done, making everything from Lakes, beaches, gardens etc.
They have built the Worlds largest glass greenhouse Flower Dome, a must see for anyone coming here.    We spent all morning wandering around this amazing man made covered, air controlled garden with plants from the five continents of the world.  A truly amazing place.  We went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and viewed the city by night.  Went to the Flower garden for a light display to music, was all wonderful.
As we werent flying out until evening, we spent the day seeing as much as we could, so took the cablecar to Sentosa Island which was a lovely way to spend our last hours.  Flew out at 9pm and spent 9 hours in the air on a Singapore flight which was bumpy most of the way, very hard to sleep but pleased to see Auckland even though a cold wind was blowing, after a couple of hours there we took our plane to Napier where we were greeted by family, friends and a warm sunny day.
Love travelling but always good to be home. Loved being in Italy and Croatia was amazing, but we think 5 weeks was long enough and once again felt very lucky to have had the opportunity to visit these places.

12th October

Leaving Capri was hard as we enjoyed staying in our old Villa which had wonderful views of the Ocean. We trundled down the Road with our suitcases and into the Village of Capri to book our fast ferry to Naples, 1 hour it took to get there and onto the fast train to Rome.  It's the way to travel that's for sure, the train got to speeds of 300kms hr, so another hour later we were in Rome for two nights.
This time we stayed in Trastevere which is a leafy suburb of Rome and a short tram ride away from many highlights.   We took an On Off bus around the city as we realised we were never going to find our way on foot to the many things we wanted to see. 

Once off the bus we made our way to the Navona underground, and archeological area that lies under Piazza Navona.  The Romans were a brutal lot, such an interesting city to visit though.  Once again the weather has been beautiful, blue skies and sunshine everyday, awesome. 

We had two nights in Rome and left late to fly to Frankfurt, a one hour time limit to get our plane to Rome.  We just made the plane as they were boarding so thought that we were really smart.    Only to find once we arrived in Singapore that they had left our luggage behind, not having time to transfer it to the next plane, oh dear.  A mark against Lufthansa, but they did give us $300 per couple to buy necessities, so we went shopping straight away, even though we had just had a 12hr flight with not much sleep.  However great Hotel in Singapore so all good.

This day in Capri we went to the Blue Grotto, a truly amazing sight to see.  We set off at 9.30am to beat the crowds (if anyone can ever do that) but it was better than waiting for later.   We booked our boat ride around the Island and taking in the Blue Grotto, when we arrived there were about 15 boats already there and we had to wait our turn which took about 3/4 hour.  When it was our turn we were put into little row boats, four of us in our boat with a boatman who rowed us into the Grotto, each boat had to wait for the water to be at its lowest and he then went by pulling on a chain and with us ducking our heads we sailed in to the huge cave and viewed the clear blue water below, it was incredible, the boatmen were amazing and all sang Italian songs whilst we were in there, took us around twice and then it was out again through the hole, after waiting our turn and for the tide to be at the right level, an experience we had never

had before and thoroughly enjoyed. After that exhilerating morning when back on dry land we went to AnnaCapri, a beautiful little town so high up the hillside we took a bus and they are something else, very narrow roads right on the edge, quite an experience to be in one.

10th October
There is quite a lot to Capri apart from the town at the port where everyone arrives, there are restaurants to burn, then there is Capri Centrale which is up on the hill, a walk up steep steps or a funicular which we took as the steps are getting to us as we had 85 steps to our accommodation each day, keeping us fit for sure.  The town up there was just set up for tourists as they were everywhere and the shops just set out for them, so we were not impressed with that area, a short ride back down on the bus and away from the crowds was the only thing to do.  The bus tours, mainly of Asians is incredible but we did find English, Germans and some Australians but mainly Asians.   The water is so clear everywhere around this coastline, it is amazing.

9th October

We finished our stay in Amalfi, one week of sunshine and relaxation in our appartment overlooking the beach and town, an amazing place to stay and watch the world go by, we enjoyed it so much, there was always something to see with the boats, people on the beach, buses bringing tourists in and boats taking them away, wonderful place to experience, the crowds were a bit much at times but we coped.  We caught the ferry to the Isle of Capri going via Positano which took 1 hour and enjoyed the sea voyage.  We were met at the terminal in Capri and taken by taxi to our accommodation which was an old Villa high on the hill overlooking Capri.  The Villa was built in the 1800s by two American women who lived there until they died and then bought by a man who now rents it out to people and while we were there an Italian film crew were renting half of the building to make a film so quiet was needed by us for a day.  We had just a quarter of the beautiful building which was enough for us, with beautiful views to Mt. Vesuvious and Napoli and the port of Capri, the Villa stood out all over the Island and we just loved staying there, t

he peace and quiet and the deck to sit out on was wonderful.

8th October

Today we set off for the towns of Maiori and Minori, just around the cliffside from Amalfi.  We went by ferry to Minori and bused to Maiori the bigger of the two towns and a very different town as they had so much more flat land, so a lovely promonade along the front of the beach (which was again stony) went for quite a long way, also a long main street going up towards to hillside made for a different scene.  We enjoyed another lunch and relaxed in

the sunshine, the weather is amazing.

7th October

We stayed for the day in Amalfi, firstly walking hundreds of steps up to the cemetary, all terraced and on the top of the hill with magnificient views to the ocean.  The cemetary was well planned with most coffins in the walls, if you would like to place flowers on graves you just climb the ladder, all very interesting.  Going back down was so much easier, although having to always hold the hand rail is a must in some cases, very narrow lanes with houses perched on hillsides, it is always eye opening stuff and lemon groves all on the terraced hillsides.  They are renowned for lemoncello of which we have tasted every night, it is cheap to buy so a good drink to help us sleep hah. 
We did some shopping in the afternoon (a must) here as they have lovely clothes although a bit expensive, the shops are mostly touristy with all the usual souvenirs.  We made friends with a local Pizzeria where we bought something for dinner and lunch sometimes, they were a lovely young couple who were always friendly each time we walked past and sold us super food to sometimes take back to our appartment for dinner, they learned a bit about NZ and we gave them some souvenirs to remember us by.

October 5th

Today we took the open topped bus to Ravello, a lovely small town not far from Amalfi.  We visited the Villa Rufolo and enjoyed walking around the gardens, right on top of the hill with magnificient views to the ocean.We also visited the Museum of 10th century.  We wandered the streets, had lunch in a lovely restaurant of paninis and special cake covered with semi-freddo, sooo good.  Caught the bus back to Amalfi and wondered at the drivers who take people all day everyday on these windy narrow roads, they are amazingly daring and clever to negotiate the turns.

October 6th

This day we took the ferry to Positano another lovely town around the clifftops from Amalfi.  Coming in from the sea we were able to get good views of the beautiful town built once again on the cliffs.  Quite amazing how they ever started to build anything here, but they have and we now are lucky enough to enjoy the splendour of it all, just love this coast.  A ferry had us back home again where we look from our balcony at the goings on in this beautiful town.

October 4th

Today we had a driver to take us to Pompeii, leaving Amalfi at 8.00am with Giovanni we took the windy road to Pompeii, stopping for photo pics of the Napoli valley with Mt. Vesusius in the background, a beautiful day again and great views.  It took us 1 hour to get there and we had our tour guide waiting, Giuseppe was first to get our tickets and first to be in the grounds of the historic town of Pompeii.   What an amazing place to see and Giuseppe was a great guide, so funny and passionate about the history of his region and the remains of this once rich town of Pompeii. We had a 2 1/4 hour tour with Giuseppe and then we were on our way with our driver, Giovanni to Mt. Vesuvius where we climbed a fair way to the top of the crater, was a steep climb but worth the effort and pleased we did, we then went to a a winery for lunch and wine tastings.  Cantina Del Vesuvio winery nestled at the base of Vesusius and making red, sparkling rose and white wines all made and sold only from their winery.  Of course we had the usual prosuito, tomatoes, bread, olive oil and wine vinegar and spaghetti with special cake to finish.  Great food in this Country.
The driver had us back by 4pm and a good day had by all.

3rd October
We woke to another perfect day on the Amalfi coast and after breakfast walked to a smaller town called Atrani, up steps again and along narrow pathways, under tunnels and into the town right down by the sea, lots of little shops and restaurants and all so interesting.
We had pizzas for lunch and a beautiful dinner right on the waterfront, just a stroll from our appartment and sitting outside at nights is a treat as the temperatures are so warm during the day and mild at night.  They certainly know how to make ice-creams as we have had plenty but the Italians are the best.

Sunday 1st October 2017
Another early day as we set off for the train ride from Rome to Salerno where we were met by a driver to take us to Amalfi, which took 3/4 hour.  We enjoyed the train ride which took 2 hours and in a fast train didn't seem that long at all.  The ride to Amalfi was windy and hilly but the driver knew exactly where and what to do, the traffic is horrendous on the narrow roads but the drivers are very good, nobody seems to get upset, they use cellphones whilst driving, turn their heads to talk to us and still get us here safely, lovely people.
We arrived at our appartment which is up 85 steps, our manager, Luigi helped us with and carried on case on his shoulder and one under his arm.  We have the most beautiful view of Amalfi beach, town and sea, everything is right in our sight.  So very lucky to have chosen such a spot.  The weather is nothing but perfect.  We walked around the town and quickly realised it is a tourist spot for the ferries and buses, busy busy.

Day 15
The last night of our tour and we were taken up into the hills of Dubrovnik to a B/B and our hosts cooked us a meal made from everything they grow in their garden.  It was wonderful to eat fresh tasty Croatian food, lamb, chicken and veges cooked a bit like our hangi.   The next morning we left at 9am to catch our plane to Rome, was sad to say goodbye to the friends we had made on tour, they were all lovely people and some we will keep in touch with Im sure.
We had a one hours flight to Rome, good all the way and taxied to our Hotel which was in a perfect spot, not far from Trevi fountain etc.  so a walk around to those famous places was easy and enough at the end of another  busy day.