We left the tranquility of the River Tiber near Rome yesterday & headed south east again here to Nettuno. On the way we were buzzed by the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Customs) & as we got close to Nettuno they radioed us to say they wanted to board to check we are tax paid. We told them we were going into the marina at Nettuno so we would meet them there for them to do their checks. They were very thorough wanting to see every bit of evidence that VA had been in EU waters before Brexit & was therefore VAT paid - phew!

Nettuno is an ok town. The marina is huge & we have walked miles & miles just to get in & out. It has a pretty old walled town which is small & then mostly ugly 60’s, 70’s buildings. It has a long sandy beach but like most Italian resorts it is all hidden behind private beach clubs & inaccessible- it is one of the things about Italy that I don’t like - there aren’t many.

We had the challenge this morning to find a notary or lawyer to sign & endorse a copy of Andrew’s passport for some urgent legal stuff back at home regarding the sale of a company! So we paced around Nettuno using google (so useful) to identify offices. The first one we found wouldn’t do it, the second one wasn’t in his office, the third didn’t show up at her office but finally Andrew found a lovely English speaking lawyer who willingly did what was needed & then wouldn’t even take any money for it - there are some lovely people around 😍.

We had planned today just to have a cheap pizza lunch somewhere but we made an error & ended up at a rather upmarket seafood place in the old walled town. We really only wanted pizza but ended up having 8 small raw seafood dishes, all fabulous but the most surprising to us was the sea urchin which we always thought we didn’t like but this one changed our minds - it was delicious. I wasn’t too sure about the raw squid, a bit slimy chewy but the others were all yummy. For secondi Andrew had a plate of lovely fresh grilled fish & seafood & I had my favourite Spaghetti Alla Vongole - amazing.

So it’s time to move on again tomorrow, further south & eastwards.

Another almost 6 hour journey down here to Gaeta (still in Lazio region - just). It was almost eventless except for being chased out of Nettuno marina by the Italian equivalent to our RNLI with flashing lights to inform us that we were in the process of crossing a military practice zone where they were actually practicing (we could hear the bangs!!). We were told that we must sail at 180 degrees (due south) until we were 6 miles off coast to be safe 😱😱. Of course we did exactly that because we really didn’t want to be shot out of the water at this stage. The amazing thing is that it wasn’t marked on any of the charts nor were there radio warnings giving coordinates of areas to avoid like we have had in other parts of the Med - so how were we to know🤪. Luckily we survived to live another day 😂.

Gaeta is lovely, part very old (Roman & medieval ) part more modern but it just has a nice feel to it. From the welcome we received at the marina to the lovely veg stalls & shops in the back streets, the old town with its mix of medieval & Roman architecture, the cycle lanes and the fact the rain & thunderstorms stayed over the mountains and not on us - all fantastic.

We have explored a lot of it by bike and seen a 2000 year old mausoleum, a fabulous cave & some old churches (Italy has a lot of old churches). We found a great pizza, our cheapest meal out yet & finally managed to sate our pizza craving. We also craved some meat (having not had any for over 3 weeks) so bought a tasty veal ribeye & sausages from the macelleria (butcher) which we bbq’d on board & were delicious 🤤.

Today we had a walk back into the old town & had a lovely lunch there followed by gelato. Tomorrow we are off south to Napoli.

Napoli Part 1

We are in Napoli it is said see Naples & die but hopefully not yet 😂. All I can say now is that we are opposite Mount Vesuvius under Castel dell Ovo in the tightest berth we have ever been offered - literally rolling fenders down both sides but what a great location.

We are here this time just for 2 nights to check out Naples a bit & to pick up Alex who is flying in from Bristol for a week on board having finished his final ever exam & graduating ( hopefully 🤪) from Swansea Uni.

Naples is big but we are centrally located so we are well positioned to see stuff. We did an initial walk around the huge bay & the little old town by our marina. It’s definitely quite shabby & run down but interesting. Yesterday we got up early to peruse the markets which were as always fabulous & then headed back on board to welcome Alex (poor boy had no sleep after a very early morning flight). After lunch we took the funicular up to Castel del Elmo for the view over Naples & the bay - wow it was stunning & well worth the trip up.

Today we had another early start and took the very cheap train to Ercolano to visit the absolutely incredible Herculaneum Archeological site -AMAZING. We took far too many photos, it was hard not to. We all agreed it was the most amazing place and so pleased we went.

Back on board VA by 12 & a 2 hour trip over to Ischia.

We are in Ischia at the moment. A complete contrast to the filthy, noisy, chaotic world of Napoli. It is a lot calmer, cleaner, prettier & generally quite chilled so we like it a lot.

The island is 10km long & 4km wide so about 1/3rd the size of the Isle of Wight. It has a population of around 62000 so is quite densely populated. It has a huge dormant volcano that reaches almost 800m high & towers over us here in the marina.

We hired a car (a little Fiat Punto) to explore the island. Wow, driving here is quite scary but we managed to return the car unscathed. Many of the roads are very narrow & windy & drivers in cars, scooters, vans & buses come at you from all angles - you really have to keep your wits about you!! Despite that we drove around the island taking in all the main sites. We spent time in the Giardini di Mortella - owned & designed by the composer Sir William Walton & his wife when they lived here - beautiful. We visited the pretty village of Sant’Angelo, the amazing views from the mountainous south side of the island & the Castello Arogenese which was a bit of a climb. We drove through many pretty villages along the way.

So we feel we have the measure of Ischia but we like it so much we are coming back next week with Chris & Alina. The marina here is lovely, there is a small but nice beach next door & we ate the best rabbit dish ever in a restaurant just up the hill a bit - all making a return compelling.

Today we are going the very short distance to the Isola Procida.

We are island people & we love an island. Procida is another island to love, small, shabby chic & very very chilled.

On arrival Alex & I walked to the two main headlands enclosing the harbour - so pretty with stunning views.

Today we are off to visit the Terra Murata by bus. The roads here are tiny, every car has scuffs on every side, in fact I think if you had a car here you would buy it pre-scuffed so you didn’t get annoyed. The bus is also tiny, a miniature bus for tiny roads. It cost €2.10 each to travel to the other end of this 4km long Island. We got off in Marina Grande & walked up the steep hill (they are all steep here) to the Terra Murata (walled town), saw amazing views & more crumbling ancient buildings as well as the traditional fisherman’s cottage style houses unique to Procida. Our return journey to the marina was by taxi and equally terrifying along roads that just did not seem wide enough 😱.

A very short journey yesterday here to Baia from Procida & we are back on mainland Italy. We are here to check out the Phlagrean Fields or Compi Fleigre, once an area of bubbling volcanoes - 40 in total. Also an area rich in Greek, Toman & Spanish archeology both above and below the water.

Our berth overlooks a massive Roman thermal bath complex dating back to 200 bc. The waters beneath the bay are home to huge Roman Villa complexes that sank into the sea during seismic activity. The area is dotted with round lakes that were once volcanic craters. The marina is overlooked by a huge Aragonese Castle built on Roman ruins in 1594 & now a museum housing artifacts from across the area. So lots to see around here.

We started our exploring with a visit to the thermal bath ruins with examples of domed buildings housing baths that are supposed to have inspired the Palatine in Rome. A huge complex of baths & entertainment rooms cascading down terraces just above the port - incredible. Today we visited the Museum in the castle & took another nemosub tour out into the bay to see the Roman stuff under the sea - incredible. We had hoped to visit the Solfitara Volcano but it’s been closed for a few years after a fissure opened up & swallowed a family of 3 - I suppose it’s a good reason to stop visitors 😱.

We could have done a lot more but we are a bit ruined out for now 😳.

We are back here in the shadow of Castel Del Ovo & Vesuvius in Napoli to drop off Alex and collect Chris & Alina. It’s been fab having Alex on board this week & we have done, seen & eaten a lot.

Today Alex & I explored the Spaccanapoli area of the city, we ate delicious Sfoglitella & walked miles taking in a number of sites along our way. This evening we drank Aperol & ate delicious scorpion fish & paccheri.

Chris & Alina arrived safely on Wednesday evening in the pouring rain (prove). We went out to eat in our new favourite Napoli restaurant in the pouring rain, we got very wet!

Now we are back on Ischia, because we liked it so much the first time and we heard nothing back from Capri so we thought we would come back here. It is still very lovely even though we did arrive in the rain yesterday after a very very wet 24 hours since Chris & Alina arrived.

The good news is that it is sunny now & set to be sunny for the next 10 days at least 😎 - yeah. Living on a boat when it is raining hard is hard because everything that normally lives outside has to go inside & inside becomes crowded. Also Andrew & I have both had a nasty head cold for the last couple of days, mine is much better now but Andrew is still feeling a bit rough, no idea where we picked them up but will no doubt survive .

Ischia is famous for its thermal waters so today we are going to one to relax & enjoy the healing waters.

We had a good day at Negombo Thermal Spa & beach - my first beach day. It was a bit like an outdoors Centre Parcs with lots of different thermal pools & showers all utilising the local hot springs. It was fun. In the evening we returned to Lacco Ameno (a really pretty sea front village) for aperatives & a pizza.

Part 4

Sorrento onwards