Vittoriana. This is BIG. Quite new as was opened 1911. Was good to sit on marble as it is getting very hot. I love the chariots on top.

The Roman Forum. Entering the Forum area Damian FAILED his temperature check because it was over 37.5°. Yesterday's high was  32° and we'd walked here in the sun so his internal temperature must have gone haywire. He waited a minute and then tried again and was all good. They have free water everywhere in Rome which we needed, even have free fizzy water. There is so much to look at here and there are still archeologists working here discovering more things. This is a temple (most things have stripped of most of their marble at some time over the last 2000 years).

A view from the top of Palatine Hill.

Inside the Colosseum. Our tour was an escorted tour which meant we couldn't roam (rome) freely but was nice to see from this inside. A very impressive structure, as is everything here, big is definitely important. Was a long day but we were able to see everything we wanted to see, I don't think this would normally be possible as we didn't have to queue for anything for more than 5 minutes. There are so few tourists that the restaurants and shops must definitely be struggling.

SCAM - a few days ago on our trip from Lucca we caught up in a devious scam. A man overtook us and then pulled into the side of the road in front of us (driving was dodgy but not unusual for Italians to be fair). As we drove past we heard a loud bang on the side of our van. Further up the road the man, driving erratically, caught us up and shouted words which we later figured out meant "broke mirror". Anyway, Damian was certain he was not close to the car so we just ignored him. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what it all meant. We checked our van and our camera footage and concluded that he threw something at our van (a little dent from a rock or a coin was found). Damian searched for similar scams on the internet and apparently this has happened in the UK (though in this case they used water bombs which would have left less of a dent) where they ask for money for the "damage". So, hopefully we are not arrested from running away from an accident but we have proof that we are in fact the damaged party.

A note about Italian roads and drivers:

It seems there are two main roading departments in Italy; the Department of Signs and the Department of Fixing Roads. The DoS appears to get 80% of the revenue and the DoFR gets 20%. So, if someone goes through a road barrier you'll see a nice sign saying someone has broken the road barrier which is still broken and if the road is becoming cratered you'll have a sign in the middle of a motorway telling you to reduce your speed to 30km/h so you can navigate the terrain.

Drivers completely ignore the signs that the DoS have erected as well the white lines that the DoFR paint for lane suggestions. It's mayhem. But critically there's no anger or malice. I'd say the driving is worse than NZ but due to the lack of aggression their deaths per 100k people and 100k vehicles are quite a lot less than ours:

Road fatalities per 100,000 people:

🇳🇿 NZ: 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
🇮🇹 IT: 💀💀💀💀💀

Road fatalities per 100,000 vehicles:

🇳🇿 NZ: 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
🇮🇹 IT: 💀💀💀💀💀💀

We've got ants! We couldn't figure out how they were getting in and after hours of tracing found a stream of them coming up the leg of the awning, across the canvas and into the van. Each leg has a moat now.

If they continue to get in we'll have to buy four little Para pools for the wheels.

There are still about half a gazillion ants remaining in the van after isolating their ingress so we've had to create a moat in the shower to protect our foods of interest. Hard to see in this pic but an excellent moat.

We've been using strips of gorilla tape to obliterate legions of them.

After Rome we drove straight to Naples for a couple of days. Not really any tourists at the moment but it's a bustling and dirty city and, like Manchester, comes with more character than the likes of Rome. We explored the city on the first day and drove up Vesuvius on our way to Sorrento.

One of our primary reasons for the visit to Naples: the pizza!

From Naples we drove out along the 'easy' bit of the Amalfi Coast to Sorrento where we based ourselves for five nights at a campground a short walk from the town. The drive was not easy.

The first day we took a train back towards Naples to Pompeii and spent a long, hot day exploring the ruins there. This is a picture of the Forum looking toward Vesuvius which destroyed it in 79AD. Lots of pretty well preserved houses giving you a good glimpse of what life was like back then.

Almost 2000 years ago someone in Pompeii had the time and resources to create a mosaic in their doorway warning people to beware of their dog.

We caught an early morning bus around to the 'tricky' southern side of the peninsular where we did the Walk of the Gods from Positino to Praino followed by lunch in Amalfi and a jaunt up to Ravello before returning home again.

Very glad not to have attempted the road in the van.

The walk was amazing. A long climb up but spectacular views the whole way with treacherous drops at every turn. Good to get it done early in the morning, too, as it would have been punishing in the midday sun.

Amalfi had quite a few Italian tourists. This is the time that everyone goes on holidays so things will likely get quite a bit busier from now. Also, because it's been so uncomfortably hot we've decided to stop heading south to Sicily and instead head east to the heel of the boot, explore around there and try to get a ferry across to Dubrovnik in Croatia.

Walking back down the Walk of the Gods path into Praino. Through someone's house. As you do.

Yesterday we went out to Capri where we did a boat tour around the island, took the funicular up to the Capri township, a tiny bus up a suicidal road to Anacapri and a chairlift to the top of Monte Solaro.

We even managed a swim! The water was balmy.

By far our most expensive day trip but well worth it.

Here's the view from the top of Monte Solaro.

Matera

Tonight we're in Alberobello where there are lots of trulli houses. Beautiful town.

We've had enough of this heat. We are incapacitated between 1000 and 1800 and so we've decided to skip Sicily and instead have booked a ferry from Ancona to Split in Croatia on the 6th. This requires a bit of form-filling to get in to Croatia but should be ok as we are either Italian or NZers from their perspective.

Leaving Italy via Ancona.

We decided that time was running out (but now we may never be allowed home) so we decided to exit Italy. We traveled up from Alberobella staying at Oleificio di Vito (near Termoli) and Lago di Campotosto on the way. We learnt some good stuff about olives and purchased some goodies from the shop, a really nice stop with a friendly owner. I was anticipating the Lake would be a quiet oasis after the mayhem of Italy. I was wrong. It was crazy - like Long Bay beach at Christmas, but that's what Italy was all about (and we are visiting in quiet times). We passed through some lovely towns on the way and through the town of Amatrice which was badly hit by an earthquake in 2016 resulting in around 297 deaths through the region. The rebuild is only just beginning for them it seems.

Our boat to Croatia was very quiet so not many people from Italy are escaping into Croatia.

This place is heaven. We are in Podgora. Hot like Italy but we are a 2 minute walk to the beach so we can jump in for a swim (water shoes recommended) whenever we want (towns in Italy are often on hills and beaches are usually paid). People from many different countries here, Slovenia, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland so people making the most of their freedom. We are enjoying the eating and drinking and have walked to Drašnice and Tučepi around the path/rocks. Enjoying the lazy holiday feeling.

Our beach. The water is see through!