Europa League, Early Haloween and a fashion show

 Its Thursday, so that means another night of Europa League football. Rob and Peter drove over to the Alphamega stadium to watch the game between Aris Limassol against the Spanish team, Real Betis.

It was an entertaining encounter with the home team not having the best of luck in front of goal. Real Betis ran out by winning the game 0-1 .

Meanwhile,  the ladies got into the Halloween mood with a shopping trip to Paphos followed by a couple of well earned cocktails at the Panorama lounge.

The Pissouria hotel was the venue for the friends hospice charity fashion show. All the models were village locals and a special mention to Pete, who represented the men.

We returned to the Pissouria hotel in the evening to attend the Halloween night party.  There were some great costumes and a few decent singers doing karaoke. 

St Elmo's Castle, the Spanish Quarter and Pizza

On our final full day in Naples we strolled up to one of the City's Funulcula's (Funicolare centrale) and took the 15 minute ride up to Castel Sant'Elmo. This medieval fortress is located on Vomero Hill. 

The size of the castle walls are impressive in their own right as is the stone road leading to the top battlements, but the crowning glory are the views from the top of the walls overlooking Naples.

The 360 degree views of the city and the coastline are simply stunning.

Next stop was a stroll through the Spanish quarter searching to see the shrine of the footballer,  Doego Maradona, the guy is a true legend in the City. Sadly the street where the memorial is quite tacky and rundown. 

We continued our walk through the Spanish quarter which is a maze of narrow streets where there is a continuous stream of scooters weaving their way along the streets  and alleyways. 

We stopped of for lunch in Piazza Carità, where we enjoyed pizza and a bottle of beer.

Herculaneum and Sorrento

 Our third day started with a short walk to the Porta Nolana railway station in Naples where we boarded the train to Herculaneum. The first thing that you notice about the local trains is that they are covered in graffiti. 

At Ercolano station we left the train for the twenty minute walk to Herculaneum, which contains the ruins of a Roman City that was destroyed by the same volcano that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79.

It is a fascinating piece of history to see as the buildings and streets that are in such a remarkable condition. There are even skeletons of the people in the boathouse who tried to flee via sea.

We then hopped back on the train for the ride to Sorento, this train was packed with travellers and was quite hot and muggy.

Arriving at Sorento we stopped off near the local square for a well earned sandwich and a glass of cold beer.

We then walked down to Villa Comunale di Sorrento which is a public garden with tremendous views of the Bay of Naples and the coastline to the South.

There is an elevator in the gardens that takes you down to the beach and to the port, where we came upon a small bar to await our ferry back to Naples.

A visit to the Island of Ischia

 On another beautiful morning we awoke to a stunning sunrise over The Bay of Naples and Mount Vesuvius from our balcony. 

We then walked down to the Port in Naples, which was bustling with activity. The first thing we noticed was the Cunard cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth. Rob had worked on the original QE II but this ship was just....Huge.

We the boarded the Alilauro "Annamaria" ferry that took us over to the Island of Ischia.The journey took about 50 minutes passing through the Archipelago of the Bay of Naples.

We docked in Porto d'Ischia, which is a small but picturesque port. Our first stop was at a small cafe opposite the ferry terminal where we enjoyed a coffee and a cherry puff.

One of the locals then suggested that we catch the local bus to Pontile Aragonese. This turned out to be a real gem with traffic free streets full of small curiosities shops.

We wandered through the streets and stopped off to see the beautiful church of Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta.

We then strolled on until we reached the causeway that leads to Castello Aragonese d'Ischia, a medieval castle that is set on a islet that is reached by a stone causeway. 

We returned to the port and made our way to Ristorante Abbraciami that sits overlooking the harbour. This was a superb restaurant where we both enjoyed sea bass with roasted potatoes and a fresh salad.

The owner was so helpful and kept bringing us complimentary dishes to try and at the end of the meal he insisted on us trying his lemon cello served in frosted glasses.

Waiting for our return ferry, there was just enough time to enjoy a quick, cold Peroni beer in the Pirama Pub where we met a pleasent couple from California.