Check out those lemons

I'll start with the good news.  My feet are doing much better (and I know you were all dying to find out).  My lovely boyfriend - though traiterous on the blog front - treated me to a day at the Poseidon's Garden Spa in Ischia, where we have spent the last three nights and two days. http://www.giardiniposeidonterme.com/en/

We arrived in Ischia on 10 July, which some of you may recognise as an important day, marking the anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.

Ischia is like the Italian version of Rotorua.  Famed for its thermal waters and, actually, that's where the similarities with Rotorua begin and end.  So on our second day Simon took me to Poseidon where there are no less than 22 thermal pools ranging from 15 - 40 degrees, three restaurants and a private beach.  You are given a suggested programme for the pools starting with a 28 pool, followed by 32, 34, 36, 38 and finally the Kippel pool where you spend three minutes in a 40 degree pool, followed by a 15 second dip in a 15 degree pool - repeated three times, in order to reap the 'health benefits'.

But my favourite pool was the Japanese pool where you walked in knee high hot water with large pebbles on the floor then walked round to the other side where the water was cold.  An absolute treat for my feet, which I may now report are in fine form.

While Ischia has proved to be a welcome retreat from the hordes, the journey to get there proved to be anything but easy.  The day started early - there was only one ferry a day, at 9.30am, from Sorrento to Ischia.  So, we stood at the bus stop at 8am to catch the 8.10am ferry. 8.06am 30-odd Australian's on a Contiki tour approach the bus stop.  8.12am bus goes past and is too full to let anybody on.  8.14am I start panicking and insist to Simon that we must catch a taxi to the port because surely this is the cheaper option than missing our ferry and having to go to Ischia via Naples.  Ha!

We make it down there promptly for 8.30am, head to the ticket counter and am told by an extremely stroppy woman who was having to explain yet again that there was no ferry today from Sorrento to Ischia as the weather was too rough.  Yes, you can catch a ferry from Naples and no I can't tell you the price or the times for the ferry from Naples to Ischia.  Helpful.  So two ferry rides later we arrive in Ischia.

It became clear very quickly on the Naples to Ischia ferry why exactly the ferry from Sorrento wasn't running that day.  One staff member walked around the ferry offering sick bags and for one gentleman across the aisle it was unfortunately too late for him...

In hindsight, this encounter with motion sickness was just the start... Yes, for those of you that have driven along the SS163 road - the one and only road that runs the lenght of the Amalfi Coast - you will already know what I'm talking about.  The windy road at the height of Summer is packed with tourist buses alongside the local traffic.  The road at best fits about 1.5 vehicles, but this doesn't stop people from parking on the side, overtaking and generally driving at high speed.  From our bus driver, I learnt some valuable defensive driving tips, including:

- Don't feel limited by driving a bus - you can drive and at the same time be making a call on your mobile, be changing the audio sequence on the tour audio, and talking to your colleague who is driving past int he opposite direction.

- When driving round blind corners, simply toot your horn to allert traffic coming from the opposite direction.

Poor old Simon had neglected to mention that he at times suffers from motion sickness.  So here's a nice shot of him with his head in his hands before we got to Positano.

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So that we could see the coast from another perspective, and to give Simon's stomach a rest, we decided to catch the boat home.  But wouldn't you know, the same weather that was to cause havoc to our travel plans the following day, was already causing havoc that afternoon.  All the boats were cancelled, meaning we had to again catch the bus back... 

And one final point - the size of the lemons.  Up and down the coast there are lemons, huge lemons, the biggest lemons I have ever seen. 

And a few more pics from our time in Sorrento and Ischia.  Check out out the private beach at our campground in Sorrento and the view from our room in Ischia!