The Castel Of Salerno

Medieval Castles are very important tourist attractions in Europe. Some of them are "natural", built really by medieval people to protect their territory, others, built in the last decades of Middle Ages and later, were only expensive toys of their owners. I wrote some posts about castles in our zone like Castles of Campania, Castles (2) and mentioned them in other posts.

Here I want to say some words about the castel of Salerno. More photos you can find here A sunny day in Salerno. This castel was a real permanent defensive work with roots in Roman and maybe earlier times. The old town is just under it, at the foot of the hill, as you see on the photo. We know that there was only one case when the castel was conquered. It happend after 6 months of normann blockade because water finished in the castel. And it signed the end of Longobard possession in Italy.

Only once the owners tryed to organize their residence in the castel but did not like that life and went down in the town.

Big Monasteries To Visit

This is a splendid photo made by my friend Наталья when she visited Pochajevskaja Lavra, one of the holy places in Ukraina. I remembered that I've never mentioned this country in my blog and asked her to post her photo here.

Lavra or Laura originally meant a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Later a big orthodox male monastery.

The Lavras I've seen are very beautiful. I was in Kiew -open this page to see this really splendid photo- and in Sankt-Petersburg in Alexandr Nevsky Lavra(Photo on the left). I was in similar constructions here in Italy too. Not far from us (about 100 km) we have a Certosa di Padula (52.000 mq!) where we, our archeological group, were guides in a modern artists exhibition. By the way, those artists were closed as monks in that ex-monastery with a task to born works of art in one month.

In any case, working or not, these monasteries have very great histories. And are very interesting to visit and to study.

Автор: Наталья *******, альбом: Фотографии со мной

Pompei Of Nocera

It is a joke for us. We call this place in Nocera Superiore "Pompei of Nocera". About a year ago the park you seeon this photo was something very bad. There were the sloppy rests of an old animal-market. All this zone had a vey bad look.

Now it's a park with archeological excavations in one part of it.
I wrote about this part of Nocera in my post A Day Without Rain In Nocera Superiore
This park is situated some steps after the Baptistry.

The administration of the town wants to attract tourists in this zone to create job for residents and makes the town really beautiful.

From other side, Nuceria Alfaterna was a great and maybe most important city here in antique times. Pompei was it's port, Salerno did not exist as something valuable. Nuceria was a sort of capital, main city of Sannitic tibes. It's amphitheater (under earth now) seems to be the greatest in that period in Italy, it's theater is a piece of acustic art. There are infinite and very beautiful stories happend here. No one movie invented something similar the truth.

With the idea to make Nocera Superiore interesting for tourists, archeological excavations began. This part has to be Roman Forum of Nuceria.

...And Now Video About Pompei

I wrote different times about Pompei in the last weeks
... And Excavatins Of Pompei
Modern Pompei

Now I foud an interesting video about the antique town and hope it will be interesting for you too. Many things you see in this documentary are not in Pompei actually, they are in different museums.


When you visit excavations you have to go there with a guide because it is not so interesting when you don't understand what you see. If it is not possible to pay a guide that works in the excavation because they are very expensive often as in Pompei where it's a business, you have to read something about it. History is very interesting when you understand what is in front of you.

Our Luggage Story

Well, you buy your beautiful, comfortable, modern luggage, and you like to use it, and you go proudly in the airport between others that take proudly their precious luggages. Than you pass check-in, take your airplane, arrive in the city where you are going and... discover that your precious luggage did not take the same plane that you took some time ago. This is what happend to my husband on 28 December.

Some days before he turned home he told me by phone about the things he bought. He was so happy about the jacket he found. He looked for this jacket everywhere but could not find the model he wanted. And finally he found it!!!! Oh how happy he was!!!! Then there were some other things that is possible to buy only in Argentina, and then there were some things for me that I do not find in this zone where we live.

On 29 of December I went in the airport of Naples to meet him. First the plane arrived later as it had to. Than, when we knew that the pane is in Naples, the passengers did not come out. We all who waited for this plane did not know what to think about it. Finally they came out. Without luggages. Because they, luggages, were not carried in the plane.

Fortunatelly, the luggage of my husband was protected with plastic and had insurance. He learnd to do it after his luggage was opened in Naples a year ago, and the thieves took everything they wanted to take. From other side, he saw how an airport worker lost some luggages he had to carry to an airplane, and they remained under the rain on the road.

Because I waited for my husband more than 3 hours I had to pay 14 euros for parking. Than we had to come in the airport 5 days later for control and paid other trip and parking. That trip was only to leave signature and to know that there are not notices about this luggage. We had to send letters to Alitalia (second time he flys with this company and second time has problems with his luggage), we had to pay an incredible quantity of calls because nobody wanted even to repeat what we have to do, I don't say you to explain or to listen to us... The cost of this luggage was every day nearer and nearer to the piece of gold of the same weight.

Suddenly, at 16 of December, Lost Luggages Service of airport of Naples called us that the luggage is there now.When my husband went to take his luggage there, he found mountains of luggages inside and outside the little room of the office. Fortunatelly his one was safe. But one German man found only some pieces in his. Others were crushed...

All this happend because company Alitalia had it's problems. Finally was found a solution for it and the luggages arrived.

I thought about those musicists from Nebrasca that came with the same airplane with my husband for concerts in Italy and their instruments did not come with that airplane. What can they feel, these poor musicists? And what have they received after 20 days of Alitalia-problems?

It's Time To Visit The Most Cold City In The World

«Дорога в Якутск» на Яндекс.Фотках

Yakutsk. If you want to visit the most cold city in the world you have to understand the peculiarities of the place. The tempersture can reach -50°C (-70°C seems to me was the record) there, but winter is the best time to make this journey. Why? Look at these photos:


«Дорога в Якутск» на Яндекс.Фотках


«Дорога в Якутск» на Яндекс.Фотках

But it's a normal modern city with many interesting places, people and things that you will never see elsewhere...


«см дальше..» на Яндекс.Фотках


«княжна» на Яндекс.Фотках

...and spectacular virgin nature


«Усть-Нера, Якутск-Магадан» на Яндекс.Фотках

Luggage You Travel With

One of the most important questions for traveller is his/her Luggage. Sometimes this problem becomes very serious. You will laugh, but I know persons that carry 5 meter long car full when they, these persons, have to go somewhere for a week. I tell you about my friend. Once they came to visit me on their way back home from Sicily and I wanted to gift them some books, some kg-s of our fruits and something else we grow, but they could not find place even for the books!

This year I noticed there are many persons that prefere to buy Designer Luggage for their travelling. It has different good sides, I think. Not only it is a nice looking object. They are made for maximum comfort of a traveller. From other, practical, side, if the company you travel with loses your luggage, the first thing they want to know what was the brand name of it.

I like to look at luggages of different brands lately. They have so many different forms and colors. It seems, the designers have fun, creating these incredible solutions. No, there are classic designs like Hartman Luggage for men, I think. But there are so many colorful, solar items like Vera Bradley Luggage and others. Maybe they could really make your trip more glad, specially if you have to wait many hours for your flight or something like this. The situations that happen relatively often this year.

... And Excavatins Of Pompei

In my previous post I wrote about modern Pompei because many persons do not know that there are modern town over the antique Roman town today. The antique town is under 4 till 10 meters of earth and the excavations are not finished. It is difficult to continue them because modern persons built their houses and roads and villages over the antique settlings.

These villages and towns are different as Salerno, for example, because Salerno is built directly on the antique walls, modern houses grow from the antique as the roots.

The soil near Vesuvio was not in use for many times probably. Nobody remembered about Roman Pompei, about Roman Ercolano (there are 24 meters of earth after the eruption of 79 aC from that side where Ercolano is situated). On the right of the photo from Wikipedia. Pompei are about 10 km left-straight in the background from observer.

Today I wanted to show you some photos of antique Pompei made by it's visitors.


«Улица Помпей с видом на Везувий» на Яндекс.Фотках


«Колоннада в центре Помпей» на Яндекс.Фотках


«Италия. Помпей» на Яндекс.Фотках

Modern Pompei

Many persons -and I was so before I came to live in this place- believe that Pompei is an excavation of a Roman town. It's true in part. Yes, there is a great area of archeological excavations there. But Pompei is a modern town today.

We went to Castellammare some days ago and turned back with internal ways. Not central, where are excavations and the cathedral, it would unpossible for traffic.

Many towns and villages are there under Vesuvio. You see how near they are. But the population does not want to go in other places. Not only this, the population here is among the highest in Europe, the streets are too eng and they are not numerous. Everybody knows what will happen here in case of explosion of volcano (and everybody knows that the expectations for the next eruption are about 15-20 years) but...

Death Among The Cocodriles

One of the most "abused" things at the end of every year are different lists. Most beautiful... The top ... big, new, great, bizzard etc.

The new theme among these shows was for me the list "The most stupid deaths of the tourists".

I decided to remember some of them in my blog too. As the tour operators say, most of the deaths happen because the tourists do not want to respect the rules of the place where they go.

This case seemed to me great for the first place:
One 23 years old canadian girl (big enough to have brain in the head, I think) went in Kruger National Park and wanted to make photos between the cocodriles in a pool. The cocodriles did not move and the girl decided, they are toys. She went down in the pool and stand between that cocodriles. Her friends made photos. And cocodriles were happy to have something new for lunch.

Do you think, it was a single case of a head without brain? Watch this video:

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