We avoided having a pizza in pizzo but we did have one of their unique ice creams that the area is renowned for. Mine was encased in pecan nuts and others included chocolate both inside and outside.
The sea was clear and tranquil and it was the perfect way to round off a holiday that included some good and some not so good aspects. The architecture and history were interesting, our guides were enthusiastic and knowledgeable, some of the scenery was stunning. Some aspects like being taken to a private beach that was more of a building site were less than enjoyable. But overall we had a lovely group of friendly people that was small enough to enable us to get to know almost everyone. Afternoon tea by the pool was delightful and the town of Tropea is well worth a visit if you are ever down that way.
Unfortunately the return journey home wasn't one of the more pleasant aspects of the holiday. We had to leave the resort at 4.30 am which meant getting up at just after 3 am. We then had a seven hour coach trip (with just two short stops) to get back to Naples Airport. Some of the scenery up in the mountains was wonderful but seven hours on a coach was just not what was needed.
Naples Airport was horrible - one of the most unpleasant experiences. The entrance hall was rammed with people all jostling to check bags in. We were continually being told over the public address to keep our distance and there were markers on the floor to indicate this, but it was more of a rugby scrum.
This time on the flight we got a bottle of water and a packet of crisps so on arrival in London we were very hungry. Then there was confusion over getting a bus back to our hotel. The bus numbers etc on the internet bore no relation to what was actually running from the Heathrow Central Bus Station and when I asked a driver for information I was abused by a very rude man who shouted at me because I had entered a zone that the public weren't allowed in. Welcome back to the helpful UK. At least we were able to help an American tourist who was lost get to Harlow on the bus. She was most appreciative.
We eventually made it back to Slough and went to the local Wetherspoons where the food was much better than the hugely annoying and hugely loud chatter around us which seemed to be exclusively about football with every other word of the four letter variety.
We then had to negotiate the car park that is the M25 and boy was I glad to get home around 9 pm.
For this holiday we took two small compact cameras. The first took the photos I have been featuring over the past few days. Today's photos were taken with a very old compact that doesn't have many frills. You just point it and it takes pictures. You will probably agree that my other threequarters did a better job with this than I did with my flashy one. Anyway I hope you enjoy the final set of pictures of Italy which are from the entire trip.
Later today I'm hoping to put all the photographs we took onto my You Tube channel and I will give you the address for that once they are up and running. In response to thousands of requests (well two actually) there is a photo of me and also one of the two of us (although this is slightly out of focus) but I did want to prove that we were seen together on the odd occasion.