Island hopping off Napoli- Ischiathere

aaaaahhh the sun the seas and the sand. must be on an island! what a wonderful weekend we spent on the island of Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples. also my first real trip to Naples it was both scary and great. scary because youre aware of crime and all moving vehicles try to kill you, amazing because of the food and the beautiful scenery. Francesco and i went with another couple, Antonio and Raffaella. what a dream holiday

the sand was a bit dark because this is apparently a volcanic island

taking a nice beach stroll

trying to get francesco to keep his  eyes open and his face expressionless when taking a photo is a fulltime job

we hired scooters and drove around the island, the tanks filled up on like 7 euro and  we were determined to use all the petrol before giving it back so we drove and drove. which was fine from the passengers point of view!

the driver

the snakey skateboarding roads. you could have a mega downhill challenge here

the view

the strawberry dog

the Frank

the flowers! oh the flowers! everything was exploding with colours, so fertile, green and lush

this is some expensive castle

ceramic tiles and handpainted tiles every where

OH MY GOSH, the pastries! in Napoli and on this island (just off the coast)  its like an obese paradise

flowers and huge roses everywhere

a means to an end of keeping warm when the sun sets and youre on a scooter on the other side of the island... borrow Francescos socks, Antonios jersey and scarf and hug driver tightly

same as in Mauritius, there are black and white rocks together

painted tile signs for all the shops

finding our way to the light house at the top of the highest mountain

after winding up the tiny road to get to the lighthouse, francesco tried to take a swim

strange sun rituals at the light house

winding back down

looks a bit like cape town

lonely is

funky dance 

hit me baby one more time!

we had this lovely weekend with Antonio and Raffaella

we took some boatrides on the beach 

saw some important religious figure, i think he was a bishop or other

the bingo wings a' wavin

my kit! look at the helmet they gave me! so that i didnt get lost although noone could lose someone wearing such a stylish backpack!

happy chappies

more flowers!

the hotel was in this street. what a coincidence that Francescos surname is Gigante

our fabulous hotel, we got a coupon from groupon with breakfast included. i woke up early, walked 5 min to the beach to work up an appetite, skyped my mom for mothers day, from the beach of this fabulous island then ate all the pastries for breakfast before anyone else was awake!

the view from the balcony of our hotel

the port

taking the ferry to the island

theres a picture everywhere you look

this is from Naples. theres always some policemen standing around doing nothing, but in Napoli they arent always standing around doing nothing..

off the coast of Naples. home of pizza where we ate the best best pizza of my life that i gave to the boys to eat after one bite because i already stuffed myself on pastries and cake. seriously im not joking

the seagulls that followed the boat hoping for fish

the find! at the end of our stay on the island we found this... its called 200steps. doesnt take much to  guess why

at the bottom of this descent, a hot spring comes out the base of the cliff and feeds into the sea. they constructed rock pools to loll around in and its the strangest thing to be in the sea and its warm. but its fantastic at the same time. then you have to climb and try not to faint after the warmbath

and you can pay this handsome chap to paint you with magic mud that makes everything better

the rocks where the springs come out of are soo hot that people boil eggs or potatos by leaving them on the rocks, and we were talkking about a restaurant on another island where there are also hot springs where all the food is cooked under the sand!

Ischia we will see you again soon!