Departure time: 08.00
Optional lunch
Departure from the Hotel by GT Bus, driving along the untamed beauty of the Amalfi Coast, through the picturesque villages of Conca dei Marini, Furore and Praiano. Photo stop at the famous Belvedere in Positano. Arrival in Sorrento and visit to an inlaid wood-work shop, the typical Sorrentine production.
Free time to discover the beauties of Sorrento: In the lanes of the old city centre, still untouched in spite of the progress and mass tourism, have survived churches and ancient monasteries, keepers of valuable memories. Centuries old palaces and Durazzo portals evidence the splendour of the noble families of Sorrento. Via S. Cesareo, the lively “decumanus”, is the beating heart of the town, with its many-coloured shops, where tourists from every part of the world crowd. But the real architectonic jewel of the town is the fourteenth century Cloister of San Francesco, with crossed tuff arches of Arabian derivation, where the traditional concerts of the “Estate Musicale Sorrentina” take place. Optional lunch. In the early afternoon departure to Herculaneum, a residential town buried in ashes by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 a.D. Guided visit to the archaeological excavations. Herculaneum was destroyed along with Pompeii in 79 AD, and was rediscovered in 1709. Il was e residential town without Pompeii’s commercial importance, surrounded by the villas of wealthy Romans.Wben the catastrophe of 79 AD occurred, Herculaneum was buried by a torrent of mud that hardened into a sof tufa (a kind of course rock) that preserved many of the wooden parts of houses and household objects which can b eseen today. A large portion of old Herculaneum is still buried under the modern town and even today excavations are going on to discover what treasures lie buried under the rock. Return in hotel in the afternoon.
** Clients from European Union under 18 and over 65 are entitled to free admission to State archaeological sites and musums unpon production of a valid identity document.
