Product Description
This pocket-sized full-colour guide is designed for holidaymakers who want to get off the beaten track. Visit Pompei, Vesuvius and the other famous sites in the area or, better still, walk to hillside villages or remote monasteries and be regaled by the most stunning of views all along the way. Sorrento, Amalfi and Capri are wonderful areas for walkers, with inland areas linked to the coastal resorts of the Neapolitan Riviera by ancient footpaths and mule trails. These take you almost from your hotel doorstep up into the lemon groves - or you can just take a bus up into the hills and walk back down to your hotel!The flowers are a constant delight - from broom and rosemary in March to freesias and cistus in May. In autumn, the woods are carpeted with cyclamen. Most of the paths described can be followed easily by people who do not claim to be regular walkers, though committed hikers will like them too. The book has a free on-line update service. It is one of 50 destinations covered in Sunflower's 'Landscapes' - dubbed 'the blue Bibles' by the Sunday Times.
From the Author
If getting under the skin of the "real" Italy tempts you ... read on. A wonderful network of medieval footpaths criss-crosses the Sorrento peninsula and Capri. In no time you can leave the tourist trappings of the towns, enjoy marvellous views, have chance meetings with locals tending their lemon terraces or carrying timber by mule, discover remote chapels, find a fig tree groaning with fruit on the path side, sample a beer or a pasta in a small village piazza, be regaled by orchids, rosemary, cyclamen and countless other wild flowers, and work up an appetite to justify a mighty evening meal. All this comes at the cost of a small guide book and a little effort.
This fifth edition (pub. October 2008) is the product of sixteen years visiting the region, walking the paths and sifting the news from readers who have written in. In that time I have developed the route network to give maximum flexibility for you to choose a walk of just the right length and difficulty. You are helped in planning the walks by the fact that the network is divided into connecting segments, with walk planners to help choose the segments to go into a walk. Many walks are just for strollers. Quite a few of the segments go high into the hills along mountain tracks.
For walkers in the Sorrento - Amalfi region a car tends to hinder rather than help. Parking is a nightmare and often your walk ends up in a different place from the start. Best to use bus or boat, using timetables in this guide book. Quite often you can organise your walks to start right from your hotel doorstep. Despite this homily, some short car tours to out-of-the-way places have been included.
Use the book to organise your own unforgettable walking holiday. Choose a package tour to one of the main resorts, or use the web links and timetables, and advice on public transport to put your own holiday together.
I hope I have whetted your appetite for this splendid region and its lovely walking. Maybe someone who has sampled the walking here will be able to write an Amazon review to help future readers, as reader reviews of earlier editions are not carried across. And whatever your plans, enjoy your walking.
by Michael Leech
by Collectif
