Where do we start with Italy? So far we've been here for a bit over a week and we are yet to be won over by this country. There are some great things about it, but also some terrible things. But more on that in a minute.

We drove into Italy from Switzerland, which I guess is going to provide any traveller with a bit of a culture-shock. Coming from the amazingly rugged, colourful, beautiful and organized place that is Switzerland into Italy was bizarre. We hadn't got more than an hour into the country before the landscape became dry, almost barren looking. And what we saw of the west coast down to Naples was all like that. There were still farms growing lush, green corn but they were islands amongst the dust.

The east coast has been much greener and far more picturesque so far. We spent a couple of days sunning ourselves on a beach at Marina de San Salvo. A small tourist town, with lots of Italians on holidays taking their tanning very seriously indeed. Very seriously. (We found oursleves completely out of step with the Italians' daily routines though. The beach is packed in the morning, everyone is there. We trundle off to lunch at about 12.30 and when we return they're all leaving for their lunch. 3 or 4 hours later some of the keen ones return for some more sun shortly before we head off for dinner. Later we're trying to sleep while the whole town rouses to drive past our van repeatedly.)

Rome was not what I expected. I somehow thought it would be a bit more glamourous and a bit fuller. The ruins take up a lot of space very close to the centre of the city so my first impression was of the place being unfinished or under construction. The ruins were magnificent though. The Colosseum was something to behold as were the Palatine hill, the Palaces and the Forum. It was great to see it all up close in person after studying it throughout school and at uni.

And then Pompeii. Not impressive in the same way as the Colosseum but astounding because of how intact it is. The sheds full of unbroken pottery, petrified people and animals. The bakeries with original flour mills and ovens ready to use. It was amazing and good fun to wander around the streets of a 2000 year old town.

Something else that is amazing and good fun is driving a largish vehicle here. One afternoon after a lovely swim at Sorrento, where the water was ridiculously warm, we took a little drive further around the peninsular to find a place to stop for the night. Indulge me by trying to imagine this. Coastal road. High up – basically cliff edge. Low stone wall between car and the edge. Narrow road. Two large vehicles (eg, bus and camper) passing each other is tight – bus driver obliges by yelling something at us that did not get lost in translation. Blind hairpin corners. Italians parking wherever they feel like. Mel likened that 2 hours of driving to one of those puzzles that have one free space for you to slide all the pieces around. That is just what it was like.

Italians' driving is something to behold. We've driven though the centre of many towns, even Naples, and it doesn't matter where they are, if they feel like doing something, they just do it. They'll stop in the middle of the road to chat with a friend who is walking past, they'll double park, turn their hazard lights on and then walk away from their car (apparently if your put your hazard lights on then you can do anything), they do not let people merge and they definitely don't stop for pedestrians if they can help it. Certainly makes things interesting.

Italy has provided us with plenty of little stories, like the cop who stopped us on the highway and told me that Mel is “a very beautiful lady,” in the classic, slightly sleazy Italian way. But the biggest impression it's made on us is not a good one. There is just so much rubbish. Some of the big cities around Europe have been full of buildings going grey and dirty from pollution, but nowhere has it been like this. I have never seen so much rubbish outside a tip, ever. It is absolutely disgraceful. It's all over the roadsides, in the streets, at the beach (to a lesser extent). We went to a lake outside Rome, where the Pope has his summer residence, to have a swim. There was a grassy, gravelly area at the waters edge where people could spread out a towel and sit. But the whole area was strewn with rubbish. It was a really beautiful spot but not at all inviting.

But then there is the food.  The guide that took us through Palatine hill and the palaces gave us directions to a strip of restaurants/delis in a town outside of Rome.  We sat and ate our way through a delicious antipasto platter in about 2 hours.  It was huge and so very good. 

I'm not sure if we'll be able to come to a final decision about Italy, but it sure has been interesting.