To Napoli...and Beyond!

FRIDAY: Pompeii, Vesuvius, and Pizza
We woke up relatively early and caught an SITA bus from Naples to Pompeii. We arrived around 9:45 AM, which should've made us about 45 minutes "late" but in fact made us 45 minutes early. LP had the ruins opening at 8:30, but they actually opened at 10:30. We clearly weren’t the only ones with the wrong intel; there were about 100+ tourists waiting outside the gates when we got there. So we spent our extra time milling around the over-priced souvenir stands, and Ally and I bought cheap guidebooks to help us out. But holding these guidebooks didn’t save us from being accosted by several “licensed” tour guides outside the gates. They were quite relentless, but we weren’t fooled thanks to LP.

Once inside, we immediately walked as far away from the tour groups and masses of people as we possibly could. It was lovely to wander the ruins in quiet rather than in chaos. We checked out various buildings—baths, houses, temples, bakeries, brothels, etc. We also walked out beyond the city walls to two suburban villas—the Villa of Mysteries and the Villa of Diomedes. I enjoyed these a lot. The former had wonderfully preserved floor mosaics and wall paintings. The latter was a massive multi-story complex with a wonderful garden area. To think how beautiful it was before!

We also stopped by the Garden of Fugitives, where impressions of thirteen victims were found preserved in the ashes. They had all suffocated while trying to escape. Casts were taken and lined up in the garden as they were found. Seeing them definitely puts a more human face on the tragedy that befell Pompeii.

Did I mention the weather yet? No, I don’t think I did. Well, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We all shed as many layers as we could. We’d had lovely weather our first two days in Rome, but the sun felt a bit warmer down in the Bay of Napoli. Anyway, after a few hours wandering about Pompeii, we finally exited and got some lunch. We really could have stayed the whole day, but we were anxious to visit Mt. Vesuvius and had to catch the last bus to the top.

We couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit an "active" volcano (last activity: 1944). But the bus only took us so far; we had to climb the last two kilometers ourselves. The bus ride itself was an adventure; the road winds and climbs up a narrow road. The driver had to honk the horn to warn oncoming traffic as we approached particuarly narrow corners, which is about every other turn. Now I have a pretty strong stomach, but even I was feeling a bit carsick toward the end. The bus made a temporary stop (aka a "shopping opportunity"), where we were given a brief history of Vesuvius. I bought a postcard and got it specially stamped.

The final climb was no picnic, but we managed it without much trouble. The top itself was mostly rock and mist (no swirling lava, which is fine by me), but we had fun climbing around and taking pictures. It was hard finding someone competent enough to take a decent picture of the three of us so we had to resort to using our timers. As I scurried over to join the girls in my photo (which can be seen in my photoset), I very nearly slid and fell down the side of the mountain. Now *that* would've been quite a story!

After walking back down to our bus, we bought some Vesuvian wine from a vendor. I brought it back with me in my pack; we plan to share it sometime over the next few weeks. As we waited for our bus to leave, I finally let myself read the part in which Vesuvius erupts in "Pompeii," a historical fiction book that covers a four-day span before, during, and after its most famous eruption in 79 AD. Am I a dork or what? (Don't answer that.)

Our trip back to Naples was uneventful. We had a delicious dinner at a pizzeria near our hostel. The pizza was excellent, but I expected no less from the town where it was invented.

SATURDAY: Buses and Beaches
The week was catching up with us so we took our time on Saturday morning. We got our bags packed and ready for our flight home and had a leisurely breakfast at our hostel. Our hostel in Naples—Hostel of the Sun--was great. If every you need a cheap, clean place to stay in Naples, I highly recommend it.

It was back to the SITA bus stop, but this time we were catching one to Amalfi. The Amalfi Coast is legendary for its beauty—blue waters, pastel-colored houses built into the sides of mountain. We were excited to just sit on a beach for a bit and relax. Here’s a map I stole from Rick Steves to help illustrate our day:



Our bus ride took us across the the peninsula so Salerno, where we then started along the coastal road back toward Amalfi. To call this a winding road would be quite the understatement. I swear all the winding tripled the distance between towns. It was a beautiful drive. We finally reached Amalfi around noon. The weather was nice so we grabbed sandwiches, chips, and drinks and had a little picnic on the beach. Then we soaked up the sun for a bit and splashed around (briefly) in the Mediterranean. After drying off and checking out the city square, it was time for our final gelato of the trip. On such a special occasion, only a large will do!

It was time to return to Naples, so we got on the next bus to Sorrento. Once again, our bus wound along the coastal road. We saw several gorgeous towns along the way, including Positano, which is often filmed for movies. I can only imagine how lovely it is to wake up and look upon such places in the glowing sun.

From Sorrento we caught the Circumvesuviana train back to Naples. We picked up our bags at the hostel, hopped the shuttle to the airport and were on our way home! Well, it didn’t go quite that smoothly. Unfortunately, Ally and I had to check our backpacks), which neither of us had to do on the way to Italy. Then our plane was delayed over an hour and there was no food in our gate area. But finally, around 10:30 PM we landed at London Stanstead. We breezed through customs (one situation in which being from a non-EU country is helpful), grabbed our bags quick as we could and got the train back into central London. We were lucky to catch the last Tube of the night and immediately went to McDonald’s for some much-needed sustenance. Never before has a cheeseburger value meal tasted so good!

Here's the final photoset. Next up: Amsterdam!