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Published: April 29th 2007
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Portici
Old train station near where I was staying So Naples, what can I say about Naples, well it is true, what people say, it is dirty, full of graffiti and you really have to keep on your purse/wallet! I actually don’t have a lot to say on Naples, because the city itself did nothing for me!
I made the choice (the right one too) to stay out of the city centre. Thanks to a couple of fellow travellers I was soon able to decipher the mass of numbers that made up the train timetable and was soon on my way, following the instructions of the tourist info guy to get to my hostel! WELL……….about an hour and a half later after 3 phone calls to the hostel, having to ask 5 people for directions and hoping the drops of rain falling didn’t turn into a massive downpour I finally found the hostel, and it’s actually the best place I have stayed in yet (still have quite a few to go though!) it’s pretty much brand new and really modern and extremely clean. Got lucky on my second night when I had the room to myself, finally had a decent night sleep after 3 nights of really bad
Self portrait
The Pompeii forum and Mt Vesuvius behind snorers! For those of you interested I really recommend staying at the Fabric hostel and club (in Portici) if you really have to stay around Naples.
Pompeii was the only reason I headed down to Naples, have been dreaming of going there since who knows how long, and it was so worth the trip. It was on the same train line as where I’m staying, so that was great, and it turns out, when you go the right way it only takes 10 mins to walk there from the hostel! Ok back to Pompeii, absolutely amazing, I had no concept of how big it really is till I got there, you need a minimum of 4 hours to see everything, they have excavated most of the town, it’s quite huge, there is the forum, temples, public baths, amphitheatre, gladiator barracks, a coliseum like thing (can’t think of the word right now!) and more! There are still many frescoes that have been left in place as well as mosaics, you can see the drains on the side of the roads, the grooves from all the carts that travelled the roads, you can drink from the same fountains as the people
of Pompeii. It really brings to life how the people of the Roman empire lived! It’s amazing. You can also see just how close Vesuvius is, and by seeing the plaster casts left from the bodies of the victims, just how terrifying the volcanic eruption would have been.
Today I ventured into the city, and let me remind you that I have just come from Venice, so I had yet to experience the Italian roads, and I think after today, I can survive the worst of them! As soon as you come out of the station it is pandemonium! There are cars everywhere, in every direction, I couldn’t even figure out which direction to walk to begin with, so I picked the easiest street and just started walking, it took me ages to get my bearings because the streets are really horribly marked (if at all). But I had an aim and it was the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (in english that would be the National Archaeological Museum! Haha) and it contains all the artefacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum. It was not quite what I expected, but interesting none the less! After that I started exploring the city, and there
With Steph and Sarah
Eating the BEST pizza ever. Our fav had spinach and sausage (seriously!) wasn’t really all that much that interested me, so I pretty much ended up walking in circles feeling as if I had wasted that day, and wished I had just gone down to the Amalfi coast instead.
The day was not over! When I got back to the hostel I had two new Aussie roommates, who were in need of some food just as much as me! So we joined forces and started hunting for the 3 euro pizza their guide book assured us was available, this pizza proved elusive, but after a generous lift by some locals (we figured with the 3 of us it should be safe enough) and a fresh outlook (we were so hungry it didn’t matter about cost anymore) we ended up at this great little family run pizzeria where I ate the best pizza of my life! It consisted of fresh tomato sauce, spinach, sausage and cheese, weird as! I know, but AMAZING!
So that’s it for Napoli! Next stop Florence
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