Viva Italia - Pompeii and All That Jazz ...

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01 - 05 - 08

Finally managed to meet everybody else is in my dorm; the only problem is im leaving now, typical! That night I went out and caught the football; the Chelsea Liverpool match in an Irish pub called the Black Duke by the Spanish Steps. I figured this was as good as place as any to meet some fellow travelers, started chatting to a few Dutch guys who were sitting on the table next to me, asking where they had been and where they were going, the one thing I did find out was that nobody was going out after the football. Had 3 pints of Guinness and watched Liverpool lose 3-1. What I didn’t relise was that the metro shut fairly early so when I made my way back to the metro station it was shut. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I had remembered to bring the map out with me .DUH!!! ... I just about remembered the route that the tour bus had taken to get back to the central train station earlier on that day. So I started to walk blindly across Rome, stopping off to make sure I was going the right direction; once or twice some friendly people put me back on the straight and narrow.

Eventually I got back to the bus stop which I took to get down to my hostel; I hurriedly checked the timetable to make sure I hadn’t missed the last bus ... I had! I was wondering what I was going to do, I didn’t have a map or the address of the hostel; these had been left on my bed. I decided to wait for 5 minutes hoping that Roman buses are as late as London buses are, I waited and waited and finally, a stroke of luck when the bus turned up late. I was thanking my lucky stars!!!!

Left early to catch the train which I found out was delayed, so I just sat down and waited ... killing time. Eventually got onto the train and to be honest the journey was largely uneventful; the most eventful thing that happened was that I got talking to some American girls who were catching the train down to the Sorrento, we got off at Naples and said our byes and went our separate ways

The second leg of my trip began with me making my way down to the Metro station and found what I belived to be the right platform though the sign said that the next metro was going to Rome?!?!? I asked the guards at the other end of the platform; I just about understood that they were saying that this should've been the right platform. I walked past these 2 girls who were speaking English and asked the same question I got the same answer. We started talking and the girls asked if I had eaten yet; which i hadn’t and we all went and got a pizza to share. It turned out that the girls were Aussie girls studying in Ireland and Austria respectively. We waited for the next train to pull up and jumped on; I asked the girls what their plans were for the next couple of days, they told me that they were going up to Pompeii; they also told me that they were both studying history at there universities. I asked if they didn’t mind if I just tagged along with them; they didn’t mind so we exchanged numbers as they jumped off at there stop.

I was quite alarmed to find my hostel was up a great great big hill (not good when you are drunk!) It just happened to be a bank holiday today (well planned!) so everything was closed; I ended up simply walking around the Bay Of Naples, its like Brighton just a little more warmer

02 - 05 - 08 Naples

The girls texted me back during the course of the night telling me to meet them at 8 at Piazza Garibaldi, the lower level of the train station. I fell asleep, waking up late. I ran down to the train station and jumped on my train to Piazza Garibaldi; after all that running I made it just after 8 and there was no sign of them. I waited for an hour and then I just decided to go by myself; so i walked upstairs and brought a ticket for the Circumvesuviana trains that go to Pompeii. After buying my ticket I went back downstairs to where I thought that the Circumvesuviana trains left and who did I see ... the Aussie girls, they apologized for being late and we went back upstairs to buy their tickets.

We jumped onto the train and talked about our past trips; the girls had traveled across South America by car and had loads of interesting stories, we got off at Pompeii and walked about looking at preserved bodies, artworks and the buildings. Like I said Kea and Sophie were both history students so they found it fascinating; I wasn’t so into it but still enjoyed the day, quite happily wondering around. We caught the train home and at Pompeii station we met Juan; who was Kea and Sophie's roomie, we started chatting and it turned out that he was going to go and have a wonder round Napoli's football ground. We jumped on the train towards to ground and when we got off there it was; we both took a few photos and then wondered round the outside, we both wondered if they did stadium tours, we both wanted to do one but couldn’t see any where to buy a ticket. This guy came out of a door and Juan went up to him and started to talk to him in Spanish; the next thing I know we are being let into the stadium for free! We spend about 15 minutes sitting there taking photos and talking about Maradona and his performances for Napoli who he used to play for. Juan is Argentinan after all!

That night we went to a pizzeria by the station, it looked like nothing special but Juan assured me that this was one of Naples best kept secrets. It was a pizzeria that the mainly locals eat at. We got there and had to take a raffle ticket as it was rammed and there was a load of people hanging around outside; sitting on the pavement. I went in and brought 4 bottles of Peroni for 4 Euros. Bargain! We waited outside for a couple of hours; simply drinking to num the pain of sitting outside for so long. When we got in it was so worth the wait, they may have been the best pizza I have ever had! They only did 2 types, which meant that they did them exceptional well! Inside we got chatting to a Chinese couple who had been travel round Africa teaching, we simply listened to there stories as we had our pizza’s.

03 - 05 - 08

That morning, after trying to find out where the bus left from the station to go to the airport I caught the Circumvesuviana to Ercolano to climb Mt. Vesuvius. I got off the train at Ercolano and jumped into a minibus that was doing a tour there. It took us part of the way up, when we got out the driver informed us that we had 2 hours; when we needed to be back at the minibus. I started to take a steady stroll up the dirt track leading up to the top; stopping every now and again to take in the stunning views and take a photo or two! I reached the top in 35 minutes, so I brought a can of coke and sat down on a bench admiring the view at the top extending across the Bay Of Naples thinking I was on top of the world! I looked at my watch and was horrified to see that I only had 20 minutes to get my ass to the bottom before the minibus left. I was the last in the minibus, making it by a matter of minutes! The driver dropped us off where he had picked us up and I wondered around Ercolano; drinking coffee in the sunshine! I was standing on the platform toying with the idea of going down to Sorrento but really I didn’t have enough time to do it justice so I decided against it. Once back at my hostel; I packed and just chilled out in the knowledge that tomorrow I would be back in London ...

04 - 05 - 08

Woke up late and rushed down to the metro station. Missed the metro into the centre of Naples so I had to wait 15 minutes for the next one. There wasn’t any real rush to get to the airport but since I couldn’t find the airport bus I wanted to allow myself plenty of time. I wondered around the main piazza; in between all the buses going to various places in Italy, however I just still couldn’t find the airport bus! It wasn’t until I wondered around the corner did I find the bus stop for the airport bus tucked away! Waited for about an hour for the bus; the journey itself took all of 15 minutes ... just got to wait for the flight home now!

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Photos

Waiting For Pizza
This is waiting for food does to a man!

Bay Of Naples
What a stunning view!