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Published: October 6th 2009
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I am sitting in the hostel common room in Naples. I've already checked out but they were cool enough to let me chill until I have to catch my train. I am taking the night train to Venice so that I don't have to pay for a hostel tonight. I will arrive in Venice around 7am tomorrow. It has been an adventurous last few days. I am not a fan of Napoli at all. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The streets are covered in dog poo and graffiti and the city is boring. I think that Venice will be much better.
Sunday included getting on the wrong train to Pompeii and walking for 2 hours, exploring the ruins and finding a great little pizza joint. Tessa and I set out about 11am to catch the train to Pompeii which should only be 20 minute ride. Apparently there are 2 trains that run in the same direction, one takes you to Pompeii, the other....somewhere else. We ended up somewhere else and walked for 2 hours back to Pompeii. There wasn't a train to take and very few people along the way to ask for directions. We figured we would just
walk back the same way we came. We got wrong directions from one guy and had to backtrack about 300 meters. We finally arrived at the Pompeii site and grabbed some gelatto. We entered and spent the next few hours just taking it all in. Luckily, the train returning to Napoli left from just across the street! We waited for the train for almost an hour (since it was Sunday) and returned back to Napoli.
We headed back towards the hostel and got hungry so we stopped into a small Pizzeria called Oasis. It was a family run quaint little place that was very reasonable. Nobody spoke English, but by now I am used to it. I have picked up more phrases in Italian than I could ever imagine before my trip. I had the "Diavola" pizza and wine. We finished our meal and settled into the hostel common room to watch Braveheart with some of the other backpackers. It was a good day, exhausting, but good.
Monday, we decided, was a beach day. I use the term "beach" loosely because it was just rocks that people lay out on. We took the train to Sorrento, transferred to
the bus and walked down the trail to the waterfront. There were some fisherman on one side of the cove and sunbathers on the other. We scoped out our spots and took a dip. I spent a relaxing day reading and sunbathing. I brought some snacks with, an apple and a few pastries I bought from the market earlier that day. We decided we should start trekking back to catch out train into Napoli. We decided to walk back instead of catching the bus. The train ride was nice, there was an older Italian businessman who wanted to talk with us and kept us company. We returned to the hostel to find that the beds filled up quickly while we were away. There were 4 Italian guys who came up from Sicily for the night and wanted to share their wine and fig cookies with everyone. Two Norwegian girls who are on their way to South America next and have a great sense of humor. We watched a few movies and just hung out in the common room at the hostel. It was a fun night of connecting with other travelers.
Today I packed up my things and I
am getting ready to catch the train to Venice. I will be there for a week or so before moving onto Cinque Terre.
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Beverly Snyder
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Back in the day
Glad you are getting such a rich diversity in your travel. Napoli was settled by the Greeks and, I believe, the Mafia originated there or at least was very strong there for many years. It is a very poor place now, as you and I saw when there. I was surprised by all the graffiti everywhere in Italy, especially on the trains. It is some very talented artwork. Do you agree? Did you have some Gypsies on the trains playing music for money? I believe the only saving grace for Napoli is the Pompeii Museum which houses valuable artifacts from the ruins. Did you find GIANT lemons in Sorrento? I loved that place. It was just carefree I thought. You are having a great experience. Keep it up and kudos for making so many personal connections!! I didn't get to Venice so am excited to hear about your experience there.