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Published: April 21st 2012
Having failed to find any budget accommmodation in Rome due to the Champions League football final being held there on wednesday night, I ended up taking an intercity train straight through Rome and all the way down to Napoli (Naples) in the south of Italy (saturday 23rd May). Once there I was faced with a twenty minute walk through the winding backstreets of the city centre to my hostel for the weekend, a small place called 'Giovanni's Home' - which according to the ratings and reviews on Hostelworld was about as close to hostelling perfection as possible. And sure enough, just as I stopped to check the map in my Lonely Planet for about the seventeenth time, I heard a voice coming from across the street, calling my name...
Now for anyone who has never stayed in a backpackers hostel before - and even for those who have - it might be hard to believe what happened next... Not only did Giovanni gather me from the street, sit me down and offer me a much-needed cup of water; he also politely asked me if he could provide me with some information about Napoli, which he then spent the next half-an-hour
Noisy neighbour
Vesuvius looming ominously across the Bay of Naplesdoing - covering everything from local history to tourist information to current crime rates! And then after drawing me a detailed map of the city - including which areas not to venture into under any circumstances (the Spanish quarter, for anyone who's interested) he then showed me to my room before parting with the words 'you can pay me later - oh, and I'm cooking dinner for everyone tonight'!
So after following Giovanni's directions precisely for what was an excellent introduction to the city - albeit one that redefines the word 'frenzy' - I sat down to a most enjoyable meal (pasta, of course) that was followed by a good old-fashoined sing-along, as Giovanni tried to teach us some local southern Italian tunes (including one particularly catchy number that turned out to be an old advertising jingle for the local funicular railway service!). And not only was I then able to play a couple of songs myself on Giovanni's guitar, I was even able to impress a couple of the girls with my singing voice! (Needless to say, they had a few red wines under their belts by this stage of the night...)
Having made some new friends
City where time stands still
The excavated ruins of Pompeii already, I had agreed to visit the archeological ruins at Pompeii (which for the uninitiated was buried - and subsequently preserved - by an eruption of the nearby volcano Vesuvius in 79ad) with a Chilean guy, an Austrian girl, and a beautiful Italian brunette the following day; which by the way had nothing to do with the Italian girl's looks... at least in theory! So after somehow finding our way from the hostel to the metro station; then to the central train station; and then finally to the circumvesuviana station; we finally arrived at Pompeii - where we spent the entire afternoon exploring the remnants of what had been a thriving Roman community.
The following morning I was at the port by half-past-seven in the morning in time for the first ferry of the day to the Isola di Capri (Isle of Capri). Now for someone who has camped on Fraser Island and sailed through the Whitsunday Islands, it takes quite a lot to impress me when it comes to islands these days; yet I would have to say that Capri ranks right up there with the most beautiful places that I have ever been to. So much so,
in fact, that after spending a full ten hours exploring the island before taking a ferry to the town of Sorrento where I was booked in for the night, I then ditched my plans to spend the next day checking out the Amalfi Coast (reputedly one of the most picturesque stretches of coastline in Italy, if not all of Europe) and instead took a ferry straight back to Capri!
So after getting off on slightly the wrong foot by indulging in what turned out to be my most expensive breakfast ever - 18 euros (about $35AUD) for a sandwich, a slice of pizza and a cappuccino - my two days on Capri began with a full lap of the island by motorboat; which included a stop-off at the world famous La Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto), where an extra ten euros could buy a five-minute visit inside the grotto by rowboat - the only way of getting into or out of the cave since the opening is only about four feet in diameter! The rest of the first day was spent exploring the island - somewhat foolishly - on foot; since despite the mountainous nature of the island I refused
High above Capri
Looking down over Capri, late in the afternoon to use the little orange buses that ran from the harbour to first one town and then the other (there being only two towns on the island - Capri and Anacapri).
And to make matters worse, after working up a hell of a sweat walking from one side of the island to the other over the mountainous spine that runs through the middle, I finally found the perfect beach at which to relieve my aching feet - only to discover it was a private beach belonging to the adjoining restaurant who charge eight euros for use of the beach! Then after continuing on foot for another fifteen minutes to the nearest public beach, I was about to throw myself into the water when I suddenly realized that not one of the other hundred or so people at the beach were actually in the water - at which point I noticed the water was littered with little jellyfish! Goddammit!! So off I went back up the hill and over to the harbour side of the island again, where I was finally able to indulge in the magnificent clear water before basking contentedly on a lovely little pebble-strewn beach!
Arriving
High above Capri
Looking down over Capri, early the next morning back on Capri the next day, I started out with a hike to the eastern end of the island where I first took a look around Villa Lysis, before checking out the 2000-year-old ruins of Villa Jovis - where the Emperor Tiberius used to 'enjoy the company' of young boys, before tossing them off the cliff when he was done with them! After taking lunch and relaxing on the beach for a while, I then wisely took a bus up past Capri and onto Anacapri - which turned out to be a hair-raising journey through a series of hairpin turns hewn into the side of an almost sheer cliff! From Anacapri I was able to see the Chiesa San Michele (Church of Saint Michael), where the entire floor is covered in a mural depicting Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden; before taking a chairlift up to the summit of Monte Solaro, the highest point on the island at almost six-hundred metres above sea level.
Returning to Anacapri, I decided to take a bus to the Grotta Azzurra in the hope of finding a rowboat operator who would allow me to swim inside the cave - since
Floating on the horizon
Looking back towards the Amalfi coast from Capri the lady at my hostel in Sorrento the previous night had told me it was not only possible, but an unforgettable experience! Appropriately enough though, no sooner had I arrived on the scene than the last tourist boat left - along with the three remaining rowboat operators! But then just as I was standing there contemplating whether or not to ignore the sign forbidding anyone to swim inside the cave, along came another tourist boat with about fifteen people onboard - all of whom dove straight into the water and made a beeline for the grotto!
So without any further hesitation I hurled myself into the water and followed them through the entrance to the cave, where I then spent an awestruck fifteen minutes or so paddling around inside. To give you an idea of why it is so magical, the cave would probably be about forty metres long, thirty metres wide and ten metres high (at a guess I would say the water is about five metres deep); and with the only natural light inside the cave coming from an opening no more than four feet in diameter, then being reflected off the sandy bottom and through the
Grand palace
Royal Palace at Caserta water - causing the water to glow a perfect turquoise colour, while the rest of the cave is blanketed in total darkness! Really nothing I have ever seen can compare to that beautiful sight - not even Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island or Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island; it really is that special!
And of all the places on earth that you could meet a cute girl, surely the Blue Grotto would have to be one of the most unlikely; yet that's what happened when I got into a conversation with a girl named Vicki as we were both treading water inside the cave! And where do you think she was from? The same place as me, of course... Brisbane!
Having returned like the prodigal son to Giovanni's Home in Napoli, I once again tucked into a delicious home-made dinner (pasta with chickpeas this time) courtesy of 'Mama' Giovanni; before setting off the next day to see the palace and grounds of the Palazzo Reale in nearby Caserta. Apparently the palace was built by the bourbon royal family as their answer to Versailles in France; and despite being located on the edge of a nondescript little town, the
Ribbon of turquoise
The seemingly never-ending water feature at Caserta building itself consists of over 1200 rooms - only a fraction of which I was able to see during my visit. More impressive still, however, were the grounds behind the palace, which stretch for more than three kilometres in a straight line and feature several impressive and elaborate fountains which spill into long fish ponds; all of which is fed by a spring inside a hill at the far end of the grounds from which the rushing water forms a cascade eighty metres long down the face of the slope leading to the first of the fountains.
Returning to Napoli and bidding a fond farewell to Giovanni, I was then off to the harbour to take an overnight ferry to Palermo on the north coast of Sicily - the island off Italy's south-western tip, and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Thankfully, having placed a hundred dollar bet on Barcelona to beat Manchester United in that evening's Champions League football final in Rome - the reason I had not been able to find any budget accommodation there this week - I was able to watch the game live in the on-board tv room, which despite seating sixty people
Sicilian skyline
Approaching Palermo on the overnight ferry from Napoli was standing-room-only by the opening whistle! And not only was the game a most entertaining affair, but Barcelona's two-nil victory paid for the cost of my fare!
Having left Napoli at half-past-eight in the evening (just after sunset), we arrived in Palermo at seven o'clock in the morning on thursday, at which point I checked into my hostel, dumped my bags, and set out to explore the city - which like Napoli is controlled by the Mafia, and full of homicidal motorists and stray dogs! Perhaps the only point of real note was the Duomo in nearby Monreale, whose entire ceiling is covered in gilded mosaics depicting scenes from the bible - including everything from the creation of the universe, to the Garden of Eden, to Noah's Ark!
Friday I somehow managed to miss my train from Palermo to Messina - despite getting to the platform on time - and was then charged for a second ticket when I took the following train two hours later, because apparently my original ticket wasn't valid on the following train! All of which meant that when I finally got off another train four hours later at the station in Taormina, I
Theater with a view
Ruined Roman theater overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Taormina had not even one euro cent left in my wallet with which to take a bus up the hill to the actual township - resulting in a one-hour hike, uphill all the way, while fully weighed down with about thirty kilograms worth of bags hanging from my shoulders! Not one of my better travel experiences, I must say.
Worse still was that for the first time since I had arrived in Italy two weeks ago the weather had turned bad, which spelt disaster for me considering that my plans for the weekend consisted of nothing more than taking a cable car down to the beach and relaxing on a little island (Isola di Bella) that is attached to the centre of the beach by a narrow strip of sand, which I had glimpsed from the train on the way into Taormina. Admittedly the sun had come out shortly before dusk, leaving me hopeful that the following day would bring a return to the sunny weather I had come to expect.
Sure enough though, when I awoke on the saturday morning the sky was a clear blue, so I jumped out of bed, had a quick shower, and then
Ecclesiastical treasure
Cathedral and square in Catania returned to my room not twenty minutes later to find to my horror that the blue sky had disappeared and been replaced by only grey clouds - a cruel joke if ever there was one! So apart from checking out the ruins of a spectacularly located Roman amphitheatre on the edge of town that looks straight down over the Sicilian coastline, the highlight of my day was being able to watch the English FA Cup football final at an Irish pub in town; though even then the team I had backed managed to lose despite scoring a goal within the first thirty seconds!
Sadly I had to leave Taormina on sunday, without ever seeing the best of the town, to take a bus one hour down the south-eastern coast of Sicily to Catania. And unfortunately being a sunday the buses were running less frequently than usual, so I missed out on seeing the ruins of a former Greek city in Syracuse another hour further to the south; while even more disappointing was the fact that I had missed out on doing a tour of Mount Etna - the largest live vocano in Europe and one of the most active
Black rock beach
The gentle curve of Aci Castello's rocky shoreline in the world - which I had barely seen despite going straight past it on the bus from Taormina to Catania.
On the bright side though, by the time I had checked into my hostel in Catania and set off for a wander around the city, the sun had come out; so I was able to jump on a local bus to a place called Aci Costello just outside of the City, where there was a beach made up of black boulders and black sand - quite a novelty for someone from Australia who is used to kilometre after kilometre of white sand beaches! And with an old lady in an ice-cream van selling double-scoop ice creams for one euro each, I was almost in heaven! Better still, when I got back to my hostel the bar/restaurant next door was putting on live music and a free dinner buffet - so all I had to do was buy myself a beer and I could stuff myself silly with all manner of Italian food! Ah, the sacrifices one has to make whilst travelling!
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