Italy – Naples

Written by: Jessica
Captions by: Diego

We hurried through the Naples airport upon arrival as it was late and we needed to catch a taxi to our hotel. Taxis were ready and waiting, though they claimed the ‘night service’ taxis from the airport are more expensive. Diego haggled a bit, but we still paid more than we really wanted (about USD$35). There wasn’t an alternative as the bus to the city center doesn’t run so late at night. Thus, our only taxi ride in Italy was at 11:30 at night with an absolutely crazy driver (all Italian drivers are crazy).

We sped down the freeway, making quick turns without signals. Once we reached the city, he darted the car through pedestrian filled streets, darting around corners so fast that we were sure we were going to crash—or someone walking on the street would be hit. Our hotel was located in the Spanish Quarter. It’s an old part of the city filled mostly with locals and small businesses, but also hotels and shops to draw tourists in. The roads are just wide enough for two very small cars to fit—if they are literally 4 inches away from each other, and the walls of the building, leaving walkers to dodge between parked cars when a car is coming, because that leaves no room for you to walk! Later during our days there, we were walking to dinner when I had to dodge a car; I looked down and realized my toes were less than 3 inches from the tire. Yikes! Despite our fears, we arrived safely, and quickly checked in.

The next morning, we awoke to snow. There wasn’t a lot, and it melted off fairly quickly.  We weren’t worried about it.

After breakfast at our hotel, we gathered up our laundry and set off.  The snow was 90% melted by this time. However, every laundromat we tried was closed. After a couple tires, we decided to give up on the laundry and just head to the train station. We were planning to go there to purchase our train tickets for Rome for later in the week, and a Campania ArtCard. The ArtCard is a discount card that gives you free admission to two tourist sites, and free trains, for 3 days. After the two free admissions, other sites are discounted up to 50% off.

Upon arrival at the train station, we found out that, the Tourist Information desk was also closed! A gentleman who was nearby, and spoke English well, informed us that the snow had impacted the outskirts of Naples more, due to the hills, and that a lot of things would be closed today. Pompeii and Herculaneum were also closed. And hiking up Vesuvius after a fresh snow fall wouldn’t work: the buses to get you to the start of that walk wouldn’t be running, leaving you with the option of not doing it, or hiking all the way from the nearest train station (unrealistic). The snow changed our day: no laundry, and our afternoon goal (Pompeii) couldn’t be completed either! We did successfully purchase our tickets, so not all was a loss.

On the way back to our hotel we found a couple open dry cleaning and laundry service facilities.  They wanted about $30 for our laundry, we decided against that.  We continued and found an amazing pizza place for lunch.  A personal, authentic pizza for about 7 euros each?  Yum!

We ended up wandering around that afternoon and found a palace to tour. Personally, I thought the entry was the most impressive room.

We exited out and walked around and saw a bit of the harbor. I will say this: the streets were very dirty, we constantly watched our belongings, saw lots of the military protecting the streets (apparently the mafia has been active lately – seriously), and… give any poop a wide birth. We saw a child pooping behind a bush as his mother watched.

That night, we walked through those dangerous Spanish Quarter streets to find a tiny restaurant.  The food was amazing! In fact, we never had a bad meal in the Spanish Quarter and the house wines are generally really good (especially since they’re so cheap).

The next morning was our second attempt for Pompeii. We found our train, which was NOT running on time at all. One was listed as delayed by a full hour, a very common occurrence! Despite that, we didn’t have to wait too long for a train and made it to Pompeii without a problem. We walked around there all morning and found it to be very impressive, although crowded.

That afternoon we traveled back toward the city center and stopped at Herculaneum.  This is a lesser-known area that was buried by Vesuvius at the same time as Pompeii. However, this village was much closer to Vesuvius and was buried much more deeply. The whole excavation site has been dug out and sits well below the more modern city of Naples. It is very interesting to be able to see that aspect of history.

Most people only visit Pompeii, but both sites have their pros and cons.  If you only have time to see one site, Herculaneum is closer to the city and will show you some very interesting things. But, if you want to see the casts of the victims, those will be in Pompeii. Pompeii is much more crowded than Herculaneum, but much larger, and the price is about the same.  Most of the finds from those two cities are actually at the museum in Naples, which we weren’t able to see due to the snow derailing our plans.  We could have gone on the snow day, instead of the following, except that was the day of the week it is always closed. If you have limited time, I might advise spend an hour and a half at Herculaneum, and then go to the museum. Best, of course, is to see all three!

After another delicious dinner that was also extremely cheap, we headed to bed. Our train to Rome was scheduled for bright and early the next morning.