NAPLES, POMPEII AND AMALFI

Naples from the castle museum

November 2012

I have become a bit lazy when it comes doing blogs while travelling and have been recording the trips on Facebook instead. But however I have decided to write up this blog on the Rome trip albeit rather late.

Trains between Rome and Naples are very numerous and can be booked on   http://www.trenitalia.com , the Italian rail company. I have word of caution here as it is probably better to go to the Roma Termini station and get familiar with the automatic ticket dispensers because prices vary immensely according to timings and speed of the trains. (12 to 30 Eu) Much better to get one or two days before the journey. 

From Naples to Pompeii, Sorrento or Salerno,  Circumvesuviana (www.vesuviana.it) is the local train service which is very reasonably priced. These trains depart from the same station that you arrive in from Rome. 

Just one of the hilly Naples streets

For some people Naples is perhaps a bit daunting with its loud bustling mass of humanity, but I found it exciting an interesting. It is possible to escape up to the castle where there is a museum and superb views overlooking the city with Vesuvius as the backdrop. One day, some say, that sleeping giant will explode back into life and if the wind happens to be in the right direction, Naples could suffer the same as Pompeii did 2000 years ago. Naples has an evacuation plan for such an event and because of Naples' huge population, Vesuvius is classed as one of the most dangerous volcanoes. I stayed at a good hostel just behind the Naples museum called 'Welcome Inn' for 16 Euro a night, which is listed in hostelbookers.com

A typical street with stepping stones in Pompeii

Pompeii is little more than 30 minutes on the Circumvesuviana train and the entrance is just a few minutes from Pompeii Scavi station. Try to give your self plenty of time at this uninhabited town because its quite large and a great place to just wander. There is an excellent free guide book/map available but when I was there it seemed you had to ask for it. 

I stayed in the 'Easy Bed Pompeii Hostel', really a guest house, which is only about 15 minutes walk from the entrance to Pompeii. It should be found in hostelbookers.com but I would think it will be a lot more expensive in high season, than I paid (19 Eu per night) in the off season. But an excellent place to stay, including a swimming pool. They were charging 12 Eu for an evening meal but if you want to buy food at a much more reasonable price there is a Carrefour supermarket on the road leading to the town. Another word of caution is that the restaurants around the Pompeii entrance are rip offs, including table and service charges. I had a feeling that the still alive and kicking mafia had got some influence here. 

Restoration of a well preserved mosaic at Herculaneum

Not very far from Pompeii is Herculaneum which is easily reached on the local train from Pompeii Scavi. Due to differences in the ash cloud, this small settlement is somewhat better preserved. You might not need so much time to see it. 

The Bay of Naples from Vesuvius.

There are regular buses from Pompeii to take you up the side of Vesuvius. When it drops you off, its about 20 minutes walk up to the rim of the volcano. There are clouds of steam venting from the sides within the crater just to prove there is still some life in this harbinger death and devastation. Some transport tickets include the admission fee to the crater but others don't.  

The marina at Salerno

Salerno is a port town south of Pompeii. There isn't too much to say about it but it is a good starting place to explore the Amalfi coast. Before I go onto Amalfi, I stayed at the cheap hostel 'Koine' in Salerno which I find hard to describe and definitely not to be recommended. 

Amalfi

This is the place I liked the best on this trip in Southern Italy. It can be accessed from either Sorrento or Salerno by bus. It lies about 30 km west of Salerno along a stunningly beautiful coastal road. The town rising up the surrounding hillsides is a warren of very narrow corridors and a joy to explore. Of course there are lots of cafes and pizza restaurants. Pizzas are not my normal choice of food but here, and many other places in this area, they were far better than anywhere else. 

An Amalfi street!

Here the trip finishes and it still lingers in my memory as a very pleasurable one. The only black spot was my choice of hostel in Salerno but there isn't much of a choice in that town. It is better to make Naples a base to explore all the sights here. The local trains and buses make this area very easy to travel in. 
Another hint is, if you are flying from Rome as I did, check out the terravision site for buses to the airport. They leave the airport or Roma Termini station frequently at a cost of about 6 Eu. I made my reservations on the Internet and the return price from Rome was a little over 3 Euro. 

Breakfast. The best thing about Salerno.

ROME FOR THE FIRST TIME

November 2012

I don't know how I had missed it for so long, but Rome has finally been done. Unfortunately, this isn't a live blog as all this happened almost 2 weeks ago. Better late than never I suppose.



View Larger Map
As you can see the route doesn't involve a huge amount of travelling but it does cover some interesting places. 

Wednesday October 31st

Landed absolutely on time in Rome which gave me about ten minutes to catch the Terravision shuttle bus to the city centre. ( www.terravision.eu ) It was imperative to catch this late bus as the last one of the day would be another hour. Anyway, it all ended happily as I entered the gates of the huge camping area out to the west of the centre.

Of course no one should go to Rome without seeing this, especially when its free admission for people of a certain age. 

Nothing like the number of tourists seen in the peak summer season

The weather was very changeable. It rained frequently and the Vatican was unbelievably dark and dank. 

Towards the end of my stay in Rome the weather did brighten up and this is how the Trevi fountain looked. 

Trevi Fountain