Our next Summer trip was to catch up with Tom and Gini while they were on their van tour around Europe. We thought we would make a long weekend out of it so spent a couple of days in Naples seeing the sites before meeting up with tang in their Smurf Van and heading to Amalfi Coast. To be honest we weren't expecting much from Naples as we heard it was rather dirty and didn't have much going for it except inventing pizza. We arrived at our hostel late on Friday night feeling rather tired. After discovering how to get inside our hostel (buttons and buzzers and stairs and confusion...) we were pleasantly surprised with our room; it even had a kitchen and lounge area. Ahhh low budget luxury. We were tired and hungry so weren't up for much of an adventure that night so the hostel man ordered us a pizza for our first taste of Naples pizza -Magherita and it was delicious and cheap. Yum!
The next day we awoke more refreshed and wanting to get some history in we headed to Pompeii. After some help from the locals about which train we should have been on (as opposed to the one we were actually on) we arrived at the site of the buried city of Pompeii.We were amazed in the size of the ruins and spent a good few hours wondering around. It was very different from what we had seen in Greece where over time the buildings had become ruined and run down. This was an instant event where the volcano had erupted and buried the entire city. Much of it is still to be excavated. You get a much better feel for what it would have been like to live in the city because you are walking around in the city, going into people's houses and seeing the places where they would have spent their life. The plaster cast of the victims frozen in time were very moving. After a good look around Pompeii we headed back to Naples for a look around. We stopped for some local Pizza although were very confused about what we were ordering and weren't particularly impressed when it turned out to be Margherita (yum) with Tuna (yuck.) The heat prevented us moving to quickly and we needed to stop for some yummy lemon slushy and beer on the way but we got a good look around the central part of Naples where the shops and tourist attractions are located. That evening we headed out to an authentic Italian restaurant and had tasty bruschetta, pasta and a lemon dessert. After a full on day we then headed back to our hostel to put our weary feet up.
The next day we headed off to the fancy island of Capri (Capri Pants to Marcus). We didn't see much more than Italian X-Factor (sleep time) on the ferry ride but once we arrived in Capri we could instantly see why it was such a tourist destination. It is stunning. After deciding that the cable car queue was too long and that it wasn't worth while waiting for a bus to arrive we headed up the hill on foot. The walk wasn't too bad - would be a lot easier if we were coming direct from NZ as London has taught us to struggle with even the slightest hill. That took us into the main town of Capri, up the top of the hill. It was tight streets for pedestrians only decked out with boutique shops, cafes and trinket shops for all the tourists, and they had certainly come. You couldn't move one way or the other without getting caught up in a guided tour. However, we made our way through the throngs (with a gelato along the way) and came out at the east end of town where it opened up a bit more and was a bit higher up too. The view at the top was definitely worth the trip. We then wandered around the other side of the hill through a garden where there was a film crew shooting a movie we think. Not surprising with the scenery up there. They were all speaking Italian though so not sure what was really going on. Through the other side of the park we reached the south coast where we were up for more stunning sea views. There were plenty of boats down on the water too showing that many of the rich visitors travel by their own boats to the island. We wandered down Via Krupp which was a crazy winding road down the steep hill to the water. After checking our watches we decided not to wander along the whole of the south coast, instead heading back up Via Krupp and through the town again to jump on the next Ferry back to Naples. It was then a rush back to our hostel to get our bags and then down to the main train station where we met up with Tom and Gini in their van (although somewhat later than we had planned.) Tom managed to navigate his way through the Naples traffic (I think the rules are drive wherever you feel like it) to get us out around the Bay towards our next destination, the Amalfi Coast. It was good to catch up with a browner (and in Tom's case hairier) Tom and Gini and hear jealously about how their travels had been going so far. Tom aided by the TomTom managed to guide us to the camp site, situated pretty near the end of the Amalfi peninsula in Nerano. After setting up camp we rewarded ourselves with a Birra Moretti and did some research into how we would spend the rest of our time around Amalfi. Tom and Gini treated us to a dinner of cheese, tomatoes, olives, basil and olive oil followed by pasta. Mamma Mia! After helping Tom and Gini with their Chianti it was time for bed in the spare room (or tent).
We arose at a leisurely hour the next day and wandered down to the beach by the camping ground to catch some rays. The place was jam packed with people and you could certainly tell the ones who had just arrived from London, with their white skin....After tackling some with jellyfish in the water we decided we were better off on land. We found the local bus and then (wondering how it would fit around the windy roads) made our way across to the resort town of Sorrento. Sorrento is one of those towns which was once pretty, and still is in parts, but sometimes you have to look under all of the tacky tourist paraphernalia to find that prettiness. We found a place to sit down for a nice seafood lunch and then went for a wander around the local streets. Tom and Gini got distracted by the cameo shop so we went and wandered around the town some more by ourselves, checking out a local wedding at the church and admiring the view out to the see. Sorrento town is on a cliff above the sea but you can also wander down to the beaches, which we did after Tom and Gini selected a suitable cameo broach. Unfortunately they were all private pay beaches and as the day well past lunchtime we decided it wasn't worth spending the money to go and sit on them. There was a little public beach which we went for a splash around on but with the sun descending over the horizon we decided it was time to return to the camping ground. After another stellar camping ground dinner from Tom and Gini and some sangria and limoncello it was happily back to bed again.
Our final day in Amalfi was spent with Tom piloting Smurfy along the winding narrow roads along the coast. The landscape is breathtaking. Like being in a James Bond movie (if James Bond drove a campervan). You have steep cliffs up on the left of you with house perched all over them and steep cliffs down on the right of you to the sea, with little beaches scattered along the way. It was very picturesque. We obviously weren't the only ones who thought so, as there was plenty of traffic to stop you travelling too quickly. We stopped for a laze on the beach out the beautiful town of Minori where we caught the last Mediterranean sun and sea that we were likely to see for a while. We also managed to find a pasta restaurant that specialised in ravioli. We can comfortably say that that was the best ravioli we have ever had. Satiated we climbed back into the van where Tom and Gini drove us to the airport to return to London and then proceeded on their way to the ferry in Croatia.https://picasaweb.google.com/JessicaLMcMillan/NaplesAmalfiSeptember2010
