I had heard mixed reviews about Naples. Well, mostly negative. The positive ones all seemed to be along the lines of how it was "real". I suppose I can agree with that, but I mean, if you want "real", you can go to Detroit. That really didn't affect our planning though, because the reason we were going to Naples was as a base to see Pompeii, and we wouldn't have loads of extra time in the city anyway.
Day 1
Naples
The bus to Naples from Roccaraso was about two hours long and a good opportunity for a nap. We didn't have a great idea of where we were going once we got there, but I had looked up the nearest metro to our B&B, the Cavour station, so we started with that step. The metro itself was one of the sketchier ones I've seen, dingy and crowded and just in these dark, unwelcoming tunnels. I was relieved when we got to our stop.
It took us a minute after getting off the metro to figure out which direction to walk, but luckily since our B&B is right next to the botanic gardens, we knew we could use that as our destination. The Botanica Gallery B&B was in a locked building with other apartments, and we had to buzz in and then walk up some stairs to get to it. A nice young guy named Giussepe let us in, and his English wasn't the greatest, but he did speak Spanish, so we could communicate better that way.
I had booked us the suite at the B&B because it really wasn't a lot more expensive than the other rooms. In fact, we only paid 140 euro for the two nights. And it was gorgeous! Both the bedroom and bathroom were equally gigantic. How awesome is this place?!
I liked the two options of either the old-fashioned tub or the modern high-tech black shower with different settings. One of them made water come out of jets beside a built-in shower seat!
Why two sinks? Why not?
The breakfast room was just as pretty. I couldn't have been any happier with our choice!
View to the Botanic Gardens across the street
After settling in, we headed out to do a little city exploration. I quickly determined that I was not a Naples fan. The problem wasn't that it was dirtier or dingier than the other Italian cities I've been to (although it was both), it was that there were no big sights to see. As I mentioned when writing about Rome, you can't get down a single street without finding something awesome to look at. Well, we had walked almost a half hour across Naples when I asked Lewis, "Where is everything?" All we had seen was block after block of grey city streets and run-down shops.
The only nice thing we had come across so far was the cathedral, Chiesa Cattedrale de Napoli, which, much like our B&B, was way too nice inside for the nondescript building it was in on an unremarkable street. We're lucky we stumbled upon it really. It was similar to the churches of Rome in level of grandeur.
It had a pretty cool and creepy crypt beneath it, the Crypt of San Gennaro.
There was also the most ancient baptistery of the west, The Baptistery of S. Giovanni in Fonte.
Back outside, looking at the map, we should have been walking into the historical center, but it seems the historical center just looked a lot like more city. We had gotten to what I thought would be a prominent piazza from the map and all we saw was a construction crane.
Since it seemed that there were, in fact, no iconic sights in Naples, I suggested we just walk towards the harbor, because I was sure I'd seen pretty views by the water in photos. We made it to the port, and we did indeed find a view to some distant mountains and towns that were probably much nicer than Naples.
There also happened to be a historical looking castle near the port, although the view was somewhat damaged by construction machinery everywhere surrounding it. We finally found a decent spot for photos at the front. It's called Castel Nuovo and houses a museum, although it was closed by this time. At least it was a pretty thing to look at, finally.
There was also the Piazza Municipio across the road, and that had a nice fountain in the center.
We had seen enough (or perhaps all) of the city by this point, so we started to head back and look for a restaurant. I will say all of the dining options were noticeably cheaper than in Rome. I had a massive calzone for dinner for about 7 euro, and we stopped at a wine shop afterwards before wandering through a few more decent piazzas on our way home.
When we got back to the B&B, a man came out and introduced himself as Luigi, the owner of the place. He apologized for not being able to check us in earlier and then chatted to us a bit before asking if we'd like a Limoncello. He invited us down to the common room and poured us each a Limoncello followed by a licorice liqueur (I hate licorice but didn't want to turn it down... and let's be honest, I'll drink anything). We talked for at least a half hour and he was just the nicest person ever! I also didn't know why he was apologizing for his English because his English was perfect. It was so awesome to meet him, he just seemed like a genuinely kind person, and he suggested we might all order pizza the following night since another girl would be checking in (B&Bs in Naples are only allowed three rooms maximum for guests). Oh, and he gave us a little package wrapped in yellow paper and ribbon that had traditional cakes inside! What a wonderful place to stay!
Day 2
Pompeii & Mt. Vesuvius
Thursday we got up, had breakfast, and were ready for our tour shuttle to Pompeii to pick us up at 10:15. The bus ride wasn't too long at all, and when we arrived at Pompeii we all received lanyards with electronic boxes connected to an earphone so we'd be able to clearly hear the tour guide without standing right near her.
It was a fantastic, sunny day- the hottest we had in Italy. The tour was really good! I'm definitely glad we decided to go with a guide. I didn't see many signs around (none that I can recall, in fact), so you wouldn't have had an easy time figuring out what things had been without someone there to tell you.
The small theater used for concerts.
A street of shops.
Prehistoric lizard.
I was actually impressed with Pompeii itself as well- it was far more preserved than I'd heard it made out to be. I had been picturing a lot of indistinguishable rubble, but with the guide explaining the buildings and life in the town, it wasn't hard to see what had once been there. Also, just as a note, the very cool giant sculptures scattered all throughout the site were not an original part of Pompeii, they were an art installation, although I liked what they added aesthetically.
The frigidarium (cold pool).
Men's spa.
Ancient crosswalks to stay above sewage in the streets.
There was one big house we walked around that belonged to one of the prominent members of the community. That had a really beautiful garden courtyard, an in-house temple, and a private spa. The faded murals were still visible on the walls.
The guide said these skeletons were likely of servants trying to escape.
We also went to the brothel, which I hear was one of the more popular places in town. There were even penis shaped markers on the ground elsewhere in town to point the way for horny men as well as graffiti on walls with reviews of the women. The building itself was tiny! There were about three rooms, and they each had stone beds which apparently was to speed up the process by not letting anyone get too comfortable.
Whatever those prostitutes were making was not enough.
The sex position murals were used as a menu.
Lastly, we saw the main town square. It was extremely large and you could see Vesuvius in the distance.
They also had displays there where you could see all of the plaster casts of items, people, and animals found after the eruption.
We turned our audio equipment back in after the tour and walked over to a restaurant for a pizza lunch. The price of the meal was included in our tour, and we each got an entire pizza to ourselves! It also included our first drink, so I had a red wine that was the first awful thing I drank in Italy.
After lunch, we got back on the shuttle and they drove us most of the way up Vesuvius. The rest of it we walked ourselves, and it was about a half hour to the top. Well, it was a lot more strenuous than I expected. Maybe I'm just terribly out of shape, but also I was wearing jeans with the sun beating down on me, and the first half was all fairly steep. To make matters worse, we were climbing on loose rock that made slipping very easy. We finally made it to the first shop/rest point halfway and got a new bottle of water, and after that the climb evened out a lot and wasn't so difficult.
We had totally beautiful views of the bay on our right and glimpses into the deep crater of the volcano on our left.
When we made it to the top, there was one more gift shop, and I bought a little ceramic vase covered in black ash from the volcano.
The walk down was much easier except back at the steep bit where I kept sliding down all of the loose rocks. We made it to the bus on time and got back to Naples around 5 PM. We chilled out by breaking out our bottle of wine.
Also, as relaxing as this picture looks, I was only in the tub for two minutes tops because I couldn't get the water any hotter than lukewarm.
We had just about finished the wine when Luigi knocked on our door to tell us he had dinner in the common room for everyone. He'd set up the table all nice and cooked us this awesome pasta plus bought fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and had about three bottles of wine for everyone!! Aww! Seriously, best host ever.
The food was amazing, we drank about three bottles of wine with one of the other guests, Stefano, while we talked American politics among other things, and it was a really good evening. Luigi called us a taxi to the airport for the next morning before we went to bed, and we gave him a hug and thanked him for everything. I was so blown away by his hospitality. He really made our stay in Naples memorable. Highly recommend the Botanica Gallery B&B! It was a great last night in Italy.
We were both bummed to leave the next day, and London Luton just turned my sadness into anger by being an absolutely infuriating airport, but maybe that's a rant for another time. Anyway, I probably couldn't have physically handled any more pizza, pasta, or gelato, so maybe it was time for the trip to end, but what an awesome week.