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| Rainy Day in Naples |
The train to
Naples was much different than the French trains that I have become accustomed
to. It seemed to be much more similar to a metro than a train. The train was overbooked and there weren’t
enough seats. A lot of people had to
stand most of the way. We stayed on the
train long enough to find seats but they were again more like the plastic seats
in the metro. The tickets were much
cheaper, however, than in France.
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| The Best Pizza in the World |
When we arrived in Naples, we went straight to the
hostel. It was my first time staying in
an actual hostel as opposed to a low-cost hotel. We stayed in a dormitory style room with bunk
beds and a shared bathroom. It almost
reminded me of living in the dorms back home in Fayetteville. There were four other people staying in our
room who it turned out were all American girls studying abroad in Prague. I talked with one of the girls who went to
Michigan State, and she actually knew someone that went to the University of
Arkansas!
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| Hiking on Mount Vesuvius. (In a Sundress) |
Naples is known as the place where pizza was invented, and
consequently it is home to the “best pizza in the world” due to its proximity
to extremely fertile land where the ingredients are grown. We were eager to try the famous pizza after
settling into our rooms. We went to one
of the renowned, family owned pizzerias and were blown away. Naples is rightfully the pizza capital of the
world.
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| Beautiful View |
The next day we got up early and headed to Mount Vesuvius
after breakfast at the hostel. We took a
bus out of the city, up most of the mountain.
When we stopped, someone came on to the bus and informed us in about
four different languages that there was a strike of the park workers and we
would have to take an alternate hiking route to the top of the mountain that
would take two extra hours. I wasn’t too
bothered by this since I was excited for the hike anyway. When we got off the bus, it was freezing. I looked totally out of place in my little
sundress and paper thin sweater amongst everyone in big coats and scarves. Even though I was totally inappropriately
dressed, the hike was fantastic. Between
the sensational views of the mountains, coast, and city and the interesting
volcanic terrain, it was an unforgettable experience. At the top, we got to look inside the
crater. It was pretty low-key, but the
steam rising from the ground inside was pretty cool to see.
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| Inside the Crater |
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| Strike. |
After Mount Vesuvius, we got some pizza. Imagine that.
We stopped at a little café recommended by trip advisor. There, we got to try pizza with Bufala
Mozzarella. It was amazing! After lunch,
we went to the Pompeii excavation site.
It was probably one of my favorite things we saw on the trip. The place was absolutely enormous and divided
into actual neighborhoods. We were
barely even able to see half of the site before the park closed that
evening. It was amazing how in-tact the
whole city was. Plus, the scenery was
beautiful with gorgeous landscaping and brilliant views of Vesuvius. We even got to see an ancient bakery. Apparently, they used some of the same technologies
that we still use today like brick ovens.
If I am ever in the area again, I will definitely be going back to
Pompeii.
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| "These fish better be grateful!" |
When we left Pompeii, we headed back to the train station to
catch the train back to Naples. We
arrived at about 7:15 and then expected to catch the 7:30 train. When that train simply didn’t come, we
expected to catch the 8:00 train. After
that train was also a no show, we waited for the 8:30 train which ended up
being extremely late. We ended up
waiting like 2 hours for the train back to the city. By the time we got back, it was around 10,
and we were starving. We headed to the
port to find some good seafood. We went
to a restaurant were we could get a fried seafood medley. I have no idea what was in it, but it was
delicious.
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| Petting a Starfish |
The next day, it rained all day. Not just a light, misty rain. More like a
torrential downpour. As the rain was not
very conducive to our plans to visit Sorrento, we decided to spend the morning
relaxing at the hostel. That afternoon
we went to the aquarium. It was small,
but it was something to do inside. By
the time we got there, we were all soaked through. My friend aptly noted that “those fish better
be grateful that we came to see them!” Afterwards we walked by the sea to
another seafood restaurant where I got calamari and shrimp served on fried
spaghetti.
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| Seafood! |
The next day, it rained again. We left the hotel and headed to another
famous Napoli pizzeria where we waited 45 minutes in the cold rain to get
in. The place was kind of a hole in the
wall joint where there were only about 4 things on the menu. We each ordered pizza with double mozzarella. It was well worth the wait and probably the
best pizza I have ever had. Julia
Roberts apparently felt the same way as photos of her visiting the quaint
pizzeria adorned the walls.
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| Favorite Pizzeria! |
After that, we caught a train back to Rome where we spent the
night in a hostel near the airport and caught our flight back to France the
next morning. Despite the cold and the
rain, it was an absolutely unforgettable spring break!
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