Naples – The Travelling Ginger

It’s our last day 😭 This morning we were all ready to tackle the local train to Herculaneum, enjoy a leisurely stroll there, head to Naples on the train and then back to Sorrento later this evening. This is however how our morning went…

Arrive at the train station to be informed there is a strike until at least 1pm. When we were talking to the guide yesterday about getting the train, at no point did she mention this!
Walk to get a boat ticket for 12pm boat to Naples. Everyone else had clearly done this too as this boat was sold out.
Walked to an excursion office to try and book onto the trip to Vesuvius – this was cancelled.
Debated bus to Ravelo but another couple in the group did this a few days ago and struggled to get back to Sorrento and paid €80 for a taxi.
Walked back to train station to assess.. at 12pm the queue for tickets was at least a mile long. Decided if trains did decide to run they would be packed.
Ordered tickets online for 2pm boat to Naples and 5:15pm return. Time to plan super quick whip around Naples.

We had already got 10k steps in by midday! As we had a few hours to kill before the boat we decided do the last mooch of Sorrento. The city walls close at 1pm so we’ve always missed our chance to go, but today we managed to explore them. Although it’s only a very small section of the wall you actually get to walk on, it’s still worth it even to get a better perspective of the local life going on below. We also found a little garden full of fruit trees that we seem to have missed, even though we’ve walked by 100s of times.

All the other boats we have been on have offered an inside and outside deck and we’ve always opted for the outside as the views are amazing. This however was very obviously a commuter boat, but being at the front of the queue (Momma does not like to be late) meant we got pick of the seats, so we chose the front to get views out the front and side windows. Unfortunately this was also where people had to store their luggage, so we ended up with a fantastic view of everyone’s cases instead!

Finally at 2:45pm we arrived in Naples, giving us just over 2hrs to whip round and explore. You 100% need so much more time here. It’s not a city you can do in such a short amount of time as its the third largest in Italy. We headed for Galleria Umberto – an enormous shopping area with a domed glass and steel roof. It was here that I was finally able to add Italy to my Maccies World Tour (there’s approx 100 counties with one and I’ve now ticked off number 25 🍟🍔)

A short walk from here, and an ideal if you’re short on time is Piazza del Plebiscito and The Royal Palace. The Palace grounds are huge however and you’d certainly need more than the 5 minutes we had to properly take it all in.

The last area we had time to explore was the Spanish quarter, one of the city’s most densely populated areas. This is probably where Naples gets its reputation for being dirty and full of dodgy characters, but I quite liked wandering the streets and seeing washing hanging from all the balconies, the graffiti and hidden taverns. You do however need eyes in the back of your head as locals literally fly around the streets on their scooters.

After a quick look at the castle it was back to the boat to head back to Sorrento for our last supper. I have to say, although the portion sizes have been questionable, our small but quirky family run hotel have delivered fantastic flavours (and tonight was one of the meatiest sausages I’ve ever had!)

Alarms are set for stupid o’clock tomorrow to get the bus back to the airport (at least we’re not relying on trains!) We have had a fantastic week with gorgeous weather, gorgeous food and beyond gorgeous wine. Santa has enjoyed a daily Tennants (or 3) and Momma has enjoyed taking 1000s of photos 📸 As long as you can put up with crowds, people with no concept of queuing and the odd twitchy arse road, then the Amalfi Coast is definitely one to add to your list 😍

Normal order was restored for the coach trip as we were up at 6:30 ready for a super early pick up for our trip to Pompeii. We were lucky as we had a very knowledgeable guide taking us around – but we did look like the ultimate tourist wankers as we donned the headset and followed the umbrella 🌂

A little history lesson for you all… Pompeii is famous because it was destroyed in 79 AD when the nearby volcano, Mt Vesuvius, erupted, covering it in at least 19 feet (6 metres) of ash and other volcanic debris. The cities and their citizens were discovered in the 16th Century, and they remained exactly as they had that summer day, frozen in time. The bodies of Pompeii victims had been covered in layers of fine ash that calcified over the centuries, forming a type of protective shell. When the skin and tissue of the Pompeii bodies eventually decayed, all that was left were voids in the layer of ash around them — in the exact shape of the victims in their final moments.

Made from pouring plaster into the air pockets, letting it harden and then chipping away the outer layers of ash.

There is so much to see here and I would 100% recommend a guided tour. There are many options, from 2 – 7hrs of walking. Although it’s incredibly busy, and at times hard to really take it all in, it is an absolute must in you are in the area. A particular highlight is hearing the word Penis mentioned at least 100 times whilst on the tour. They believed that having a phallus outside the home acted as a good luck charm (other theories suggest you followed the direction of the penis to the nearest brothel) either way I’m definitely going to have a massive peen on the wall outside my house 🍆

This afternoon was a guided bus tour around Naples. I’m going to choose not to write about this as we spent most of the time stuck in traffic, so didn’t really get to see much – Santa and Momma therefore took this opportunity to get a few Z’s in 😴 we did however get a very quick 10 mins to jump out the coach, grab a photo and a super tasty ice cream.

This evening we went back to the bar we sniffed out yesterday for a drink and views of the sunset. It was absolutely glorious and definitely somewhere we will return to during this trip. There is nothing better than sitting with a glass of white with a stunning view and some free nuts and crisps.