Naples

Following our (mostly edible) breakfast, we headed to the port to meet our guide and go to the beautiful Capri. The boat took almost an hour and then our guide rushed us off the boat and onto another boat to go see the blue grotto. 

This boat was much smaller and took us on a short ride around the island to get to the blue grotto. When we arrived, we had to wait and wait and wait while everyone else went in. We waited for an eventful 2 hours which including dancing to YMCA, a Lithuanian woman calling the police about the corrupt boat staff and excessive wait time, and our boat captain honking at the girls in bikinis on other boats. 

When it was finally our boat’s turn, we climbed into a third, even smaller, boat which navigated us into the cave. To get inside, we all had to lay down in the boat which was very difficult to do while sharing the boat with an elderly couple (who we didn’t want to crush). 

Since it took so long to get into the blue grotto, our guide changed plans and we climbed up the steps on the side of the island rather than taking the boat back to the port. At the top, we boarded a bus and were taken to a cute restaurant in Anacapri (the top region of Capri). We were served salad, pasta, and ice cream. Isabel’s pasta was with mussels and Stephanie’s was bolognaise. After lunch, we were given a hefty 20min to explore the island, aka 20min to look at the souvenir shops by the restaurant, before we took another bus back to the port. Overall, we ended up having a good time and enjoyed getting to see Capri and the blue grotto, but we wish we had more time to see more of the island and learn more about it. 

We made it back to Naples and took a little time to rehydrate and relax before dinner. Most of the restaurants are closed on Sundays, so we went back to reception to ask for a suggestion which led us to a very cute restaurant whose tables spilled into the street.  We ordered a calzone to share along with a side order of zucchini and a side order of peppers with olives and capers. Everything was amazing and we couldn’t leave without trying more, so we ordered a slice of Baba, a Napoli dessert that is somewhat similar to a rum cake (but better). It was a great last evening in Naples and we took a short stroll through the neighborhood before heading back to the hostel to pack our bags. Tomorrow, we are off to Florence!!

We are very happy to have another hostel that includes breakfast which made this morning much easier to get ourselves up and ready to go. After eating, we hopped in a taxi (buses weren’t running yet) to the train station and got a train to Pompeii. We felt like we won the lottery when the train door stopped right in front of us letting us get on first so that we had seats. The views from the train were gorgeous with Vesuvius on one side and the ocean on the other and it was a relaxing ride along the coast. As we got closer, we even got glimpses of Capri (tomorrow’s expedition)! 

The station at Pompeii was very small but was also very ready for the crowd of people rushing off the train. They directed everyone into the ticket office where they were selling tickets and exchanging online purchases for tickets before sending everyone on their way. We had booked a guide so we waited for our guide who led us through the restaurant to pick up headsets. 

Throughout the tour, we learned a lot about the history of Pompeii and what we were seeing. The first thing to note was that our tour guide described Pompeii as “basically a big mall” because most of the buildings were actually shops owned by middle class workers who lived above their store. He also pointed out that even though Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii in 79AD, only about 70% of it has been uncovered. Part of that is because the archeologists built a research lab on top of some of the ruins. 

We also learned that the roads all had to have high curbs and stepping stones across them because it was unhealthy to step in the streets which were covered in sewage. The market place had no roads through it and was only for pedestrians to keep the waste out. It also was originally made with marble floors, but the Romans were said to have stolen most of it after the eruption. It is also possible that the stolen marble was used to help finish the Colosseum which was opened about a year after the eruption. Now, the former market’s floor is mostly gravel with some small patches of marble. 

In addition to the marble on the floor of the market place, the rich also liked to have fancy floors in their homes. One of the upper class homes we visited had a lot of colorful tiles on their floors and even included lots of precious gemstones. Most were stolen (either by the Roman’s or archeologists), but the guide did show us one amethyst stone that is still there. Apparently the gems would glisten in the light and create cool light shows. 

Throughout the tour, we went into some former houses, but we also went into lots of shops. Some were fairly nondescript, but it was really cool to see the others. For example, the bakery had a very obvious stone oven and wheat grinder. The guide mentioned that they had found more than 40 bread ovens throughout Pompeii so far which shows that bread was an important part of their life and they are it a lot. Also, at the time, bread was made of flour and lava dust. When they are the bread, the lava dust would wear down their teeth until they had very short teeth. This, along with the fact that their water what lead in it contributed to the fact that their life expectancy was only about 40. The water fountains were, in fact, a big part of their life (even if the water killed them) because each was designed with its own carving. The streets didn’t have names so people used the water fountains as landmarks to find each other’s houses or stores. 

Toward the end of the tour, we learned that as far as they can tell, most of the citizens of Pompeii did in fact leave before Vesuvius erupted, likely because the earthquakes scared people and they feared something bad was coming. Based on what they’ve found, they believe the population was about 15,000-20,000 but they only found about 1600 bodies, some of which were covered in plaster and preserved. 

After the tour was over, we wandered around some more and saw the amphitheater (where the gladiators fought) and some more of the shops, houses, and gardens before heading out. We stopped at a restaurant right outside the ruins for sandwiches and cold drinks before catching the train back to Naples. 

By the time we got back, we were exhausted so we took a short break at the hostel before heading back out. Our first stop was to the grocery store before heading to dinner. We went to an amazing pizza place suggested by someone from the hostel and we loved every bite. One pizza was shaped like a star and had ricotta stuffed in the crust and the other was half margarita and half tomato sauce with garlic and basil. All three pizzas were delicious and we were so happy we went there. Definitely better than the ones we made yesterday. After dinner, we wandered some more in the direction of the hostel before going back and getting ready for bed. 

Our morning started with our final breakfast in Rome delivered to our room by one of the b&b owners. We enjoyed the breakfast before heading to the train station. We were a little worried because there was supposed to be a scheduled strike by the bus drivers that started right around the time we needed to get on the bus, but we didn’t run into any problems. 

The train from Rome to Naples was booked with our second class Eurail passes, but somehow we were given first class tickets. No complaints from us! The seats had a lot more leg room, we were given bottled water and snacks, and there were less people fighting to get off when we arrived in Naples. It was a great experience and we loved riding in style. 

In Naples, we headed straight to the hotel where we dropped our bags and got lots of suggestions from the receptionists before heading out for lunch. One of the suggestions that we got was a lunch restaurant which we were excited to try. We each got a pasta dish, Stephanie’s had tomato sauce and meatballs and Isabel’s had fish. Both were amazing and we were also given a plate of some sort of zucchini (on the house) which we couldn’t get enough of! At this point, we aren’t sure whether we want to go back there or make sure to hit all their other suggestions. 

After lunch, we went to see Castel dell’Ovo which is right on the water and has gorgeous views of the islands as well as the city and beaches. It was really cool to see and we wandered along the water for awhile before (trying) to get back to the hotel. Unfortunately, after the bus we wanted to get on didn’t show up, we hopped on a different one that had our stop listed, but what we didn’t realize was that it was going the opposite direction. Eventually, we did make it back to the hostel, checked into our room, and took some time to get organized before our next adventure. 

We ended today with a pizza lesson which was very chaotic but ended up being a lot of fun. The meeting point was outside a pharmacy in the pouring rain and the guide was only 10 minutes late. Then, the group all hurried across the street to the restaurant where we realized the group was twice as large as we expected and larger than the guide seemed to expect. Once everything settled down and we started making the dough, it got a lot better and we had a really good time getting to know the other people there. Our guide, Renaldo, taught us how to care for the dough and repeatedly told everyone that the pizza loves us (while also telling us we were all doing it wrong). We made everything from scratch and then got to watch the pizza being cooked (1.5min at 400 degrees Celsius) before getting to eat and enjoy. The pizza might have been the best pizza we’ve ever had and made us very excited to get some more Napoli pizza tomorrow!!