naples and pompeii 2017 (part 1)

Yay to the return of my travel blog, mainly because it means yay to being able to go and explore somewhere new. This time I had a travel buddy in the form of Johnny. He's an academic at the University of Reading and like me, just enjoys getting away for a little bit of exploration. Naples was the place of choice mainly because it such a cheap ticket and accommodation was decent. The added attraction was the chance to (finally) go and see Pompeii. Those of you who know how much I love Roman / Classical history, in fact anyone who loves classical history in general, know how important a trip to Pompeii is. 

Before this trip though, another very important occasion occurred. My (not so) little brother, Joseph, finished his basic training and joined my old regiment, the Grenadier Guards. Needless to say I am so so proud of him and seeing him 'pass off' the square was well worth the 4am start to drive from my dads house up to (not so) sunny Catterick. I have to say, the place has not changed one bit since I was there 10 years ago. It was an intimate family affair and only my military friends would really understand any information about it so I will just leave it there by saying I wish him all the best in his future career. Mandatory photo was also needed.

So after a great day in Catterick, I had to return home, finish packing and get ready for another 4am start to get to London Gatwick on a 6am easyJet flight. I had been warned by a few people that Naples was not the nicest place in the world but I always like to made those sort of judgements myself. Naples airport is fairly small and border security is not that tight so we were waiting for the bus into town within 30 minutes of landing. Driving into the town centre was a typical Italian experience. Horns blaring, the bus swerving in and out of traffic but i'd never experienced a time when the driver had to slam on his breaks hard causing smacked heads and one poor lady (who's husband told me had recently had a hip replacement) to fly and land on her bum. As I was gazing out the window nursing my mild whiplash, you could not but help notice the shear amount of graffiti and litter everywhere. One Italian guy on the bus who noticed me looking at it even said 'welcome to Naples'. I have to say that this was a common theme in Naples. I have mentioned in earlier posts about how the Italians seem to have a really lax approach to graffiti but Naples was on another level entirely.

We were fortunate that Johnny found a really nice apartment right off the main high street where we were met by the very chirpy Neapolitan landlord who told us all the good spots to visit, the best places to eat and how to get around etc. Despite a 4am start, we did decide to go for a wander and see what the city had to offer. As usual, I'm always interested in the history of a city I visit, especially those in Italy that have millennia worth of it. Founded roughly in the second millennium BCE by Greek sailors, allied to the Roman Republic during the wars against Carthage and eventually a Roman colony. Now though, the city really did just look like a mess. Churches had their doors covered up with green boarding, presumably to stop the graffiti that decorated the rest of the outside from ruining the probable decorations they had. Even buildings such as the main post office had giant penis pictures on them.

One thing Naples did have (aside from Churches) was Castles - quite a few actually all within the central area. Unfortunately though, they did not seem to get much for the money they wanted for entry. In the one castle we did go to - Castel dell'Ovo - was in such a great position for views up into Naples and around the coastal area. Most of the castles and even the Royal Palace again just seemed to have works going on, litter everywhere and generally not much information for those who are interested in learning things.

So for the food. Naples is the birth place of Pizza (apparently) so of course, that is something we had to go for. I like to try and stay positive but I have to say that it was just disappointment after disappointment. I got the feeling that even if we avoided the traditional tourist trap restaurant, due to the fact we were not locals, there was very little interest in anything. It was a regular occurrence to just be sat down and wait for quite a while just to get a menu. Waiters just seemed to look impatient when talking to you and most importantly, the pizza was crap. Maybe i'm just used to dominoes and what we did have was traditional but the food was just bland, watery and basically, very meh! Such a shame. One perk though was learning what a Connolo was (thank you to the Great British Bake Off) and yeah, very unhealthy so obviously yummy.

In Naples, you do get a very local feeling. It is quite hard to explain or I am not eloquent enough to explain but when walking around, you would not think you are in a particularly tourist attractive place. The main roads are all connected by tight alley ways with very local shops, people just stood around smoking and drinking. Mopeheads wizzing past people and past all the washing that you see randomly hanging out of windows. It was a much more closed environment than some of the other Italian cities I have visited.

For more photos of Naples and Pompeii, feel free to view my Google Photos album. here.