I have a “tiny” backlog with updating the blog. But now I am going to catch up on a few posts. This is the second part of my trip to Italy, the one who started in Roma (find the link below). Enjoy!
Day 1 – From Rome to Naples
After 3 wonderful days in Rome, we took the train to Naples with Trenitalia. The trip lasted 2 hours and cost 19 Euros each. Quite good value if you’d ask me. It is a pretty nice trip also especially with a game of Monopoly cards and fun company. At 11:30, we arrived in Naples Central Station. Here starts the chaos! Naples has nothing to do with elegant and classical Rome. It is dirty, full of people and disorganized. During my trip planning, I had been warned by my Naepolitan friend that Naples is not always safe especially because of pickpockets. So we were very careful coming out of the station. Then we walked to our apartment, situated in Via Duomo. An excellent location close to the old city center. The apartment was very modern, beautiful and design. And the owners… they were wonderful to us but you will find out more about them later on…
When you go travelling, you need to prioritise and know what you want. And at 2 pm in the afternoon in Naples, you want to have PIZZAS! Once our bags are dropped, we head straight to Di Matteo, on Via dei Tribunali, 94. Di Matteo is one of the best pizza places in Naples. There was a queue outside but fortunately for us hungry folks, they had free tables upstairs. It took a little while before they took our order but when the pizzas arrived, they were the best pizzas I have ever had in my life. Each one cost around 7 euros each. They were incredible, tasty and some of them were award winning.
On that first afternoon, we walked around the city and went up the Castel Sant’Elmo for a view of Naples. The funicular was a bit hard to find. We climbed up the stairs instead, up and up and up and up until we found out that on Tuesdays, the castle is… closed. A bit of an amateur mistake to not have checked opening hours… We can still admire the view from the surroundings. On our way back to the metro, we stop for granitas. They are similar to slushies with several flavors: strawberry, coconut, café…. My favourite is mint. The sweet crushed ice is more than welcome in the summer heat. And we all enjoy are own little glass of coloured ice. Afterwards, we headed home to have a rest after such a long walk. We dined in the apartment with tomatos, mozzarella di buffala, basil and Italian wine and ham. Simple things of life bought in a local deli shop.
Day 2 – Naples to Pompeii and back to Naples
The day after, we got ready to head to Pompeii. My Dad’s long life dream. Close to the train station, a man on a scooter snatched my mum’s handbag… I thought as well that he was a bit dodgy trying to cross the zebra crossing while the light was green for pedestrians. His face was fully covered by a helmet. The most unfortunate part of all of it was her passport inside….The worst thing that can happen to a globe trotter and non European citizen in Europe… To make a long story short, we spent the whole morning at the police station accompanied by our landlord who has been kind enough to leave work and be our official translator. His wife lobbied our home embassy to convince them to help us. They were so nice…That day I found out that there were two types of Naepolitans: the very nice and friendly ones and the pickpockets\criminal ones. I must say an experience like this kind of ruin your holiday… If you let them. We decided to not let the thief win by going to Pompeii as planned anyway.
The toughest part was to come back to the crime scene, the train station. But eventually we took our train. Naples to Pompeii is around 30 mn and is very cheap. I don’t remember exactly. It is crowded though. The entrance to the Pompeii site is 11 Euros for one day. If you want to keep on travelling, towards Sorrento for instance, you can leave your bags at the luggage lockers. What a good idea to save time! For going around, I recommend you to get an official audio guide from the site and not from outside providers. It is easier to follow the different points of interest for just a few euros more. As a very ancient ruin, Pompeii is very well conserved and you can well imagine how life in the city was. I was really impressed. One of the most interesting remains where the mummified bodies. They have been petrified by lava. I was a bit sorry for them as they looked very much in pain.
Food in Pompeii was alright. Too expensive and not authentic enough if you go to the places between the train station and the main gate. At the end of the day, we went back to Naples.
Day 3 Naples to Sorrento
On day 3, we left for Sorrento which is a very charming seaside town. Nothing to compare with Naples. It was so relaxing to wander around the streets and do some window shopping. We stayed 10mn walk away from the city center. We had our first lunch at La Tavola di Lucullo, Via Rota 51 Sorrento. I had very nice pasta there and the staff was hyper friendly and fun. There is not much to see in Sorrento. The city is more for soaking up atmosphere and relaxing.
Day 4 – Sorrento to Amalfi Coast
The day after, we took the bus to visit the Amalfi Coast. We bought full day tickets from the SITA bus, the public bus for 7 euros. The plan was to spend the day travelling from Sorrento to Salerno and stopping by each town in between. The coastline is dramatic. The landscape beautiful but the road follows sheer cliffs. Honestly, it does not look so safe even if the drivers were really skilled. In addition, there are many many many curves along the way. If you are prone to road sickness, abstain. I spent the whole trip eyes closed praying not to let my stomach’s content escape. My neighbour was not so lucky. I could hear him vomit until Positano… We decided to stop at Positano, went around the town, had coffee and lunch there. I won’t recommend any special places as they were not that outstanding.
The highlight of the town was for me the cathedral. You would not expect such an imposing building on a seaside town like Positano as charming as it is. We bought there lemon pasta to cook at home (it was super delicious with a bit of olive oil and garlic).
You must think that I don’t sound so excited about visiting the Amalfi Coast, considered to be one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. It is beautiful indeed but I prefer Cinque Terre…
Day 5 – Sorrento to Naples
At that point, we had not seen much of Naples. Our misfortune disgusted us a little from the city. I cannot understand how the local authorities knowing that there is a plague hitting the tourism industry do not do anything about it. For that I don’t really recommend Naples. You want to feel safe and relaxed on your holidays not worry at each second that someone on a moto or a pickpocket steal your belongings. Funnily enough, our owners said that their Dad got his wallet snatched in Valencia. Haha! As soon as we arrived back in Naples, we went to Da Michele, Via Cesare Sersale, 1/3, famous for having the best pizza in the world. The restaurant did not fail to its reputation: there was a massive queue outside. You arrive and you get a number, like at the butcher. Then you wait for your turn. Finally, ours came. The restaurant looked like a canteen, no real décor just tables and seats. It took our waiter a while before taking our order. There were only two pizzas served in Da Michele: marinara or margherita. We ordered both. They don’t serve wine, only coke, beer and water. The pizzas were very simple but I found them really delicious and subtle in flavor. I can understand why they are so popular. The service and the waiting staff on the other hand were another story. Towards the end of our meal we noticed a group of people standing and watching us eat waiting for the tables to free. It is quite stressful all these pair of eyes…Finally, one waitress chased our neighbours out and pushed our table against the other one while we were still seated. Surreal experience! Then when I went to pay for the bill: 25 euros for 3 pizzas and two drinks… unbeatable!!!!, our waiter planted himself in front of me and demanded a tip. Sorry Mr, you have nice pizzas but the service definitely requires improvement.
Honestly, I prefer Di Matteo’s pizzas (they also offer more creative and varied pizzas) although Da Michele did not leave me indifferent. At that point, we had recovered a bit from our unlucky adventure and decided to explore more the city. Naples old town is beautiful with its main square and multiple narrow streets. There is a nice vibe coming off the place in the evening and it had been nice to finally appreciate being there. We stayed in a hostel in the city center that last night.
Day 6 – Naples to Barcelona
The day after, it was home time. Our last gourmet stop was Sfogliatelle Attanasio in Vico Ferrovia to try the best sfogliatelle in town, recommended by my Naepolitan friend. What is this Sfoglia thingy? It is a Neapolitan pastry. It is a crisp pastry with many layers filled with a custard like mixture with cinnamon. In Attanasio, as there is a high turnover, they are always fresh and hot straight from the oven. The best way to eat them. In the culinary area, I must say that I have been quite surprised to see how baba-au-rhum where so popular in Naples. It seems that this pastry is one the sweetest symbols of the city with sfogliatelle. I had two mini classical ones. And I licked each one of my fingers to clean them up afterwards. Does this make you think that they were delicious??? One last thing I will mention here is to not forget to drink lemoncello, the Italian lemon liquor that is very popular especially in Sorrento. In Sorrento, there is a lemon tree garden in the city where you can also taste their homemade lemoncello.
That Italian trip had been full of adventures and emotions. Not sure in the end that we got this relaxation we really needed but we definitely did not get bored… We also managed to arrive at home, in Barcelona, safe and sound, and are recovering to get ready for the next trip!
To read my post about Roma, click here.