​​“If you make it out of Naples that is, a lot of people don't”

​ Sabaudia-Herculeum-Naples​

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​​​​So After two days of soaking up (too much) sun and Paul’s extreme generosity we were ready to head down the coast a bit further.  We decided to leave Milo behind because we were told a) traffic is really awful in and out of Naples and b)Milo probably would not be where we left him when we returned in the morning.  Apparently a city that is still run today by the mafia is rife with car thieves. 

Naples is infamous for the fact that the mafia still runs much of the city and they choose to show their… strength… in one of most unappetizing ways imaginable: they don’t pick up the garbage.  Trash is piled everywhere and we’re told right not it’s not too bad.  But it’s also very visible in the fact that Naples is not beautiful, it’s tattered.  It was also the most bombed city in Italy during World War Two but it has earned the title “The eyesore of Italy”.  It’s a shame it could be really beautiful. 

Nonetheless we arrived on the train after marveling at the Italian countryside for a a few hours and paid  close attention to our valuables then sought out our hotel.  Lucky us, Jonathan booked a hotel on the square in front of the train station.  But in typical Italian fashion our room wasn’t ready yet, we have to wait at least a half hour, but we could go have lunch in the meantime the desk girl said.  No, no we couldn’t go have lunch, despite the fact that it was 11:30 and they were right next to the busy train station no one would serve us lunch.  They just weren’t interested, what are these people doing?!   We’ve encountered this quite a lot in Italy, people just can’t be bothered, we’re trying to give them money they’re saying no thank you sir I’d rather just sit here.  I can’t even begin to understand why everything’s closed during the busiest holiday week of the year, shouldn’t restaurants and shops be competing for the tourist dollar?

After an hour of so we finally managed to find someone to serve us lunch then we had rest in our room and went out to see Herculeum. 

Surely everyone has heard of Pompeii, the city of ash that was covered 2000 years ago when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, Herculaum is like it’s little brother.  It’s smaller and closer to Naples, we were feeling lazy and Jonathan had been to Pompii before so we went to Herculeum.  It was a bit disappointing, what we really wanted to see were people "frozen in time", make it up if you have to.  To be honest, I don’t know why we do this to ourselves, everytime we go do a touristy thing we always come out disappointed or get there see it check done.  We’re just not good tourists. But bits were nice… We lasted a half hour…

It was another half hour back on another train/metro/tram that didn’t check our tickets at any point in time and had no booked seats, how do they know I’ve paid?  No wonder they only charge a few euros to go anywhere, most likely no one is paying.
Back in our hotel, exhausted from the absolutely oppressive heat, soaked the bone, cold shower back into the heat to see what Napoli is about.  There were three streets leading off the piazza in front of the train station into the city, we chose the wrong one.  Here was the Naples lonely planet made threats about the one Paul warned us against.  It was nerve wracking, but interesting. The tiny alleys between tall houses, peeling paint and well-worn cobblestone streets. Families and friends were sitting outside in their buildings in lawn chairs, men shirts off having a drink, women hair in curlers gossiping amongst themselves about the others who went by. I suppose it’s like certain parts of every major city everywhere.

It was interesting, but we were calculating how long we had before it got dark and we needed to be safely back in our hotel room. Then we made one turn and another and miraculously out of nowhere a different Naples emerged.  This one still worn down by time but looking must more tourist friendly. We wandered ate some delicious pastries and sat down for some Napoli pizza, after all this is the birthplace of pizza how could we not?  It was delicious and then we scurried back to our little hotel room and securely locked the door.