Sentiero Degli Dei

Today was not without its hiccups.

Our plan for today was to hike the Sentiero Degli Dei path between Bomerano and Positano. Well, if you want to get technical, the plan for today was Capri but then I got all my days mixed up and we did Capri yesterday. But the hiking plan was to get the bus to Amalfi, switch to another bus to take us up to Bomerano and then hike all the way to Positano before collapsing on a beach.

We’re staying just outside of Sorrento, on the road to Amalfi. The bus technically passes in front of our hotel. But we were highly advised to catch it in town or risk standing for the hour and a half ride along all the hairpin turn roads. Not ideal. So, we added about a half hour onto the travel portion of the day by taking the first shuttle from the hotel into town, walking over to the train station and catching the 8:30 bus to Amalfi. We were there about 15 minutes early and did manage to get seats but not together. The bus was standing room only right away from Sorrento and just got more and more crowded the closer we got to Amalfi. Once we got to Positano, folks started getting off but it was a long, slow trip - and we had a 10:15 bus we had to catch to get up to Bomerano. The ride wasn’t what anyone would consider smooth - there was lots of honking and inching forward to barely scrape past cars, including one time where we sat literally for minutes while a car blocked us from going forward (and he couldn’t get by us) and did everything but the most logical move of just backing his damn car up, like every other vehicle behind him.. And the clock ticked closer and closer to 10:15. We were just at the outskirts of Amalfi when we saw the bus we needed to be on pass us by. Ugh. And there wasn’t going to be another bus until 12:30. Ugh.

Once we finally got into Amalfi, 15 minutes late, EDP went to see if we had any other options for getting up to Bomerano. When he was checking into that, he saw some other travellers who also missed the 10:15 bus (and I’m sure there were many more…) He came out of the tourist info place and said we could try a cab or we could take a different bus over to Praiano and take the stairs up to the trail. I immediately shut down the later option because it’s literally something like 1500 stairs. And that didn’t seem like a good way to start the hike. Meanwhile, the other travellers were chatting through their options, completely misunderstanding the bus schedule so I stuck my nose where it didn’t belong to tell them that no, there wasn’t an 11:15 bus, that only went on Sundays and were they interested in splitting a cab with us. They said no, they already had their SITA bus tickets (us too, buddy… But I held my tongue on the sunk cost lesson.) So we shrugged and went off to investigate. The taxi driver was going to charge us ONE HUNDRED EUROS for the ride. No thank you, sir. He then said there were some other people looking at going and we could split with them so only fifty each. Still no thank you, sir. It’s not that long a ride and there was still another bus coming.

So we had an early lunch of sandwiches overlooking the beach, grabbed some beach towels from a little shop (we’re now the proud owners of two over-priced blue towels with a multi-coloured turtle on it and Amalfi Coast scrawled in giant letters… Just my style…) We hadn’t done anything, towel-wise before leaving because we assumed it would be like the beaches in Nice where our sun loungers came with towels. Not so much on the Amalfi Coast. Anyway. Then we loaded up on sun screen and started watching for the bus.

It was such chaos - so many people were looking for that Bomerano bus! And there weren’t designated places for certain routes, it was just one bigger area where the buses would back in and then after a few minutes, switch their sign. Every time a bus pulled in, multiple people would swarm it to find out if it was the Bomerano bus. We were definitely not the only people who missed the 10:15. Just before 12:30, a bus pulled in that I was pretty sure was ours so we tried to get ahead of most of the crowd (success!) to make sure we got on. It was a massive group of people, way too many to fit on the bus, including a tonne of school kids that needed to get home. They knew what was what so they were right at the door and got on the second it opened. We managed to get on but did not get seats. The bus was packed and about half the crowd didn’t manage to get on, including those other travellers we had tried to split a cab with.

We were soon hurtling up towards Bomerano on a hot, overcrowded bus with an overly aggressive driver who really enjoyed the sound of his horn. It was SUCH a fun ride. We weren’t 100% sure where to get off but I had enough of a description that we had a rough idea of what we were looking for. Then we heard some other travellers talking about getting off in Bomerano and that we were there and we were all “hmmm, this doesn’t look as described but we’d better get off!” So we did. And we immediately saw a sign for the Sentiero Delgi Dei so we felt much better. But a lot of the other folks, that we assumed were also heading for the path did not get off. We walked a few hundred metres up the street and found the square that we had thought we’d get off at. No sign of the bus, no sign of other travellers. We were soon heading towards the path, wondering what all those other folks were heading towards - we never caught up with them on the trail so we’re thinking we stumbled into getting off the bus at the right time. EDP’s guess is that the bus eventually loops back so that they were way behind us. My guess is that a lot of people had a really annoying day.

So with getting to the trail finally behind us, we started walking. It was a lovely, easy walk to start with good views out over the water. There were a few places of scrambling around on some rocks but for the most part, we were fine without our hiking poles and our sneakers were perfectly good footgear. We saw the odd person hiking in sandals, which looked like an incredibly poor life choice but what’s a twisted ankle on a path in the middle of nowhere that has signs placed every 1/2km or so with coordinates for an emergency helicopter to find out? And oh yes, we definitely saw the helicopter heading towards the path at one point. Someone else was not having a very good day.

We were soon in Nocelle, where the path officially ends and there is a cold drink kiosk where we got the most wonderfully cold & tart lemonade that made for a nice reward at the end of the hot hike. We were definitely hiking in the hottest hours of the day, although even if we had made the 10:15 bus, it would have been 11:30-ish before we got on the path so no matter what, we were hiking in the heat. Once in Nocelle, we had the option to take the stairs down into Positano (about 1500) or to keep going on another path that would loop us around Positano and bring us out at a nice, quiet beach. We tried the latter and just couldn’t figure it out. So we back-tracked and took the stairs down to Positano. All 1500 of them. In a row. That was also super fun. But soon we were at the bottom and we walked the little distance into Positano. By this time, it was after 4 so we headed towards the first set of sun loungers that we saw, paying far too much for a relatively short amount of beach time. But we were hot and tired and it felt pretty good to jump into the cold water.

Until EDP got stung by a jellyfish, anyway. I’m really hoping that the children within earshot don’t speak English because EDP had some rather colourful comments as he frantically headed back towards shore. He insisted he was fine, declined to go to the lifeguard and then disappeared a few minutes later. Turns out, he did go find some first aid - he was hosed down and then given something with some ammonia in it, but was told it wasn’t a bad enough sting to warrant a doctor. He was told to stay out of the sun for a bit so we settled in with a few drinks and our books, enjoying the last of the sunshine and the cooling air. Then, it was back through the little streets of Positano to catch a bus back to Sorrento, seeing one leave as we were less than 50 metres away. Happily, the wait wasn’t too long and the bus wasn't too crowded.

But the long, hot day had gotten to me and when we got off the bus in Sorrento, the twists and turns of the road had left me feeling a bit queasy. So I told EDP I didn’t care what we did for dinner, he just needed to pick something because I needed a bit of quiet time to settle my stomach. He settled on Fauno Bar quickly enough that I think he already knew that’s where he wanted to go for dinner. It’s right on Piazza Tasso and has the reputation as the best place to people-watch in all of Sorrento. It was pretty packed, we weren’t sure we’d get a table any too quickly and sure enough, we were told there weren’t any but we could sit inside for a few minutes with a complimentary glass of Prosecco until something opened up. Sign me up! We didn’t have to wait too long at all and ended up with a table in the second row from the street - so prime street-watching territory. We had a delicious dinner - me with a pasta dish with the cutest tiny meatballs and EDP with a lobster pasta dish. Often, you expect these sorts of places to flake out on the food but this place has earned its right to be busy. Then, it was back to catch the shuttle and head off to a well-earned sleep.

Anyway. Yeah, not our smoothest day of the trip.

Capri

The original plan for Capri involved getting on the earliest ferry that we could and coming back on the latest one possible - because I had a whack of stuff I wanted to see on the island, including a hike along the coast. But, it was going to prove difficult to get even an early-ish ferry, let alone the first one.

Our hotel is outside of Sorrento but conveniently has a shuttle that goes into town every hour. The first one for the day leaves at 7:45, which puts us in the historic centre around 8. The ferries leave from the marina and we figured we were easily another 15 minutes to get there from the shuttle stop, plus time in line, etc., etc. So EDP asked at the hotel front desk about a taxi - and while he was doing so, the clerk suggested a tour that they offer to Capri. Armed with a pamphlet, EDP came back to sell me on the idea of getting picked up at the hotel at 8:!5, on a ferry around 9, having 6 hours of free time on the island and then a tour around the island to see it from the water. A couple of quick searches showed this tour got outstanding reviews and it seemed far less stressful than figuring everything out on our own so he went back to book it. We figured we’d cut the hike we had planned along the coast, since we’d be seeing it all from the water and that we’d be able to still fit everything else in. Yay!

The minibus arrived right on time this morning and we were soon off towards Marina Del Cantone where we soon boarded the ferry and headed off to the island. At that point, we learned that we could have 6 hours completely on our own or we could use the tour company’s shuttle service, giving us an hour and a half in Capri Town and 3 in Anacapri. We hemmed and hawed - we needed more time in Capri Town than Anacapri but we knew that getting around the island was expensive and time consuming so we decided that we’d cut out Villa Jovis since it was mostly about the views, anyway. We signed ourselves up for the shuttle and off we went when the ferry docked. The shuttles were really helpful - they would send one off as soon as it was full so we weren’t sitting around and waiting for all the buses each time we changed locations.

Once up in Capri Town, we headed over to Giardini di Augusto, which gave us stunning views out over the water before lamenting one last time about having to cut the villa, getting some sandwiches and heading over to Anacapri where we headed straight to Grotta Azzurra with the help of our shuttle bus. The Grotta Azzurra (or Blue Grotto) is this little cave that you can get rowed into and then be dazzled by the glowing blue water, which is created by the sunlight bouncing into the cave. We were lucky in that the lines weren’t very long - when the 50 or so of us arrived on the shuttle, there were only four people ahead of our big group in the stair queue. You can wait for hours to get into the grotto, and you’re only in there for a few minutes, which is usually not my kind of thing but the pictures are stunning and we had the time so hey, why not? The folks on the stairs get priority over people on boats so our group earned more than one dirty look from boat folks who were unimpressed that they got bumped back 50 people or so. Soon we were in a rowboat and laying flat, heading into the grotto. The sun had been hiding most of the day but started to peak out a little while we were standing on the stairs and was in full shining mode when we went into the grotto. It was really cool, it seemed to be glowing and EDP & I were both fascinated by it. Is it an incredibly over-priced tourist trap? Yes. But it was pretty spectacular. I wouldn’t have wanted to wait for two hours but we had a really short wait so it all worked out. Soon, we were back on a shuttle, going back up into Anacapri where we decided to take the Seggiovia del Monte Solaro chair lift up to the Monte Solaro, the highest point on the island. The chair lift was incredibly terrifying, i nearly plummeted to my death multiple times - umm, shouldn’t the lap bar lock in place?! - but the views were worth it. The sun was out in full force by that point so the water was sparkling and everything was stunning. Monte Solaro hadn’t been on our plan for the day but I’m really glad we fit it in - it definitely was a good substitute for Villa Jovis. We ended our time up in Anacapri with a walk over to Villa San Michele, another villa on the list for the the views, this time, overlooking the marina. We skipped the museum, opting to fill the last of our time in Anacapri with some gelato before heading back down to the marina for the last leg of our tour, the trip around the island.

Getting to see the whole island from the water was fantastic. We were able to see the Punta Carena lighthouse, the Grotta Bianca, and the Faraglioni which was an unexpected delight. We would have seen the Faraglioni rocks on our hike but we got to be much closer to them on the ferry, going right through the arch, and we wouldn’t have gotten to see the lighthouse or the Grotta Bianca at all. So all-in-all, the trade-offs were worth it.

We were soon back at Marina Del Cantone and heading back to our hotel before heading into town for dinner, where we decided to wing it and just pick somewhere that looked okay. It was a miss. Well, it was for me. EDP had pasta and meatballs, which he enjoyed, but I had carbonara and frankly, they relied far too heavily on the cream to pull it all together. Now, I don’t want to tell the Italians how to make pasta but carbonara should not have cream. At all. Let alone a lot of it. I should have known better. Well, lesson learned. Okay, I’m off my cream-based soapbox now.

Tomorrow, we’re heading off to hike the Sentiero Degli Dei and spend some time on the beach in Positano. It’ll be our first day on the SITA busses, which while preferable to driving, is still not something I’m looking forward to.

Our private gastronomic tour

What a fantastic day! 

When we started looking for a food tour for this trip, EDP really wanted something that would take us along the coast, not just keep us in Naples or Sorrento. Eventually we landed on a private tour - a total indulgence but so good!

We were picked up by our guide, Aaron, at 8:30 and whisked away to an olive oil factory, where Susie took us through the gardens, showing us olive trees, hazelnut trees, fig trees, lemon and orange trees (most of the old orange trees in Sorrento have now been grafted with a lemon tree so both fruits are on the same tree.) Then, it was over into the factory to show us how they produce their olive oil. It’s not harvest time right now, so we were able to peer right into the machines and Susie showed us pictures of what the process looked like in production. Once we learned all about how the three different types of olives are used, we tasted over a dozen different olive oils - many of them infusions based off the four main olive oils produced, like vanilla, mint and lemon (of course!)

From there, it was off to Cantine Stinca, a small family-run winery where we saw where they ferment their wines and then tasted two white and three red, all made from local grapes. We also met a very friendly dog named Hang, who was pleased to meet us but even more pleased to be bribed out of the way with cookies. While tasting our wines, we enjoyed cheese, prosciutto-wrapped bread sticks, bread and olives. A great spread to go with some great wines. 

Then, it was on to a local family farm where we met the world’s suckiest golden retriever that needed pets and to play fetch and generally flop down on our feet while we waited for the transfer down to the farm. We had a lovely walk from the farm entrance down to the house, joining three other guests and learning all about the various gardens and animals from Francesco. We saw some horses and a goat, along with some new vineyards that he got his first wine from last year and his young lemon trees. We also met Peppa, the potbellied pig, who seemed intent on ridding the farm of every weed in sight. Francesco and the other guests seemed baffled at how much snow we told them we got each year and we seemed baffled that it rarely goes below freezing there. Once down at the house, we had a cheese-making demonstration from Maria, who showed us how she makes a soft cheese from unpasteurized milk and rennet that has only been sitting for a few minutes, followed by a mozzarella from the same unpasteurized milk and rennet that had been sitting much longer. The curd was sliced and then hot water added to it while Maria stretched and twisted it into a delicious ball of mozzarella, popping off some boccaccini for us to taste. Then, it was on to making pizza dough - flour, a little salt, drizzle of olive oil, water - mix it all up and presto! Dough! Because we didn’t have time to wait for our dough to proof, we use dough Francesco had made the night before, learning how to properly knead it out to keep the circle shape before adding sauce and cheese and moving it into the pizza oven Francesco built himself. I earned myself a standing invitation to be a chef in their restaurant but I think I’ll stick to my day job. The pizzas were freaking delicious. We each ate slices of each one as it came out of the oven, enjoy the hot, gooey goodness. Once we had all made pizza or focaccia or lemon pizza, we moved over to a large tent to sit down to the remains of the pizza plus a spread of roasted vegetables, bruschetta, salami & prosciutto, and of course - the cheese we had watched get made. After stuffing ourselves silly, it was time for panna cotta, which was lovely. And it was time to meet another member of the family, a nameless turtle.  Peppa also kept us company because it turns out, she adores pizza. Shocking, I know.

Once we were overloaded with food and wine, it was time for the last stop on our tour.  We bid goodbye to Francesco and Maria  (and Peppa the pig) and headed to a limoncello factory where they were hard at work peeling lemons to make their limoncello. We got to taste several differ liqueurs including an amazing walnut liquor with hints of vanilla and cinnamon that was amazing. 

Then it was back to our hotel to figure out our Capri day (spoiler alert: we joined a tour) and into Sorrento to have a light dinner (spoiler alert: gelato.) And now, it’s time for bed and to rest up for our day on the water. 

Sorrento

Well, Sorrento certainly is a bustling resort town. 

Having crossed everything off our Naples to-do list, we had a lazy morning yesterday before packing up and heading off to the train station to catch a train to Sorrento. It’s the same line that serves Pompei and Herculaneum, which is crazy busy, so we were hoping that by going mid-day, we’d be able to get seats. We were also hoping to get one of the fast trains. We managed seats but it was not the fast train.  An hour and a half later, we pulled into Sorrento, stored our bags at the train station and went into the old historic centre for some lunch and to do some exploring. After a drink and light lunch at the edge of Piazza Tasso, we wandered down the main road in the historic centre, overwhelmed by the insane number of limoncello shops. We stopped for some gelato (panna cotta and chocolate orange) before continuing to wander, exploring the tiny side streets, filled with their limoncello and lemon paraphernalia. After not too long, we went back to the train station to collect our bags and catch the shuttle to our hotel. 

Because this trip was somewhat last minute for us, we had a hard time finding a hotel in Sorrento - so many places were already fully booked or just didn’t really meet what we were looking for. Because we’re here for a week, we really wanted something with a balcony, preferable with a sea view. After literally hours of searching, we finally settled on a little place outside of Sorrento that has a shuttle into the town throughout the day. Once we realized that shuttles were fairly common, that opened up much more in the way of balconies with sea views so that discovery was good! After arriving at the hotel and getting checked in, we stepped out onto that elusive balcony and all that time searching felt worth it. We have a stunning view that looks out over Sorrento and the Bay of Naples. It’s been lovely to spend time out there with a book and take in the view. 

After a couple of hours, we headed back down into Sorrento for dinner at a lovely little spot tucked out of the way where I had some of the smoothest panna cotta I’ve ever had - along with delicious gnocchi while EDP indulged his love of seafood with grouper. And we both enjoyed a rather delicious bottle of local wine, the likes of which I’m sure I’ll never be able to find in Canada. 

Today was another day spent in town, walking down after breakfast. The roads are too dangerous to walk down but there’s a footpath that wound down, steep enough to make us not overly interested in walking back to the hotel. Once down in Sorrento, one of the things on the list to check out was Il Vallone dei Mulini, the ruins of an old mill in a gorge. Turns out, we passed it on our way into town and you can’t actually go into the gorge, as I thought you could. So we ended up back-tracking and seeing exactly what we had already seen. From there, we headed into Villa Comunale, a park, to get a good look at Marina Piccolo and Marina San Francesco before taking the steep footpath down to see them up close - and to get a better idea of the ferry we’ll need to catch for our day on Capri. Then it was back up approximately 7,174 steps back into the historic centre to start making our way to Marina Grande, the fishing village at the west end of town, and the home to a seafood restaurant EDP was particularly keen on. 

Things were still quiet so we decided to take a little one hour boat tour of the coast (no three hour tours for this gal, even without a single cloud in the sky.) It was a lovely little tour that kept us close to the coastline, taking us past the ruins of an old Roman villa with its secret cove “swimming pool” and past several of the little villages before dropping us back off at the Marina, right in front of the restaurant EDP wanted to try. And funnily enough, our boat driver (Captain? Skipper? Pilot?) was one of the family members of the restaurant, doing most of the fishing while his wife and daughter run the restaurant. With Prosecco in hand, we sat overlooking the marina and one of the huge cliffs looming up over us. EDP devoured a massive bowl of muscles before having some of the best octopus of his life, while even I got to have some fresh seafood! I rarely eat any kind of fish when we travel because communicating a shellfish allergy through a language barrier is just the kind of risky activity I like to steer clear of.  But this fantastic little restaurant had a page at the back of their menu outlining what common allergens are used in their kitchen and so all I had to do was point at the little pictures and was assured I was able to have the pasta with the catch of the day (tuna) without fear. And I did. And it was delicious. I was warned not to share EDP’s fries, though, because they were made in the same fryer as the shrimp. I really didn’t expect to be able to be able to have any seafood on this trip so lunch was a special treat (my mantra has been “I’m perfectly fine with pomodoro.”)

Once we were done with lunch, we headed back up into the town to kill some time before the shuttle started back up after its lunch break. Sorrento is a lovely little town but it’s incredibly touristy without much to do beyond buy limoncello, lemon candy, lemon-themed ceramics & linens, and lemon-scented soap. It’s not typically the kind of town we like to spend a lot of time in and had we realized what it was going to be like, instead of giving ourselves a full day, we probably would have done just a morning or afternoon and fit in one of the nearby villages, as well. Ah well, we know for next time. Before we caught the shuttle, we stopped at a little grocery store to get some strawberries, cheese, salami, and bread to enjoy a little picnic with the bottle of Prosecco the hotel had left in our room for us. It was the perfect light dinner to end the day after our seafood lunch extravaganza and in anticipation for tomorrow’s food tour, which we expect to be one of the highlights of our time here. 

Herculaneum and Pompei

We had an early start this morning - and dressed for rain, expecting it to be cloudy in the morning and rain all afternoon. Umbrellas were packed and off we went to catch the Circumvesuviana out to Ercolano to see the Herculaneum ruins, where there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Much like Pompei, Herculaneum was hit by the 62 AD earthquake before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Much smaller than Pompei, it housed about 4000 people so the ruins were easy to navigate and take them all in. Some areas were much more damaged than others - maybe they’ve just been restored more or maybe they were hit harder by the earthquake? We spent our morning wandering in and out of houses and buildings, seeing detailed mosaic floors and frescos. One of the most jarring experiences was seeing a series of small, gated arched rooms in a row. Each was filled with skeletons. EDP thought we had found crypts but with the location near the water, I thought they were likely warehouses. Turns out, I was right - the assumption is that sailors rushed into the warehouses when they realized something was wrong and got trapped. 

Once we were done at Herculaneum, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches and extra water and headed off for Pompei. It was still sunny as could be - and I was really starting to regret taking the sunscreen out of my purse to make room for an umbrella. Pompei was significantly busier than Herculaneum and it took us some time before we got tickets, audio guides and had a bathroom break. Then it was into the city to start exploring. Turns out, it’s massive. It’s estimated there were 20,000 people living around Pompei when Vesuvius erupted but they know the population was down from the earthquake a few years earlier because people didn’t want to rebuild. We took in as much as we could in the hours we had - including the nacropolis, the amphitheatre, the Temple of Jupiter, foro, and so much more. Many areas are blocked off now and you can only peer in. EDP later learned that only about 1/3 of what was open to visitors in the 1960s is open today. We wove up and down the streets until we were too hot and too tired to keep going. The sun stayed shining, despite the promise of downpours in the afternoon, which frankly, we were hoping for so the people would leave but that never happened. It did finally start to cool off and cloud over as we were leaving and the rain started just as our train back to Naples was pulling into the station. The sunburn on my neck really proves I should have kept the sunscreen in my purse. 

Once back in Naples, it was time for a bit of a rest to let our feet recover from our long day of walking. Then it was on to one last pizza dinner in Naples. EDP found Starita, a third Michelen-recommended pizzeria (what’s a pizzeria gotta do to get a star?!) so we went off for opening to avoid the crowds and got a table right away. Unlike our other two pizza experiences. Starita had massive menu with tonnes of different types of pizzas. After some amazing arancini, two more delicious pizzas appeared in front of us. Once again, I couldn’t eat all of mine but it was excellent. My favourite was still the Gino Sorbillo marinara pizza but this was worth the walk, especially since there was gelato on the way back. 

We’re at the end of our time in Naples now. Tomorrow, we’re off to Sorrento where we’re basing ourselves for our Amalfi coast explorations. I suspect we’ll no longer have a pizza-based diet but I guess you never know!

Naples

Yep. I still love Italy.

We left Toronto on Wednesday night and had an easy flight into Rome - they did have to suspend service for turbulence early on into the flight and I thought we were in for a bad one but it only lasted a few minutes. There wasn’t much sleep to be had, though EDP did get a bit more than me, but soon enough we were in Rome and on a train heading towards Naples. Once in Naples, we found our hotel, got checked in, freshened up and headed out to see some sights. 

With a fairly light day planned since we knew we’d only have the afternoon, we explored wandered down Spaccanapoli, the main street of the old historic city, just a few blocks from our hotel. We started by heading into Gesù Nuovo, a church with a very unique facade. It was originally built as a palace but the Jesuits bought it in the 1580s and kept the stark exterior while transforming the inside to be fairly typical of an old Italian church - marble and gold everywhere. Then, it was on to Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara for its cloisters and ancient spa ruins. The cloisters featured lovely walkways surrounding lots of citrus trees. The spa dates back to the first century AD, giving us our first taste of ancient ruins. Then it was on to Cappella Sansevero, where Giuseppe Sanmartino’s Cristo velato sculpture is, which was stunning in its delicate detail. Then it was into a queue to head down to the “secret chamber” where two perfectly preserved human arterial systems are housed. They were just... weird. 

We did get quite turned around on our way to Capella Sansevero - our map made it feel like things would be much further apart but nope, it was all very close together. So we overshot a little bit but got to see a bit more of the historic city? Once we were done with our sights, it was time for a drink. EDP’s cousin and his girlfriend were also in Naples so we settled onto a patio just as some rain was starting to fall and EDP let them know where we were so they could join us when they were done with their day. We had two very excellent drinks along with some tasty nuts and bread before I could take no more and announced I needed dinner. Derek and Lisa were up for joining us and we soon settled on one of the two pizza places EDP was eager to try out while we were here. One of them, Gino Sorbillo, was only a five minute walk so off we went! And we found it easily enough - because there were approximately 8 million people queued out front. EDP ventured into the crowd to find out the wait and came back with the sad news that it would be at least an hour but probably much longer. So off we went to the other one, L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Which also had a massive line out front. But it was only supposed to be a 40 minute wait (faster for takeout but we all agreed we wanted the proper experience) so Lisa and I popped over to a little shop to get some drinks for the wait (proper grown up drinks - not water or juice...) which made the wait go much faster. But it was definitely more than 40 minutes. It was quite late when we got a table but a waiter arrived very quickly to ask for our order - cheese or no cheese. We were unaware there were only two options. If we had, the sign at the drinks place saying you could eat your pizza there if you bought drinks would have been a complete no-brainer. Ah well. Lesson learned. We didn’t have to wait long before four ENORMOUS pizzas were dropped on our table. I guess the advantage of only two items on your menu and a seemingly unlimited demand for them is that you just can just keep rolling them out constantly.  So we all dove into our pizzas. 

And man, was it ever good. I gobbled up half of my pizza, stopping only because I thought I might explode. EDP’s disappeared without a problem, of course. It was definitely one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. The wait was totally worth it. And when we left at 9:30, the crowd out front hadn’t thinned at all. 

Our second day in Naples started at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale which was packed full of statues and frescos and mosaics, many of which came from Pompei and Herculaneum. The mosaics were particularly interesting, though hard to get a good look at because of all the huge tour groups. Then it was time to find the Complesso Monumentale di San Lorenzo Maggiore. We wandered through the streets, passing through Piazza Bellini, which I had heard was a lovely spot to stop for a drink but it was only about 11 and seemed too early for lunch, particularly since we weren’t hungry. We opted to keep going, passing Gino Sorbillo again, where there was already a line, despite not even being open. We decided we’d finish up our day’s sites and go back, hoping that the lunch crowd would have died down and we could get in with a reasonable wait. As we headed toward the Complesso, we passed Napoli Sotterranea, a tour Derek and Lisa had done that they highly recommended. I was really confused when they talked about it because I knew going into Naples’ underground city was something I wanted to do but I couldn’t find it on our itinerary, leading me to think we weren’t able to fit it in and had cut it.  But we had the time and we had only 20 minutes before the next tour so we bought tickets and roamed around the area until it was time to go. 

This tour was something else.  We went down 140 steps into the tunnels where we learned all about why they were built - as quarries for the rock by the Greeks - and then their uses over the years - as aqueducts by the Romans, a garbage dump, and bomb shelters. In fact, they didn’t remove the garbage before the war came and they needed the caves for bomb shelters so the trash is still there, they just put dirt on top of it. As we toured through, we got to go through some very tiny tunnels lit only by (battery operated) candlelight. After the caves, we were taken to see the ruins of a theatre, which was only recently found and used to be the wine cellar of a family home before it was excavated. It was interesting but the underground caves was the real draw.

From there, we went onto the Complesso we still had on the itinerary. And this is when it all made sense - that Complesso offers a tour of the underground ruins, as well. Oops. We didn’t go on the second tour, figuring we’d seen everything we needed to see. So, after walking through the church, we headed over to the Duomo, which was as impressive as I expected it to be. With that, we had finished seeing everything we had planned so we headed back to Gino Sorbillo to see how the line was. 

And it was still ridiculous. But, EDP decided to see how long it was and to inquire if they had take out. And they did! So we got a marinara pizza, two glasses of Prosecco from across the street and headed down the road a bit to a little piazza to enjoy.  And we did - it was amazing, it was the best pizza I’ve ever had and one of the best meals, as well. 

Once we finished, we decided to head up to Museo di Capodimonte, which was originally on our list for Saturday but we had the time so we headed on up. It started raining not long after we set out, which slowed our progress and we didn’t appreciate that it was at the top of a fairly steep hill when we decided to walk. But we were there soon enough and wandering through the museum, which was much larger than I expected. There was a special Caravaggio exhibit on, which was really neat to see, too. Then it was back towards the hotel, stopping for that drink in Piazza Bellini while I read and EDP made a plan for dinner. No pizza tonight but delicious pasta instead! After all, you can’t have pizza for every meal. 

Tomorrow, we’re off to Herculaneum and Pompei. We’re expecting rain but we hear that’s good because the place clears right out when the skies open. So here’s hoping for rain, I guess!