Waiting For My Ship To Come In

Gio the Italian playboy had told me that it was only three hours by train from Naples to Bari, where I would be catching the ferry to Dubrovnik, and that I should take the morning to see the city before leaving. After all, my boat wasn’t until 10pm. And maybe he had a point. But I had done the research ahead of time on Trenitalia’s website, and purchased the option that seemed to work the best, even if it wasn’t exactly ideal.  In this case, the important thing was not missing the boat.

In the Shadow of Vesuvius

I learned about Pompeii in my Latin class in high school.  I think we even watched a movie about it. And I’ve been wanting to visit it forever. As with almost everything else on this trip, I had some concept in my head of what to expect, nothing particularly defined, and the reality turned out to be quite different. 

Arrivederci, Amalfi

It’s almost amazing that the Amalfi Coast is such a popular tourist spot considering it’s so damn hard to get to. In all this time they haven’t even bothered trying to widen the road.

I was headed to Pompeii, which is best reached on the Circumvesuviana, which runs between Naples and Sorrento.  That sounds sexy (it circles Mt. Vesuvius!) but is really like subway line, hot and crowded.  However, I was coming from the Amalfi Coast, and for me the easiest was way to take a bus to Salerno and then a train to Pompei (the modern city: one I).  I was able to make it to Naples for under €10 (€100 less than the taxi ride), but it was quite the pain in the ass. 

Strike That

Getting to the Amalfi Coast was always going to be tricky. The plan was to get to Naples and then take the Circumvesuviana railway and then one bus to another bus (although now it looks like the better option would have been train to Salerno and then bus to Minori, where my hotel was). Either way, it was going to be logistically complicated and take a good part of the day.

Eating, Praying, Loving It

I just had dinner at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, the pizzeria from Eat, Pray, Love. They even have an autographed photo of Julia Roberts on the wall.