Started my trip with a 6:00 am bus on my way to South Italy; finally reached our destination at 10pm!
Part of the reason it took so long is that we spent the afternoon sightseeing of Naples. The city is so, so alive! This is Italy as I imagined it to be. There were markets everywhere, seas of people milling around and no traffic laws whatsoever. Everyone and his son had a scooter (not kidding I saw an 8 year old driving with his 6 year old brother in the back! Traffic laws are laughed at and the scooters regularly come up onto the curves, beeping at you for not noticing them.
We went to a famous pizzeria (Michael’s Trianon) and had some pretty good pizza, though very greasy. Then, we spent a good deal of time just wandering through the town, soaking it all in. The buildings are very built up and the city very densely packed. Because of this, there are a number of clotheslines and balconies hanging out over the streets and it feels like you’re in everyone’s backyard.
Because it was the day before Easter, a number of churches were doing walks to raise money. But these weren’t your ordinary cross walks, but rather there were little floats followed by mini rock bands praising Jesus. They were really good, but not quite good enough to get us to donate. That money was better spent on the food!
Then, we went to the Archeological museum which had an incredible collection of ancient Roman Sculptures. The “Farnese collection” contains a number of pieces constructed in the second century AD, modeled after earlier, now destroyed, Greek works. Inside, there were marble and stone sculptures of Hercules and Aphrodite which just make Michelangelo’s David look small by comparison.
After swinging by the Tyrrhenian for a view of Vesuvius and Pompeii we headed back to the train station and took the hour long train to our youth hostel right in Sorrento.
