Text 10372, 93 rader
Skriven 2007-01-11 12:37:25 av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: East European travel 9
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East European journey, 2006 (9)

18/09/06  Monday, Naples and Pompeii

The morning traffic in Naples is murderous, and drivers appear to have
no inclination to deviate to avoid pedestrians, who have to fit in
between the vehicles.  At the railway station we bought tickets for
the journey and to tour Pompeii, and took the 9.41 train to Pompeii
and Sorrento, but at Pompeii the arranged tour guide was absent from
the little office, so after waiting for a while, walked to the
entrance to old Pompeii and bought our own tickets.  (Later, the
original tickets were refunded.)  All the railway stations were
covered in graffiti, some of which was painting of quite high quality.

We spent a good 3 hours walking through the Pompeii ruins before
stopping for lunch at a touristy canteen within the area of that old
city, where I had a good eggplant dish.  Quite a lot of other
tourists.  I was intrigued by the grooves in the flagstone streets
made by chariot wheels, nearly 2000 years ago.  Almost exactly the
same spacing as modern standard gauge rail lines.  Like other Roman
cities, Pompeii had its forum, temples and one of the largest
amphitheatres known.  A lot of the mosaics had been moved to the
Naples museum, but some remained.  The flagstone streets were rather
rough to walk on, and early on we saw a woman pushing an elderly man
in a wheelchair; she was obviously having a hard time of it.  Later,
we saw the man in his chair, but no sign of his pusher.  It was as if
she had given up in despair and deserted him!

In the afternoon we took a tour bus to Mt Vesuvius.  This climbed most
of the way up the mountain; then we climbed on foot for a further 30
minutes up a steep path to reach the summit at 1200 metres.  Some
steam was issuing from the side of the main crater.

Back in the bus to modern Pompeii town, we walked around, and I was
nearly run over by a car which stopped as I waited at the side of the
road.  In my innocence I thought it was so I could cross the road, but
in fact it was just so the driver could read a restaurant menu; he
then started off without looking, and would have hit me if I hadn't
jumped for my life.  Finally the recommended restaurant we wanted -
Planet - opened, so we entered as the first and only customers.
Gragnano 2005 (Vesuvio wine) Terraglie Rosso, of pinkish colour, with
a flavour of a good rosé.  Slightly spritzig ("frizzante").  Rissoto
alla pesciatora liguini agli scampl (Scampi with spaghetti) was
excellent.  Following the meal, we were given a complementary glass of
a local speciality liqueur - limoncello - lemon based.  Very pleasant
indeed!  We took the long ride home on the second-last train, which
arrived at 9.50pm.  Then a walk back to the hotel through the somewhat
threatening streets of Naples.

19/09/06  Tuesday, Naples and Amalfi Coast

We walked around Garibaldi Square to check the airport buses, then
took the fairly fast (75km/h) train to Sorrento, departing 1011,
arriving 1130.

The bus for Amalfi left from near the station, but there was a long
queue, so it was 12.30pm before we finally climbed on board and
departed on the 1 1/2hr journey.  The road down to Amalfi is narrow,
with many hairpin bends. "Foreign" coaches and drivers are not allowed
on that road, all travel being done using local drivers and coaches.

The buildings along that part of the coast cling to the precipitous
cliff faces, with long, narrow flights of steps to access them.  The
town of Amalfi is squeezed into a narrow, flatter area alongside the
sea, with many yachts and fishing boats moored at the small wharf
alongside the jetty.  A small beach was crowded with bathers.
Understandably there were many tourists.  We had a pleasant lunch
there, of eggplant, tomato, cheese pasta, some veal with a wine sauce,
and smoked octopus, cockles and pickled sardines.

After walking around the town and harbour area, we boarded our bus at
1630, and arrived back at Sorrento at 1830.  A tourist guide on that
bus I talked to said that Naples was an awful place to live; if you
leave a car there for a few hours it will be gone when you return!  We
walked around Sorrento, and I came across a street sign indicating
Caruso's birthplace (?).  As it was getting late we decided to dine
there, and eventually found a restaurant open.  I ordered the "vino
locale - rosse" in a 1 litre carafe, which was no better than the
cheapest Australian cask red. The speciality of the house was the
"Pizza Sorrento", which featured a few pieces of ham, cheese, and
fried potato chips - quite awful!   The other dishes of raviolli and
sausages and roast vegetables were equally uninspiring.

We caught the second last train again, and arrived back in Naples at
10.25pm, and back at the hotel at 10.30.  I noticed that among the
graffiti on the railway stations there was a quite beautiful painting
1.5 m high of a young African girl's face, with "Zu meine liebe"
written underneath it.  Fortunately no one had disfigured it.

___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

--- FLAME v2.0/b
 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)