Hi From Further South In Italy -
Friday was our last night in Naples, thus Marlene and I headed out for some fine Italian cuisine. We left the room well after 8:00 pm, so we were in the mainstream. Our host, Mrs. Barone, had suggested a restaurant down by the water as the best non-pasta, non-pizza restaurant. We sat outside, with a couple of nearby heaters, and actually had a pretty exciting meal. Marlene had lobster linguini (sounds like a pasta) and I had the traditional veal dish with ham, cheese and, in this case, a butter sauce. Marz really liked her dish, while I thought the veal dish was fabulous. Back to the room after 11:00 pm.
Saturday was a travel day with a 90% chance of rain. So, we had decisions to make. The basic decision was do we make the stop at Pompeii if the weather is bad? We looked at the option of returning from Positano (where we’re staying on the Amalfi Coast) or stopping on the way back from Positano to Naples. The only problem with the second option is that we have a scheduled train from Naples to Rome on the same day. Well, we were able to say goodbye to Mrs. Barone and hail a cab and arrive at the Naples train station, find our way to the basement Circumvesuviana train station, get four tickets and head to platform #1 for the train to Sorrento (we were stopping in Pompeii), which was about to leave. We jumped onto the crowded train and were without seats, with our suitcases at our sides. We were led to believe this was an old, uncomfortable, and dangerous train. It was actually like a modern subway train with four cars. The Naples-Sorrento journey is about one hour, with Pompeii about half-way. It turns out the full journey includes 21-stops. I didn’t research much, except the details of the transportation. Much to our surprise, the train trip from Naples-to-Pompeill (and on to Sorrento), with Mt. Vesuvius on the left and the sea on the right, was through a highly populated and poor area. Life didn’t look easy. Geographically the area was sensational and where you’d normally expect those better healed folks to be residing (almost everywhere had an ocean view), but not the case. It made us wonder if any of the outskirts of Naples had nice areas?
We arrived at what is left of Pompeii. It’s about a block walk from the train station and it was much like arriving at a U.S. amusement destination like a zoo. The weather was cloudy with sun breaks. There was a building at which we checked our luggage. We were on a roll. Just to save you looking it up, Pompeii was a thriving Roman commercial port of 20,000 people when it was hit by an earthquake in A.D. 62 and then the fatal Vesuvius eruption in A.D. 79. The ruins were accidentally discovered in 1599 and the excavations, not yet complete, began in 1748. Entering the remains was unbelievable. FIrst of all, you can touch anything and everything. Most amazing is the realization (again) of how sophisticated the Romans were. Pompeii was settled in about 500 B.C. and had operational items that were not available in the U.S. in the 1800s. Unfortunately, less than half-way through our journey through Pompeii the rain came and it came and it came and it came. It wasn’t going to stop soon, so we headed to the train station to head on to Sorrento and eventually Positano on the Amalfi Coast.
We did manage some pre-rain photos. Keaka is standing in what is left of the Basilica, which was a 1st century House of Justice. We got a couple of photos of the Forum, which was the center of town where all things seemed to happen. The Pompeii Forum was surrounded by two-story buildings at the time of the eruption. There’s a photo of the obligatory columns and a photo of Sophia and Keaka on the scene. We wish we had been able to complete the journey through the remains, but we got a pretty good flavor.
The wait for the train was in the rain. And, even with two umbrellas we got real wet standing on the platform. If I told you some of my shirts in my suitcase got wet, you’d probably get the idea. It was a mad crush to get on the train, very few folks with suitcases like us, which helped. Again, it was a stand-up journey. It was almost bad enough to make me wish I looked older so a traveller would give me a seat. We got to Sorrento, another Italian city jammed together with narrow streets. The story was to get off the train and find bus tickets at a newsstand or tabacchi (tobacco) store. This we did. The little old man at the tabacchi store told me a bus was coming at 4:00 pm (in three minutes) and another at 4:30 pm. Across the street stood far too many people, half on a sidewalk and half on the street. We joined the group and by 4:20 saw no sign of a bus. The good news was it wasn’t raining. The suggestion was to get on the bus and sit on the right side to see the views. Well, we had four people and three bags that had to go under the bus, which was a typical city bus, but refined enough to have limited storage underneath. The bus finally arrived and it was a mad rush. I had my three fellow travellers instructed to get on the bus, save me a seat on the right side, and I would see that the bags got into the storage area. It was not an easy exercise. I got on the bus to find Marlene standing in the aisle and the kids sitting on the left side. A gentleman got up and gave Marz his seat next to his wife. There was a family of three also standing. Quickly the bus departed and I was alternately standing and sitting on the steps to the back bus exit (on the right side). So, I had lots of glass and a good view, though it was from a lower vantage point that the other passengers. Thus, I tried to stand with my face against the glass of the door most of the time. Through very, very narrow streets and up hills we went. Slowly leaving Sorrento, which serves as a tourist destination and seemed to be a bit more prosperous. Well, we got to the famed breathtaking area of the road. I have never seen anything like it. The highway along the cliffs of the California coast is for babies. The dramatic coast lines of the Hawaiian Islands are nothing compared to this. You know how big a bus is. The road was narrow and in some spots down to one lane due to parked cars. There was often a two-foot high stone/concrete barrier at the side of the road. The bus would come within six-inches of the barrier and going along at a good clip. I can tell you that over the low retaining wall you could look virtually straight down. My estimate is that most of the time we were 10-15 stories (as in high-rise building) up and a few times about 20 stories. Even 200 feet doesn’t seem like enough height. Hey, maybe it was he length of a football field. It’s suggested that only professional drivers accept the challenge of the road. I would never drive it and I don’t know that I’m that excited about getting on the bus again. Heck, I would not even walk it. But, I can tell you that the view was absolutely brilliant. I’ve never seen a more picturesque ocean view. We were told there were two bus stops in Positano and we were to get off at the second stop. Well, after the fourth stop a fellow passenger assured me that our Sponda stop was still ahead. When we reached that stop there were about 50 people waiting for the bus to go on to the next town. Bedlam broke out. The driver opened the front and back doors and people started to force their way on the bus, while the four of us and a few others attempted to get off. Those trying to get on the bus were leaning on the side of the bus, blocking the door to our baggage underneath the bus. The driver left his seat to accept tickets, while I pounded on the windshield to get his attention. After two further tries at getting to our bags, I slammed on the windshield again and the driver simply closed the back door, which while open was blocking the baggage door. Keaka and I opened the baggage door and pulled two bags off while pushing people away. The third bag had slid to the other side of the bus, so Keaka jumped in and crawled to the other side to rescue the final bag. As I was closing the baggage compartment door, the driver closed the front door and drove off, leaving more than a few people screaming at the bus.
So, we were off the bus, standing high above the Mediterranean and trying to figure out our directions to get to our apartment. We were composed enough to take a breath and a photo of our group at the bus stop. We were getting closer to the day’s finish line.
The Wilsons
