Day 29 Sorrento

Day 29 Sorrento 

The plan was to visit the island of Capri but it wasn’t to be. We were on time with breakfast and then the walk to town and down the interminable steep steps to the ferry terminals. There were 3 terminals open, offering various prices for various speeds of craft, but none of them could guarantee that they could return us to Sorrento at the end of the day. Apparently if they don’t have enough passengers or the sea looks rough, they just cancel the service. As a last resort she said, we could take the big ferry back and arrive back in Sorrento at about 8pm. We made an on the spot decision to forget about Capri and instead, go to Naples by train. 

We hiked back up the hill to street level at speed and raced off to the train station. We made it with one minute to spare. Up to this point we had travelled in lovely, clean fast trains. This train was a bit grimy and the graffiti vandals had given it a bit of a going over. It rattled and rocked just like the worst of Melbourne trains. The journey was an hour long and “express” must mean something different in Italian as it stopped at every single station. The closer we got to Naples, the more graffiti there was and the more the houses looked in need of some TLC and paint. Still, it left on time, arrived on time and what more could you want. We even got some unexpected musical entertainment when at first a violinist and then a young piano accordian busker got on the train. I don't think they got much support from the passengers on this trip.

Naples did not initially make the best of impressions. Outside the rail station there was a chaotic mixture of aggressive traffic and itinerant street venders selling tatt. Forget about waiting for a break in the traffic. In the end we waited till a local surged forward and quickly followed in their wake. It had to get better, I thought, but for a long while it didn’t. You could overlook general confusion and grime but the rubbish littering the streets was awful.  

After a kilometre, as we looked for the historic area referred to in the tourist guide, we did find a more interesting and presentable area. Coffee and a glass of mineral water were ridiculously cheap here with us paying only 3 Euros for sit down service in a cafe. The streets looked busy with people, but if you looked past the buzz on the street, the building fabric of Napoli still looked in dire need of a good clean and repair.  

Naples cathedral was in one of the little squares that led off from the Main Street we walked through. It was utterly magnificent both in architecture and decoration. The statues here were made of metal rather than stone and the paintings were awesome. Within the building itself there were several minor chapels, each a lot bigger than any of the Greek churches I have been in, in  Melbourne. An eerie choral music played as we moved through the building. When we emerged, we couldn’t believe that the local louts has even graffitied the outside of this lovely church. 

Leaving the cathedral we plunged again into the hurly burly of the street. There were so many street takeaways and this was one of the few places we saw people eating as they walked through the streets. We spotted a hole in the wall place with about 50 people lined up outside its 2 entrances. We guessed the food must be something special so we joined the line. They were selling arancini with different kinds of fillings. As we inched closer to the counter we noticed that sometime past, Bill Clinton has stopped by for a snack. We took our lunch supplies and walked on. By this time, a bit of rain began to fall. It was nothing major and we had anticipated this, deciding to wear rain jackets. The fish shops in Naples were a bit special, spilling out onto the footpath and with the seafood presented in little pools, with water flowing from one pool down to the next. At times the fare was still alive. The rain, the crowds and the gps going on strike amongst the tangle of buildings, caused a bit of confusion. In the end, we just found some church steps to sit on and have our lunch.  

With a confused gps unable to locate us we just followed our noses and this led us to Dante piazza and a rather grand set of buildings. We noticed a hugely long narrow street that looked like it might lead us up to a panoramic view of the city and steeled ourselves for the climb. It wasn’t the climb so much as the lack of footpath and the aggressive drivers that made this at times less than pleasant. Upwards, ever upwards we went until we found a view across the city. The hill continued to climb but we had both had enough and this view was just fine. The gentle rain that was falling gave Naples a grey appearance, but at least it would give it a wash, I thought. 

Returning back down that narrow street wasn’t pleasant as the ground has become a little more slippery with the rain. Some way down we met a gaggle of what looked like 12 year old boys coming up the hill. Johnny may have brushed up against one. I was walking behind John and saw one of the boys reach down and pick up some street rubbish. He hauled back and threw it at John. I called out loudly for him to stop. He did briefly, smiled at me and then reached down for an empty detergent container and chucked it at John’s back before hightailing it off after his friends. Coming up the hill behind them was a gaggle of girls who called out to the boys.. it must have been something like “ stop being an idiot”. They smiled at us as they passed.  

By this time we had had enough of Naples and took the long walk back to the train station, stopping briefly at the same cafe for an Americano with milk.  We walked back through an area where every shop sells Christmas nativity settings and all the things that allow people to individualise them. The only thing that caught our attention was a mechanised donkey roundabout. We instantly thought of Wil.

I have to say that there are more beautiful and more interesting places than Naples to visit. The train to Sorrento was another “express” so we didn’t expect to be back at the hotel till late. The clouds had closed in and a grey blue mist gathered outside. On the way to Naples we noticed a couple perhaps a bit older than us, getting off at the Pompei station. They returned to Sorrento on our returning train and looked as worse for wear as we were after another day of touring.  

We had a lovely meal tonight at Zi Ntonio. It was in the Michelin guide, but we just picked it because it looked interesting and affordable. Johnny had angel hair pasta with zucchini flowers and shrimps. I had veal with lemon sauce and potatoes. We had a shared dessert of chocolate and cherry tart.The place was packed with locals and many of them (lots of kisses and cuddles) were clearly known to the owners. There was a great saxophonist playing and i was delighted when he played my "Take 5" Dave Brubeck request, We booked to go back tomorrow night.