Just to set the scene...we ended our tale in a portacabin somewhere on the outskirts of Rome, lamenting thin walls and noisy neighbours...
Day 4 ROME - NAPLES
Today shall furthermore be known as the 'Day
of the Queues' and the 'Day we came to Nasty Naples'. Got up early after not much sleep - yes
those prats did come home at midnight and banged and crashed round for a good
hour – two toilet trips ensued due to having been woken up. Got up at 7am and
made sure that we returned the favour by banging and crashing round for them –
some of it was on purpose I might add. Got the first shuttle to town, and were
at baggage deposit by 8:50am. Got in a rather long queue & there was an
Italian guy who didn’t seem to think things were moving fast enough so
proceeded to get in a very loud argument with the baggage deposit people whom
also got very heated – this held things up for a while as no-one seemed to want
to back down. Anyway after this we rushed off to the Vatican Museums (this of
course being our 2nd attempt after giving up yesterday), and we were
hoping not to see a huge queue (luckily today there were blue skies!) but
unfortunately there was still a massive one.
Now because I’m telling the whole
truth here – I will admit that we did jump the queue – but only because we were
really pushed for time with catching the train to Naples etc – where we joined
the line we still had to wait for ½ hour anyway but I think we saved at least
another hour. Made it in and literally whizzed round – think the quickest
you’re supposed to be able to get round it is 1.5 hours but we did it in just
on an hour. It was worth it to see the Sistine Chapel but it would have been even more impressive minus the crowds. Then it was back to yesterday’s café for
another late breakfast, back to Termini to pick up our luggage and then on the
13:16 train to Naples. Queued again at the train station for about ½ hour to
get our tickets sorted – as I said a day for queuing!
The train trip down to Naples was nice
enough apart from sitting outside Naples station at a standstill for ½ hour.
Arrived finally, and were pleased to find our hotel was less than 5 minutes
walk away. First impressions of Naples on that walk – dirty, noisy, and
unpleasant and unfortunately these impressions didn't improve for the rest of our stay.
The room is nice enough (luxury compared to
our noisy cabin last night), no matter that you can barely sit on the toilet
without hitting your head on the wall and the shower is so small you almost
have to suck in your stomach just to get in it! Nevertheless having a hot
(non-communal) shower, and being able to wash my hair was a luxury and more
than made up for the lack of space.
We went on a mission trying to find somewhere
to eat (we wanted a real restaurant), and do you think we could find one damn
restaurant in the whole of Naples?! In the end we came back to the hotel and
asked for their recommendation (wish we hadn’t!). They sent us to the scummiest
place ever – bit like a school canteen – the food was cheap and there was a
reason why – it was crap! Really crap! My spaghetti carbonara was overcooked
noodles with fatty overcooked bacon and my ‘stuffed peppers’ were strips of
peppers in a bed of oil which had clearly just been shoved in the microwave –
very cold in places and hot in others. Mark’s ‘gateau of potato’ was precooked
& reheated and came with an added extra – a fried bug which I found when I
went to have a bite – needless to say it was one of the worst meals we have ever eaten!
We have decided that if we can avoid it we'll skip staying back in Rome
again on Sunday, as it is a bit of a hassle to get to the campsite and another
sleepless night like last night WOULD do our head in, not to mention make us
tired and grumpy, or more so than we already are anyway.
However we have called the B&B in Siena
and they are full at the moment & won’t know till tomorrow afternoon
whether they have anything. Tried a few more places but nothing definite as
yet.
In any event, we REALLY don’t want to stay here any
longer than is possible – there is rubbish in the streets everywhere and when we were out at
the phone box calling hotels I saw 2 VERY large rats running around about 10 metres away – Lordy it
just gets better and better.
Anyway at least tonight I don’t have to
worry about getting up for a midnight dash to an outside toilet – thank
goodness for small mercies. We are going to try and call a free number
in the morning for Siena hotels and think we will try to visit both Herculaneum
and Pompeii in the day as well.
All in all, a bit of a strange day – both
Mark and I feel uncomfortable in Naples – it just has an air of something
sinister about it – very hard to explain but we are glad to be heading out of
the city for the day tomorrow!
Day 5 POMPEII - HERCULANEUM - SORRENTO
Packed – and tiring is the only way to
describe today. Up at 8am, we were planning to get to McD’s for brekkie as it
opened at 9am. Got an all-day ticket to Pompeii and then went off to McD’s –
however just our luck that like everything else in Naples it wasn’t meant to
be. This McD’s didn’t do a breakfast menu as it had a café attached that opened
earlier. So we flagged that idea and headed straight out to Pompeii.
Pompeii exceeded all our expectations – we had no idea that the site
was so massive and that there was so much to see. It is one whole city complete
with markets, temples, a forum, an arena for gladiator games, a sports arena,
amphitheatres for theatrical performances etc. We pretty much saw the whole
thing in 4 hours which was going at a reasonably quick pace. Several of the
villas still had frescos on the walls & parts of their marble atriums
intact as well as some lovely gardens. We rented audioguides which were very
informative, but rather longwinded so at each point we only listened to about
half the explanation otherwise we would have been there literally all day. Had
a soup/roll breakfast at about 10:30 which filled a large gap. Hard to believe
it was pouring with rain 2 days ago when it was so fine today – even got a bit
burnt especially on the top of my head – not clever – but we just weren’t
expecting good weather after the deluge we got the other day.
Finished up at Pompeii about 1:30 and went
back on the train to Ercalano (Herculaneum), which was much more compact and
there were a lot more complete buildings with roofs etc than in Pompeii. It was
also a wee bit like a sunken city as it was at a much lower level than the
actual town of Ercalano is today. It reminded both of us of what a town in
Morocco or anywhere in the middle East might be like today.
Still very
interesting to go and see but think we were both a bit tired from all the
walking at Pompeii. Finished Herculaneum about 4pm – went and had a sit down
and a drink – my feet were definitely aching by then. Had a wee think – neither of us particularly wanted to go back to
Naples knowing what a dearth of quality food there was – we decided to take the
train to Sorrento since we were already 1/3 of the way there – and we felt a
bit more optimistic about dining somewhere nice for dinner.
Sorrento was divine – quite touristy but
very relaxed and it seemed hard to believe this pretty place was only an hour
from Nasty Naples. Walked down a few quaint alleyways selling everything from
lemon liqueurs, fresh fruit (lemons the size of large grapefruit) scarves,
painted crockery. We went past a restaurant which Mark was quite keen to have
dinner at – I wasn’t sure because there was no one eating in there (it was
still early) and the prices looked cheap (and I was a bit wary after the
previous night’s experience). We walked round a bit more but ended up going
back to that one which was in the end a good choice by Mark. There was a cover
charge which made everything a wee bit more expensive, which stupidly made me
happier because I felt that anywhere that had a cover charge had to be halfway
decent – and it was – the food tasted fresh and that was a big plus! Went back
to the train station (via the supermarket) and ended up having to
run to make the train.
Had our tickets checked after 1 stop and
turns out we didn’t have the right tickets (ours were only good as far as
Pompeii) so the ticket collector told us we had to get off at the next stop and
buy tickets – we were pretty bummed about this because the next train wasn’t
for ½ an hour – anyway what we didn’t realise was that they would hold the
train for us while we ran like crazy into the ticket office to get tickets –
crazy – but a piece of very good luck which we needed!
Sat next to an American and Australian guy
on the train – the Aussie seemed to think he was some kind of hero and was
talking quite loudly about all the girls he had scored – clearly not expecting
anyone else to understand the conversation – or maybe he just didn’t care!
Got
back to Naples, tried the B&B in Siena and definitely no room tomorrow
night – shame. Tried the freephone hotel reservation number which was of course
Mon-Sat till 7pm and this was 8.30pm on Saturday night – doh! Well had a wee
think and decided that we would go to Siena anyway and try our luck for a hotel
there or in San Gimignano. Went to the train station to try and get our tickets
validated so we could get the 6:06 train (the ticket office didn’t open till
6:10) – no luck! Mark asked 3 different ticket cashiers if they spoke English
(in English) and either they did and thought we were rude for asking in English
or they were just plain unhelpful. Then we went to the Information office where
the guy was every bit as unhelpful but managed to get a train time out of him
at least. We are both really knackered and have the thought of getting up at
5:30 to look forward to. If we make all the connections we should get to Siena
for 11:30am which should be early enough to sort out accommodation surely!
We’ve decided to catch a faster train and pay the supplement so that the
journey will be 5 hours instead of 7, and means we only have to change once. My
face feels burnt, my feet are so tired, roll on a relaxing train journey and a
couple of slower days – I think we need it!
Day 6 NAPLES - SIENA A day to remember
A day which ended oh so brilliantly! I woke at 5am
for the toilet and then couldn’t get back to sleep as knew not long till we’d
be getting up. Mark then mentioned how worried he was about us walking to the
station at that hour of the morning and that got me worried so by the time we
got up we were both grumpy and stressed.
Had to hand the key back in – the bloke in
reception was snoring loud enough to wake the dead and it took several goes of
banging on the glass door to rouse him. Made it to the station safe and sound
thank goodness, and then had to wait 20 minutes for the ticket office to open.
We were first in line and for some reason today the process was a whole lot
simpler – bought the supplement 15.60 euros for both of us so quite reasonable.
Got on the train, beautiful morning, and could see Mt Vesuvius very clearly. The
train took 2 hours to Rome, where we had a short wait – called the campsite in
Rome to cancel – in the end had to use my mobile to do this as we had no money
on the phone card and needed to cancel the reservation this morning.
The train from Rome to Chiusi took about
1.5 hours – we had got a bit behind schedule on the earlier leg and came into
Chiusi with only a couple of minutes to spare to make our Siena train – however
there were quite a few people changing and the Siena train waited for everyone. Finally made it into Siena at 11:30 and
caught the bus up the hill to the town centre (we didn’t even buy a ticket but got away
with it thank goodness!). We were both feeling extremely shattered after lack
of sleep and 5 hours on the train – but on first glimpses we were pleased we
made the effort as it looked lovely. Walked no more than 150 metres before we
saw a sign for a 2-star hotel and went on in – was 65 euros for the night, saw
the room, said yes, but had to wait for it to be cleaned so off to McD’s for
brunch. Mark’s burger was cold and crispy round the edges while mine took 10
mins to make – I could barely stand up by the time they gave it to me I was
that close to passing out and felt like I had been waiting a lifetime. We were
back in the hotel at 12:30pm, and spent the afternoon reading and watching TV
before drifting off (lovely – just what the doctor ordered!) about 2:30 – slept
till about 5pm although Mark didn’t get much sleep so he has zonked out well
before me tonight bless him!
Mark watched the rugby (England v Italy)
from 5-6:30, England kicked Italy's butt (we could have been there if we had gone back
to Rome – but I’m sooo pleased we’re here!). Felt a lot more rested and relaxed – some
people might say we were a bit sad for spending 7 hours in the hotel today but
boy did we need it.
We then went out for a walk and it seemed as if the whole of Siena had
the same idea – everyone seemed to be out strolling the lanes, it was almost as
if it is something they do of a Sunday evening, if not every evening. Went down
to the Piazza del Campo – words can’t describe – absolutely gorgeous circular
square – all cobbled and sloping and the buildings surrounding the square were
also built as if on a curve – very medieval and pretty.
So here we were Sunday 7th April 2002, about 7pm. And just as a few spots of
rain started to fall whilst we were standing with our arms round each other, Mark pulled a wooden box out of his pocket and said ‘I’m absolutely pooing
(actually shitting was the word he used but we'll try and forget about that!) myself, but would you marry me?’
To which I said ‘Oh baby’ and the rest of
the night is a blur!
What we actually did was buy a phone
card and find a phone box – the phone card was easy enough but had to walk right back
through town to find a phone box and then the card wouldn’t work – finally got
hold of my Dad on his mobile in NZ – got the times wrong – I thought it was 7:40 am
but it was actually only 5:40am (doh!!! I forgot the clocks went back last
weekend!) Also called Mark’s Dad (his mum was out at the neighbours). AAAAGH! So the Dad’s knew and the Mum’s didn’t. Anyway we came
back to the hotel quickly to pick up our phones, then called Mark's M&D again – they were so thrilled for us.
Then I got my Mum and Dad to call back on
my mobile and briefly gave them the good news – but in the meantime my credit
has run out on my mobile and Mark’s has run out too – what a pair we are –
neither of us has any credit to call to get more credit – we’re going to have
to try and get some somehow though tomorrow. Typical that the one night we have
news we want to share with the world and we can’t call anyone! Oh well!
Had a lovely meal out and splashed out on
some wine, then wandered back through town. Going to try and locate an internet
café so we can inform a few more people tomorrow and sort out some credit for the
phones!
We are also looking forward to wandering round Siena leisurely – I have so
fallen in love with this place – it is a quaint, charming, pretty, relaxing and
the perfect place to be asked the most important question ever – we will never
forget today in stunning Siena!
Of course it was hard to top that magical moment in Siena when two young lives committed to love each other forever, but there was still much, much more of this amazing country to see. Stay tuned for more in Part 3....
3 comments :
Awww, what wonderful memories you must have of Siena! We never made it there, and if we had, I certainly wouldn't have a story to top this one :)
However, we got engaged in Italy too - Sardinia - so there must be something about that place!
Bring on Part 3...
We didn't think much of Naples either, only spending part of a morning there! Love the Siena outcome though :)
Im really enjoying these travel posts. It's so great you kept a journal. You're giving me great ideas for where to go (and where not to go!) and how (and how not!) to go about things! Thanks for sharing - and exciting engagement!
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