We Built This City
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Woke up for morning prayers. Sensed
something was unusual so I poked my head out and guess what, it was raining! I
had never associated Napoli with rain before so was surprised to discover it
actually did rain in the city. Of course it does but Italy always seems sunny
to me.
The rain had stopped by the time I
got up again. I left after breakfast and left my luggage in the hall. Walked to
the nearby Circumvesuviana station at Piazza Nolana and waited for the next
train out to Sorrento. The train schedule was still affected by the strike of
the previous day because we had to wait a bit before the next train departure
flashed across the screens.
It was about a 38-minute ride before
we reached Pompeii Scavi Villa Misteri station. This is where you get down for
the Pompeii ruins. There were a few restaurants and stalls selling mainly
lemons and limoncella (lemon liqueur) along the way to the main entrance. And
there were already a lot of people there!
I spent close to three hours at
Pompeii. Evidently it was a bigger town compared to Ercolano (Ercolano was more
of a small town) with a few temples, bathhouses, villas and houses within its
walls. It was getting hot very quickly out there so a word of advice if you’re
heading there: bring a brolly or wear a hat, bring water, wear sunblock and
wear comfortable flat footwear.
I returned back to Napoli (had to
wait longer than scheduled for the train) and went to have lunch at a
restaurant recommended by Francesca. As Napoli is the birthplace of pizza, I
decided to have pizza. It was huge and I didn’t manage to finish it because it
was too big a portion for me and because I didn’t like it. It was too salty for
me.
I went back to the B&B and waited
until 4 pm to get my bag (the person manning it would only be back then). After
collecting my bag, I walked to the train station for the next train out to
Salerno. If you bought the 3-day Campania Artecard, it includes the local
public transportation in the region so I didn’t have to buy a separate train
ticket. After the Circumvesuviana train, the train to Salerno was so much
cleaner and faster too.
It took me 30 minutes to walk to my
B&B from the station. The main route was one cobbled street linking to
another and I cringed at the damage I imagined it caused to the wheels of my
trolley bag. Then I had to ask for directions to the B&B as it was situated
around a small alley. And guess what: this time, the B&B was on the third
floor. In a building with no lift too. Oh joy...
After checking in and paying for the
two nights I would be staying there, I went to my room to rest. I ventured out
again after 6 pm and walked around the vicinity before returning just after
nightfall. Again, I was so happy I chose to stay there as the B&B was so charmingly decorated. There
are only four rooms, all en-suite. The girl who runs it is a great baker
because she left cakes she made herself at the dining table. And just like
the Napoli B&B, you are free to help yourself to anything from the food
table, fridge and dining table.
Now, you may ask, why did I stay in
Salerno? Good question. I had searched for lodgings in Sorrento, Positano and
Amalfi and the lodgings there are not cheap. Not cheap at all for a single
traveller. Positano is a vertical town; this means you have to climb up and
down hills with your bag. No way. Amalfi is hilly too with cobbled streets. Bad
for my trolley bag. Sorrento is a big city in comparison to these two but the
prices put me off. Finally I stumbled on this and I was sold to stay in
Salerno. And Alhamdulillah, I managed to find a very reasonable B&B too.
Not just reasonably priced but also centrally located and tastefully and charmingly decorated too.
Friday, 2 May 2013
I woke up for prayers then again
after 7. Left after breakfast and made my way to Piazza XXIV Maggio where the
girl said the bus to Amalfi leaves from. I had printed the bus schedules
earlier on and was hoping to get the 10 am bus out. Good thing I decided to
check with a lady at a nearby news kiosk who told me that the bus didn’t come
that way anymore. She told me to wait for the bus near the post office down the
street. I hurried off as it was close to 10 am. Found the big post office and
asked at another news kiosk. The guy said he didn’t speak English but
understood me enough to point me to the stop. Phew!
Costiera Amalfitana or the Amalfi
Coast is Italy’s most beautiful stretch of coastline and is deservedly a UNESCO
World Heritage Site for natural scenery. We drove right along the narrow coast
zig-zagging along and around winding hills and towering cliffs and through
idyllic villages tumbling to the sea. Pastel-painted houses and steeply
terraced fields of olives and lemons on one side and the sea on the other. Sit
on the left side of the bus for the magnificent view if you’re heading to
Amalfi from Salerno. And riding the bus has its advantages: you don’t have to
worry about navigating your car, you can just enjoy the view and your viewpoint
is above the traffic. We passed a few towns before reaching Amalfi 75 minutes
later: Vietri Sul Mare, Cetara, Maiori, Minori and Atrani, just to name a few.
The next bus out was at 11:30 and the one after that was at 12:15. I decided to
take the 12:15 bus out as I wanted to explore the town centre first.
Well, Amalfi is a charming lovely
town (in its day, it was one of Italy’s four maritime republics - with Venice,
Pisa and Genoa) and so is Positano, the next town I stopped at, 40 minutes away
from Amalfi. We got down at the stop announced by the driver (I remember
feeling surprised and wondering why he had dropped us there. Then only I
realised that the town is vertical and you need to walk up and down) and from
there, you get the most gorgeous picturesque view of the town beyond. To get to
the town centre, you need to walk down the hill. I remember thinking ‘This will
be hell climbing back up’ and yet I still walked down and down. It is a
vertical town alright. The shops sell about the same things as a lot of shops
along the Amalfi Coast sell: limoncello and lemon-based beauty products, and
ceramic, the two important products of that part of southern Italy. Oh, and
also the local chillies. I would never have associated chillies with Italy.
I didn’t linger long in Positano as I
planned to continue on to Sorrento. I remember back in school, we were taught
the song Come Back to Sorrento and man, I was not going to leave until I had
visited Sorrento. It took an hour to reach Sorrento from Positano.
As mentioned before, Sorrento is a
much bigger town than either Amalfi or Positano and I had fun walking along its
streets. It was hot afternoon though and I joined other tourists traipsing in
the alleys full of shops selling ceramics and other local souvenirs. I left at
4 pm and rode the bus all the way to Amalfi. There, I had to wait for the 6 pm
bus back to Salerno. My, it was a full bus back to Salerno (and no wonder as it
operated on an hourly basis), so full that some passengers had to stand. I sat
on the right-hand side of the bus so that I could enjoy the view of the sea. It
was a scary feeling at times though as I felt the driver drove too close to the
boundary and I could see the deep plunge into the sea. Even the lady in front
was shrieking at almost every sharp turn so it wasn’t just me.
We reached Salerno at 7:15 pm and I
rushed back to perform prayers before venturing out again to find dinner. I
also managed to buy some ceramic bowls at much lower cost than at Amalfi,
Positano or Sorrento.
To be continued
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