Itinerary
- Pompeii town - spaghetti western
- Pompeii - the archeological site
- Coffee and sfogliatelle
- Lunch at the stock exchange
- Train to sorrento......or not.
A tour guide at the archeological digs told his group as I surreptitiously listened on, that from the artifacts found, it is known that the people of Pompeii did not have good taste or style.
This is as true today as pre Vesuvius.
As the train made its way from Naples to Pompeii central, I had already learned something. I hadnt equated Pompeii with the sea. in my head it was an inland town near a volcano. The train travels south along the coast to get there but I hadnt put two and two together nor it seems looked too closely at a map.
The ocean is on the west, with the "modern" town east of that (east / west dimension is no more than 2km) and the archeological site of Pompeii is east again. It turns out that the ancient Pompeii was actually a port town but the eruption of Vesuvius changed the landscape and added a large tract of land between the ocean and the old town.
Even though volcanic, they still manage Flushable toilets. Take that Greece!
We arrived to find a kind of Spaghetti western ghost town feel. Hot (30ish), humid and desolate.
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| Filled with enthusiasm, the young travelers await Pompeii |
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| Train station |
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| The road from the station to our hotel....sooo lovely |
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| Pompeii - shoes on a deserted street |
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| Almost there |
The hotel we stayed at was actually very sweet. Family run, clean and friendly. With one queen and two singles our room had a good few square centimeters of free floor space. Loox-u-ree.
We decided to stroll around the town for the day, and then hit the archeological digs the next morning before taking the train to Sorrento that afternoon.
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| Pompeii street art |
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| Town Piazza |
Love the next two pictures. Just two great friends having a chat.
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| "So I said", "then she said".... |
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| What's mine is yours |
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| Not a patch on Stuzico Dogswamp |
Then we stumbled on a little bar / cafe, had one of the great coffees made by a very cool Barrista, and a fantastic pastry desert "sfogliatelle" with sweet ricotta. Never believed I would say that Ricotta was yum, but OMG (as per Zoe).
Not the greatest ever video but good enough for the memory
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| Zoe drawn to smell of pastry |
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| Happy Ree |
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| Sfogliatelle |
After that and now returned to basal state of blood caffeination, we headed off for a walk before dinner.
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| Nice knockers |
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| Old couple walking hand in hand. Speed measure at about 4 steps per minute, each step, 20- 25cm. Very cute |
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| Shutter holder |
As mentioned, Pompeii fashion from pre Vesuvius was ridiculed by the archeologists who dug it up. The change since that time has not, in my opinion, coalesced the straggler voices of fashion's minions to cry loudly for a reset of expert opinion via a viz, the state of Pompeii fashion.
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| Shop window on the "high street" |
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| The glass jewel on the belt buckle reflected like a "little belt aura" |
Nice Crispy dinner at place called Garum. Good mix of locals and tourists and high standard food. Ree's seafood risotto took the prize as meal of the night.
Quick gelato before bed or to put it a different way, it's close to 11pm, we give hyper boy icecream and live with the consequences.
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| Drew's eyes laser locked on his mix of lemon and peach gelato Three cups for 5 bucks and DEElicious |
Next morning was pack bags, check out, Pompeii archeological site, lunch at recommended local diner then train to Sorrento.
Our day at Pompeii archeological site gets its separate blog page (started putting in pics on the wrong bit then mucked up a bunch of code copying and pasting so separate it is).
Lunch at Todisco the local diner.
Food in Italy has been pretty good or very bad. Usually the worse the food the more it costs and the closer to the tourist attraction. We avoided the plethora of cafes which surround the entrances to the archeological sites like Sioux waiting for Custer.
instead our hotel directed us to a diner which from the outside looks like a small counter deli.
It was labour day in Italy (a big public holiday) so Italians werent working (but this time because they are not supposed to be working). It seemed to us that every local resident of Pompeii town was already at the diner when we arrived. This is not a fine dining restaurant, it was a busy, affordable, family run establishment with vibrant authentic atmosphere. Most importantly the food was fantastic!
You get a ticket when you enter a la NYC deli. Took ten minutes at least for us to work that lil fact out which impeded our time to order and eat significantly. Once you have your number, then wait your turn and wait your turn some more until it is your turn to be served by Gennaro the super patient chef.
The process is a bit like the trading floor of the Chicago stock exchange a la trading places. Quite a few tried to push in, but Genarro was onto that lil sneak
The food choices are all in front of you and you can pick and choose between more options than you could ever want. Any questions, just ask. Have a taste - sure. Between us, we all agreed that all the food was very high class and classic homemade (if your home includes a super chef). the Aroncini and gnocchi were to die for.
Every Italian in the melee which to us would have been a line, would wait their turn by talking loudly to each other so as to be sure the cacophony was unbearable. For best effect each family member (usually another 3 or 4 minimum), would place themselves as farvawaybfrom each other family member so as to maximize noise even more.
Once their number was called, the lucky, loud Italian, would make sure to ask what was available and then get a description of EVERY dish and then want a little taste of EVERY dish.
Below is a video of just a few secs of waiting to order
Should you wish (we didnt) there is wine and beer included in the price.Should you wish (we did) there is desert also included in the price. Out of this world good. We had Tiramasu, Strawberries in Juice and Custard tarts. SImple and delicious.
When we were leaving, at least three members of the family (remember it was really busy), came to talk to us and offered us some local digestive made by the chef's brother. It was delicious, unexpected, and rounded off a super meal. Authentic tasty food which you get the feeling, they love to serve to you and love that you appreciate it.
We were all too full by the time we left.
Train, train, go away
Remember that old prank phone call "hellos, are you on other line", " you'd better get off there is a train coming". Well that may not be the case for the regular (every 30 minutes) train from Pompeii to Sorrento.
We had a short walk to the as expected, poorly signposted train station. It was a different station to the one we arrived at because there are two train companies who seem to each have their own tracks.
There were lots of people waiting for the train to Sorrento. Only two ways to go - one way to Naples, the other to Sorrento. The trains come every 30 minutes with the odd announcement in italian over the PA every now and then. At some point the Naples train is seen in the distance and pretty much everyone waiting on our side to catch the train to Sorrento crosses the platform to get onto that train. Weird.
After waiting quite a while longer and a new crowd coming in to fill the platform, I head off to find out when the next train is arriving. NEVER! Turns out the line has been just been blocked and that no more trains today. So ssys the immaculate policeman who is now walking down the platform. "Not today" says the man at the ticket counter as he refunds our tickets.
No taxis want to go to Sorrento because its a public holiday and it will take hours and hours to travel the 30 kms on the long and windy roads in todays traffic. One driver estimates about 6 hours, another estimates 8. The cost would be prohibitive, but not nearly as prohibitive as Drew in a semi stationary car for 6 hours.
What about a bus to the number one Italian resort town? Nopes. None. No buses go from Pompeii to Sorrento.
With the help of a cool English speaking Italian waiter from the cafe next to the station we talk to the station master dude who says it may be 2 hours until the next train (Ok) or more likely there will be no trains today. The waiter says "don't listen to the policeman, he is an idiot. He knows nothing"
We decide to wait it out and get a couple of icecreams from our waiter buddy's cafe. After about 90 mins we are told the train will arive in 45 mins so it would be good to go to the platform soon becaue is will get very crowded and hard for us to get our bags on.
Dutifully, We heed advice head to the platform. 3 minutes later the train arrives. Wha?
Our journey to Sorrento on the busiest pickpocket tourist train is a breeze. Almost nobody on it, heaps of room and the most pleasant and rapid of trips to Sorrento station where we get off, are swamped by the cacophony of scooters and cars on the narrow streets and make our way to the sweet lil B&B we are staying at.
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| Sorrento scooter park |
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| Looking out into our lemon garden |
Next: a day trip along the Amalfi coast
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