Italy Part 2

We took the train from Rome to Naples. It took about 2 hours. Because neither of us spoke Italian, finding the train and platform on Roma Termini was interesting. We asked this train official, all of whom wear Green jackets, and he kept telling us the train name over and over again. It was funny.

Anyways, out of the train on Napoli central and we had to haggle for a cab. Naples is known as the Detroit of Italy. It can be a dangerous city, last year alone they had 200 deaths. So its not a good place to be if you are a tourist, at night and dont know what the hell you are doing. Cabbies are known for not giving the right price, trying to take more money off you and such. Anyways, we got a nice cab driver who took us to our hotel which was away from the centre of the city. Not a bad thing. The hotel, San Francesco al Monte, was on the mountain and was simply spectacular. It is highly recommended.

Naples might be a lot of things but it is also a very beautiful city. It is gorgeous. It is quite hilly and this makes the city even more interesting. Our view from the hotel was stunning. As you see in the picture apparently Naples was welcoming us with the rainbow!



Anyways, the first evening we decided to go to the archaeological museum. If you are remotely interested in archeology or Pompeii - go to this museum. The whole of the museum is mostly dedicated to Pompeii and artifacts found there. It was very interesting to see them. The museum itself was very interesting. It was unlike most posh museums you will see. It was a bit run down but it was a true museum unlike the cash making machines most museums now seem to be (more on that when we get to Firenze). Anyways, it was cool to see the artifacts from Pompeii before going to Pompeii.

The next day was the day for Pompeii. It took my breath away. Pompeii was amazing. Just truly amazing. We took a pre-guided tour which lasted from 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. If you like archeology, history and old cities dont miss Pompeii. I could have spent the entire day there. It was just awesome. Dont miss this.

The next day we were going to do Capri islands. Which we didnt. Mainly because there were thousands of tourists. It didnt seem to have the appeal after seeing a billion tourists.

I actually really liked Naples. It was a real city. Everyone you will talk to will tell you it is quite a dangerous city. Which might be true but I didnt see any reason not to go there. I mean the only way you will get shot or robbed is if you are stupid. We took the regular precautions - kept our stuff with us, didnt go walking around at midnight and so on. It was fine. This is one of the highly recommended cities. If you are interested in seeing a real Italian city - go to Naples.

The driving in Italy seemed to be mostly fine except in Naples. Driving was crazy here. If there was space for your vehicle you were expected to drive there. It was nutty. We also to the bus and that was crazy as well. Mind you I have lived in India and it was crazier than India!

The food in Naples was amazing. We actually found a small restaurant run by a family. The menu was in Italian and the waiter did not speak a word of English and the food was just amazing. It really was.

The only thing to keep in mind when traveling to Naples is to take cash with you. You bank card might not work, many places might not take credit cards and the banks only cash travelers cheques from 9 to 1. We found that out the hard way!