Jane's Journeys: Pompeii

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Day trip from Rome -- Naples and Pompeii

On March 1 we caught an early-morning high speed train south to Naples. After about an hour, we got off at the Naples Central Station, from where we boarded a commuter train to Pompeii.

A church in Naples

It was pouring rain right from the start, so overall, it was a less than enjoyable trip. But at least we can say we've been to Pompeii and seen Mount Vesuvius.

Pompeii Scavi (excavation) train station

It was raining so hard that the streets of the city of Pompeii were like creeks, with stepping stones to walk on. I felt really sorry for the tour groups we saw, forced to follow their guides wherever they led. At least we could go where we wanted and quit when we'd had enough!

Because of the rain, I didn't take many photos, but there were some interesting places:

a domed and frescoed temple

The Forum:

An incredible amphitheatre:

The sky cleared for a minute or two, but then shortly afterwards, the rain started again!

Dave was so annoyed by the rain that he decided he wanted to take an earlier train back (we had tickets for 8:00 PM) so we actually spent some extra money so we could get back to Rome at about 4:00.

I might have been up for exploring Naples a bit more, but I have to admit that it is not the most beautiful city I have ever seen. Maybe if the sun had been shining, it would have looked more appealing, but as it was, my main impressions were that it was dirty and crowded and distinctly down-market.

Since Naples is the birthplace of pizza, I was quite determined to have pizza before we left, but it was even hard to find a decent-looking restaurant. Ideally, we wanted to go away from the train station area, in hopes of finding a more authentic, less touristy type of restaurant, but no such luck. Again, I'm sure the rain didn't help matters. We ended up at a restaurant not far from the station. I had the "quattro stagioni" pizza, which was kind of cool, and Dave had some kind of meat and mushrooms. It was good, but we both agreed that we liked Rome pizza better. So, all in all, I'd have to say this day trip was a bit of a flop. Oh well... win a few, lose a few.