Viewing Vesuvius - a stunning start to our time in Naples

The day began when I got up at 5.00 a.m. and showered, shaved etc.

We went up to the roof of the Hotel for breakfast at 7.00, Drew excelled himself, as well has having a roll, meat and cheese he then had an Apricot Jam croissant followed by a Chocolate one.

We checked out and walked over to the laundrette (as we had found it last night), we got there as it opened at 8.30. The only clean clothes I had left were the ones I'd put on this morning, so this was a timley find, we should last to Barcelona now. The washing and drying took about 90 minutes so we left at 10.00 and caught the metro from Bologna down to Termini where we had a coffee while waiting for our train.

Unlike the other journeys in Italy I had not opted for the fast train, which is the most direct route but rather for the local train, which takes the prettier route along the coast. The tickets were only €9 each.

To get the prettier route involved catching an Intercity train. This was like stepping back from the hyper-modern trains of the Frecciarossa to trains that would have been designed in the 50's with carriages, and even luggage areas like those in the Marple story 4.40 to Paddington. Still the train was clean and comfortable and we enjoyed the journey.

The train stopped at Latina, Formia-Gaeta and Aversa before arriving in Naples. The route took us along a lovely coast, though the movement of the train did not make for great photos.

We arrived at Naples, and having learnt from our first day in Rome went straight to a cafe for a Panino each to make sure we didn’t forget about lunch. From the station we got a Taxi to the hotel, I’m glad we did, Naples doesn’t look like the kind of town where you’d want to be walking around with your luggage for any length of time (the map said it would be a 30 minute walk). 

The taxi dropped us at the Hotel Romeo and we were mesmerised by the water feature at the entrance, which spelt out the hotels name. We were taken to our room, it was large airy and had a great view. Immediately in front of us is the Port of Naples with its cruise ships, looking to the left and you can see Vesuvius lurking quietly waiting for the next time it blows its top and covers this area with pyroclastic cloud. The hotel must be sound proofed as none of the sound of the cars on the road below come into the room (Room 406).

After an hour to settle ourselves into the room we left for a walk at 5.00 p.m. We walked over to the Port area and from their along a Marina and onto the sea front promenade. This whole area is covered with graffiti (the statue on the right is so full of graffiti you can't read who it is). We discovered the whole of the city of Naples is rich in graffiti. While there are some amazing modern buildings, like our hotel, there are also some really nasty looking rundown establishments. But always, just across the sea is the lurking Vesuvius (see left)

Drew’s comparison is that it feels like walking around Merthyr on a dark Saturday night (except that Merthyr has no sea but probably less murders). Having walked back along the promenade we went for a coffee in a small cafe and then walked up to the Piazza Del Plebiscito – the main square in Naples. This has the amazing Church of St. Francis Paola, a local saint, built in the style and form of the Pantheon in Rome, to declare the power of Ferdinand the then King of the Two Sicilies. The Piazza also houses the Royal Palace for that era of Naples history when it was a clearly independent state. Indeed it was one of the late comers to the Italian state, with Garibaldi forcibly acquiring the country for the Italian monarchy, who were former monarchs of the northern Kingdom of Savoy. I guess the high number of statues of Victor Emmanuel, Umberto and Garibaldi are signs to the locals that they had become part of the Italian state.

We got back to the hotel at 7.30 and got ready for dinner, which we had booked in the hotels gourmet restaurant.