Greetings from Naples!!
I’ve been really busy the past few weeks and I meant to finish up my post on Cinque Terre but literally have had no time at all + the draft is on my laptop ... but will write about my Naples trip on the go here so as to reduce my backlog. Seriously wish I’d blogged about all my trips in the past bc they are nice to look back on and also so many recommendations on places and all. But anyway I will eventually get to them - I think.
So, I am in Naples right now. YM and I landed this morning at 10am here, but we’d been out of the house since 3am. Regarding pre-trip preparations - YM did all the planning for the itinerary (lol serious not even kidding) - she booked the flights and the accoms, as well as the actual itinerary. What I did was to apply for days off on those days, hehe. We managed to get flights at a pretty good price (~£50 return), and Airbnb for £88 for 3 night’s (for the both of us). Our Airbnb is quite nice but simple - it’s in a central location and our host is really friendly and gave us great recommendations so far. I’ll rave about that later at the end of the trip as we’re still staying here now.
The journey to Naples was quite a close shave as we’d almost missed our flight. We saw the wrong gate number so went to the wrong section of the gates, then once we got off the terminal train there was no way of going back. We had to call for the help via the airport phones and the transport staff came to bring us to the correct gates ... pretty sure we were the last ones to get on but at least we barely made it!!! In all honesty nowadays with the amount of surprises I have had during my travels I wasn’t even panicking anymore LOL was just quite chill and was sure that we would be fine ... I mean the worst case scenario get the next flight to Naples (been there done that on the missing flight part sadly) but anyway we did make it in the end. Then both of us promptly knocked out and slept for the whole flight.
Getting to the Airbnb from the airport took quite a while - we had to get the Alibus which is an airport shuttle running between the airport, stazione centrale and port. It costs €5 and is valid for 90 minutes after the first validation. We got off at the central station Garibauldi, then YM wanted to stop by this famous bakery called Sforgliatelle Attanasio. So a Sforgliatella (still having issues pronouncing the “sf” consonants) is this croissant-shape-like pastry that has multiple layers and is apparently usually filled with ricotta cheese. The bakery is so popular it was super crowded and they have a specific queueing system in place where you have to go to the counter first to order, pay then get a ticket number, then they will call your number and prepare your order for you. I guess as they were mostly locals they are presumably familiar with the menu. However we were pretty clueless and ended up getting the ticket number first then ordering and paying but they saw we were evidently not locals and were fine with that. YM got both variations of the Sforgliatella - crispy and original, while I got a chocolate filled one as I don’t take cheese. She strongly recommends the crispy Sforgliatella, by the way. The chocolate one was pretty good too, the sauce had a thick and silky texture - I would like to compare it to Nutella except that they're not that similar in taste but anyway just amazing texture and had lots of filling AND the best part was it wasn’t liquid enough to drip which was amazing and defo made it less messy to eat. The pastry texture is exactly the same as the Sforgliatella with multiple layers so I guess it was just a different flavour. And they were only like €1.50 or €1.20 can’t remember. Side note the train station area is apparently quite dodgy, and we were warned to be wary of pick pockets.
Got the pastries, then took the metro to the stop near our Airbnb using the same Alibus pass as it was still within the first validation time. Checked into our Airbnb, got changed as it was really hot, and then we set off for Pompeii! To get to Pompeii from Naples we had to take this train called the Circumvesuviana, which literally translates to around the Mt Vesuvius. The ticket is €3.50 and you have to buy it from the ticketing offices so we just went to Toledo which is our closest metro and found one of those ticketing stands just right outside the office and bought 2 tickets from there. Had to catch the Circumvesuviana from Garibauldi, YM got a quick lunch as I had a wrap from Stansted, then boarded the train. Journey took around 40 min, I think the view must’ve been amazing but we were both super tired and slept again for the whole ride.
Arrived at Pompeii. Tickets are €15 each and you can join a tour guided group for ~€12 per person, but neither of us wanted to follow a group so we just got the normal tickets. Apparently people can spend up to 3 days there but of course that is probably if you are super into archaeology or ancient history.
We spent the afternoon walking around and spent almost about 5-6 hours in Pompeii. Weather was super hot (guess we got lucky) and really sunny so was great for photos. Unfortunately I have little knowledge of archaeology / history so found it hard to really understand in general and after a while all of the ruins started to look the same to me ... but we managed to cover more or less the entire city. Some of the main prominent attractions are: the Forum, the Temple of Apollo, the Basilica, a few of the rich houses that were well preserved, Villa of Mysteries, and of course the Amphitheatre which was unfortunately closed. Water fountains are everywhere in Pompeii, so no need to worry about running out of water and they also have quite a few toilets. We also saw some exhibitions of artefacts as we were exiting the site, so was a very productive afternoon.
We fell asleep on the train back to Naples again, but arrived in Garibauldi and went for dinner. As it was Sunday most of the restaurants that YM had bookmarked were closed, but we managed to find a Pizzeria Trianon which was very near the famous Pizzeria da Michele. Took us about 20 min to walk from Garibauldi to there, where we were actually the very first customers. YM ordered a Margherita and I got a Marinara con Prosciutto. The pizzas were huge but they were only about €4 each, not including the 15% service fee that is the standard for eating in. I don’t consider myself a food critic or connoisseur but YM said the pizza was too oily as the oil was literally dripping from the pizza. I thought the pizza was rather good for the price HAHA so was very satisfied.
Managed to finish 1 whole pizza each and we were absolutely stuffed. Came out and saw a gelato shop. I hadn’t had a drink with my pizza as the drink prices were quite expensive so ofc was craving a gelato I mean we are in Italy! Land of gelato! The gelateria is called Gelateria Al Polo
Nord, just opposite Pizzeria Trianon. Prices start from €2 but they had so many good flavours. We tried the mela annurca (Apple breed(?) local to Southern Italy) and melon and both were so good and blended in so well. Have photos but a bit difficult to post on mobile site so might add them later but 100% recommend!!! The gelato lasted us half of our 30 min walk back home which made the walk back less tiring of course.
That’s about all for day 1 I’m super late didn’t actually finish this post last night but setting the publish time to yesterday lol. Still trying my best tho will write about day 2 in Naples tomorrow!
