The remains of Herculaneum in Ercolano, a small preserved Roman village destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
Roman Bath...We couldn't believe how preserved it was!
Pompeii:
Seeing Vesuvio looming behind Pompeii:
Crossing the "crosswalks:"
The many remains of taverns. Fabio will serve you a drink now:
The amphitheater:
Our hotel in Castellemare Di Stabia:
Greek temple ruins at Paestum:
The view from our hotel room on the Amalfi Coast:
Gelato in Positano:
Boat ride from Positano to Amalfi:
Fabio was being very romantic in Amalfi:
Lemons bigger than our fists:
Somehow, the streets of Amalfi made me look thinner than I really am:
Eating pizza on a quiet street away from the tourists. Quite possibly the best pizza I've ever had. That is saying a lot:
The Bad and the Ugly:
Where do I begin? Now that you've seen all the beautiful and amazing things we were able to experience, let me tell you-I will probably NEVER experience them again. Why? Oh, my friends. You have NO idea.
Unless you have been to the Naples area of Italy, you cannot fully appreciate what I'm about to relate to you. To make it concise, I will bullet point the stress that quite possibly shortened my life by a few months over the past few days:
- In theory there may be traffic laws. NO ONE abides by them. Complete MAYHEM on the streets...mayhem that moves about 60 mph through city streets, talking on a cell phone, smoking a cigarette and wearing no seatbelt.
- Pedestrians lurking out in the street (many with baby carriages in front of them) without even looking. Because, you know, if you hit them, it's your fault.
- Drivers passing whenever and wherever they feel like it, even if it is only a one lane road.
- Has the trash been collected in the last month? Sure didn't look like it.
- Is there a parking lot at Herculaneum? We'll never know. The whole time we were there, we were worried about Fabio's parents' car we had to park in the most god forsaken neighborhood I've ever been to in the western world. Every male on the street (I think that's where all the males in the neighborhood were since I'm pretty sure none of them have jobs) was eyeing our car and us (obviously NOT Neopolitans) as we huffed the 1/2 kilometer to the archeological site.
- Pretty sure the roads haven't been repaved since asphalt was invented.
- After risking our lives on the road trying to find a parking spot around the ATM, Fabio almost gets a fine for having half of the trunk of the car in a pedestrian crossing. REALLY?! You're blowing your stupid whistle at US? Have you seen the hundreds of jay-walkers, speeders, people without seatbelts and their babies on their laps in the front seat, and scooter riders without helmets talking on their cell phones, smoking a cigarette and turning their head to talk to their girlfriend all while passing 5 cars at 60 mph through the city streets?
-The area around our beautiful hotel in Castellammare:
***I really don't understand why a nice hotel would be in this neighborhood.
- The 1 1/2 lane road that hangs precariously to the side of a cliff that snakes its way from Salerno to Positano, with 180 degree hairpin turns, all the while the natives are zooming past you, or honking their horn and flashing their lights behind you, passing you no matter that there is a blind curve 10 feet ahead. And don't forget the cars coming at you at 60 mph with a 1/2 inch between your car and theirs. They don't even blink. an. eye. while doing this!
***You may be thinking, how can she be complaining about the road when this was the view? Little do you know that right around this corner were 3 scooters, a bus and a car all moving at about 60 mph, headed right towards us. We had to stop, back up, and pray to the high heavens that no one was zooming towards the curve behind us, surely to rear-end and destroy our car and kill us in the meanwhile.
- 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) = 1 hour (Salerno to Positano)
- Our hotel driveway = I don't know, 40 degree incline with the last parking spot being a tiny little perpendicular spot. Not to mention the entrance to said driveway was RIGHT after a blind corner. How the %*(&#*&$ are we going to get back on the road tomorrow when we leave?!
- Crowded bus, almost didn't make it off at our stop in Positano.
- Climbing down hundreds of stairs in Positano. I could barely stand up by the time we got to the bottom. Fabio was trying to look happy:
- Trying to enjoy our time on the coast, all the while trying to shove the thought of driving all the way back on the highway of death the next day out of my head.
Trust me. I could go on. But, I'm sure you've read enough. I'll end with some recommendations if you ever decide to visit this part of Italy:
If you want to be "raw," take the train to Salerno and then take a ferry to Amalfi and Positano. It's cheap and keeps you off the roads. If you really want to be taken care of, just hire a tour company to take you all over the Naples and Amalfi area by coach. Do not take a car here. Ever. Don't believe the reviews you read on tripadvisor.com about how wonderful it is to drive this beautiful coastline and that parking at Pompeii and Ercolano is no problem. They're all dilusional and/or stupid.
It's really too bad that such a beautiful place has to be wasted on quite possibly the most ignorant group of people I've ever come across. I know I'm being negative, but this experience was truly not worth my life or the life of my husband, bless his heart for being willing to take me there. All I know is, you are all lucky not be planning a trip to my funeral next week.
On that note, I will say, next time you hear from me, we'll hopefully be back in Seattle. I swear, if we made it through the last few days alive, we can certainly make it back to Seattle safely. Here's hoping.
