Trouble magnet

There was a right storm last night. I went to sleep at 1 in the morning and there was thunder and lightning and then when I woke up at 5 it was still going.

I checked in to my new hostel this morning without any trouble. It seems not bad as well, very similar in setup to the other one.

So now I’m just hanging about waiting for my bus to Pompeii in 45 minutes. I doubt I’ll get to go up to Mount Vesuvius though as it’s another shocker on the weather front here in Naples, you weren’t allowed up when it was like this yesterday.

I think it should be about €10 to get into the Ponpeii site but a girl from my last hostel went yesterday and she stumbled in via the exit by accident so got in for free. I shall be attempting to stumble in via the exit on purpose.

Pompeii is without doubt worth visiting, it’s unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been. The site is really really big, I spent aobut 3 and a half hours walking round it and there was still plenty I missed. I’d just had enough by then though and the rain was very heavy once more.

Of course I picked up my obligatory fridge magnet outside the grounds. I got one for €3 after laughing at a vendor who wanted €5. The daft thing was that while I was looking he actually said in all seriousness “€5, not bad price huh”. €5 is the most expensive magnet I’ve seen on all my travels since the start of April. I’ve seen a lot of motherflippin’ fridge magnets in that time too. Then he said “Better quality than the rest though” at which point I went to the adjacent stall and bought the very same magnet for €3. I made a point of mentioning this to him as I walked past, well someone needed to give the chap a wee economics lesson.

When I get back to Napoli (I’m on a train now) I’ll try and suss out the trains/buses for Rome tomorrow (it’s a quiet little town in the middle) while I’m at the station. Then a mammoth plate of pasta is needed from somewhere, I’ve not had lunch as everything round Pompeii was rip-off tourist prices, like €5 for a tiny panini.

So there are 3 options for the train and not any as far as I can tell on the bus front. €45ish, €19.50 and €10.50 are the choices on offer with it very roughly being that the most expensive taking 1 hour, the middle 2 and the cheapest 3. I’ll likely go for the regional one at €9.50 as for the sake of an hour or two it’s well worth the saving.

Amazingly I struggled to find a restaurant serving pasta and I didn’t fancy another pizza. So I stopped into one of the many bakeries about and picked up a couple of these soft rolls with a little bit of cheese in them and loads of diced ham cubes. Very tasty, very cheap and very filling.

I’ve started to enjoy the ridiculous manner in which you have to cross the road round these parts. Half the time it’s just a blind leap of faith but it’s not without an element of skill attached to it. Modern art at it’s best.

This evening I conducted my first ever technical support case involiving a Apple Mac, successfully ‘n all. I sorted the wireless internet TCP/IP settings out for some lad in my dorm. I feel a bit dirty now.

Napoli is definitely a city I will return to one day as for one I’m very much enamoured with the city, but there’s also plenty I’ve not been able to see. Things that come to mind are Mount Vesuvius, the catacombs and a mafia hit.

Tags: Apple Mac, Bella Capri, Blogsherpa, Europe, Italy, Mount Vesuvius, Naples, Napoli, Pompeii