It’s honestly a little weird writing about places I’ve been at almost 3 years ago… It’s difficult to remember some things… I definitely wish that I wrote these blog posts then… but anyways..
Pompeii was probably my favorite place we went to in Italy!
We arrived in Naples early in the morning on our sleeper train. The first thing we did was grab some food… obviously… food always comes first… especially when you’re in Italy!
The next thing we did was rent a car. This was the first and only time we rented a car in Europe. Usually we rode the metro or the bus, but Pompey was an hour away, and that was where we were headed. The people at the rental car place warned us to be careful at where we parked our rents car because they get stolen very often.
Our plan was to drive to Pompeii which was around an hour away. The drive there was absolutely ca-raaazyyy! No one follows traffic signs. There is no proper driving etiquette, and even if there is, no one follows it. You have to be a jerk to actually get somewhere because people don’t really wait for each other. Totally a different story from Germany drivers.
When we finally got to Pompeii, it didn’t take long for us to find parking at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure it found us. We were driving around the city and all of a sudden we saw an Italian on the side of the road making a hand motion to drive in to an inn parking lot entrance that he was standing by. My cousin, without even thinking, turned the wheel into the lot. Just so you know, a lot of things were done without thinking on this trip. Not really a good thing, but that’s probably what makes it super spontaneous haha 🙂 . Fortunately, this was a fortunate move. We were able to get a room super cheap with complementary breakfast at 7am (which is actually super duper early for Italians… their days usually start a little later).
Although Pompeii was just another Sodom and Gomorrah situation, walking through the city was super cool! A lot of the statues (some quite indecent) were left standing. We walked on their “streets”, and there were labels on what was left of the houses if famous people lived there. There were some plastered bodies and animals (in particular one of a dog that was trying to get off of a chain but couldn’t and died). The full excursion throughout the Pompeii ruins takes around 5 days, but we decided to only see the beginning part of it.
Outside of the entrance to the ruins, there was a little market where locals sold souvenirs. There were a lot of awkwardly inappropriate statues and key chains as Pompeii was an extremely sinful city (think Sodom and Gomorrah). I, also, for some reason, decided to buy a soccer ball for my little sister who birthday was coming up. I still have no idea why I bought one especially since it takes up so much room. But I remember I was super proud because my sister and I bartered for it using the techniques and all (putting the item down and pretending to walk away etc.) and we managed to knock the price off quite a bit :).
In the evening, we drove around the Amalfi Coast and happened upon some “skinny” streets and bought pizza straight from an outside wood fire stove. It literally felt like we were inside a calendar image. That was probably my favorite moment of the day. Unfortunately, I got heat stroke and was passed out in the back seat of our little Fiat most of the time.
One the way back, we drove through a tunnel that went on for several miles. We started it off by not breathing until we realized that the tunnel wasn’t planning on ending any time soon haha :). Later I found out that this was the Via del Mare tunnel in Sorrento, Italy.
These are just some of the things that I remember from two years ago. I absolutely loved this trip, and I would especially love to explore more of the Amalfi Coast.
Recommendations
- stay hydrated.. wear a hat and sunglasses if you need to… or even better, don’t go to Italy in June, July, or August
- park your rental car in special parking lot
- for the local inns, the owners are usually open to negotiation for prices or adding in a complementary breakfast. It never hurts to ask.