ignorance is bliss

Posted on October 23, 2006 Updated on July 9, 2013

Sitting on our flight out of Naples, we read in the in-flight newspaper that in the past week, approximately 1500 minor criminals had been released into Naples due to overcrowded prisons. Ahhh… that explains a LOT about our time in Naples. Ignorance is bliss! Had we known this before we arrived in Naples, our stay may have been one filled with anxiety and fear. Instead, Naples to us at the time, was just a base to visit Pompeii and Capri. Admittedly, Naples was a little on the unusual side – we walked the streets and it was deserted, we searched for an internet cafe and were advised that it was best if we didn’t go there. We saw garbage bags being thrown out onto the footpath from apartments that were 5-6 floors up, right out the window and onto the footpath behind us. We only managed to escape ending up wearing all the rubbish. But, that aside we were able to visit Capri and Pompeii which made us happy.

The ferry to Capri was pretty rough but the view upon arriving was worth it. We had a fabulous tour guide for the day, Fabio…. yes, can it be anymore cliche? The roads on Capri were no different to the mainland Italy. Tight, busy and as Fabio put it… “Mamma mia roads”.

The following morning, we almost missed our day trip to Pompeii because we “snoozed” a few too many times. Fortunately we made it on the tour bus with only minutes to spare! Pompeii was a little eerie but still very fascinating. We were so pleased to see Mount Vesuvius towering in the background. To think in 62AD, it erupted and covered the town in 6-8 metres of ash not lava.  We saw plaster casts of 3 people who were found in the same position as they were when the ash covered the town. We saw city streets, shops and houses and artwork that still remained. Its quite extraordinary how intact and well preserved everything is.

To finish up our time in Italy, we had a rather amusing cab trip to the airport. The car was overheating and the driver had to stop three times to cool the radiator down with water. We offered to pay him and flag down another cab, a little fearful that the car might catch fire. There was steam coming out the bonnet…. he insisted that he take us and as we arrived at the airport, we could the see on the dashboard, the little H for HOT flashing red. We couldn’t bundle ourselves out of the car fast enough and onto that plane to Barcelona.