Before I begin this post, I am going to start with a disclaimer: I am trying to write all of this on my brand new tiny keyboard that I just purchased at a Tiger store on a whim. (For those who don’t know or remember, Tiger is my number one favorite store in the whole entire world, and they are based in Denmark.) Technically, the purchase was only kind of on a whim, considering I woke up this morning with the desire to purchase a tiny laptop to make writing easier. Luckily, this was much cheaper and a bit more practical. The disclaimer part comes with the fact that this, being a keyboard purchased in Denmark, is a Danish keyboard, and this mixed with being a mini keyboard means that all of the keys are in strange places. To make things worse, I have discovered that not all of the key labels are correctly, so when I want to type a new character, I just kind of have to poke around for awhile and hope I get lucky.
For example, it took me ten minutes to write the first three lines of this post because I couldn’t figure out the colon, parentheses, or apostrophe. So, I apologize in advance if any typos slip my review.
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Now that’s taken care of, we can get to the meat of things: My Last Day In Naples.
I had one more day to spend in this Italian city, so I did what any girl would do: I left it. I woke up early, indulged in Francisco’s adorableness, and hit the town. I may have gotten a granita on my way to the train station. It’s all a blur, really. But I made it to the train station around eleven and went off in search for tickets to Sorrento, a coastal town that Rick Steves recommends to be used as a “sunny springboard” for any stay in the area. Too bad I didn’t do that research early on!
I ran into issues at the train station, and ended up wasting about half an hour because only one train company sells tickets from Naples to Sorrento, and they were located in the station’s basement. I didn’t get on a train until 11:45, but that still left me plenty of time until my 6:30 departure from the coastal town of Amalfi.
I had it all planned out: I’d spend a couple hours in Sorrento, book a ticket on one of the world’s most beautiful bus rides (according to RickSteves), and have another couple hours to walk around and get dinner in Amalfi before returning ‘home.’
The train ride was much the same as the one to Pompeii, but it contained on after the ruins to get to the coast. It was a little concerning getting to the city, because the only maps available at the station were €5 and I wasn’t having any part of that. I decided to leave a trail of breadcrumbs (figuratively) and try to not wander too much so I could make it back the way I had come.
Sorrento’s streets were much like those of Ischia, though a bit less bustling and with a lesser desperate-tourist-destination vibe. I liked it, though. Very serene and sunny, indeed. I had to pee pretty much from the moment I got on the train, but I couldn’t find any restaurants that looked enticing enough to offer more than a toilet. I continued my search, but I figured there was always the beach!
I did manage to find a very cute little gelato shop with a very cute gelato boy behind the counter, and he suggested I try the cheesecake and the lemon. It was an interesting combination, but very satisfying, and he even put this adorable tiny cone on top of the rest of the cone. So cute!
His scoops were actually so big I couldn’t quite finish it, but oh well.
Next, I continued my meanderings and slowly found my way to the beach via a long, windy street without a sidewalk. I had to dodge many cars and scooters, and twice I felt my hat lifted from my head and turned around to find it hanging from a low branch.
The beach was nice, but I was too scared about leaving my purse unattended to go swimming. I took a couple dunks, but it only cooled off the lower half of my body. Ha!
I sat behind some American girls, which was strange. It is always a bit unnerving for me to overhear Americans while in Europe. I came here to experience different cultures after all, not to hear American girls complain about internships and tanning.
After hanging out for a while with my book and a sandwich, it was time to head back to the bus station.
One last granita for the road (not a fan of the strawberry – bad choice), and I managed to snag a window seat.
The bus ride was positively gorgeous, just as Rick Steves said. It is crazy to think that people actually live in these amazing, picturesque villages.
It was also amazing that I didn’t die. The street was so windy and narrow, and it was always a bit of a puzzle to pass other cars, seeing as the road was really more of a 1.5-lane than anything else. At one point, we were passing through a village, when suddenly a horribly unpleasant and rather drawn-out thudding rocked underneath the bus. The riders craned their necks to try and see what had happened, and the lady next to me was sure we had hit someone. It turned out we had actually demolished a parked motorcycle!
The bus began a slow reverse, back up this windy road, narrowly missing several other parked motorcycles in the process! I thought maybe we were backing up to get the motorcycle out from under us, but it became clear soon that it was actually to let another bus by in the other direction. There was literally inches of space between these two monster vehicles. I honestly don’t know how they did it.
And then we continued on, seemingly forgetting the motorcycle…
Because of all the hubbub, we arrived about half an hour late to our destination of Amalfi. I really wasn’t planning anything here except to wander and grab some dinner, but I became worried when our bus arrived at a bus station and sea port, but with no trains in sight. I had purchased a train ticket out of this place which was scheduled to leave in just over an hour.
I found a ticket desk and asked for the train station. No such thing, she said. Only boats and busses.
Okay….
I showed her my tickets. She didn’t know where my train was supposed to leave from, but it was not here. She made a plan for me to take the ferry to the town of Salerno, where I could catch a train back to Naples. Seeing as I didn’t have much other choice, I agreed, bought a salad, and was on the ferry in about ten minutes.
Didn’t see much of Amalfi, really, but it did seem like a cute town. The ferry was nice, too. Can’t really complain.
Then the train…. Then the walk…. Then my last night in Naples.
Overall, I would say Naples has a lot to offer, and people really underrated it. Much like my experience with Milan, I found that if you go in blindly and take the time to really appreciate all the city and area has to offer, you can find something special in any place.
That’s all for now. Copenhagen is next!
Venlig hilsen/ ciao,
Lizzy-wa