Shouting from the Hop

SATURDAY
Our last day in Naples on this trip.
As we missed out on Pompeii the day before, we decided it had to be fitted in today. The guide book suggests you need at least two hours, but maybe not much more unless you are very interested, so we didn't mind arriving mid-afternoon (missing most of the crowds once more hopefully).
Before that, we packed, checked out (leaving the bags at the hotel) and walked once more into the heart of the Centro Storico. Our aim this time was to take in a tour of the ancient aquaducts that run under the city.
The tour was combined with a 30 minute walk to see the remains of a roman theatre: Naples has built upwards since forever, and the majority of the walls etc of the amphitheatre remain predominantly intact but beneath other buildings - not underneath, but within. We were shown columns that were now part of walls, and taken into a house that was once part of the theatre itself. It had Roman brick walls and the basement area used to be part of the downstairs backstage area unbelievably!
We then walked down 35 metres below street level into the aquaduct area that was created over 2000 years ago. The city's water supply (up until 1884) came from here and you get to walk through (very!) narrow tunnels into large chambers that have well holes in the ceiling. The whole place was also used as bomb shelters during 1942/3, and some good graffiti remains extolling the Axis virtues of World domination and how London was to blame for the bombing...
After lunch, we walked again to the station (by a more direct route this time) and caught the train to Pompeii.
Pompeii was busy, but not too bad, with most of the cruise tourists arriving in the morning. It's quite amazing really. We've been to many ruined cities, but never one that had as much left over such a large area. "Ruined" walls of over six feet in height are common, and some roofs remain too. Murals, frescoes, gardens and statues all remain in good condition mostly, as they have not been uncovered for much more than 100 years. You really can get lost in the many streets unless you have a map! The brothel was closed unfortunately for renovation, but we saw most of the other highlights. When you consider how close Vesuvius is (see above), it is no surprise that the whole city was wiped out in minutes by a pyraplactic flow (sorry if the spelling is wrong...). We had a good time wandering around Pompeii, for about three hours, but by now we were very footsore (Roman roads may have been good in their day, but they are very uneven now!), so we wandered back to the station and returned to Naples. We had time for a cab ride down to the Castel Dell' Ovo area for a quick dinner, and then caught a cab back to the hotel, picked up the bags and onwards to the airport.
I have to make comment here about the Italian drivers; it seems that whatever you are driving - bus, train, boat, car, scooter, bike, etc, etc, you have to drive it at full speed all the time! Maybe it's some macho thing, although even the women rode their scooters round the narrow streets like maniacs! Our cabbie back to the hotel and on to the airport was crazy, no, really crazy! Overtaking on the inside, outside, over the top if he could, going right round the outside of traffic lights if cars were in the way so he could get in front and if not don't worry if the lights were red! Mad... And of course he had to hoot everyone who got anywhere near him or pulled away more than a millisecond after the lights went green! He sang when not leaning on the horn. We made it though...and then he asked for a large tip!
We checked in, went through security, where the girlfriend's bag got the full search for some reason, then settled down for a beer. Before we got that though, I noticed that, along with one for me, we had been given a boarding pass in the name of Mr Reid Whatmore. I can assure you that this is not my girlfriend's name! We then had to go back through security, explain the problem to check in, wait while they argued amongst themselves, take two new passes and return airside where security this time decided that my girlfriend had too much metal on her body (even though she hadn't added to it in the previous twenty minutes)! We now had aisle and middle seat boarding passes, having previously had window and middle. We were told by check in that a window was not now available following their cock up. On take off, we had nobody in the window seat next to us... Not a clue I tell you! A good flight back (no champagne this time), we landed a little early at 25 past midnight. We got onto the airport bus at 12.44, and pulled out of the car park at 1.04. Home at 1.48 - not bad going!
It was a lovely trip for a birthday present and I love you sweetheart for taking me away to Naples, Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii.
Grazie Mille!