Naples: Day 2

We woke up this morning and hopped on a train from Naples to Pompeii. It was a bit of a dreary day but the ancient city was still pretty amazing. When we walked in and came to our first opening we were really surprised to see a bunch of stray dogs just kind of hanging out. Much like the cat sanctuary in Rome, there were dogs everywhere in this open field. We spent the next 4 hours trekking through the old streets and walking in and out of some of the old living areas.

This was one of the trains that came through the station as we were waiting for our train to Pompeii. Almost every train that went through has some kind of elaborate graffiti on it.

This is a view of the city of Pompeii from beyond the outer wall.

This is the first open area we came to, I think it was some kind of ancient forum, but there were just a few dogs kind of hanging out and relaxing in the middle.

A close-up view of the dogs from the previous photo.

This little guy was sleeping right behind me when I was taking the other two pictures.

Monica and I kind of wanted to take him home, can you blame us?

It was amazing how intact a lot of the structures and streets in the city were. This is one of the main road that runs through the city.

This was one of the many altars within the city.

I just thought this window was pretty cool looking with the vines growing over the top left corner of the wall.

Also in the streets a few huge grooves had filled up with water. About five minutes before I took this picture Monica slipped and stuck her foot in one of them. Luckily it only got her jeans and the outside of her shoe wet. Then she fell in an even bigger puddle and soaked the bottom part of her leg and all of her left foot wet.

This was a circular bench in a park area next to one of the large amphitheatres in the city.

This is the inside of one of the living areas in the city.

I just thought this ivy looked cool. I spent about 5 minutes taking pictures of it before Monica threatened to walk off and leave me there because she said I was being boring. I like this one the best.

This was another temple area.

After a while we ran across a part of the city that had some of the human remains on display. We first stumbled upon one that looked like it was being stored inside some kind of wooden crate. The bodies were mostly decomposed and only the bones were left embedded in the ash. Then we walked a little further and they had a couple of bodies displayed in old, dirty Plexiglas boxes that were a little more intact. It was pretty creepy staring at them.

These were the first remains we found. Mostly decomposed and they looked like the crates were just thrown down and opened as the lid was still leaning next to one of them.

Then we found this guy. It kind of put in perspective how abrupt the volcanic explosion was. You could see through to the bone on his head, hands, and feet.

It kind of looked like he was smiling.

After we had walked across the entire city one day we found a hill and climbed up it. It gave us a great view of the city and a little bit of the coast.

A little closer up. You can see the coast a little better.

After we were done walking through Pompeii we headed back to the train station to continue down the coast to Sorrento. We were a little sceptical because of the weather but we really wanted to see the coast. Little did we know they were having a little bit of a storm there. We got off the bus and it was really windy and rainy and Monica immediately wanted to go and get back on the train back to Naples but I told her we had to see the coast before we left. This proved to be a bit of a challenge.

From the train station, if you walk towards the coast the view is completely blocked by a plethora of different hotels. We found a little opening on one street but I didn't think it was a good enough view so we kept going. We had to walk about a mile before we found a street that looked like it might go through to the coast. We eventually found it, snapped a couple of quick pictures to prove we were there and then worked our way back to the train station.

Before we left for Sorrento, I went to use the bathroom and was greeted by this luxury bathroom stall.

This picture doesn't really do it justice but it was really windy and rainy. This was a view from the train station.

This is one of the streets we walked along for what seemed like forever, looking for the coast.

This is the first little glimpse of the coast that we got. After I saw this I wanted to keep going to find a better view.

This was one road that looked like it led to the coast but Monica didn't want to go down it. It was about100 feet down from the main road that we were on. I ran down the stairs to take a couple pictures before we continued on our way.

We eventually found a road that went through and the view was amazing. Definitely worth walking a mile through the freezing rain.

This is the only time Monica smiled the whole time we were in Sorrento.

It was amazing how clear the water was.

After checking out the coast in Sorrento we got back on the train, freezing and soaking wet, and headed back to Naples. We took it easy for a couple of hours and then headed to dinner. Our guidebook recommended a pizza place called Gino Sorbillo. Supposedly this is the place that invented the calzone and they claim to still be using the original oven it was created in. I was expecting that they were going to have a bunch of different kinds of calzones but they only have one on the entire menu. I decided to get it and it was quite possibly one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten...not to mention the fact that it was over a foot long and half a foot wide. Feast your eyes.

And yes, I finished the whole thing.

This is the best shot I got of the outside of Gino Sorbillo. I definitely reccomend it if you are ever in Naples.

After dinner we went on a long search for a Gelateria called Fantasia. We didn't exactly know where it was but after about 30 minutes we spotted a neon gelato sign and started running towards it. We were both very surprised and excited when we found it. It was supposed to be some of the best gelato ever, according to Let's Go but it we were not too impressed.

Monica spilled her cone all over herself as we were eating it when we were walking home. She was sad.

Right after we cleaned the gelato up off of Monica we were crossing a street about 2 blocks from our hostel when a car sped by and totally splashed muddy water all over us. It is hard to see in this picture but it was everywhere. Luckily I, using my cat-like reflexes stepped behind Monica at the very last second and she blocked most of it for me.

This is what her bag looked like when we got home. Nice!