Dante's Inferno

Today, we caught the early train to Naples. If you are worried about the existence of hell and want to know what it might be like, come to Naples.

We only had a 5 minute walk from the train station to the hotel but that was enough to put us off Naples for a start. The main square (Piazza Garibaldi) is filthy and has people all over the place. To get to out hotel, we had to walk across three roads, all of which were clogged with cars and had crossings which required that you get out among the cars and basically hope for the best while you cross.

We found our hotel easily. It rated well on trip advisor but we were shocked to see that it was in the edge of the red light district, had people standing around doing nothing but watch us as we arrived and to cap it off, had no real door, just a hole in a wall that you needed to walk through to get in. Apparently it was also a 19th century palace - not renovated since the nineteenth century we think is closer to the truth. We looked at each other in disbelief, "Oh, F...", we both said simultaneously. There was no way on earth we were even going to walk in that place. We headed back to the train station. On the way back we were offered an iPhone 4 for a great price. Funny, because the guy in the t-shirt and dark rap around sunglasses didn't look like a registered apple dealer. This particular market looked like a great place to buy back anything you had "lost" the day before.

We arrived back at the station and went to the tourist office to find a new place to stay. That was useless. We luckily found the Eurail office and they were magnificent. We told them our problem and they booked us a place on the Napoli coast. Now, we have a room with a view of the Bay of Naples, an excellent salt water pool and is close to some good transport options. In the morning in fact, we plan to catch a hydrofoil from here to the Isle of Capri and Sorrento, bypassing Naples all together. If we cross the road, we have a view of Vesuvius, but from our room all we get is this 11th century castle.






Thought for the day. If you arrive at the gates of hell but they are locked, don't knock.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Naples