Naples, April 2016

Our final stop on our tour of Italy was in Naples. Initially, our arrival in Naples didn't go quite as smoothly as the rest of the trip had gone. We arrived in the evening so it was getting dark before we were able to find our hotel, and throughout the rest of our time in Italy, we had spoken to a lot of other people travelling who had warned us of pickpockets in the area. It is easy to let any preconceptions affect your opinion of a place, and it probably did get the better of us at first. However, once we had settled in a bit, by the next day we were much more relaxed – Naples feels much more traditional and the food and drink are much cheaper here! Naples has really improved in my opinions with hindsight, and the pizza there really was probably the best we had throughout our whole trip. We didn't actually spend much time in the city itself as we had booked a couple of days trips to fill our days there, but I would like to go back and explore more of the area if I get a chance to in the future.



Our first day-trip was to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, and it is a must-see. Unless you know loads about Pompeii already I would definitely pay to do the tour otherwise you won't have a clue what you're looking at! Seeing the steam coming out of the crater at the top of Vesuvius really brings the history of Pompeii to light. The views are incredible from the top, but by this point, the rain we had escaped in Venice was catching up on us so despite being boiling the day looks pretty overcast in pictures.



On our second day in Naples, we took a boat to the island of Capri which was absolutely stunning and I would visit again in a heartbeat. I was desperate to visit the Blue Grotto and luckily the weather in the morning was calm enough that we were able to go. The sea really is a beautiful blue and it's a magical experience lying low in a boat to enter a tiny gap into a small cave lit up by the strong blue colour of the sea. Make sure you check online on their website to see if it's open or not, as the day before us going it had actually been closed due to bad weather. As we were only there for a day we tried to fit in as much as possible but we got only partway up the Phoenician Steps before the rain hit and we had to run for cover. As Capri is so hilly it was as if you were in the clouds as you could see a clear thick line of grey as the weather descended. Luckily it was still warm and perfect timing to be sat in the Piazzetta Square with a hot chocolate. The only thing to keep in mind is that food and drink are much more than Naples itself so take a lot of cash with you!





Overall, our first experience of Italy was a great one. We saw so many beautiful things and in only 12 nights, I'm sure we barely scratched the surface! Travelling by train was an awesome way to get an idea of the scenery throughout the whole country and I would definitely recommend it as a great way to travel. To name a few places I'd like to go back to explore would be Lake Garda, Verona, Sicily and more areas on the Amalfi Coast. Hopefully, I'll be able to tick these off the never-ending travel list at some point soon...