Naples

Our last 3 nights in Italy were spent in Naples. This was primarily so I could visit Pompeii as I had never been there despite having learnt about it in Latin back in form 3. Nic had visited Pompeii when over for a conference in 2006 and I felt slightly bad dragging him back. We walked to our hostel through Naples from the train station and I was struck by the difference compared to the other Italian cities we had visited. Maybe it was partly the heat but it made me think much more of southeast asia than Europe with washing hanging between buildings, scooters narrowly avoidin pedestrians and stalls in the streets. Found our hostel “6 small rooms”(up 3 large flights of stairs). It is always slightly disconcerting being shown your room and it not being immediately evident where you are supposed to sleep (the beds folded out).

Stocked up on food and wine including a picnic to take to Pompeii the next day then returned to indulge in a slight obsession this Italian trip – artichokes. Not sure why I love these strange vegetables, (Nic doesn't touch them), but boiled or marinated I have enjoyed them from deli counters, on pizzas and in restaurants. I decided to try cooking my own and had googled a recipe in preparation (basically just boil until soft). The spiky, purple, outer leaves are however difficult to get to soften – think I was supposed to remove these. Got some weird looks from the multiple Australians at the hostel.

Having met only one other New Zealander in Italy, (back in Turin), Australians have become the next best thing to chat with and feel vaguely as if you are not to far from home. Despite the inevitable sheep jokes, comments on how there must be only 3 people left back in New Zealand with us away, “feesh and cheeps/fosh and chops” comparisons, they are generally lots of fun. We headed to Pompeii with a woman from Brisbane.

Pompeii is huge. Also pretty crowded and lacking in any greenery compared to the other large scale ruins we had seen in the Ostia Antica near Rome. I got my first audio guide this trip and found it vaguely frustrating – slightly slow paced. Highlights of Pompeii included the prostitutes working place with frescoes still in place that did not leave a lot to the imagination and a beautiful frescoe of Venus from the sea – more simplistic than Botticelli's version but this was around 1500 years earlier. Met up with Australian to go home who had met up with friends so Nic had the pleasure of going to dinner with four Aussie birds and me – he coped admirably!

Our last day in Naples was beautiful and we wandered along the foreshore to two of three castles that are in the city. As it was Easter Sunday we had some difficulty finding a place to serve lunch – we were very glad we had bought enough food to cook a nice risotto for dinner. Returning to the hostel we found that the bottle of wine we had bought two days prior had been drunk by the hostel staff as part of their Easter festivities. Annoying particularly as they seemed to doubt the ownership of the wine.

I had a restless last night in Italy, (lack of the usual amounts of anaethetising wine). We had a taxi booked for 5.30am and were up at 5am. Surprisingly our taxi to the airport was cheaper and quicker than we expected – a pleasing conclusion to our amazingly completely hassle free transport through Italy. Checked in well in advance feeling oh so smug with our two packs compared to some Italians who seem to pack three suitcases and the kitchen sink. Back to London town.......