Italy welcomed us with a classic day of travel stress but by the day’s end, we could reflect on it with smiles. The day had started so stress free!
As usual, I was questioning the plan when the alarm went off at 4 am, but I was soon in full-on travel mode. The Uber whisked us efficiently to the airport and we sailed through check in. The security personnel were friendlier because they’ve not yet had their day marred by problematic travelers.
Our flights to Naples via Newark were joyfully uneventful, in contrast to media-fueled concerns from Newark’s recent air traffic control blips and runway construction. As we waited for the connection we watched planes embark against New York City’s skyline, reminding me of our fine visit just two months ago with Samuel and Kylie. Our parental concerns were blessed at the beginning of this trip with Samuel enjoying a fine start to his summer internship in Midland while Kylie looks after the house and our other child!
As we settled down for the overnight flight, a dreaded pair-of-babies settled into adjacent seats. However, they turned into a blessing as we could joyfully help their mom hold Rosie, the littlest! It reminded us of flying with littles (Bailey was a great flying baby) and Bailey immediately started talking about her Italian friend.
I was pleasantly surprised that we were not mobbed by eager taxi drivers as we emerged from the terminal and our taxi driver accepted a “fixed price” to the train station as if there wasn’t an option. The ride into town was certainly “Italian” as we weaved in and out of traffic, avoiding scooters and pedestrians by millimeters with the inevitable honk of the horn in the 8am rush hour. Navigating the train station to find the “Circumvesuviana” line was straight forward as we adopted the Italian groove of waiting for the train and finding a seat in what we thought was a full carriage. The uneventful thirty-minute ride to Pompeii took us through the suburbs, skirting the Bay of Naples around the base of a cloud-shrouded Vesuvius.
Our search for luggage storage at Pompeii train station was a hint of future challenges as we were first directed to the basement and then upstairs, with no lift for the suitcases. Jett did not need a gym when carrying 120 lbs of cases (Bailey’s and his) up stairs! Once freed of our luggage we could enjoy the ruins.
Pompeii was a thriving Roman city when Vesuvius erupted on 24 August AD79. Its 20,000 residents did not expect the mountain, just five miles away, to erupt as it had been 1200 years since it had been active, before the 600-year-old city’s existence. However, the top of the mountain was blown off and ash with rocks buried Pompeii with many people caught in their homes. The ash froze the city in time presenting archaeologists a tremendously detailed snapshot of ordinary first century Roman life.
Even though the site is huge, we were often avoiding crowds of tourists groups, reminding us of why we prefer independence. Our Rick Steves guidebook had a concise tour which was perfect. The tour group density grew and we chose to avoid the most popular attraction – an ancient brothel with erotic art. A couple of hours was sufficient for our visit and we grabbed a quick snack before waiting for the train onward to Sorrento. It wasn’t too crowded and all was going well until a conductor explained to me something. I barely understood but the gist of it was needing to leave the train at the next stop and take a bus instead. It was the dreaded “rail replacement service” that Brits know too well. I knew this was going to be a hassle, but it was amplified by the tourists crowds in these small Italian villages. Six full train carriages emerged from the station into a small town square and squeezed into buses. With Bailey on a bus and Jett nearly swept away by a crowd, Jett quickly learnt the Italian way of pushing through the queue and we were on our way together, albeit standing at an angle as the bus wound its way up and over mountain passes. Twenty minutes later, we were back at a station for onward travel after several flights of stairs. We regretted having had only a snack at Pompeii.
Soon we arrived at Sant’Agnello, one stop before Sorrento, and our AirBnB was a stone’s throw from the station. We checked into a fine apartment and woofed down our first Italian pizza which did not disappoint.
Janet’s plan was flexible enough so that our delay caused us to defer exploring Sorrento while we freshened up before heading out to dinner. A leisurely one-mile walk through Sorrento’s backstreets set the mood for a fine evening at a restaurant in a lemon grove recommended by Janet’s friend Tracy. La Lemonaia exceeded all expectations and its lemon-inspired creations perfectly ended our first day in Italy.
That was our first day. Stress levels were high during our train detour but we were able to reflect on them with a smile at the end of the day and hope such challenges are not the norm for this trip! We all were very happy to get into our comfy beds.
The Adventures of the Cajunlimeys 