I can’t find the Circumvesuvian amongst the great train rides of the world but it should be. If you google the Circumvesuvian train you will read all sorts of warnings about the dangers of travel with the locals. I have decided that the Napoli stories are to make the English and Americans spend more money. Now it is really clear that Napoli does not have the elegance of Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Roma. It is more like a really pissed off, gritty, angry older brother but OMG I love it. Roma was warm but Napoli is on fire. Oh it is so hot.
The streets are grotty, the buildings crumbling, but the kids playing soccer in Piazza Dante are fabulous and I have never seen so many young children (little kids) screaming around on motor bikes. Everyone rides straight up the middle of the footpath and if you don’t move you get run over.
The Circumvesuvian is a graffiti lovers canvas. It reminded me a bit of the trains we used to ride on as kids except it looked like it could fall apart at any minute. It was hot as hell, hard to get a seat, full of every dodgy character in the world, but the people watching was fantastic. I traveled to Pompeii and was quite disappointed to leave the train. Probably the best two euro of entertainment I have ever had. The train rattled along at a million miles an hour and at every stop more and more people got on. The diversity was fabulously entertaining. I left the train at Pompeii and thought I might just pass out in the heat. I kept looking up at Vesuvius as I was convinced that the 400 degree tephra was on its way down the mountain as the heat was so bad. Vesuvias just sat there like a bit of a non-descript green, and not that big hill. Once I slurped my way through a large limone granita I decided the heat only added to the atmosphere. It was just awesome. I had to keep reminding myself that the city was destroyed in AD 79. Obviously sitting under 25 metres of tephra is good for a city (definitely not its inhabitants) as it really looked like they had just packed up for summer holidays. The bread was a bit burnt but the frescoes on the wall looked like they had just been painted. I was surprised how huge it is and I spent hours strolling the beautiful roads.
Sleeping under the stars 