As it was a travel day we allowed ourselves
the luxury of sleeping in until 8am. After breakfast I dashed off to see if the
enoteca was open. It wasn’t, nor was
the one we had got drinks from previously. Luckily however, a café/bar nearby
was open, and joy of joys had a good selection of aglianico, including the one mentioned favourably in a review –
vintage 2000! I also took advantage of the sunshine to take a few last photos
in town, including in the cathedral.
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We got a taxi to Sorrento station and again
had to pay an inordinately high amount for a short journey. Not only that,
cabbies seem to round up fares to make
giving change easy. Likewise in the tabacheria
in the station where you buy train tickets for the Circumvesuviana, I have been short-changed three times. Local
custom I guess, or just taking tourists for a ride because they don’t notice. While
getting into the taxi we noticed there was a park dedicated to Henrik Ibsen. Pity we had not ventured
over on that side before.
Once inside there was a train packed with
people and luggage about to leave. We couldn’t see ourselves squeezing in as
well, so utilised the extra time allowed for in our planning to wait for the
next train. It was actually already there on another track. This unleashed a
great bout of angst in my better half, who feared it might be an inoperative
train, or a train for the wrong line, ignoring the fact that the train’s
internal destination was listed as Napoli.
I merrily encouraged a host of others similarly disoriented to get on this
train as well. Of course it was the right train.
At Naples central we were faced with an
escalator that was not functioning. After humping the first bag up the steps,
the escalator magically started to I got a reprieve on the second. We had a
very nice lunch of focaccia in a station café and proceeded to the main train
hall. Our train had been listed since arrival, but lacking a track number.
About then minutes before scheduled departure we noticed that the train was
arriving from Reggio di Calabria, at
the toe of Italy opposite Messina,
and that it was 10 minutes late. It was actually 25 minutes late, but the sign
was never updated again to reflect this.
A young couple in the row behind Joan were coupled in full romantic embrace – for the whole trip – how nice.
The above was written on the train as I
have time to kill, so more minutiae than are strictly necessary.
We arrived in Rome at about 4pm, so a 5.5
hr journey door-to-door. Within an hour of
arriving at Termini (central station), we were sitting on the Spanish Steps,
along with hundreds of others, locals and tourists alike, savouring the
afternoon light that was bathing the church at the top of the stairs. The Sunday
passegiata was in full swing – it’s a
wonderful thing to observe and experience.
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| Wonderful uniforms |
Our room overlooks Piazza Barberini, with a clear view of the Triton fountain below, which
pedestrians are deprived of because it is surrounded by a high temporary
boarding-up for maintenance.
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| Triton fountain boarded up for maintenance |
Before dinner we walked down the hill from
Barberini to see the Trevi fountain at night, then had a nice dinner at a
simple trattoria nearby. We had a
very nice wine Primitivo di Manduria with
our fettucine, and a really good panna
cotta (our favourite) for dessert.
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