Napoli

Travalled from Perugia by train via Rome and arrived on Wednesday evening. Naples is noticeably different from Northern Italy, in terms of people, architecture and culture.

My most lasting memory of Naples is the driving - even my guide book (Lonely Planet's "Europe on a Shoestring") says "Naples' legendary traffic means you need the power of prayer when crossing roads"! The rules of the road seem crazy with cars jostling past each other, passing through red lights and even going up onto the sidewalk! There was one stretch of dual-carriageway with a tramline down the central reservation, one day I saw cars going both ways down the tramline but on the road itself they were all going in the same direction - on both sides of the street! When I was considering if they had a lot of accidents I started looking at the parked cars by me - all of the first five I looked at had damage to them!

Apart from the traffic I saw three castles and some churches. I didn't venture out of Naples, so I still have not seen the historic ruins of Pompei. I confess that whilst in Naples I was feeling a bit bored - I wanted to "get my teeth into" something, not just do sight seeing.