It was an early start for us on Monday 22nd July as we had to get a taxi to take us to the bus stop by the railway station to catch our bus to Napoli, due to leave at 9am. Fortunately we had bought our tickets the day before, a frustrating exercise that had taken nearly 40 minutes, for reasons best known to the bus company’s computer system! Unfortunately the bus was very late and we waited on the hot and dusty road until well after 9.30am, very Italian, we understand.
The journey west across southern Italy showed us olive groves, vineyards, sunflower fields, massive wind farms, few solar farms and much flat and barren land. It got more interesting as we approached the west coast as the landscape became more undulating and old villages with church spires were evident on the tops of the hills. As we approached Naples, Versuvius loomed over the city, a still active volcano so close to a massive urban sprawl with acres of run-down residential tenements crammed together for as far as the eye could see.
We met up with Nick and Elin in Garibaldi Piazza by the main railway station and took the R2 bus to see the wonderful historic castle, Castel Nuovo and Palace Piazza close to the wharf area of Naples. The 12th century castle, adorned with a triumphal arch added in the 15th century by Alfonso the Magnanimous, was most impressive. We admired the beautiful theatre, gallery and 19th century palace and looked out over the harbour with Versuvius once again dominating the skyline.
It was excessively hot and the bus journey back to the station was a drama as Mo had an attempted raid on her rucksack. Thankfully the attempt was foiled before anything went missing, but a salutary lesson to us all.
A train ride to Maria’s home town of Marcianise and we received a very warm welcome from Maria, Mia and Maria’s parents into their lovely home.
It was a fleeting visit, but we thoroughly enjoyed seeing them all and enjoyed some fun with the girls, Elin and Mia, who were a great delight.
Nick and Maria took us to Caserta old town, and then showed us the palace in Caserta, which unfortunately was closed, and before long we were doing the journey in reverse to take us back to Bari.
We got back to Bari on Tuesday at 16.30, having enjoyed our trip to Naples. Mo was pleased to have seen just one of the places her Dad had talked of in his wartime reminiscences of Italy. It was so good to see Nick and Marie, Elin and Mia, at home in Italy, and to see Maria’s family home too. I cannot believe that we failed to take a family photo of them all, that was an oversight!
Deja Vu 
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