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Naples
The sprawling Italian port city of Naples is Italy’s third largest city. We were able to explore the busy city streets and find the first two pizzerias in Italy. The first pizzeria to ever open it’s doors in 1830 is Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba. Many tourists flock to this pizzeria so you can wait for hours waiting to taste the famous margarita pizza pie. Now we personally did not eat at this pizzeria. If you are like us we did not have much time because we love to explore so many sites. If you walk just 1.2 km south you will reach Pizzeria Trianon. Also believed to be one of the first pizzerias in the world as well. This pizzeria served us a homemade mouth watering margarita pizza and some white wine that the pizzeria makes themselves! Some reviews and hours for Pizzeria Trianon are located here.
Naples might not have as many sites as its northern neighbor Rome but if you like to shop you came to the right place. With lots of malls and shops around the city, there was plenty of shopping to keep us busy and we definitely wanted to rest our feet by the ned of the night. Thankfully, we were able to take advance of the good subway system that they have. You can find a map of the metro system here. At the end of the day exploring Naples, we were able to find a bench in the city to do some people watching. The hustle and bustle of the city makes this Italian city so much different than any other city in Italia!
Travel Tip: Beware of aggressive souvenir salesmen! Even if you only make eye contact with one of them they will come up to you and almost demand you to buy something. If you come across this situation make sure you look the other way and keep walking. If you do buy something from the souvenir salesmen they might want to try and persuade you to buy something else to rack up your bill. They will try and barter with you and even though most of the souvenirs are really cheap they are not made in Italy or authentic. Naples has many official souvenir shops in the city that will sell you authentic made from Italy souvenirs.
Pompeii
Pompeii is the city that was destroyed by a natural disaster. In 79 AD, Mt. Vesuvius erupted and covered most of the great city under hot ash. The lost city was not discovered for about 1,500 years after the violent eruption. Now it’s possible to visit the ruins of the old city. Make sure to give yourself a full day to explore and bring your walking shoes so your feet are comfortable. The line at the main entrance can get quite long so make sure you arrive right at 08:30 am or buy tickets in advance to skip the line. Tickets are roughly $17.
Travel Tip: Beware of tour guides who will try to scam you while waiting in line for tickets. No one likes waiting in long lines when you can be exploring. These “tour guides” will persuade you by giving you a tour of Pompeii and also letting you skip the line. The catch is they will give you a price and by the end of your tour triple the amount and tell you that the price was per person! We did not fall into this trap but many tourists did.
At the entrance gate we got our tickets and a map of the ancient city. As soon as we passed the gates, we walked up a small hill where the city once laid. Most of the city was preserved since it was covered in ash. We saw outlines of where people once lived and gathering spots such as theatres and thermal baths. We also saw old canals and streets. What really hit us emotionally was the preserved bodies of human beings and a dog.
The ancient city has so much history and we spent hours walking around and exploring. Just beyond the city lies Mt. Vesuvius which caused this city to be destroyed within minutes. The volcano is still very active to this day! Be sure to bring sunscreen as the summer months beat down on the Italian Peninsula.
