Well, may of you won't agree with my assessment...but it's my Trip Report! Ha! Now bear in mind, we were there less than a day...but still these are my impressions. I'd like to preface that we loved Venice, Rome and the Amalfi Coast...all different, all unique. I'm also not a prima donna....I've liked in a 3rd world country without clean water, etc.
Initially we were just doing Naples as I booked our trip Open Jaw. I wanted to see Pompeii and this made sense. About 2 months before our departure, DH decided he didn't want to see Pompeii, he just thought he'd be tiring of all the Ruins Viewing, and wanted to just tour Naples. Since he let me do EVERYTHING, didn't get involved at all in the planning or decision making (as he knows I love that and trust me completely), I felt I would concede this one thing. Oh well, maybe I'd be tired, too, right? Plus I heard it's very very hot.
Last Day: Private Driver picks us up at 8:00 a.m. and we drive the 90 minutes to our Naples Hotel (Hotel Piazza Bellini...the only good thing about Naples). It was a beautiful drive on the Coastline for awhile, loved seeing Sorrento, Mt. Vesuvius...just driving thought all the towns was fun. As we entered Naples, I thought...hmmmmm....doesn't look so nice. However, like all cities, there are industrial parts that are the seedier parts of town.
Naples was gritty, dirty, congested (makes Rome look like rural roads), car fumes were obnoxious. Graffiti Everywhere...I mean even nice building along the street. It just seemed dark. WE checked in and decided right then we were going to Herculaneum. We ventured out to a bank to get some Euros and walked around an hour trying to find one. We didn't like this city at all. Got a private driver to take us for 2 hours and bring us back...70 Euros.
Went to Herculaneum and DH really, really enjoyed it, as did I. I knew then he would have loved Pompeii, so was disappointed we hadn't made arrangements. I suppose we could have, but at that point it was closer to midday and we just thought it would be cheaper and faster to do this. We had a very enjoyable time and got the headphone. What a fascinating place...well worth your time. 2 hours wasn't enough for us...we had to meet the driver. 3 hours would have been better AND plenty. So, schedule 3 hours if you go there, but you can see a lot of it in 2 hours if you have to.
So, we made our way back to the National Archaeology Museum. I don't know...I got really tired fast of seeing all the statutes..maybe I was just tired that last day, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. We saw the artifacts from Pompeii, and I didn't thing there was that much, really. Maybe we just didn't see all the rooms.
We then walked back to our hotel and decided that evening we would go to that famous pizza place close by starting with an "S"...sorry Sorbini's, maybe? Until then we would walk down the main thoroughfare...(the one like in Rome) Via Corsi I think. Well, yuch. Dirty, no good shops...not glamourous at all. Tried to follow our map to make our way to the waterfront and could never find it...got lost. I was getting tired, so we made our way back to the Piazza Bellini for an aperitif. You know, even this popular Piazza just looks sad. We disliked Naples quite a bit...sorry if that offends anyone. Maybe it's the "real" Italy...who cares? I have only so much money and time, and I don't care to be around this type of atmosphere...I can do that at home in my seedy areas.
Went to the Pizza place that was PACKED! So, we are excited to eat original Naples pizza...the birthplace of it! I almost laughed. Any frozen pizza was better than this. The dough almost seems undercooked...like an extra think tortilla. People are rolling their floppy crust pizza like a tortilla and eating it that way. They sauce wasn't anything great. I don't know...I'm not a foodie or a pizza snob at all....