Monday 17th July 2000

Richard: "The three of us had decided on Friday that we wanted to see Pompeii, and as it is a three-hour car journey back to Naples we got ourselves up at 6:00am, and checked out and got on the road soon after. It is something that both Karen and I wanted to do, although Martin was also keen to see it despite having been once before earlier in the year.

The drive back from Bari was very picturesque. We stopped a few times to take photos in the mountains and then again for breakfast, still some distance from Napoli. We then travelled south to Sorrento to pick up the highway going north back into Napoli, and hopefully avoid all the traffic. This seemed to work well.

The exit for the ruins was clearly marked, and we arrived in good time. We knew we really needed a full day here, and we had only until about 3pm if we were to catch our plane at 5:20, but we hoped to take in as much as possible.

Martin guided us to the main entrance - the sight of Vesuvius looming over the city is a sight to behold. We bought a guide map and followed the other tourists in: you could tell the Americans at a glance!

Firstly, we took in the former harbour area, the market place and the merchants' quarter, which were all very impressive. These included the usual tourist traps, such as souvenir shops and restaurants, and we allowed ourselves to be suckered in for a Coke before pressing on to the entertainment quarter. This included two theatres - one for plays and the other for poetry reading - and of course the Amphitheatre, apparently the first one the Romans ever built.

We finished our tour in the residential area in the northern part of the town.

Throughout the day we picked up useful information on the history of the town, the archaeological digs over the last two centuries, and - in numerous villas - the remains of human bodies found. Something I didn't know was that until its discovery in 1863 //CHECK// Pompeii had been hidden for centuries under the ash from Mount Vesuvius, and no one had even suspected its existence - they just thought it was a mountain.

Having walked our shoes off over the day, it was time for pizza and a cold drink. Pizza apparently originated in Napoli and Napoli pizza is still supposed to be the best in Italy. The restaurant we chose certainly proved that: most welcome - it has been a great holiday.

All that remained was to return to the airport to catch our flight out. A simple process in most countries, but not in Napoli. We wanted to fill up the tank with a little diesel in order to avoid paying extortionate rates for the missing fuel when we returned the car. Martin said he had once returned a car without refilling it when he was in the USA, and had been charged $2.99 per gallon when the standard pump price was $1.25, so we were keen to avoid this.

However, on this occasion we would have been better to have just been stung for the cash, as a five-minute visit to the petrol station at the exit immediately after the exit for the airport, caused us more than an hour's delay in trying to get back to the airport - the signposting in Napoli is dreadful!

We arrived at the airport with twenty minutes to catch our flight - impossible in England, and we certainly didn't hold much hope of making it here. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained, etc. Hardly had we screeched to a halt in the "No waiting" area directly outside the front of the airport than we had all our luggage on a trolley for Karen to take to check-in, while Martin and I took the car back.

We had decided on strength in numbers in case things turned nasty when the guy in the car park came to check over the car. However, he just accepted it back from us without even glancing at the car, so we thanked our lucky stars, turned tail and made a run back to the terminal building."

Martin: "As if our afternoon had not been eventful enough, we narrowly missed another incident which could easily have resulted in Richard going home on a stretcher (thank God it didn't). We were sprinting down the road on the left hand side, so that we could see the cars coming towards us. However, Richard then saw pavement on the other side of the road and swerved across the road, straight into the path of a car coming up behind us.

Fortunately the guy had his wits about him, slammed on his brakes, and stopped about two feet short of Richard's legs, but Richard didn't even get honked for this bit of lemmingship - presumably this is standard practice in Italy!"

Richard: "The flight from Napoli to Milano was uneventful, although I did calm a maiden in distress, no thanks to Martin's witty comments. In Milano we were delayed for 1 1/2 hours, so filled in the time with food, beer and duty-free shopping.

Back in England we made our way out to the car park. The car was still there, but Martin couldn't find the parking ticket, so - expecting an exorbitant bill - we parked the car by the customer services building and trudged inside. How wrong we were - the guy was as nice as anything and charged us only for the time we had been there.

Martin dropped me off home, and this brought the trip to a close. Next year we will come to Bari for the whole week and compete in all of the activities of the Sea Games. What a holiday!"

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