Salerno via Naples

As today is Sunday & therefore the roads should be quieter, we thought we would have a go at tackling Naples, check out the route to the airport for our return & maybe visit the Archeological Museum, where many of the findings from the excavations in the area are on display. My visit to Pompei had been disappointing as all the exciting places & treasures were inaccessible to me. This we thought was the solution.

First we got lost in Naples, ending up at the port. At this point we realised, there were street markets everywhere & the traffic was teeming as ruleless as ever.

Fortunately, yesterday, we had bought a street map of Naples. Just as well, we soon refound ourselves. We got on to a main road. Plain sailing.

Only thing is the police kept closing off bits of road for no apparent reason. You could see another barrier & a policeman just a couple of hundred yards on. No roadworks. No people. No apparent reason for the closure.

We zigzagged through Naples, grateful for the map. We couldn't believe it when we finally found the museum.

Where to park? The clearly has a museum car park but we couldn't find the entry. There was parking on the street, most of it taken. Our real problem is that it just looked such a rough area we weren't sure if the car would still be there when we got back. Even if it was there, we wondered what state it would be in.

We both said, more or less as one voice, "Let's get out of here". We set off, stopping briefly at the airport. That at least we found, both the terminal & the car return car park.

Naples is not a nice city. All the time we had feared to open a window for fear someone would try to grab a bag or something. A sense of danger is palpable. And the filth & litter!!

We set off for Salerno with relief. There we had a pleasant stroll along the lungomare (prom). There we felt safe. The Med was blue as blue can be. The tree-lined sections protected us from the worse of the midday soon. A gentle breeze blew along its length. Salerno seems so much more prosperous & beautiful than many places around. Though even here, it would be so much better if something could be done about the litter & graffitti.