napoli

see naples and die....or cry! with frustration! last night (tuesday) quite late three minibuses roared up and parked very close beside and behind us and then disgorged about twenty german university students who preceded to chat and laugh until the early hours despite being bellowed at in their own language by an irate lady camper! we slept fairly well after that but were still surprised although we had been warned when fireworks went off at eight o'clock to welcome the saint's day for st. genario! later, on my way to the shower, i noticed a camper preparing to leave and then watched it go on my way back. i high-tailed it over to our van and suggested to lou that we move...fast! so we did and are now settled under a tree on a more or less proper pitch next to someone from the herault.

about ten we set off to the bus stop and were soon on a bus heading for naples. the bus was empty save for two chaps who came down to the front as if to get off as we got on. then they got in the way as we were trying to put the tickets in the obligatory machine for stamping. something wasn't quite right and so as soon as we were sitting down i asked lou to check his wallet. Sure enough it was gone! so, did he actually have it when we got on or was it back at the camper? we told the driver we needed to get off and hurried back. of course it wasn't there so then started an incredible rigmarole of trying to get hold of the banks, french and english. the phone box spat out my card and the camp shop had run out of phone cards! after feeding in umpteen Euros while the english bank put me on hold between adverts and musical interludes i was getting really hacked off! we had all the right numbers but no mobile signal and no more shrapnel to waste while listening to musak! lou got onto the bank websites and we were able to email the french bank who quickly rang me back to say they had received it and informed our branch who rang me later at 2 o'clock, after the obligatory lunch break, with more numbers to ring. How grateful I was to hear the carrying tones of the biars counter clerk! :) lou managed to find another number (the one on the back of my card had been useless!) for our uk bank which did put him straight through to someone helpful. note to lloyds, you need alternatives to phone calls! note to self, hide the sort codes and account numbers somewhere in the van or on your person so you don't have to sound dumb when they ask! And remember where you put them! :) after all that it was lunchtime so we had a coffee in the bar and bought some ham and bread for a snack lunch and new tickets for the bus! after quite a wait we got on the bus we'd been told to by the bar person and were soon in the port of naples.

we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the alleyways of the 'centro istorica'. gloomy narrow alleys with four and five story buildings looming up on either side. there are huge arched gateways into scruffy courtyards and umpteen souvenir shops, tabbachi (tobacconists), coffee shops, ice cream shops and some very fancy places selling jewellery. we stopped for coffee and ice cream and were served with some flaky pastries as well.

about five we decided to call it a day and then had the dreary task of trying to find a bus stop for a bus going in our direction. The port area is having a new station built and the roadworks around it are very confusing and don't allow for pedestrians! a long walk and then a long wait but finally the right bus.

near the campsite the road was jammed with cars for the st genario festival going on nearby. Scooters dodging up the middle of the road and the bus almost scraping the cars going the other way! naples traffic has to be seen to be believed! scooters tore up and down the alleys with little regard for anyone or anything! a meal in a place just down the road whose card machine was broken so took the last of my cash. so first thing tomorrow we need to find a 'bancomat' before setting off for pompeii and hope the telephone that spat my card out didn't scratch the chip too badly and make it unusable! Travel! such a joy some days. however lou did win eight euros on last night's euro millions! some little recompense! :)