I wanted to go to the Naples area for Vesuvius and Pompeii. I had been there as a 7 year old, and always remembered it, so I thought the kids would really like it.
I had not recalled that the area around Vesuvio and Pompei is pretty shit.
Oh that’s not fair, is it?
There are some nice parts of the city, but to be perfectly honest the (literal) wrong side of the tracks is pretty close to third world. As we had driven through the city towards the famous Sorrento and Amalfi coastlines for a quick afternoon swim I compared it to travelling through India. Only missing the shanties and the humanity on the streets.
It wasn’t only me who thought this. Another family staying at the same guesthouse had compared it to the poverty in parts of South East Asia they had traveled in.
These photos were taken just down the road from where we were staying – this area was better than the one I have been describing, but I didn’t want to stop the car and just take photos. I feel weirdly judgemental even bringing it up, but it was very unexpected.
I had considered Italy to stand fairly high socio-economically, but this was ghetto-like. And yes, I do realise we have some dreadful poverty here in Australia too, and perhaps it is naivety on my part, but the town is smack bang in the middle of a few really high tourist areas – obviously there is no trickle down of tourist dollars on a community level.
An oasis in the town, our accommodation at Camelot B and B was big, airy, and comfortable.
The terrace where breakfast is served was postcard perfect
which made up for the pool a teeny bit
We had booked Camelot on the basis of having a pool,
but the thick green colour is what sent us driving to the coastline to have a swim.
The beach didn’t lure me in, but I had a good vantage point for some pretty photos with the dark clouds coming over…
It was the peak of summer, but we found out later, it wasn’t a good summer for the area and tourism had been very slow. Most restaurants were closed, and these beaches were, for the most part, deserted.
We drove further along the coast looking for some dinner.
I wanted to eat at one of the places that clung to the edge of the cliff, looking out over the Gulf of Naples, but everywhere was empty and closed up.
Eventually I found one which had a small dining area perched right out over the sea, and the thunderous roar of the waves crashing on the rocks underneath was incredible, so I was keen to eat there.
Again, there was no-one around but it was attached to the Scrajo Terme hotel (an odd place straddling a wide gulf between super nice and oddly really outdated), so someone came from the lobby and directed me to the restaurant.
I have since found out the restaurant doesn’t even open until 8pm – you gotta love the European dining hours!
Our little gazebo-over-the-sea was not storm-proof enough for us to stay there through lashings of rain and eat so we moved upstairs to a large, empty dining area in time for a beautiful sunset.
And it was then that we found out our chef was ‘hatted’,
but then all the food in Italy is amazing, isn’t it!
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