Lancia Motor Club

Not a Lancia, but we all love Italy ......

We are going to Italy en famille at half-term and I plan to go to Naples for a couple of days as well as Pompeii , Herculaneum and Vesuvius (well, Mathilda is 9 and she will love it)

Are there any do's and don'ts ?

When you mention Naples , some people just say "Don't" but I've always wanted to go.

All comments appreciated !

Do go, do enjoy, stayed there a number of years ago, the Spanish quarter , and all the little back streets with shops in peoples front rooms are really something else.

I'm a fan of tripadvisor if you use the same, lots of good tips etc


P


PS Do check all invoices, change, dockets and purchases, they do like to scam we north Europeans!

PPSS They did try to sell us (my 10yr son), two left shoes....true!)

Never been but during my mis-spent youth I did work with a girl from Naples. We christened her 'Naughty Nina from Naples' Enjoy!

Robin.

No "naughty Nina's" for me , Juliet will be there !

I've heard you should look out for pyroclastic flows. Been there briefly to get a ferry across to Ischia where I was staying. If you have time, a trip to Capri and the cable car to the top is worth the view. Pompei is great - can be quite eerie if you find yourself in a quiet street with Vesuvius looming menacingly in the background.

You will love it Simon but just be a little more aware than usual of being taken advantage of. I recommend you use the train to get to Naples and also to get around and you can use ferries to get to Amalfi. Not worth driving. And if you are interested in Pompeii etc then you must visit the museum in the centre of Naples as well because many of the house contents are there. Wonderful food and a beautiful city. Chris

I suggest an enjoyable piece of pre-holiday reading – “Naples ‘44” by Norman Lewis. It is an amazing sensitive and humorous portrait of a city and its inhabitants, seen through the eyes of a British intelligence officer stationed there in 1944. It has been cited as one of the best travel books ever. Not much to do with cars! See - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Naples-44-Intelligence-Officer-Labyrinth/dp/0907871720

Colin

If your going to the museum in Naples check the opening hours, when I went some years ago it closed from noon till 4pm!

Thanks for your comments - I have bought the book, because it does sound like my kind of read !

We have found an interesting hotel in the centre of Napoli, an old palace - but very reasonable since it is out of season. So just need somewhere outside the town now

Talking "best travel books" , one of my very favourites was "In Patagonia" by Bruce Chatwin .....

Lords of the Atlas - a bit of post war Moroccan (& French) history but feels more like the middle ages.

A Roman archaeologist friend of mine told me if you ever go to Pompeii don't expect to do it quickly. There is masses to see. He suggested doing part of it well and then arrange to keep going back.

I was thinking "don't go at all" - but instead go to the other one down the road:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum

The Top Gear DVD this year went to Pompeii and dwelled on the quantity of tourists and tat.  They also went just down the road to Sorento - lovely...

David

Back from hols and the answer to "Naples ?" is DO !

Fantastic city, full of joy and madness. Great food and something to see around every corner and under every street - one highlight was the underground tour. Although I may have upset the guide ..... he referred to a photo on the wall of the air-raid shelter "as taken in 1945" but in the background was what looked like a Flaminia !

He was an Italian who having spent several years in Scotland had a very colourful vocabulary and wasn't unduly put out !

Naples reminded me very much of Buenes Aires and Rio, with the lively Latin spirit very much in evidence. Noise, chaos but humanity in abundance. I loved the seeing the lady on a busy, dirty train offering to tie the undone shoe laces of an unknown, but blind fellow traveler.

Loads of Lancias, all dented on every corner with the oldest being Y10's but we saw one Thema 2 and a Dedra. Otherwise Musas, Lybras, Ypsilons and Zetas.

Not for everyone, but as mentioned above, take care and enjoy

I am sure we had a thread on Lancias seen on the road....welcome back!

Simon,
We are off to Naples from NE Italy in early October by train - 5hours and €38 pp each way! - and we usually stay on the seafront looking across the Bay of Naples towards Amalfi but your city centre Palazzo sounds interesting. If you can recommend it could you please give me the name.
Thanks.
Chris

Last time I was there (Herculaneum / Ercolano), I saw that there were chariot ruts in the stone streets. I had read a thing a few years back claiming that the standard railway gauge of 4ft 8 ½ inches was a throwback to horse-drawn cart gauges, which were a throwback to chariot gauges. Being a sceptical sort of chap, I measured the chariot ruts. 4ft 8 ½ inches. Well, give or take...

I've also heard that the reason we drive on the left is because the Romans held the reins of their chariots in their right hands and the whips in the left. To stop the whips getting tangled, they passed on the right side.