NNs On the Wind

It’s departure day from Naples. Wonderful city and terrific apartment. Due to our luggage, it was easiest to catch a cab to the Sixt car rental office at the station centrale. We found it without too much trouble and signed in. We were upgraded to an Audi A3 for some reason, which was probably a bit larger. It’s easier to drive and park the smaller cars but it turned out OK.

Sixt gives you a video to follow to get to the parking deck. It was a bit awkward to follow and we weren’t told that the parking spot numbers on the pavement were not the numbers to look for. We eventually found Spot 14 under a bright orange SIXT sign at the far end of the parking deck.

We headed out and got onto a highway pretty quickly which was better than trying to navigate the crazy Italian drivers in city traffic.

The trip to Vesuvius was uneventful. We found the spot where you have to park, managed by the local town. You don’t have to pay to park but it’s a 3 euro each ticket for the shuttle to the entrance to the park. I had bought the tickets and downloaded them as advised as there is limited cell or wifi signal at the park. CAUTION – the porta potties at the park are very crowded, have no TP, smell, and are likely wet. If your pants are a bit long, roll them up!!! 

Thom was a bit skeptical of the hike up but he did fine. As always, the downward trek is much harder on the knees. At the end of the day he was a bit wobbly but initially it was fine. As it turned out the hillsides of Positano were much more taxing.

The roundtrip to the cone and around as much as you can go, and back down, took less than the 3 hours suggested. It was a nice day and slightly hazy but we could easily see the island of Capri.  There were several fumeroles in the cone. I bought my “souvenir” earrings of lava and obsidian. Nicely dark black, might be nice when getting dressed up! Or any other time.

Once back at the car we programmed directions to go onto Positano