Last day in Sorrento

On our last day in Sorrento, we decided to travel to Naples. We had heard that the city was a mad house, but were curious to see it for ourselves. The truth is that Naples was a pretty wild place and didn’t leave the best of impressions on us (although I should mention we were only in the city for a few hours and may not be qualified to judge).

Ian describes it as a scene from a futuristic movie where a nuclear explosion had thrust a city into chaos. The city is having a huge garbage problem – the landfills are full and the garbage company stopped collecting the trash. Try to imagine the large piles of trash on the streets spilling over sidewalks and filling the air with a less than desirable smell. Add to that a few choice people picking through the garbage and behind the piles a very long row of illegal street sellers waiting like hungry vultures to make a sale (and we were the dead meat!). Ok, then add to that the bustle and chaos of cars, vespa’s, buses, and taxis all whizzing around each other seemingly ignoring traffic signs and each other. Our taxi purposely went down the “wrong way” of a street in order to avoid having to make a more circuitous trip.

Despite all this, however, our visit was worthwhile in that we had a chance to walk through the National Archeological Museum where many of the original frescoes and findings from Pompeii are housed. We also entered the ‘Secret Room’, which is the Museum’s collection of phallic art found in ancient ruins…it turns out that pornography has been a part of life from the beginning of time!