We landed in Sigonella at about noon. We needed to catch a bus from base to drive us to Sicily. We were initially told the bus stop was right outside the entrance to the base. Once we walked there, the guys out front told us that we actually had to walk about 1/2 a mile to the stop. So, we started walking. Suitcases and all. We walked along a country road which to me was classic old style Italy. We saw some goats & a ton of wild flowers. As we were walking the road suddenly narrowed into just one lane. As we were approaching the lane, I mentioned to Scott to be careful because the people drive like maniacs. Just as we entered the scary part, a Military Police car approached us. I thought we were definitely in trouble for walking on this dangerous road. Well, we weren't in trouble. It was the guys who told us to walk to the stop. They ended up giving us a ride. I don't know for sure, but I think they realized or were told that there was a stop right outside base. We appreciated the ride. I was happy to walk in beautiful weather and see a bit of the countryside.
The bus came about 10-minutes after we sat at the stop. A typical Italian bus driver type was our driver. He practically ran Scott over as he pulled the bus over with cigarette in one hand and cell phone in the other. We went in the bus and he went out. He disappeared for about 10-minutes. At one point I saw him smoking another cigarette. Whatever. Let's just get going. We were really tired at this point. We were alone in the bus for quite a while. As we approached the beach area, the bus quickly filled up. We had no idea where to get off. Scott told the driver the name of the street we needed & at one point, we were suddenly grabbing our suitcases and jumping off the bus. He told us to walk up the street & we'd find our hotel. We stuck out like sore thumbs. At one point we thought the driver had no idea what he was talking about. We couldn't find the hotel. We found the street & building with the number of the address, but did not see a hotel. Scott stopped in a bakery & asked and sure enough our hotel was within this apartment building. We had to climb about five flights of stairs (not good for the disabled population) and we were there. It was a very cute & modern place. It seemed to be a big apartment divided into private rooms. At the end of the hallway was the kitchen where we had breakfast the next morning. I always love the complimentary breakfasts we get when we stay in Italy!
We walked around a bit and had a great Sicilian dinner. As usual, we were the first ones in the restaurant. We went to eat at about 7:30pm and there was no one there. They started showing up closer to 9pm. We just can't wait that long to eat. We were most likely asleep when most people were starting their evening festivities.
Early the next day, after breakfast, we took a cab to the airport to pick up our rental car. All the cars were stick shift, so I could not do any of the driving. I am so happy to not have needed to drive. I don't think I could have maneuvered the streets with all the crazy drivers. Scott did a great job getting us to where we needed to go. We were supposed to get a VW Golf but ended up with a Hyundai. Whatever! It got us to all of our destinations. We drove to the ferry port. We drove the car onto the ferry & about an hour later we were on mainland Italy. Once off the Ferry we set out on a 7-hour drive to our location in Naples. Along the way we drove to Amalfi. It was absolutely gorgeous! Fortunately, we had really great weather the entire trip. Amalfi itself was super crowded. We could not park and walk around much. We drove to a neighboring little area and ate at a really delicious pizzeria. We had traditional buffalo mozzarella & prosciutto as well as mushroom pizza. It was delicious. I could not eat more than one slice of pizza, so we didn't eat all our food. The waiter commented about that and I felt like we were insulting them by sending food back. I couldn't help it. I wasn't going to eat it just to eat it. When we waddled back to the car we noticed we had a parking ticket! Crap! According to what we could make out on the ticket, which was in Italian, we were blocking the driveway of the house we parked in front of. Of course, we weren't. We really weren't! Now, what do you do about a parking ticket on a rental car in a foreign country? According to Scott's friend in Naples, "Nothing. You throw it away." I hope he's right!
I didn't care much for Naples. It's a dirty city. There's trash all over the streets. Apparently the mob owns the dumps and they stopped collecting trash for a while. At one point it was a horrible living situation. This mess we saw was apparently pretty good living. There were also tons of stray dogs. We saw some sad stuff. I can't seem to escape these stray dogs! We stayed at the Navy Inn on base. It was OK. The price was great & the location good. Really, as long as I have a good shower & bed....and wifi....I'm good to go. We enjoyed our stay.
We took the ferry from Naples to the island of Capri. Capri is beautiful! We had a really nice time there. We took a boat out to see the blue hole. The blue hole is a cave filled with the bluest water you've ever seen. It was gorgeous. It was a busy day there, so our boat waited about 45-minutes before the little boats came to get us 3-4 at a time to go into the cave. We had to squeeze in by laying down flat. Along with Scott & I we had a mother-son couple. They were from Germany. Jon was adorable. He's 13 and travels all over the world with his mom. When I asked about his dad he told me, "He's in Germany to make the money." We exchanged e-mail. We'll see if he ever e-mails me. His mom was a bit much. She did not stop talking! We loved our blue hole experience. With all the boat riding time & waiting time to get in the cave I expected a bit more than we got. We were in the cave for about 2-minutes. I don't know what else we could have done in there but it just seemed to end so quickly. It was beautiful and is a must see!
We toured Naples, eating a lot of pizza. I also loved these cookies with an apricot filling. I can eat like a dozen of those....especially with a good cup of coffee or tea. Yum! We went to the city of Pompei. Pompei was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesusius approximately 50 years after Christ. It's been completely excavated. It was amazing to walk through this ancient city. Fortunately for me, Scott likes reading maps & is good at it. I am horrible at map reading. He found all the important and unusual parts of the city we needed to see. We opted out of a tour so that we could go where we wanted to go at our own pace. We had climbed over a mile the day before to get to the top of Capri. The view made it worth it, but oh my goodness! We were exhausted. I thought I was going to throw-up at one point! We didn't feel like climbing again so we didn't go to Mt. Vesuvius. We had a great view of it and that's all that mattered.
Our final night in Naples was spent with some of Scott's friends. We ate at a hole-in-the-wall local restaurant that only serves fish and fruit. Unfortunately, all the fish is fried. I don't do well with fried food. It makes me sick. So, I felt like a total pain ordering my meal, but I ended up with the only thing not fried.....3 large prawns, grilled. They were very good. I also tried this classic Neapolitan dish of fried dough with seaweed. It was actually pretty good. We had a great time & it's always nice to eat at a local hangout. We flew home on time the next day. We left beautiful weather and walked off the plane to 95-degrees at 6:30 in the morning here in Bahrain. Fun! We were happy to be home, though. It's always nice to get home.
As for Benny, he got himself into some trouble at his boarding facility. He's fine, but poor guy has 7 stitches along the side of his belly. Those of you that know Benny will not be surprised to hear how he hurt himself. Benny will do anything for a ball. And if you play ball with him he will love you forever! Well, one morning, the Indian guys that care for the dogs, opened his gate and he took off to get a ball before the gate was fully opened. A piece of metal was sticking out of the gate & Benny sliced himself open on that piece of metal. He was rushed to the vet where they anesthetized him and stitched him up. Luckily, I left the names of a couple of friends here in case of an emergency. The lady who runs the place didn't ask for any names, but I left them because, honestly, Benny is prone to accidents. I'm not sure why. The only thing I can think of is that he is so impulsive that he gets himself into trouble. Anyhow, he seems fine. The stitches come out next week. The wound looks horrible, but doesn't seem infected or anything. It's always an adventure with Benny boy!
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