CASSINO and SORRENTO (Sat 6 June)

We left Assisi today and headed south towards Naples. We have heard so many stories about Naples that we didn’t quite know what to expect when we got there. According to the Lonely Planet guidebooks it is ‘intense, raucous, polluted, unruly, anarchic and deafening.’ It goes on to list all the warnings about the Mafia, the Camorra, motorcycle bandits, pickpockets, etc. Despite all this negativity we want to see it for ourselves, besides which that is where the Museo Archeologico Nazionale is (the museum with the majority of exhibits from Pompeii).

On the way south we passed through the most amazing countryside. It was very hilly/mountainous terrain with small towns and villages perched on near vertical hilltops and tucked into the most impossible clefts in the rock. After three hours we surprised ourselves by coming upon Cassino just when we thought it was time for lunch. So we stopped at a small café and along with our sandwich we were given a complimentary apple each (that had to be a good sign). On our way in we had seen a sign for a military cemetary, so after our lunch we thought we would check it out. When we got there we found it was the German second world war cemetery. It was very orderly (as you would expect), most of the headstones gave their ages as between 18 – 22 yrs old. According to the inscriptions there are about 20,000 German soldiers buried there.

What unnerved Justine the most was the sign at the entrance warning about keeping to the paths, because of poisonous snakes.

We left there and had a short drive around looking for the Commonwealth cemetery which we had heard was separate. And it wasn’t until we were leaving town that we saw the sign for it. The number of graves at both of these sights is quite sobering, and gives an added realization of just how many very young men died over here. We sought out the section where the New Zealand soldiers are buried and we were both surprised with just how many there were.

After about three hours in Cassino we continued on. As wonderful as the landscape had been before Cassino, this all changed shortly afterwards. It was a very slow trip from here on. We could tell when were getting close to Naples because we started seeing the prostitutes beside the empty industrial lots. Mile after mile, with woman standing on the side of the road touting for business every 200-300 metres. Rather scary when you think that this is the middle afternoon, and there is no one else around for miles. Even scarier when you see the car in front of you (that you have been following for the last 100 kms) pull over looking for service.

Once we entered Naples … well … it just got crazy. GPS lady (who henceforth shall be known as Jenny) directed us through every little back alley and skinny little obscure road that you could think of. It really put us in touch with the locals … almost literally. Suffice to say, I don’t think you have experienced driving through Italy unless you have driven through Naples. It really was insane. It was like a Playstation game (Grand Theft Auto) except you only have one life. Imagine a single lane street, with two lanes of traffic (barely inches between wing mirrors), parked cars on both sides at all angles, scooters all around you going in all directions, bicycles appearing from nowhere, pedestrians stepping out and crossing the road (or deciding to walk along the road) as and when they want, cars turning with no warning in front of you, cars stopping in the middle of intersections so they can either get out and abuse each other or to do a three point turn against the traffic. And in the middle of this we have GPS lady saying “Turn left, turn left now … do a U-turn as soon as possible … Recalculating … “

Insane.

Unlike what we have experienced elsewhere in Italy, there are lots of crazy drivers of cars, bicycles, scooters and pedestrians, all pushing, shoving and jostling for position, but despite that there is some sort of order to the chaos. Here in Naples there is the added factor of just having no idea what or where they are going to go. It’s the element of unpredictability. And all this against a backdrop of derelict buildings, rubbish and grime everywhere. People leaning out of windows, standing on porches, or just yelling at each other for the sake of it. Like the guidebook said ‘intense, raucous, polluted, unruly, anarchic and deafening.’ I have no idea how the locals manage to deal with this every day of their lives. We were happy just to survive and come out the other side. We had a place booked to stay in at Sorrento. If the place that we had booked had ended up being in there, I think we would have just kept driving. I can understand what people say, it just didn’t feel safe. It was some relief to arrive in Sorrento and look back across the bay to Naples. It looks like a beautiful place from there, particularly at night when the lights come on.