I’m going to start this post by putting up the song Napul’é by Pino Daniele to set the mood :

I suppose you could guess where we went to last week … It’s Napoli! Or more accurately, we went to the town of Pozzuoli.

Last Wednesday, Cart decided on a whim to join his friend who was already vacationing there, to head to Napoli for a short getaway. I adore Napoli. Despite it’s issues, I find it a very charming and enchanting city.

So, on Wednesday, so we hastily packed our bags and got ready for our roadtrip. It takes roughly about two hours drive from Rome to Pozzuoli – a town in Napoli. And for those who are curious, the toll costs about 13.90 euro in total.

I wonder how much it costs for motorcycles though.

Anyhow we reached the Solfatara camping site (I’ll blog more about this in the next post) by nightfall, so we couldn’t do much sightseeing and could only have dinner before our trip the next day!

(Honestly, I think it’s a waste when someone wakes up late – that’s half a day gone just like that)

We stopped by a restaurant called Taverna Viola, which I remembered from my trip while dating Cart many years back!

It was dark, and while we had candle light, we could hardly see anything – not even the menu! So I had to improvise and use my phone flashlight feature to illuminate what I was eating … haha!

This is my wonderful l’insalata di polpo. Boiled octopus sprinkled with olive oil and some herbs. Deceptively simple but really delicious!

Unfortunately, my appetizer was so filling, I could hardly touch my main course. My pizza! Pizza is wonderful in Napoli!

I could only eat 1/8 of it before asking for a doggie bag. It was good, but it wasn’t as heavenly as the one that I had Pizzeria Trianon though.

Anyhow we went back to our lodging and the next morning, we got ready to go to the island of Procida and parked the cars near the port, where I noticed this interesting crossing.

I saw people walking in and out casually. People with babies, walking their dogs … etc. When the light turns red, there will be a person blocking the entrance when the train is about to pass by. I guess this is interesting for me because of the barriers that are made for the SMRT.

We got our ferry tickets at one of the vendors called Gestur. It’s always a good check the timetable so that you could plan your trip or be left stranded on the island :p

It costs about 7 euro one way by ferry.

Something which I found interesting about the ferries is that you could bring your own transportation on board. I saw mainly cars and vans … This makes me really want to get a better sccooter so that I could do a roadtrip!

I’d love to do a roadtrip around Italy! I seriously miss convoying with my Vespa Club friends! It would be so nice to do the same here too, but I’m so shy and moreoever my dinky scooter isn’t legally valid enough to go on the highway …

But imagine zipping around places and sightseeing on your two wheeler. It’s such a liberating feeling.

Anyway, soon we were off!

And here I am managing a grin. I can hardly open my eyes! It was that bright/hot! I’ve already learnt the hard way to put on sunblock before heading somewhere sunny.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day. And all throughout the ferry trip, I was enjoying the scenery and the breeze.

I asked Cart, what the function of all those buoys for? And he guessed it was like parking for boats? But if they are parking for boats, how does the driver leave? :p

Anyhow, 40 minutes later, we reached Procida! It was so cool seeing the bustling vehicles exiting the ferry.

Prodica, I feel is like the less glamorous cousin of Capri (You could read about my trip there in 2007 and in 2011) Nevertheless, it’s still a lovely place to be.

You could take the autobus to get around the island, but as there were 7 of us, it makes more sense to take a taxi.

We wanted to head to Ponte Vivara beach, and to get there, we had to pass through a small and windy road. I am always amazed at how Napolitan people drive. Take a look at how close our driver is driving near the wall! What mad skills!

At length, we entered a restaurant where they also rented out umbrellas and deck chairs (I never understood how these vendors took over every space of beach … it seems impossible to find free beaches in Italy nowadays)

As we were surrounded by volcanoes, the sand is black here, filled with iron and other minerals. It was so hot there, by the way. I was yelping each time I had to walk around barefooted.

The sea on the other hand is really cooling and quite clear. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any picture while I was swimming, as my camera isn’t those waterproof type. But believe me, the deeper I went, the clearer the water – I could see my feet even when I was half way summerged in the sea.

When I got tired of swimming, I headed back to the deck chairs. There are loads of eyecandy to be seen and I made a game of trying to spot out men in speedo … HAHAHA!

But I really am not a beachbunny, and it was really hard for me to relax while feeling burnt, compared to my sun loving comrades. I really don’t want to turn into a walking handbag …

Randomly, I toss in a picture of a Torta Caprese that Cart got for me, as I was hungry. We didn’t have breakfast prior to that!

I also randomly add this picture as it sort of reminds me of a set from a music video.

This is probably going to sound ignorant, but one of things which constantly stuns me is how tanned Italians look like during the summer. Many even darker than me! These kids below, could even pass as a Malay kid with their dark hair and dark skin.

Anyhow, lunch time! We headed to the Vivara restaurant right at the beach we were lounging at.

Cart had paccheri with eggplants, tomatoes and mozzarella.

Alessandra had grilled mixed seafood

This is Fabrizio’s sword fish with agrumi

And this is my grilled Tuna with tomato concasse. It was medium done, but it was yummy! I wanna try to make this myself! Shouldn’t be too hard

For dessert, I wanted a cool treat, so I gave this a try. I’ve never seen kit kat ice cream before!

It’s kind of wierd eating an ice cream with a hard chocolate bar in the middle like that though. I couldn’t decide to bite through it or lick around it.

While Cart and Fabrizio had a fig cake with honey and cherry syrup on the sides.

We lounged and hanged around later for a 2 hour coffee until it was nearing our time to head back to Pozzuoli.

While waiting for the ferry, I saw a family of cats. Cats here are so scrawny!

But this little baby, I’m so tempted to kidnap home … as it’s so cute and affectionate. Wasn’t afraid to follow me around!

Awww! But unfortunately, it was already time to leave the island. Time really seems to pass by quickly when you’re on vacation

And we were back at the Port of Pozzuoli. Where by this time, I’m rather sunburnt … even after putting on my SPF 50+ sunblock … urrrr!

It’s the after itching which bothers me the most.

Anyway, I end this post by showing you a picture of the Vesuvius volcano in the foreground …

Seeing this, the lights went on and I finally realise why I saw a postcard with Napoli in the foreground and boobs superimposed in the background! LOL

Watch out for the next post where I head to the Volcanoes!

Sidenote : I’ve no idea why there’s a shadow at the right corner of some of my pictures … it’s really bugging me!