Travel from Naples to Sicily

We are in Italy. Of course, it’s not the season anymore and there are a lot of arguments against such a trip, but the tickets were too cheap. Therefore, we are going on reconnaissance for a driving tour (car + hotel) in the southern part of Italy. We want to travel from Naples to Sicily and back by “boot”.

11/18/2021 Naples

The car and roadtrip will only arrive tomorrow, but for now we’re just wandering around Naples. Narrow streets, clothes drying on lines above us, heaps of rubbish and heaps of Christmas decorations.

We had a lot of fun studying local traditions related to religion. We have somehow become accustomed to the numerous “relics” (bones) and stories about their abduction for protection (!!). But the magical dried blood of Saint Januarius is something extraordinary.

Did you notice the first photo with the golden mosaic? Doesn't it look like our churches? As I found out a little later, the influence of Byzantium and the visual style is felt throughout southern Italy.

Much of the day was spent in a rather claustrophobic environment. It was all the more pleasant to finally rise above the rooftops and finally see space - the sea, the rooftops, Vesuvius. The fortress on the hill has a special cozy atmosphere - you feel like you’re on an island.

What struck me most were the catacombs - a kind of Cappadocia under a big city. We arrived there after sunset (we had been waiting for a long time for the bus) and were somewhat stunned when we realized that “that corner of the cave” is actually the “open” night sky.

Human capabilities are fantastic - after a whole day of bustling around the city, we also managed to visit the museum. This chance could not be missed. I have always appreciated antique sculptures... as inexpensive and talented photographic models.

When we returned home late at night (at 21:00) on the exotic Neapolitan metro, it turned out that the neighboring supermarket was already closed. To get dinner, we were ready to look for a pizzeria, when suddenly we saw a small Iranian shop.

It was open, there were all the necessary products (in an area of ​​2 sq.m.) and there was a lot of food from Ukraine. Not only vodka (as usual), but also juices, cereals, cookies, condensed milk. How do we understand this - are there so many Ukrainians in Naples, or are our products so competitive?

11/19/2021 Vesuvius

Vesuvius and Pompeii. The screenwriter who came up with the idea of ​​placing them side by side knew his job. After all, only together a small volcano (1280m) and an average town (20 thousand hours) could go down in history.

Italians are good at marketing. If you have control over supplies, it is quite acceptable to create an artificial shortage. Therefore, in order to get to Vesuvius, you must win three lotteries in a row - get a place in the queue, a parking space and figure out how to pay for it all without the Internet... In fact, we “cheated” a little - we read the reviews of our predecessors in advance and completed half of the tasks even before entering the volcano. But the overall impression of the organization is a fucking horror quest with actors.

At the top of Vesuvius there are several areas where sulfur gas comes from the ground and a couple of relatively fresh lava streams (they are 80 years old). That is, the giant is simply sleeping and this is temporary. But when you walk the streets of Pompeii, the volcano seems distant and dangerous. We even slept well at night))

Having left the mountain, for some reason we fantasized about a quick visit to Pompeii. But suddenly the sun set and the ruins closed. Yesterday's trick with an artificial continuation of the day (catacombs + museum) no longer worked here. Well, we'll postpone it until tomorrow.

11/20/2021 Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast

In Pompeii there are no titanic structures that usually play the main role in the spectacle of “surprise the tourist”. There is a small flat stadium (with an exhibition of Pink Floyd), numerous low courtyards and villas, and intimate churches. Perhaps this has always been the case, or perhaps the tall buildings simply could not withstand the pressure of the ash.

What is striking about Pompeii is the similarity between the ancient city and its modern counterparts. The same speed limiters, pedestrian center, numerous fast food and advertising banners on the walls. And all this 2000 years ago! It is difficult (and scary) to imagine what the world could have been like if Rome had not fallen to the barbarian invasion.

Sorrento is one of the cities you've definitely heard about, but can't say anything about. What is it known for, where exactly is it located? Now we know! Sorrento is nestled on the edge of a stone shelf, so from the “embankment” to the beach it is 20 meters down (!!), and in the center of the city there is a deep canyon with vegetation from Jurassic Park. There is also a bust of Gorky with a seagull and a cozy monastery courtyard.

The Amalfi Coast, as it turns out, has the status of legendary, elite and generally amazing (to my shame, I didn’t know about it before). First of all, this is reflected in the cost of parking. In the summer, you can easily get rid of an extra 20 euros per hour for a walk around another charming town.

Fortunately, now everything was much simpler (and cheaper). Numerous cyclists and bikers on serpentine roads did not stop us from driving from Sorrento to Salerno and even seeing something. Although all the beauty of the sea fades into the background compared to the surprise of being unable to overtake a cyclist. I followed him for about 4 kilometers and didn’t overtake him, not because of the rules - he was just moving faster!

I don’t remember how it happened, but after a walk around Amalfi we moved to Salerno not along the coast, but through the mountains. A steep and completely endless serpentine road in the dark. You seem to be flying at maximum speed, but at the same time impatient locals are constantly hanging on your tail. Somehow it reminded me of the crazy night ride from from Montenegro to Damnation through Albania that we did in June.

21.11. 2021 Paestum, Pertosa-Auletta cave, Morano Calabro

Paradoxically: 1) Magna Graecia was located on the territory of modern Italy. 2) due to greater seismic activity, some Greek temples are better preserved here than in Greece and Turkey.

Quite expected: in Italy, during a tour of the Pertosa-Auletta cave, there was more talk about stalactites than the stalactites themselves... And much more than an ordinary Eastern European can withstand without damaging the brain)) By the way, the cool thing about this particular cave is that here you can take a boat ride on an underground river.

According to plan: we move south, overcoming the sluggish resistance of the Norman castles. Just now we stopped at the tiny fortress Castello Normanno Svevo in the city of Morano. Calabro and, frankly speaking, got high from the absolute emptiness and peace of those who captured this corner of Italy.

11/22/2021 Ferry to Sicily, Taormina

In the morning we dropped into the cave church Chiesetta di Piedigrotta. It was still closed and we just looked through the bars and got stuck on the beach. After all, the cave with the church is located just 15 meters from the seductive sea.

I can imagine what it would be like to sit in a cave in the summer and watch all this “halera” in bikinis. Or vice versa - roast in the sun and dream of the comfort and coolness of an underground shelter.

On this trip, unfortunately, we paid little attention to culinary research. There was almost no pasta or pizza. Except a lot of Italian coffee and purely Italian steaks:) We also tried the branded rum babka in Naples, the Christmas Italo shtolen somewhere near Salerno, and the chocolate frozen truffle Tartufo di Pizzo... But it didn’t go well ((

The ferry took us from mainland Italy to Sicily and for some reason we wanted everything around us to change - the garbage, chaos on the road and doubts about the optimality of the chosen route would disappear.

But no - reality obviously believes that we have not yet earned peace and tells us this in the form of a terrible weather forecast. And this means that in order to get ahead of the cyclone, we will go to Etna tomorrow.

The volcano, by the way, looks fantastic. the slopes are already covered with snow, and clouds of smoke and steam are constantly blowing from the top.

Meanwhile, we are in Taormina and get to know the little signs of Sicily. There are ceramic decorations, a coat of arms with three legs, numerous cats and a wonderful mixture of Greek, Saracen and Norman influences.

23.11.2021 Volcano Etna, Catania

Volcano Etna is a piece of Iceland in the middle of sunny Sicily. It is clear that lava fields and crater cones should be similar around the world.

But the weather! We had not seen such Icelandic game for 2 years and really missed it. What could be better than a moment when the wind, which was already knocking you off your feet, also begins to throw heavy raindrops at you?

What could be better, you ask? Perhaps the realization that this path along which we arrived at the volcano was recently crossed by a red lava river. During the eruption in 2001, the hot shaft stopped a meter from our parking lot.

Due to the weather we didn't get to the top of Etna, so there is a reason to return here next year. And of course we hope to go to Iceland again in the summer of 2022. Prepare your certificates in advance!

When we walked through the center of Catania, in addition to numerous elephants (the symbol of the city), we kept coming across references to the composer Bellini. He was born here in Sicily and wrote music for a dozen operas.

In the evening we... No, we didn’t go to the theater, but just listened to “Casta Diva” and several more famous Bellini arias on YouTube. And guess what? It's good that we didn't go to the opera))

Modern opera singers turned out to be not only talented, but also beautiful. But even this does not save me from melancholy - the arias are simply uninteresting. There is no hit melody, no great riffs, no understandable lyrics... I wonder if there will be indignant comments about such statements?

11/24/2021 Syracuse, Noto, Modica

This is Syracuse - the same one where Archimedes ran naked through the streets in order to submerge the royal crown and enemy triremes into the water as quickly as possible. Against the backdrop of yesterday's Catania, it is cozy and spring-sunny here. Grandfathers are fishing, cats are purring, there are no tourists, the cops are languishing in an empty parking lot.

The archaeological park in the vicinity of Syracuse has become a game of contrasts. On the one hand, light stress in the form of the parking mafia (no, we didn’t give up). On the other hand, there is complete zen from the green grass under the bright sun.

New old sculptures attack. The invasion of bronze giants stylized as antiquity swept not only Sicily. They appear near ancient temples, in city squares and royal palaces.

Some people resent these decorations, but I think they make classic locations more photogenic. But historical authenticity was compromised and desecrated long before us, and now you don’t have to worry about it))

We arrived in Modica 15 minutes before sunset. There was critically little time; there was no time to make mistakes or search. We only had one try and that chance played out. We parked on a hill next to Castello dei Conti, entered the fortress and realized that we had broken the bank. Panoramic landscape, perfect timing, minimum movements - maximum achievements.

11/25/2021 Ragusa, Agrigento, Turkish Steps

I hope that the walk around Ragusa will go down in history as the most desperate stupidity of this trip... At that time, we were not yet sufficiently intimidated by the precipitation and, seeing rain through the window, we simply put on raincoats and followed the route. But it soon became clear that water was falling from the sky a little more abundantly than our equipment could withstand. There was some thrill in walking in completely wet shoes right along the streams on the cobblestones. And yet I wanted something a little different.

At some point we suddenly realized that the surrounding slopes had changed color. The dominant green took over the world and we understood that this was not a sign of spring - this is what winter looks like here.

Did you notice the bunker? Very similar to Albania.

In Agrigento we were lucky to run through the Greek temples 20 minutes before the downpour. The scale of the destroyed temple with the Atlanteans is simply stunning. You hang around among the rocks for several minutes and suddenly see that these are the remains of ONE COLUMN.

The plank fell and the roof was torn off. I went to the Turkish Steps (Scala dei Turchi) alone - I jumped out of the car right into the storm. Wind, rain, nothing visible. But for some reason the waves on the sea are moderate. And the staircase is not white, as in the photos on the Internet, but gray, like a melting glacier.

11/26/2021 Trapani, Erice, San Vito lo Capo, Zingaro

Trapani is the same city where Commissioner Catani fought the Octopus. If you walk along its streets, you won't notice anything special. But, to be honest, we didn’t go too far - we knew that there was something more interesting ahead.

Everything changes magically, you just have to drive up the next hill. There, in a completely different corner of space-time, the village of Erice hid. The medieval streets are completely empty, the Norman fortress is completely enchanted, with views of Southeast Asia amazingly attached to it.

Without a doubt, another piece of paradise has been found in Sicily. This is the northwestern part of the island between Trapani and the Zingaro National Park.

Even now, under a cloudy winter sky, the sea in the local bays looks like a tropical storm. I can imagine what an explosion of color these mountains and beaches can produce with minimal sun exposure.

In the Dzingaro National Park there are several tracks among the tar rocks and a dozen bays worth visiting (at least in the format of a boat swim). And now we have another reason to return))

11/27/2021 Palermo, Cefalu

Of course, I always knew the name Palermo. And not because I studied geography, but because of the popularity of this word among furniture manufacturers (sofa!). It was all the more interesting to finally tie this abstract sofa city to a real point in space.

Remembering the sad experience of Ragusa, we began to explore Palermo at night. We lived right on the central square (and don’t ask where we had to park). Therefore, as soon as the rain subsided, we were already running through the streets and taking copious pictures of everything around. Take advantage of every chance!

It seemed as if Palermo was the capital of a colonial empire, where all the shiny rubbish stolen from the poor natives was brought. The tower on wheels came from Nepal, the mighty banyan tree came from India, the bust of a military man with orders came from a Soviet museum.

In tiny Cefalu there were even more tourists on the streets than in Palermo. But the streets themselves are garbage. We “dug up” the real treasure on the shore. Powerful waves, rays of sun through the clouds, and a surprisingly dry bench on the boardwalk - this is our happiness for today.

Already in the dark we reached the ferry and left Sicily. The big comeback has begun.

11/28/2021 Civita, Matera

The mountains in mainland Italy were covered with snow. We decided not to tempt fate (on summer tires and without chains) and not to climb high.

We drove into a canyon near the Albanian (!!!) village of Civita and gave ourselves a “test” in physical education for going to the bottom of the gorge on foot rather than hiring a jeep.

Then we went to look for the “heel” of an Italian boot. For some reason, it seemed to us that there was nothing outstanding in this part of the country in terms of tourism. And suddenly in Matera (where there is no sea) we find streets crowded with tourists... and unexpectedly expensive hotels.

While we were looking for an iconic angle to photograph the local bell tower, we found a medieval underground reservoir. Very photogenic city... and nice to see people again.

29.11.2021 Grotte di Castellana, Trulli di Alberobello, Martina Franca, Polignano a Mare

We already had experience communicating with Italian cave guides. So when the endless chatter started again in the Grotte di Castellana cave, I simply turned on the audiobook in my headphones. She also helped ignore the “Cerberus” who forbade taking photos along the route.

The cool thing about this cave is the very long corridors. Feel like a hobbit in Moria:)

The story with the hobbits continued. In the town of Alberobello we looked at the 100% Hobbiton Trulli round houses.

Martina Franco had a “window” in the downpour. But it seems that only we noticed him and there were no other people on the streets.

While I was running around the bay of Polignano a Mare with a photo, my companions were desperately looking for acceptable housing. In this corner of Italy (not very touristy, in my opinion), hotels are too arrogant and set inhumane prices even on the eve of winter. So we again rented a private house from some artists. And of course it was good there, beautiful, but cold.

30.11.2021 Barry, Castel del Monte

Like Palermo, Bari was an empty word for me for a long time. Suddenly I understand that it was here that the relics of St. Nicholas were brought from my native Myra of Lycia. In addition, from here it is only a few hundred kilometers to the coast of Albania (hello smugglers).

Well, outside of the historical heritage, Bari is a big city and we had to go through some acclimatization to get used to the crowd again.

I needed something to break up the kilometers on the way to Naples and I decided to look into Castel del Monte. Of course, this is just a processed piece of rock, an empty stone bag. But the wonderful geometry enchanted me, the strong wind took away my fatigue, and the snow-capped mountains on the horizon calmed me down.

13/01/2021 Caserta, Pozzuoli, Parco Virgiliano

Walking along the Royal Park in Caserta, I kept wondering why the owner needed such a long lawn? Just don’t say that he was just stroking his vanity. For some reason it occurred to me that excessive space is an ancient defense against eavesdropping.

In the arboretum, besides us, there was one loving couple running around (everything is clear here) and one Chinese guy with a camera (and this is surprising. Why alone?

In the palace itself, everything is super except for the heating - after 100% humidity outside, I wanted warmth.

Was it really possible that in the 18th century, when this palace was built, no one had yet seen the Egyptian pyramids? Why are they drawn in such false proportions?

Funny. The armor of the Greek warrior bends along with the torso. And the inhabitants of ancient Israel wear Cossack oseledki!

We stopped in Pozzuoli to look at the fumaroles of the Phlegrean Fields at least from a distance and think about the ferry journey to the islands.

Virgil Park at sunset is simply a gem of the day. Powerful winds, amazing scenery and very close to Naples.

02.13.2021 Torre del Greco, Museo Nazionale Ferroviario di Pietrarsa

There are several hours before the plane. At a general meeting we decide that we don’t want to watch another excavation. Therefore, first we just walk along the stormy sea in Torre del Greco (what a garbage dump).

And then suddenly we find the railway museum. And there, in addition to truly exotic locomotives, there is also a Christmas market with animators. Against the backdrop of the news about Omicron and the closure of borders, this is surprising, but very pleasant.

Results. When we had already flown home, Italy decided to close itself to Ukrainians (even vaccinated ones). This is what we managed to do!

In general, in two weeks in Italy we drove 2817 km. And from this side everything is fine - no longer needed. If there was one thing missing, it was sun. Let it be cool and rainy, but add some sunshine and the journey will blossom. And for this, I think it makes sense to come not in November, but in October. Why not in August? In August there are more important directions - for example Dolomites.

Kirill Yasko, 01/24/2022