My cousins Peter and Aki were coming to visit with their wives Sharon and Julie. We suggested that they book a hotel in Pozzuoli where we were mooring Freya for their visit to the Bay of Naples, luckily they didn't listen to us choosing a hotel in Naples itself instead. We were disappointed in Pozzuoli, it was dirty, covered in graffiti, all the interesting buildings seemed to be covered in scaffolding and generally it seemed a bit run down. I think in the summer when it would be full of tourists and the scaffolding gone it would feel very different, and it does have somethings going for it. In particular there is a Roman ruin, incorrectly called the Temple of Serapide in the centre, its actually the old roman market place, a wonderful fish and fresh food market and a few good, if pricey bars. The highlight though is Solfatara, which we failed to get to on our first attempt - it was raining so persistently we turned back.
Pozzuoli is only a 20 minute train journey to the centre of Naples and before the cousins arrived we took the train into the centre. The train was fast and clean, apart from the graffiti, every available inch of space was someone's canvas. Disgusting but at the same time impressive, some of the graffiti artists are very, very talented.
As we left the train station we entered a different world. The streets were extremely narrow with old buildings lining the narrow lanes. Stalls selling everything from fresh fish, food, hardware, clothes, and selfie sticks lined the pavements. It felt more third world or perhaps London's East End in the fifties than the 21st century. Naples is an old city with its share of wonderful old buildings and churches which we enjoyed visiting, but for us the highlight was the subterranean tour of some Roman buildings over which the modern buildings have been built.
We met my cousins, Peter and Aki, with their wives Sharon and Julie at the train station and set off for lunch. As our meeting point was just outside MacDonalds I suggested that for lunch but was overruled. Petter had done his research and we headed to TripAdvisor's number one recommended eatery in Naples.
A few minutes walk later we arrived. The eatery wasn't a restaurant it was a deli, with a total of four small wooden picnic tables. Luckily there was only one other customer so we rearranged the remaining three tables and sat down to eat. There was no menu, so we asked the proprietor to give us his selection of food from his counter. It was all excellent as was the wine, even if there were no tablecloths and we ate from plastic plates and drank from plastic cups. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Naples with more than the odd refreshment stop before we returned to Freya and the cousins to their hotel.
The next day we took separate ferries to the island of Ischia where we met up, you guessed it, in a bar before wandering around Porto Ischia which is very picturesque. We didn't see as much as we could have done, as we found a lovely restaurant on the beach in the sun and lingered there a bit longer than we intended. After a further short explore, we headed back to the port to all catch the ferry back to Pozzuoli, where we were planning to have supper and a few drinks on Freya. Unfortunately our ferry was leaving from the other port 5 km down the road and we didn't have time to get there. No problem, we thought, just get the ferry to Naples and a taxi from there, after all Pozzuoli is only 6 miles from Naples. After haggling the fare down from €120 to €40 for a six seater taxi we set off. Our planning didn't reckon on the Naples traffic and we didn't arrive on Freya until just before eight. Once onboard we relaxed over a couple of bottles of Prosecco and planned our next outing, two days in Sorrento.
The next morning we met at Naples central station and caught the train to Sorrento. A seventy minute journey for less than €3 each, but we did stand for much of the way as the train was packed with locals and tourists visiting Herculaneum and Pompey.
After checking into our hotel we headed off for an explore and a light lunch. Sorrento is very touristy but is still delightful. Lots of cafes, shops, bars and pretty streets to wander through. Being built on a high cliff it has fabulous views across the Bay of Naples but no beach. They have solved this problem by building pontoons out from the cliff which in the summer are covered in sun beds and from which you can go swimming, although when we were there only one was open.
By three o'clock we had split up. The boys headed to the Scotish bar to watch the footie and the rugby (Cousins United), while the girls went shopping. While they did manage to buy a few things and in Sharon's case more than a few things, the biggest expense I think was on more Prosecco. That evening we had supper in one of the squares. A great evening not just because of the good company but also because of the excellent live music the restaurant had arranged.
After a lazy start the next morning, we wandered through town to the other side of Sorrento to Marina Grande which has an older more authentic feel than the rest of the town. Just a some restaurants on the quayside of the old fishing harbour. We had a fantastic fish lunch in a restaurant run by five sisters. Apparently they have appeared on TV with Jamie Oliver, not sure if that's true, but the food was superb.
We were only spending one night in Sorrento as we were planning to head back to Gaeta the next day, so we said our goodbyes, leaving the girls on the quayside to soak in more of the atmosphere while the boys went in search of more football.
We got back to Freya in the early evening, exhausted from four days of socialising, eating and drinking, but we had a great time and were missing our cousins already.
Click here for the interactive map of our travels