Naples - Day 2

We took the train into Naples city centre today. First we walked to Portici-Ercolano station, about 20 minutes away. There are regular trains into Naples, about 6 stops away.

Once in Naples we walked towards the city centre. The main streets are narrow and very busy with tourists. It's all very lived-in and scruffy, with washing hanging from most balconies.

We visited the Santa Maria Cathedral.

We carried on walking through the streets, and came to Via San Gregorio Armeno, a famous street which shows and sells many nativity scenes and other displays with figurines, modern and historical.

We then went on the Naples Subterranean Tour. This takes you 40 metres underground to a vast complex of cisterns and aqueducts from Roman times. It was also used as a bomb shelter during World War II. It was very interesting.

The second part of the tour shows you the remains of a Roman amphitheatre which is underneath apartments right in the middle of the city. Only a few backstage rooms remain, and you are literally on the other side of the wall from, or under the floorboards of, people's homes.

As you come out you're in a courtyard with washing hanging out on apartment balconies as usual.

We had lunch at a streetfood stall, cones of potato chips and fried chicken.

We did a lot more walking round the city streets, eventually making our way to the sea front.

We had a drink at a table outside a café, then wandered up to the Piazza del Plebiscito where there's a spectacular basilica with a crescent-shaped balcony. There was a lot of security around as the G7 Defence conference is happening there at the weekend.

We made our way back to the station and caught the train back to our apartment.

After a rest and a shower we went out. First we had a beer at the Boiler Lounge, then went to the Pummarolo Gourmet Pizza restaurant. We had two pizzas, a gourmet Margherita and one with meat and artichokes, they were both very good.

Naples - Day 1

We were catching a very early Ryanair flight from Edinburgh to Naples, so had to leave the house at about 3am! We drove to the airport and parked the car in a pre-booked spot in the long term car park. After walking to the terminal and going through security, we were in plenty of time for the flight.

It took off pretty much on time and we landed in Naples just before 10am local time. It was warm and a bit hazy.

We called Automania, the car hire company, and they sent a shuttle bus over to take us to their office, where we picked up the car, a black Fiat Panda.

We drove the short distance to our apartment in the suburb of Portici. The owner was there to meet us and showed us to our secure parking space. We then went up to the apartment, which was on the 1st floor of a block. It seems to have pretty much everything we need.

Since it was still only about midday, we decided to walk to Herculaneum, which was only about half an hour away. We tried to walk to the nearby seafront first, but there didn't seem to be any easy way to get near to it. Beaches and parks around here tend to be private, with very restricted access.

We found Herculaneum, which is literally nestled inside the city streets.

Before going in we went to a cafe and bought some lunch. We got two pastries, one was a kind of sandwich thing with cheese and spinach and the other was folder over, containing ricotta cheese.

After this we paid to go into Herculaneum. This first place was a building containing a boat which had been excavated from the beach just outside the city.

We then walked down into the old city and walked round the streets and buildings. It was very interesting, there were lots of frescoes, murals and mosaics.

Just outside the city wall there are archways where people who fled from the volcanic eruption sheltered. Unfortunately they were still engulfed by mud and ash and died there. The skeletal remains are still there.

We walked back towards the apartment by a circular route. Although we're outside the city centre here there's not much greenery around, just very busy, and somewhat scruffy and dilapidated, city streets.

We stopped for a drink at Bar Centrale, then went for shopping at DeSpar which was just the next street down from our apartment.

For dinner we had pasta stuffed with sausage and Arrabbiata sauce.

Loch Lomond - Day 2

We set off in the morning to climb Ben Lomond from the car park. There was some sunshine and we were hopeful that any cloud at the summit would dissipate before we got there.

The path goes through the woods for a bit, with some steep rocky parts, then emerges onto open hillside. We were still heading towards cloud however...

Unfortunately the cloud hadn't cleared by the time we got to height. It was quite a long, at times gentle, walk to the summit but visibility wasn't great.

We stayed at the top for a while eating our lunch, but things didn't improve very much so we started our descent.

On the way down we started to get better views. Loch Lomond seems to have loads of islands.

As is typical, eventually we caught a glimpse of the summit in the clear. This was at least an hour and a half after we'd left it though.

The walk was 12.5 km with 980 metres of ascent.

We had considered staying a second night, but the forecast for Friday wasn't great so we decided to drive home.