Because we decided to rent a car in Naples I had done my homework and printed out Google maps and directions to get me from the airport to the hotel. I also had an old Naples map from when we last visited and bought a new map of Italy that covered the southern parts.
We picked up the keys and were told to take the special hire car shuttle bus that would take us to the car, which we did. Thus we found ourselves in a large car park, somewhere in Naples, with a left hand manual gearbox car, and a handful of directions that were no longer relevant!
We set off looking for the A3 which would take us along the bay of Naples, skirting the west side of Mount Vesuvious, and on to Sorrento. All we found were signs for the Autostrada and the A30. I knew that we didn’t want the A30 as it would take us around the other side of Vesuvious and down to Salerno or North to Rome. With hindsight we should have just got on the Autostrada as the directions would have been better and we would have probably found our way a little quicker. Also had we followed on to Salerno, we would have gone the wrong side of Vesuvious,and travelled a little further, but we would have been closer to our intended target. However, we started driving looking for the correct motorway, the A3.
Italians driving in Naples are mad. In fact, it is my understanding that drivers for the south of Italy are mad. There appears to be rules that they understand, but only them. Cars and scooters just throw themselves at you, and you had better get out of their way. Combine this with driving on wrong side of the road, struggling with the gear stick on the wrong side of your body, being unable to find any useful road signs, or being unable to read any road signs that you do see, therefore being unable orientate yourself on the map… the journey was getting a little stressful. We drove down some very dubious areas of Naples, ok most of Naples seems very dubious, and we drove down some very thin roads with things coming right at us… but we couldn’t find anything to help us get a handle of where we wanted to go.
We lost a wing mirror from the passenger side – that started to make life a little more interesting.
I’m pretty good with directions and orientating myself with my surroundings, so I knew that if the Bay of Naples was on my right and Vesuvious was on my left, then driving forward would eventually get me to Sorrento. I could see Vesuvious, you can’t miss it, but I couldn’t see any water! Vesuvious was on my left, but if we were near the A30 then we could be on the wrong side of Vesuvious, which means there would be land to our right, and Rome would be the destination from travelling forward – not Sorrento! So I needed to find the water. I made a decision, if I put Vesuvious behind me then driving forward would eventually put me in the Bay if Naples within half an hour, if it didn’t then I knew I was on the wrong side, going the wrong direction.
So we headed away from Vesuvious to a Property in Indonesia, Jakarta, Depok, Bogor, Tangerang, Bandung, Surabaya, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Medan, Bali, Bekasi Gambar Rumah, kept adjusting when we had to to make sure it remained behind us, and behold, we found the water. All we needed to do now was turn left and we were heading in the right direction; granted it would be slowly through rat infested streets of scum and villany, but the right direction nonetheless.
We found the motorway somewhere between Ercolano and Pompeii and were on it for a mere five minutes before we started the winding journey around the mountain
toward Sorrento.
Strangley enough, considering the winding nature, thinness, and height of these roads, not to mention the coaches and general mad Italians that are heading towards you, oh and that left hand drive thing… this stage of the journey was a breeze compared to the first leg!
So we arrived at our hotel in Sorrento about 2 hours later than we should have, on a Sunday, to find out that the hotel was not expecting us!!! …
Driving in Italy, Naples, Vesuvious, Sorrento, Salerno, Rome, Ercolano, Pompeii
Naples, Vesuvious, Sorrento, Salerno, Rome, Ercolano, Pompeii
Hahahahaha – Italian driving – love it
It is a well known fact that in Italy the faster you go the narrower you car gets !!!!