Getting Lost

Most of this weekend was spent getting lost as we tried to make our way to all of the Greek and Roman ruins around the Pozoulli, Baia, and Cuma areas (West of Naples).  While we get lost fairly often around here, this weekend was worse than usual, since these were smaller towns and the sites we were looking for were not as well known.  Many times we would ask someone on the street which way to go, and after walking for a while, finding nothing, and asking someone else, would be told that the ruins were in a completely different direction.  It was frustrating, but also kind of funny, and we did meet a very nice policeman who helped us in Fusaro.  We had asked a couple of people how to get to the Castello de Baia with no luck, but then we asked Luigi and he immediately started talking to us in very good English about the history of the area as he walked with us toward the castle.  He showed us some ruins along the way, hailed a bus for us and introduced us to his friend Enzo, the bus driver, and told us a little about himself.  He was a really friendly, helpful guy, and I really appreciated that he delayed his lunch break to help us out.  Overall we got to see a really neat Roman amphitheater, the Temple of Serapide, the Solfatara volcano, and the Castle of Baia, as well as the pretty seaside town of Pozoulli.

While we did spend alot of time trying to find all of these places, and took many of the wrong buses and streets, we saw some interesting things, and got to have some interesting interactions with people.  We’ve also discovered that many Neapolitans seem to go toward the Pozzouli/Baia area to go swimming, so we now plan to go back another weekend to take a dip in the Mediterranean.