Pizza, pizza and more pizza

Me at Pompeii
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We arrived in Naples and found our accomodation was located in the dodgiest part of town!  It also was a perpetrator of false advertising as what we'd booked was an apartment with kitchen a double bed, and a fold out couch.  Found a tiny room with ensuite.  No kitchen in sight.  ah well, went out to see the famous city and it was great.  Rode up the funicular to the burbs where Alice was staying with her host family and that was gorgeous and got to buy a kilo of lupini!  yum,  spent the rest of the day just looking around at the fort and the view of the sea and then had dinner at a little pizzeria, actually couldn't find anything but pizzerias in Naples.

James in the ancient Pompeii circus maximus
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Next day, James, Cameron and I caught the train to Pompeii and then the bus upto Vesuvius and did the walk up there.  It was an ok view but the cool thing was the massive crater in the mountain was smoking!  A bit disconcerting but had fun all the same, and ran out of time to see Pompeii.  Went back to Naples and found there was an all night partying festival on so we head out to the water to have dinner and drinks.  Of course had way too many drinks (well, Alice and I did) and ended up in the biggest crowd of people dancing to the Italianised version of the White Stripes.  After a big night, we decided to relax on the beach in Capri the next day, the infamous island where the emperor Tiberius did many gross things.  We found a pebble beach but lost the sun quite soon, so head up the funicular and then took a bus to the back of the island, grabbing a gelati on the way.  spent a couple hours on a cramped little beach, but really cute with an overhanging rock in the water and crystal clear waves.  Cam and James went for a swim and found it totally polluted but the tanning was fun.  Went window shopping then, looking at the Versace, Dior and Doclce and Gabbana fashions to catch the ferry back at 7pm and finally find a pizzeria at 9pm for dinner.

You can have large, medium or small, but only margherita pizza

the boys in capri
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Next day, we were up bright and early and head to Pompeii to see the ruins.  It was absolutely amazing and we had audio guides to give us a wealth of information.  The best was the Villa of Mysteries with a totally intact fresco on all 4 walls of a living room.  Unfortunately spoiled by obnoxious tourists taking photos with the flash on under the no flash sign.  Spent about 4 hours in there and then sped off on the train to Sorrento to do a bit more tanning on a jetty.  lovely place, afterwards when our sun had gone we walked around tasting limoncello at different shops and buying a gelati each (James sulked because his was small) and then getting back to Naples to... eat pizza again!  We searched for a certain place that is famous for the best margherita pizzas.  We asked for the menu and they said "You can have large, medium or small, but only margherita pizza".  So that's what we had.  Next day we set off to Rome and caught the plane to Barcelona.