Esmeralda's Road

On August 28th I got a knee osteotomy (it’s where they cut a bone, straighten the leg and affix with titanium screws on a plate). My mom (MamaCat) came down to Calabria from ATL in mid September to help with my recovery. It was lovely because she had cancer treatment from December to April and I was able to be there for her when she needed me. So when the time came for me to need help, it felt serendipitous because at that point she was strong enough to come help me. :’)

So as a thank you, I decided to take her on a quick trip to Pompeii and Napoli on our way back to Florence. Since El Salvador is referred to as “Tierra de los Volcanes (Land of Volcanoes)” I figured she would really appreciate the ruins (she did).

I did as much prep as possible to accommodate my handicap needs. I took full advantage of the mobility assistance provided by the Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (which was incredible), I reserved a wheelchair for Pompeii and mapped out our route to get there from Naples. And yet, even with all that prep, once we were IN it we (I) realized how insane it was to book a trip to frickin POMPEII after major knee surgery teehee, oopsies!

Regardless! We did go to both Napoli and Pompei and we made the best of it. 

Two nights in Naples

First things first, I booked the B&B Le Vie di Napoli right in the center by Piazza Dante. I chose it due to its proximity to the metro (2min walk). Since we weren’t going to be able to really explore the city, I did some research and found that the metro stations themselves are an attraction. So when we arrived on Thursday we freshened up and hit the stations. Even though they were only 2-5min rides from each other, getting on and off and taking a gander at each station turned out to be much more exhausting than expected. I really had not considered how taxing it would be a mere month post surgery. :’)

Since I’d chosen a special place for our main pizza experience, I made sure our B&B was only a short cab ride to Palazzo Petrucci Pizzeria, which I found on the Michelin Guide for Naples. Another good thing about Piazza Dante was that it had many simple restaurants for our normal meals. You can’t really go wrong with pizza in Napoli. 

Regarding our trip to Pompeii…… It was IN-sane. We arrived in Naples on a Thursday and were leaving Saturday. Since it takes one hour to get to Pompeii from Naples it meant that Friday was THE day for fun times. Besides the ruins, Friday was also our designated fine dining day (lunch and dinner). Alas, it was wishful thinking expecting my plans to run smoothly. Needless to say, the day did not unfold as flawlessly as I’d hoped. 

Getting to Pompeii

We were supposed to take the metro and a short train directly to the main entrance. Unfortunatelyyyy there turned out to be a public transportation sciopero that very day (a strike) which made that mode impossible.* And yet, I was determined to go through with the day trip cus I’d already planned everything! I’d pre-purchased our tickets, reserved the wheelchair, and I’d even planned a beautiful lunch at this place called Giardino dei Sensi. It was supposed to be magical, So we decided to take a taxi… of course that meant that instead of paying €10-€15 TOTAL round trip, we paid €75 just to GET there. :’) C’est la vie.

Exploring Pompeii

Okay, we forged on. We got dropped off at one of the three entrances, grabbed the wheelchair and started our exploration. The ruins have a wheelchair accessible route called “Pompei per tutti” (Pompeii for all) but man o man it was still quite rugged terrain (like, duh Patricia). We went as far as we could in order to make our 1:30pm lunch reservation. We had to return the chair at the same entrance (though to be fair, we (I) didn’t ask if we could return it at any other entrance) so we really only got to see the tiniest fraction given we had to take the same route back. 

Lunch in Napoli

Okay sure, we were running a little late so I called the restaurant to push our reservation to 2:00pm. The only thing was that when I’d checked online it was only a 7min walk. What I didn’t realize upon booking was that it was that distance from a different entrance. LOLLLLLL! From where we were it would have been a 30min walk for a NON handicapped person. So! I called the restaurant to ask for more time. I told them we would grab a cab ASAP.

Well, we encountered yet another tiiiny hiccup thanks to the public transport strike, hooray lol. Since so many people needed taxis to get back to Naples or even farther locations, the taxis all refused to take us on that 10min ride to the restaurant, yay :’) So, we had to skip that lunch which made me so sad that I wouldn’t experience it with my mamacat. It’s a good thing she kept the mood light. As an assistant private driver for my dad, she pointed out that at the ATL airport, drivers wait in a very long line for the more lucrative trips. If they take any other trip (like an Uber request from a different location), they have to go to the back of the line for the airport trips.

Lunch in Napoli (or not?)

After all that, we decided to just head back to Naples. But of course, we (I) hadn’t accounted for the higher cost for a taxi from Pompeii TO Naples. Rather than the €75 we paid on the way there, the going rate was €120. Yep. 

A tourist service point nearby had tried to help us with a cab to the restaurant. Luckily, they ended up having a shuttle back to Napoli with exactly two spots left! Tickets were a total of €35 which saved us €85. Hooray for real that time. Since we had about 45min, we ducked into the restaurant next door and scarfed down a pizza and a couple of glasses of wine (pain meds be damned)

Special Pizza Dinner

We got back to Napoli with enough time for a nap and took our time getting ready for dinner at Palazzo Petrucci Pizzeria. We sat in the piazza (San Domenico Maggiore) and enjoyed the cool autumn air. We ordered a bottle of Franciacorta rosato to toast our health and time together, despite all the setbacks, things could be so much worse. Mamacat ordered the traditional fried calzone with added tomato sauce while I ordered a traditional pizza – the Davide Ruotolo 2.0. Both were phenomenal, especially mamacat’s cus it was SO fluffy and had bacon bits, yum!

That dining experience allowed us to leave Napoli with a fond memory rather than a bad taste in our mouth. Thank goodness it went smooth as pie! We deserved it after the day we’d had. One day, when we are both fully recovered, we’ll go back to both cities and explore them ‘til we drop!

*To be clear, I was in full support of the strike since it was for Palestine.