The train from Sicily to Naples sounded like a few hours of relaxation, watching the beautiful southern Italian landscape roll by as the blinks grow longer. As Borat would say.......NOT!The trains have compartments with 6 seats (3 seats facing 3 seats), so most likely you will be sharing a compartment. You know the saying "You can pick your friends, and pick your nose, but you can not pick your train compartment mates", or some version of that. Well, there were two guys in the compartment already, so when we entered with our 7 tons of baggage we drew long stares.
These two guys could not have looked more different. Paolo was clean cut (this is a different Paolo than we me in Agrigento), spoke English well and clearly paid for a train ticket. Mate 2, his name may have begun with an "A", NOT a paying customer - we referred to him as Stowaway Guy.
Paulo took us under his wing, jumping to our aid as the ticketing agent was questioning us for not having a specific reservation (we had just the global pass that allows you to ride any train as long as you write the date on the pass before you board the train). We paid a little fine, chalked it up as a learning experience, and then blamed the ticket guy at the station for not telling us about it.
Stowaway Guy was from Rome, and at first sight we could never have thought he would make an impression in our lives. He was covered in tattoos, lip piercings, scars, ripped clothes. He spoke very few words of English, but who are we to critique with our 20 Italian words. He asked Paolo in Italian if we would help translate his next tattoo to English (for some reason he wanted to have it inked in English and not Italian). Roughly: Grandfather, you have been a Father to me. Now, even from beyond, you guide me." He was very mature for such a visual wreck - don't ever judge a book by it's cover, especially when traveling.
Here is where it got a little "patso" as the Italians would say "crazy". Stowaway Guy somehow translated that we were hungry, probably since we were drooling on his pizza. He was fired up to show us where to find the food on the ferry. Steve asked "Do we have enough time?" pointing at his watch, and he fired out an "Andiamo!" (Let's go!).
TIP: if you are on a train that has boarded a ferry, and that train may eventually leave the ferry, DO NOT get off the train looking for snacks on the ferry.
Steve and Stowaway Guy, fresh pizza in hand, realized that the ferry had docked and the train would be rolling off soon. They made a mad dash to get back on the train, but as you can probably guess...got on the wrong train! Running from car to car, they checked each compartment for Becky and Paolo, but they were nowhere to be found! As the train rolled down the tracks, Steve and Stowaway Guy looked out the back window and realized that was the end of the line and had no idea where they were headed - Steve just slightly more concerned than Stowaway Guy, and Becky just slightly more concerned than Paolo.
Here's the good news: the train is longer than the ferry, so it has to separate into 3 sections to fit (see photo). Once the ferry docks, the 3 sections leave the boat separately and re-link on the land tracks. After about 10 minutes, the cars linked and Steve was reunited with Paolo, Becky and the 7 tons of luggage. The bad news is, the ticket agent was passing through the train, and Stowaway Guy got tossed off the train. We asked the agent how much it would cost to buy him a ticket. Once we heard 50 euro (about $70), we said "Ciao Stowaway Guy!"
Paolo made sure we got to our destinazione without issue. If you have never navigated through a Naples train stazione, you may think you can do it without a guide. First of all, we look American. We are now referring to ourselves as "travel clowns" since we might as well have round red noses and rainbow wigs on. We think we blend in, but are sure we are not much different than the Sesame Street game "Which one does not look like the Others?". Beep Beep! (clown horn).
We changed trains in Naples to the Circumvesuviana, which brings you to the Sorrento Peninsula in about 1 hour. Paolo, even though he has the scenery memorized from hundreds of rides, was just as excited as we were with the first views of the Island of Capri and Mount Vesuvius from the train. He respectfully whispered "very dangerous" as we passed the volcano that buried Pompeii 2,000 years earlier. Paolo made sure we knew which stop to get off, since his stop was coming up before ours. Amazing how caring someone can be to two total strangers - and how thankful we were to have had his help. Funny how we miss him and only knew him for 5 hours.
When we got off the train, a band was playing in a square right behind the train station - what a nice greeting. We are starting to think that the people here are just trying to spoil us (it's working)!
After a short walk, we arrived at our very unique hotel - little cabins set amongst a lemon and orange grove. We were very excited to be off the train(s) and looking forward to Naples and the Amalfi Coast...and hoping Vesuvius doesn't blow for another 2,000 years!
