Postcard from Bay of Naples

Naples is a shit hole. How do I know – mainly the smell but also because you can catch a hydrofoil out of it – that’s right, even the boats leave Naples quickly.

Naples is connected to Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri, as well as the Amalfi Coast, by a network of ferries. Best of these are the hydrofoils that hammer across the Bay like speed-boats on steroids. The hydrofoils are, basically, how commuters get from job to home and yet they seem to be a hell of a lot more stylish than the trains I get in the morning.

But they are full of commuters. I can tell this because I can smell my own (when you get the smell of Naples out of your nose) and because while I was running from stem to stern, looking at Naples vanishing into the distance, gawping at Vesuvius or watching Sorrento creep closer, the commuters were reading books or files. Also, I was the only one drinking beer before noon.

I can see one eventually getting used to a view, no matter how spectacular and reading a book rather than looking at the coast…but it takes something special to not keeping your eye on an active volcano – possibly a really good Grisham.