Bargain in Naples, Italy
Italy is well known for producing some of the best designer wears, shoes and bags. Milan is one of the top designer capitals of the world, but for those looking for real bargains, Naples cannot be easily discounted.
I am probably a bit biased here, but my Italian friends are charismatic and easy to get on with. So, for my first time visit to Italy, I had some expectations of what I expected from the wonderful Italians. We picked up the car from the Rome airport Fiumicino or Leonardo da Vinci airport, one of two major airports in Rome. Thanks to the GPS (satNav), the merry-go-round was not as bad.
A few days after touring the historic Rome, it was time to venture out to Naples. If you have not driven in Rome before, be ready to pay the toll once you get on the major roads. The train can also take the strain, the journey takes between 1.5 hrs to 2.5hrs depending on the train and fares are from 10 euros (slow train) to about 40 Euros. A train from Termini, the major train station takes you directly to the centre of Naples. The drive from Rome is likely to take about 2.5hrs.
We did the trip in the summer and I have to say that apart from the very overzealous bikers in Rome, driving in Italy was better than I expected. Okay, the Italians get carried away with their use of the horns and they can be a wee bit reckless. Overall, we saw only one minor accident in two weeks and barely no traffic or road work disruptions at all. The traffic flowed. I only had a minor complain and it had nothing to do with the road system in Italy, more with the way my SatNav works. Italy’s road networks consist of the major and slip roads, the slip roads run parallel to the major roads, so, unless you know the right exit to link with the slip way, you are suddenly confronted with the SatNav telling you to get off at the next exit, right in the middle of the motorway. It is possible this is just a problem with my brand of SatNav.
Back to Naples. There are many shops selling Italian designed shoes and bags. The prices vary with quality. The real deal costs upward of 50 Euros for the well designed shoes and they are worth every penny. Needless to say, I enjoyed the expressions on the faces of the women that I went with than even the wonderfully designed shoes. There is something about women, shoes, bags, gold bracelets that men will struggle to understand. The women in my group were salivating with eyes nearly popping out of their sockets at the sights of such incredible bargains and good designs. I have to say that despite my rather cool demeanour, I was well impressed as well.
For anyone interested in other things in Naples apart from shoes and bags, you need to venture out of the city centre. A small drive away from the cobbled city centre roads and the graffiti marked walls that gave the impression of an impoverished city, but as you get to know the city, that first impression will disappear.
A few places to visit are stated below, but don’t miss the nearby Pompeii, the city that was buried in the eruption of 79 AD. Most visitors to Pompeii were impressed by the preservation of the old city, but finding the bodies of those people that were ‘frozen in time’ proved more tricky because the site was not properly sign posted (see the pictures below)
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