After another great breakfast at Hotel Savoia, we packed up our stuff and then headed down into Sorrento for some last minute souvenirs and, of course, another gelato. While we enjoyed our gelato’s it started down-pouring and the shop instantly filled with people. We waited out the rain for 10 minutes and headed back to the hotel to check out. Peppe, the hotel owner, gave us some things to see in Naples and then off to the bus station to catch the bus to Naples.
The Curreri Viaggi bus goes from Sorrento to Naples Airport for €10 pp and avoids the Circumvesuviana train which stops a lot and is prone to pickpockets. I caught up on my blogging(finally) on the ride back so i didn’t do too much sightseeing. Once we got to the airport, we grabbed to our hotel, Hotel Barbatos.
The hotel is only a few km’s from the airport but it took longer than I expected due to 
traffic. The cost of the taxi was €15 even though the meter said €8-something. Hmmm…The driver said there is some airport supplement, which I was a bit skeptical about. We later asked the girl at the hotel and she said that is the typical rate. The girl at the hotel front desk did not speak very much English, so it was a bit of a struggle getting info. Kind of strange for a hotel receptionist not to be able to communicate with the guests, but whatever.
The hotel was not in the nicest of locations and there was not much to do, safely, in the area. To get to the nicer part of Naples, we would have to fork out another €20 each way for a taxi. Kind of an expensive venture. This is why we hate cities so much, too expensive. We decided to go for it.
The ride down to tourist district in Naples was long due to traffic and it was down-pouring rain, but we eventually got there. We started walking along the waterfront near Castel Dell’Ovo and the rain started up again. A quick check on my phone indicated that a ristorante was immediately ahead. We jumped under the tent and had some lunch at Gusto & Gusto along the waterfront. They had killer pizza! Of course I think everyone did on this trip? While eating it started pouring rain. We were seated under a tent structure, so the water was pooling up. It eventually subsided a bit and we ventured out. Peppe had told us about some underground archaeological site in the city to check out. We started trying to locate it, but no one knew what we were talking about. It started dumping rain again and we ended up buying a €5 blue plaid umbrella from a enterprising young Indian fellow. He started pulling out a pink one but I quickly put the nix on that.
We continued to walk around, stopped for a cappuccino, and walked some more. I started to get tired of aimlessly walking around, kind of like shopping in a mall feeling. Peppe had recommended a restaurant near Castel Del’Ovo called Oste Pazzo. The name translates to the “mad innkeeper”. How appropriate? We found it, but it was the worst meal of the trip. I asked them for a wine list, but they said they didn’t have one. The brought a red wine but it was chilled. 
It tasted ok, so I kept it. We weren’t real hungry, but thought we should eat something since we had a big day of flying tomorrow. I had a plate of pasta and it was horrible. The sauce was watery. Denise seemed to be ok with her seafood salad. They tried to push dessert, but I just ordered a cappuccino. The cappuccino was the worst ever. No frothed milk and it was cold, so I sent it back. The second was warm, but still no froth. What the heck? They brought us some after dinner drink and then I paid the check with my credit card(turns out to be a big mistake…stay tuned.). Next they bring a painted tile with the name of the restaurant and say it is a gift for you. At this point things seem a little strange and a bit over the top. Denise left the tile on the table and we left. They started chasing us out the door with the tile and we said we didn’t want it. They started yelling in Italian and we just wanted out of there. Really weird place. We hailed a taxi and made our way back to the hotel. We packed our stuff up and got ready for the 3:30am wake-up. Gonna be a long day of flying tomorrow.
The chain does rub the derailleur a little in the easiest gear on the back, but it isn’t that bad really. When John showed it to me in the shop it sounded worse. Below is the GPS track from my first ride with the new crank. Wasn’t a stellar ride due to it being my first ride since back from a week and a half vacation and it was especially hot. 
