Traveling in a foreign country always brings about challenges. There is the language barrier that makes everything into a frenzied charades dance, the unfamiliar cities with street layouts designed before modern vehicles even existed, and a few other things like currency exchange and outlets which all add to the items you must contend with when experiencing a foreign culture. More often than not something will happen that will test your ability to adapt and make the best of that situation. That was our latest Italian traveling experience.
Last Saturday morning we all got up and got in the car to head to a local open-air market in the nearby town of Aversa. It’s a small town in the Province of Caserta, about 5 miles north of Naples. It’s about a two-minute drive out the front gate so it’s the closest Italian culture we can immerse ourselves in. We didn’t’ find the market after driving around for half an hour so we decided to stop at a local café shop and get a cappuccino and cornetto. It really doesn’t get any better than that. Espresso with hot steamed milk foam paired with this flaky pastry makes for the quintessential Italian breakfast.
While eating, Danna got a call from one of her friends that the photo shoot she was scheduled for wasn’t happening anymore. Our day suddenly opened up. What to do with a Saturday with no plans? Go to the island of Ischia of course. So we decided to head on home and pack for our Ischia day trip.
After packing the usual, extra pair of clothes, sunblock, water, camera, sunglasses, hat, book, and extra towel we were off. We ended up doing the day trip with our friends Jenn and Kevin and their two kids Grayson and Kylie. We parked in the Castle Nuovo parking lot. This was our first mistake as it costs 3 euro an hour. We planned on getting back to Naples at around 8 p.m. so we figured paying for a couple of hours wouldn’t be such a big deal. Yeah…that didn’t really happen. We ended up missing the last ferry back to Naples and had to find a hotel last minute in Ischia.
But everything up until then was awesome. The ferry ride was a blast. Other than telling my kids not to climb on the railings, it was relaxing. Seeing the Italian countryside from sea is beautiful. You never really get to see just how many people live in that area until you get that wide view. The ferry also passes the Island of Procida on its way to Ischia. Procida is a small island that’s less than 4 square miles. Even though we didn’t visit that island on this trip, it was beautiful from the water.
We got to Ischia around 4 p.m. so we were already behind in the day. Figuring that we had about 3 hours before we had to make it back to the port to catch the ferry back to Naples, we decided to buy bus tickets and ride it for a couple of stops to get away from the port. This was another thing that looking back probably wasn’t the best idea. Because the Ischia trip was a last minute thing, we didn’t really research any particular site we wanted to visit. There was no difference from one town to the next for us because we didn’t check to see what attractions were available.
We got off the bus at the small port town of Porto di Forio. Everyone was getting hangry by this time so we decided to take a small break and get something to eat. But…. here lies another issue. Americans and Italians don’t eat at the same time. We like to eat dinner at what…. 6 or 6:30 p.m.? Italians restaurants are not even open at that time. Even though there were some amazing places to eat we couldn’t get a table because nothing was open. Finally we settled on a small café that would tide us over for the time being.
After that debacle of terrible service we had to get moving back to the main port of Ischia to catch the last ferry back to Naples. But alas it was not meant to be. We waited awhile for the bus but couldn’t for the life of us find a bus that was heading back to the port. There were a bunch of buses heading away from the port nothing nothing that was heading directly in that direction. So with about an hour left before the last ferry left, we finally got on a bus that was heading away from the port. We asked the driver if he was going to the port and he nodded his head and said “Yes yes yes…to the port….yes yes yes.” Great we thought. We’ll be back in no time; sitting topside feeling warm air blowing through our hair as we head back to Naples. Wrong. Technically he was right when he said the bus was going back to the port but what we failed to ask was how long it was going to take. An hour and fifteen minutes later we pulled in the port bus stop frantic.
As we ran to the ferry our hope of catching the last one back slowly faded away as the crew casting off the lines and raising the aft ramp. We couldn’t help but laugh as the ferry steamed out of the Ischia harbor. Oh man…that was tense couple of minutes. Just imagine for a second what it was like to be in our shoes. There you are…. night has fallen and your spouse, two kids and your friend’s family of four with two kids are standing around looking at each other like “Oh heck, now what?”
It took us a couple minutes to get our heads right as we had just experienced a pretty big panic. Here we are stuck in Ischia with our cars back at Castle Nuovo just stacking up those hourly charges. Yeah we were a little freaked out about the whole situation. But cooler heads prevailed as we decided to make the best out of it and look for a hotel room. I mean…what else could we do? There was talk about stealing or “borrowing” a speedboat to make it back to the mainland but we decided that wasn’t the best option at the moment.
We ended up staying the night at a little place right there in the harbor for 120 euro. Considering we didn’t make any reservations I was very happy that we were able to squeeze in somewhere. After checking in and taking a deep breath, we went out for a bite to eat because how many chances will we have to spend the night in Ischia? The streets were packed with people enjoying the nightlife. That’s the funny thing about Italy; life seems to start after 9p.m. When we’re putting on P.J’s and getting ready for bed, Italians are putting on makeup and heading out the door.
After a burger, fries, and a thirst quenching Heineken on tap we went back to our room and couldn’t help but laugh at the whole situation. When you find yourself adjusting to last minute changes or dealing with unplanned adjustments to your original travel plans you can’t do anything but make the best of it. You could yell at your spouse, you could yell at yourself, but what good would it do? It’s just going to make the situation worse and you’ll just feel like total garbage later.
We woke up the next morning at 5a.m. to make sure we were up and ready for the first ferry to leave Ischia. I’ll tell you what; the sunrise ferry ride from Ischia back to Napoli is one of the most gorgeous views I could have asked for. Wow! We got to watch the sunrise behind Mt. Vesuvius and also got to see Procida for a minute as the ferry made a quick stop to pick up passengers. The morning light was absolutely gorgeous and we couldn’t stop taking pictures. We actually found ourselves glad we missed the last ferry because that sunrise boat ride was amazing.
We got back to the Castle Nuovo parking lot and thank goodness our car was still there. After paying 53 euro to get our car back we couldn’t lollygag because we had two hours before our next big adventure: a guided USO wine tasting tour at Cantina del Vesuvio in Trecase.
Even if things didn’t turn out exactly the way we planned they did turn out pretty awesome. Sometimes it is the unexpected that makes an adventure worthwhile and I know our family will treasure these memories and photos for many years.
-Justin
