Saturday, July 28, 2001: Where, Oh Where is Rocco? - Positano to Napoli, Italy - 62km

Frank here…

After a bit of internetting I got on the road, which meant starting in heat. What else is new? And like the day before, the views were breathtaking on the Costiera Amalfitana. The beginning of the ride began with quite a bit of climbing followed by some exhilarating descents which took me onto the north side of the peninsula close to the city of Sorrento. A famous legend states that Sorrento's name was derived from the mythical song of the mermaids where they shipwrecked passing sailors as they seductively lured them to danger.

Well, I wasn't lured, in fact I was downright scared as I navigated through two very dark, loud, long, and rather narrow tunnels. I took out my flashlight and kept it pointed in a manner to distinguish the wall at my shoulder, and I strapped on my flashing red light to my fanny pack. When a car came by I would stop and walk until it passed. I was so relieved to get past the first when, a very short while later, another dreadful tunnel appeared. Like the first, I saw no way around it, so through was the only choice. These were definitely the most intimidating tunnels of my trip. To top it off, there were these loud fan-like rumbles that continued through the entire length. I think that they were about a kilometre long, but they felt like five km.

After the tunnels I was getting closer to Napoli, perhaps the most densely populated area of Europe. The last 20km or so were all on cobblestone. I was getting nervous as I continued towards the infamous city. Everyone told me to be careful not to get robbed. Many people whom I passed by were very encouraging to me, however. Napolitano's are a very adaptable people. I heard that when the seat belt law became legislated, to fool the police, one entrepreneur designed and sold t-shirts that had the image of a seat belt imprinted on the front of it. Haha! Clever, not very lawful, but clever indeed.

I was passed by many young people on motorcycles; some were even pulling wheelies. The Ostello (Hostel) Mergellina only after a couple of detours and yet another tunnel. This tunnel also had the loud fan, but it had three great advantages to the previous two. It was shorter, better lit and had a very wide sidewalk. Now that's my kind of tunnel. The hostel was huge, compared to the ones that I've stayed in so far while in Italy. I think that it holds over 300 people!

I was lucky and got a room for two for the price of a room for four. Unfortunately they would not let me bring my bike inside, so I got very creative in hiding it behind some old bed and mattress outside. I met an Australian traveller named Dave during dinner, and I invited him to go to Piazza Vanvitelli with me to meet Rocco, who was busking in the square. Busking is where a person entertains on the street or square or train stations etc. for tips. He invited me to busk with him in this posh area of Napoli. Dave and I headed to the train station, but after a bit of confusion and change of directions, he decided to head back to the hostel because he wanted to wake up early in the morning.

I wondered what to do. I was tentative to head through this notorious city at night by bus and train, but I did it anyway. My solo journey didn't start very well. I crossed the street after finding that a cab would be too expensive, then was visited by a drunk who wanted money. I played dumb and he finally left me. In the bus, an older woman helped me figure out how to get to the piazza. After I got off the bus, I asked a policeman to help me across a busy road. Wow, I never did that before, but I did not want them to see me hesitate and mistake me for a drunk person, like what happened to me in Australia.

Anyway, I finally made it to the water fountain in the piazza as Rocco explained, but he was gone. Bummer! I called his mobile phone (everyone has one) and he told me that he was not making any money so he had to go somewhere else. After a very confusing effort to try to find him, I gave up and headed back to the hostel, this time by bus and train and a different route. I met a young student who told me to go with him because he lived very near the hostel and was going that way. What luck for me! When I got back to the hostel, Dave was still awake and I was kind of tired after more than three hours of searching for Rocco.

From the city search for Rocco, I moved to the phone for the England search. I was trying to get a hold of my niece, Claire, who was visiting her grandmother and aunt in England. Since I was overnighting in London I thought that I might be able to visit them. After many unsuccessful attempts to phone England I went to bed.

-Seek and you shall find - but not always

-Frank Pollari