A Crisp, Cold Christmas? Not for Us!

Last year we celebrated Christmas onboard. It was fantastic. Cold, snowy and wonderful. 

But winter seemed to go on forever. It was either freezing or flooding, occasionally both. It seemed like an unusually harsh winter, but it was our first year onboard, so I wondered whether I was just over sensitive.

One day last January I was leaving the boat with Yr Mr BBB, both wrapped up like the love children of an Eskimo and the Michelin man, yet still with cold fingers, and Yr Mr BBB said ‘I think we should go away somewhere for Christmas next year’.

‘Oh, somewhere snowy, more Christmassy?’ I replied (because I am sometimes a bit dense)!

‘No!’ he replied, surprised ‘Somewhere warm!’

We contemplated for a bit and decided on Naples in Italy. It is fairly southern so should be warm but not hot (we are fussy devils). It is possible to get there by train (we didn’t want to fly, as I said, fussy devils) and was far enough to be a definite change and adventure.

It is not a straightforward journey, though. The journey would be part of the adventure.

We would have to go from home to London, London to Paris, (across Paris) Paris to Milan on a night train, Milan to Naples. That is definitely an adventure! The trains all linked in nicely with suitable gaps to change trains, but not too long to wait between them. We were all ready and quite excited!

Then we heard about the Gillet Jaunes riots in Paris. We kept a daily check on the news and the gov.uk website to see if it was safe to travel, and by the time we traveled it was fine.  Phew!

We had a painless trip to London and checked in for our Eurostar train. Just after we got on the train I received a text message from the company we’d used to book the tickets. The night train was canceled due to industrial action. Nothing to do with Gillet Jaunes, a completely separate strike! We had a choice. They were providing coaches to replace the train (but it wouldn’t have beds, restaurant car or any of the other benefits of the night train) or we could claim a refund on our ticket and not go. But we were on the Eurostar to Paris! Not going was not an option!

It is a very long way from Paris to Milan. Over 500 miles. The train can do it in 11 or 12 hours. The train has fold out bunk beds, toilets, a washroom. We could have a drink and something to eat in the restaurant car before going to bed in our cabin. Not so on a coach. Once we found the coaches outside the train station (which was not easy) we had a coach seat. They provided us with a bottle of water, a chicken and cheese sandwich, crips and a blanket each. The journey was quite painful – trying to sleep sat upright, and stopping every few hours for comfort breaks (all the lights on and an icy blast through the coach door). And it was much longer than the train would have been. We arrived in Milan at 11am. Our train from Milan to Naples left at 7am. 4 hours before we arrived! They put us on the next train to Naples but it was fully booked so we didn’t have seats. We spent the 5 hour train journey (after not sleeping the night before) stood up in the restaurant car.

We were very glad to arrive at our apartment! It was stunning – views over Mount Vesuvius and Naples, and a jacuzzi bath – perfect after a difficult journey!

The villa owner described Naples as a pretty lady that’s not always well dressed. That is a perfect description! It is the most intriguing city I have ever visited. Steeped in history and rubbish! We walked through small streets where people in flats with peeling paint hung the washing across the street and shouted to each other as they swept their balconies. Youngsters drove mopeds (on the path or the road – whichever they felt like) without helmets and shrieked at each other. Then straight into a 14th-century church. Through an area with a road that is little more than a dust track, through a poor residential estate, and in the middle is the Fontanelle Cemetery. A very large cave with a beautiful and lovingly cared for collection of around 40,000 skeletons. All piled up neatly and decorated with flowers.

A bit more investigating around Naples found some fantastic restaurants and some stunning buildings. It is a beautiful city, just rather lived in!

We visited Herculaneum, which was buried when Vesuvius erupted, like it’s famous sister, Pompeii. Unlike Pompeii, Herculaneum was preserved by the volcanic ash, so there is a lot more of it survived. It was a wealthy city (richer than Pompeii) and it is quite easy to see how the people lived. And how scary it must have been when the volcano erupted.

We had a great Christmas and were much warmer than last year. We also had a bath and didn’t have to worry about running out of water! A real treat!

We were a bit nervous about traveling home, given how difficult the journey there was, but it was perfect! We had seats on all of the trains and the night train had convertible bed-seats. Much better than the last journey.

It is lovely to be home, though. Back on the BBB. However good the holiday was it is good to come home. And it won’t be long until we will be out exploring on the BBB soon.

It was a great idea to go away during the winter. But the weather here was quite mild while we were away. And it is set to be minus zero for the next few days! Typical! Good job we can keep the stove lit well, now!