14.2.12 Naples, Italy

Around 3 a.m. I crashed. It was freezing in Luke’s room again. The window was even closed.

I woke up at 7:45 and went down to the train station. I did the 9:18 slow train. I even had an assigned seat and think I did it right. I was in one of those little cabins and it was mostly this stereotypical old Italian man and then woman who said nothing. I slept the majority of the first half of the trip, waking up sometimes to see snow-capped mountains out the window.

When I woke up I typed up the day before and read about Naples and spent the rest of the time looking out the window. It was very Italian, old homes with red roofs along mountainsides and water, bright colored fields, it was great.

Naples was the last stop and I was one of the last people left on the train. Somehow I managed to lose all my directions to the hostel so I was going off the email I got from them. I started down the square in front of the train station but didn’t think I was going the right way. Turns out if I went like five more feet I would have realized I was going the right way. I ended up going pretty much every direction for the next hour before I was able to steal wifi and figure out I was super close.

The hostel is on the 7^th floor of a building down by the huge castle in the middle of the city. The guy at the desk, Luca, was super awesome. Just like the happiest Italian guy ever. He took me over and showed me everything I needed to see on the map, including going to the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii/Vesuvius (which he said I could probably do in one day).

I went out to the city and wandered around. My only real goal was to go to Pizzeria Brandi, where margarita pizza was invented for Queen Margarita. I ended up going on Via Toledo, one of the major shopping streets. There were tons of people out. I couldn’t figure out if it was because it was Valentine’s Day or not, but the weather was nice and there were lots of young people walking around.

I went into the shopping area with the glass roof like the one in Milan, which I liked a lot. From there I wandered down a side street with steps just off Via Toledo.

It was like I stepped into a dream world. Every Little Italy in the world desperately wants to be the Spanish Quarter in Naples. They’re tiny streets covered in graffiti with cracks on the old buildings and clotheslines reaching across the street. I saw kids playing soccer and stray cats and dogs. There were tiny stores and motorcycles zipping down the stone cobbled streets. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like Disney or like a movie. But it was real. I actually asked myself if this was real or not. It was.

I went through the streets for a while and started to make my way over to Brandi. I got lost a bunch of times and tried to steal wifi a couple times which helped. I’m not sure why I get so turned around in this city. It’s not that huge of a city but it’s just so busy. There are very few streetlights for pedestrians so it’s like Egypt when you just have to go and hope it works out. Somehow I’m not that daunted by it. It’s slightly more civilized than Cairo.

Pizzeria Brandi is down a narrow side street at the bottom of one of the main streets. They had a restaurant on both sides of the street. I went in to get a table in the main building and they took me across to the other side. There were Asian tourists and some English tourists there. And then me. I ordered carbonated water and a margehrita pizza and the pizza came pretty fast.

It was really delicious. The crust was sort of sweet and the pizza just a little oily so it had a unique taste. I ate the whole pizza really quickly. Definitely one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.

I walked along the main street and over to Via Toledo, ducking in the main square, Piazza Plebelcito. I came across a really cool looking gelato place so I got a cone with Nutella cake, Kinder, Snickers, and cotton candy. It was pretty delicious.

I walked down to the old town part which is fascinating. Its dark narrow roads with the streets made of stones slicked from all the people walking over them. The streets are so close together it makes it very dark. And it is just full of graffiti. I’d be walking down a street and all the sudden the street would open up and there would be a piazza with a beautiful church or giant statues. It’s an amazing place, although slightly scary since I know crime is a little bit of a problem here and the streets are so old and eerie. I got lost a couple times but ended up figuring it out. I’m just really cautious not to look like a tourist. It’s great though.

Unlike Rome, Venice, or Florence which exist on their faded glory or Bologna which is really tame, Naples is still alive. It’s dirty and authentic, like what I imagine Manhattan was like 30 years ago. I saw a lady lower a bucket from her balcony, someone on the street put something in it, and she pulled it back it. I can’t believe I live in the same world as this. You can tell it’s been lived in for thousands of years. And probably will be for thousands more.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to do Pompeii and Vesuvius, although I’m hearing the top of Vesuvius is closed due to snow, which is a huge, huge bummer. I think I was looking forward to that more than Pomepii. I also got Luca to give me a bunch of good pizza suggestions. I’ll be busy.