Around The World – Napoli, Italy
My goal for this leg of the trip is to get into southern Italy, Napoli in particular. I’ve been through northern Italy during a summer holiday when we lived in Germany in 2000, so it’s time to explore the bottom half. And yes, I’m calling it Napoli because that’s what the Italians call it…
Up in Livorno and packed by 8:30 to catch the train to Napoli. I walk to the same bus station as yesterday, take it all the way downtown then change to the #2 bus to the train station. Very helpful ticket lady says the next train goes in 10 minutes, I get a free ride to Firenze (Florence) with my Eurail pass, then an E10 reservation fee to Napoli. I was fearing a beater train to Firenze but it was quite nice, two-decks and a power plug! I have a half-hour changeover in Firenze so I buy new AAA batteries for my headphones and grab a sandwich, Fanta and a Snickers and Twix bar. My best friends all through Europe.
The train to Napoli is Italy’s version of high speed, it seems quite new, 2-1 style and I have a 2-side group of 4 seats with a table all to myself, and a power plug, though it was hard to find I almost panicked about no power. The seat has a motorized tiltback. At top speed we hit 248 kph and I was at the station in Rome in an hour. A short pause and another hour gets me to Napoli. Everything right on time, must be one of Mussolini’s grandchildren running the trains now.
Coming out of the Napoli Centrale (Garibaldi) station, I followed my Airbnb host’s directions about 1.5 km through the city to her door. Cobblestones all the way. Somehow my suitcase is standing up to the punishment but I fully expect both wheels to fall off at any time.
The Airbnb apartment is in a 14th century cathedral complex. The ceilings are over 20′ high with exposed wooden beams and wood flooring above. I fire up the Wifi on the laptop and phone but it can’t get through the thick stone walls so out comes the Wifi booster and bam! sweet sweet Internet.
For some reason I’m really tired after a fairly easy morning and train ride so I climb into bed fully clothed and sleep for 3 hours. Must have had some bad sleep in the frigid room back in Livorno.
Refreshed, I walk up the street to find some dinner. The Airbnb is on just an amazing street, what I would call the local Italian medina – shops lining both sides of a narrow cobblestone street – bakeries, wine shops, bookstores, cafes and pizzerias everywhere. I had a hankering for a non-pizza dinner so I spotted a Trattoria and went inside. I was trying to read the menu in Italian and then trying to use Google’s camera translation app with amusing results. The waiter comes over with a laminated card with a barcode – it’s a link to an online multi-language translation of their menu and it’s even more amusing. “Kind of grilled vegetables.” “Frying Italian.” “Buffalo to the plate.” I order gnocchi sorrentina (a local recipe since Sorrento is just down the road) and roasted eggplant and a half bottle of local red wine. And. It. Was. Epic. I literally leaned my head back, banged my hand on the table and said “Fuck me this is so good.” Almost as good as Kimarla’s but it had the added benefit of me being in actual Italy. Then I walked up the street to a pastry shop and had two chocolate-filled pastries and a glass of Disaronno amaretto just because. I am going to live this country to the fullest and that’s mostly going to mean food.
Half in the bag from the wine after not a drop of alcohol for a month, I wander back to my Airbnb and try to catch up on all of the email and Facebook I missed from being offline for 6 days.
The next morning I woke up at 10:30, man I must have been way more tired than I thought.
I decided to go to Pompeii which is just to the south of the city, so I walked back to the train station to catch the “Circumvesuviana” regional train. The doors closed just as I ran up to the train on the platform and it pulled away, yes I was that guy. No problem, next train is in 30 minutes so I walked back up the stairs but I was inside the terminal and had used my ticket so I couldn’t go out again to find a nice place for lunch without paying another E2.40 to get back in. Luckily there was a small restaurant inside where I got a mildly-awful pizza and fizzy water while I waited.
I was on the platform when the next train arrived and this was probably the shabbiest train I’ve been on, on the whole trip. It got the job done though, I got off at the Pompeii Scavi station and walked just across the street and right to the Pompeii ticket office. E13 later, I was inside. My Airbnb hosts had lent me a guidebook and map so I followed around through the ruins. A little history: Pompeii was just a normal port town, founded in the 8th century BC on top of a lava plateau from a previous eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Guys, this should have been a red flag right there. Pro tip: Don’t build your new town on the remains of an older one destroyed by a volcano. On the afternoon of the 24th of August 79 AD, Vesuvius erupted explosively, covering the city with 6-7 meters of ash and lapilli (little stones). It happened so fast that people were trapped and buried, leading to the famous plaster casts of the voids in the earth when people’s bodies turned to dust over the centuries. The first real exploration of the site occurred in 1748 and ever since they’ve been uncovering more of the buildings, tiled floors, painted walls, roads and items such as clay amphora pots. You enter by going through the Porta Marina gate, then past houses, administrative buildings and plazas. I found it intersting that Pompeii is so famous for being covered by the eruption, but it’s just a regular ancient port town with regular stuff like shops and houses and government buildings and performing arts areas and a gladiator fighting grounds. It’s just built up such a mystique that I thought it must be a magical important city.
They’ve done a great job of unearthing buildings and preserving what they can, especially things like columns and painted walls. I was a bit bummed that so much was fenced off, not just walking into certain buildings but whole streets were blocked so you couldn’t go anywhere near what appeared on the map to be substantial parts of the site. This included the Amphitheatre where “Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii” was filmed in 1972, and the building where the plaster casts are on display, I didn’t get to see either of those. But what I did get to see was good, overall I was happy I got to be there and happy with the centuries of excavation and preservation. It was a Sunday so no work was going on, but given the amount of fencing I wonder how much is actively being done now.
Back on the train into the city and I walked down to the main road flowing past the huge marina to the Castel Nuovo and then back through town to my Airbnb. I rested until about 7:30 PM and went in search of some kind of pasta in pesto sauce. I walked down the hill away from the restaurant area I was in last night, then took a left up into the city. I passed what seemed to be a thousand pizza joints but no sit-down full-service restaurants. I turned left and walked and walked, then left again to come back to the far end of the road going through my area.
I found a new trattoria and tried to understand the menu. I used Google’s image translation app again to more amusing results. “Learned of mussels”, “Polyp wings salad”, “Beans to Mexicans” and “Cracks Big The.” I finally gave up and just asked if they had pasta with pesto, Si Signore! It came out of the kitchen so fast it was either pre-made or from a jar but hey it was tasty. I followed up with a caprese salad. Not the greatest ambiance with a couple of 8 year old boys running around screaming with Spiderman masks on, then the area’s old guys show up to watch a football match on a big screen TV. Oh well. From there I walked down the street to a new pastry shop and had 3 of some kind of amazingly delicious cake-balls covered in chocolate sauce, and a glass of cognac. Stay classy!
In the morning I woke up and decided to take the ferry over to the just-offshore island of Ischia or Capri today. Peter from Australia’s nanny comes from Ischia and recommended it to me. I walked about 15 minutes down to the ferry port and went to the ticket counter. I asked for a ticket to Ischia and the man said no. I was a bit early so I figured sales started at a certain time, but then he said no, bad weather. It was cold and sunny in the city but it must have been bad on the water or on the island. He told me to come back in half an hour when they would make the decision to go. I waited around and at 11:30 they said no runs to Ischia but Capri is running with a different ferry company. I got a return ticket and we shortly loaded onto a small-ish, rusty ferry.
I was looking forward to the crossing and the island but I should have paid more attention to the we-almost-didn’t-make-the-run-in-the-open-water thing. We pulled out and as soon as we were past the breakwater, the ferry was bobbing like a cork in rolling seas. Not whitecaps and wind, but rolling peaks and troughs, the bow pointing up in the air and then crashing down in a shower of spray at the bottom. For 90 minutes. My stomach started objecting after about 30 minutes so I went to the stern to get some fresh air and watch the horizon as I’ve been told. The guy next to me starts hurling into a plastic bag, so I quickly walked away before I joined him. I went to the bar/snack area and asked if they had seasickness pills. The man said no and handed me a familiar-looking plastic bag. Strange how a small ferry wouldn’t be able to sell perhaps the most useful product in the universe to anyone taking the trip. Anyway we finally pull into the big marina on Capri without any Vesuvius issues. Ha, erupting, get it?
I quickly learn that the main village on the island of Capri, called Capri, is near the top of a very steep hillside. I mean straight up. I spotted a funicular train sign and went to buy a ticket. I made sure with the ticket man that the train goes on the ground, not a gondola thing in the air because that’s not going to happen. Yes, on the ground. I walk over to the open gate to the funicular train and see a sign that the next trip is in about 5 minutes, great! It’s strangely dark and there are a few printouts in Italian taped to the wall. Oh well, can’t be that important, right? The time comes and another man walks in, saying something in Italian. I do my usual localized no-speak phrase when another man walks up and points to a beat up tiny bus. Oh crap. With a sinking heart and stomach I realize the funicular must be closed for low season and we’re going up in the bus. This is not going to be good in my queasy state.
We are the last passengers on the bus, about 15 in all and tightly packed. We make our way uphill in first gear, negotiating the hairpin turns and 1.5-vehicle-wide road to the main square in Capri village. I gently stepped out and saw the sign for the top station of the furniclar. Well I got here anyway. I sat on a bench right on the edge of the hillside, protected by a lovely metal fence and looked down the hill, over to the neighbouring mountainside and across the ocean, quite a beautiful view. After a rest and some fresh air I started strolling slowly through the village. Capri is a summer hotspot, definitely a Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous place. The small streets were lined with the highest of the high-end brand shops, all with signs saying something like “See you again Summer 2016.” They pack up for 8 months and only open during high season. I wandered through stone-walled pathways, overlooking quaint mindbogglingly-expensive villas. Wikipedia says Mariah Carey has a villa here, but I didn’t bump into her. I saw the name “Coppola” on one place, don’t know if it’s the famous ones or just run-of-the-mill Coppolas.
Going back to the square I spotted an open Farmacia and bought a packet of sea sickness pills and popped one to be ready for the journey home. I just missed the going-down bus and didn’t want to wait 15 minutes for the next one so I took the well-signed stone pathway back down to the harbour.
Approaching the marina to leave, I developed an alternate plan. I tried to cash in the return part of my ticket to Napoli but the old lady tried to tell me no-can-do, so I grudgingly ate that half of the E17.80 ticket fee. I bought a ticket for E15.60 on a jet catamaran ferry to nearby Sorrento and made it over in 20 not-so-bad minutes. On Google Maps, it looks like an easy walk from the harbour to the train station but as I discovered in Lisbon, Google Maps doesn’t show elevation changes. I had to walk up a steep street to a cliff face, then take stone steps in a zig-zag to get to the top. Given my fear of deceleration trauma, I stayed glued to the stone wall all the way up and made it safely. I treated myself to a large bowl of gelato, half stracciatella and half chocolate of course. As I was sitting inside eating, a dog casually strolled into the cafe like he owned the place, looked at me and sat down about a meter away and just watched me eat. The girl working there came out from the back and I asked her if she knew the dog, she said no, but it was his second visit. He waited about 10 minutes, then walked to the door, looked to the right and left and just sauntered down the street. Has to be the most cool-cat street dog I’ve ever seen.
I walked up to the train station and boarded the waiting train, as Sorrento is the end of the line. By this point, the sleepy effect of the seasickness pill is kicking in and I slept uncomfortably on and off all the way back to Napoli. I walked back to my place from the train station and immediately crawled into bed and slept for 3 hours.
When I woke up I checked with my host about travel possibilities for tomorrow. In Italian, he suggested the sleeper ferry to Palermo in Sicily, then possibly hitting Agrigento or Taormina, then on the train back to the mainland eventually to Brindisi for the ferry over to Greece.
I went out for dinner and gave into the pizzeria cartel here. I don’t know anything about the regional cuisine in Italy but it’s 99% pizza here, even with the locals.
I came back and looked to book a sleeper ferry. With next-day pricing, a seat on the deck costs E42.08 and a private inside cabin with 4 beds costs E78.90 so it’s worth the extra. I get to travel from one place to the next and a night’s accommodation is included. I do the transaction and realize they were quoting me in English Pounds for some reason, not Euros. The converted Euro amount is E107.63, ouch! Not much of a bargain anymore.
A small personal note on the passing of David Bowie today. When I was in high school, I encountered his “old” stuff and it was a revelation. I was in 2nd year Uni when Let’s Dance came out and he just took over the world again. I saw him in concert in Toronto around 1989. Amazing writer and performer, nobody can hold a candle to his enduring talent and ability to evolve through so many personas and genres.
I woke up and did a slew of Facebook updates and then packed up and put my stuff next to the front door. My host agreed to let me keep my stuff here until the ferry is due to go this evening. It sails at 8 PM, so I have to be at the dock by 6 PM.
I went for my last walk around the city, and this place is so big that I’ve barely scratched the surface. I walked north and then along a major road until I came to a metro station. Hmmm, think I’ll jump on and explore the system. I paid E1.00 and boarded in the direction of the most distant station, about 12 stops away. The system seems quite old and the cars show it, but they do work nonetheless. In the middle of the afternoon, there was a surprisingly long time between trains, I didn’t notice until later but it had to be 15 minutes which is really, really long for a subway.
I rode out to the end and walked out of the station to what looked to me like a war zone. Broken tiles and glass, hasn’t-been-touched-for-a-decade construction projects and out on the street graffiti-covered industrial buildings and haphazard concrete barriers and cars just choosing whichever way they want to go. I decided to get some gelato and get right back on the metro. Looking around I spotted the only cafe-looking place and went in. Their idea of gelato was a cooler filled with Magnum ice cream bars, so I got one with almonds for E2. Eating quickly, I went back to the metro.
The ride back was strange for 4 PM. We got packed in like the Japanese metro system at peak rush hour. I have never been packed tighter in a subway in my life. I spilled out the door at my stop and let the waves of humanity go by until I was last down the stairs and out of the station.
I walked towards my place and picked up a couple of tuna and tomato sandwiches, Fantas and Snickers bars for my ferry ride. I learned my lesson from the ride over from Morocco.
Back at the Airbnb I did a bit more time on the web and then left at about 5:30 PM. I rolled just up the street to a taxi stand I spotted before. The ferry port is quite a walk from my place and now it’s raining, so time to invest in a taxi. As we arrive he asks for E20 and I point inside and say “Where’s the meter?” He pulls out a laminated card and points to various numbers. I give him a E20 note and he gives me back about E1 in small change. Thanks buddy.
I try 3 ticket offices before I find the right one and the man says “We have a problem tonight, the ferry no go, bad water.” Oh crap. He says I can postpone for one day or there’s another ferry going to the eastern side of Sicily tonight so I walk down to check. It’s lands 200km from Palermo, reaches shore at 3:30 AM and costs E20 more than my current ticket. I go back to the original ticket office and ask to postpone, thinking I have to contact my Airbnb host and ask if I can get the room for another night. The agent chats with the other ticket agent for a minute, then makes a call. I have no idea what’s going on. He then says “You sign paper, you can sleep on the boat tonight, then boat go tomorrow night.” I said “Yes!” I sign a waiver and agree that I will not expect to be served any food, damn good thing I brought my own to get me through the night!
With the waiver and my ticket in hand, I rolled up to the security gate outside. A guard escorted me to to the ship, a beautiful massive new-looking ship called the Fantastic. The guard hands me off to a guy at the loading dock who calls down a guy from inside. This guy takes me up to the reception desk and hands me off to the door key lady. I’m sure there’s an official name for her, maybe Ass. Bosun. My story is retold in Italian at every handoff. They all have a little look of surprise on their faces like this almost never happens but this is just awesome for me. I get to sleep on the boat for two nights, amortizing the originally high cost of my ticket. I get another day to explore Napoli tomorrow, and I keep the same cabin so I can leave all my luggage inside and not have to drag it around the city. After an absolute shit show start to Italy, things are balancing out nicely.
I’m shown to my cabin and it’s about the same size as I had coming over from Morocco but it’s set up for 4 beds, two on the floor and two bunks. It has a full bathroom with toilet and shower and it’s all so great and modern and awesome. There are power plugs right next to the bed and even a switch next to the bed that turns the overhead light off. Luxury! I do a bit of unpacking and then carefully walk to the back of the ship to get a cellular signal again to send a message to my Palermo Airbnb host asking if I can push my booking for one day due to the ferry issue. She responds quickly that everything is OK, so I now have a place to sleep, saved a bit of money and adjusted my next booking. Everything is alright with the world. And I have a sandwich for dinner. I’ll stay in my cabin tonight, being a good boy and not causing any undue stress to the crew.
I woke up about 8:30 AM on my stationary ferry. I watched some videos, got ready and left the ship around 10:00 AM. I walked up the coast road to the Castel d’Oro, an old fort on the waterfront that gets its name from the gold-colored sandstone blocks it’s constructed from. I stopped for a pastry and hot chocolate as the morning was bright and sunny but still cold.
I walked north along the water and then cut inland and walked up a wide pedestrian avenue lined with shops and cafes. I came to Galleria Umberto I, an 19th century building constructed for shopping, eating and apartments on the 3rd floor. It’s shaped like a giant X with beautiful glass domes along each arm.
I walked diagonally across the city and had some gelato at a cafe overlooking the heart of the city. There was a motorbike shop next door but it was closed in the middle of the afternoon, of course, so all I could do was rub my nose on the glass.
I came back down into the city and at a large square I stumbled on a bloodmobile. Remembering my earlier rejection back in Spain, I offered to donate and they were happy to have me. They got my name, address, birthdate and email address with a mixture of English and Italian. Instead of the 50+ medical and travel questions I’m used to, he asked me if I was taking any medication and if I had any serious medical problems. Getting a no, he pointed me to a table where a trainee nurse took my donation under the watchful eye of a seasoned doctor. With those eyes, she could have drained me dry and I’d still be happy! Everything went well and they gave me a small cup of water, two small cups of pineapple juice and a little Ritter Sport chocolate bar. Now that is the European way to reward a blood donor!
After getting discharged, I headed back towards the port, looking for a place for dinner. I walked down a narrow street when I discovered seven guitar shops in a row. I’m a sucker at drooling over beautiful guitars so I spent a lot of time on that little road. At the bottom of the street I found a sit-down restaurant and went in without looking at the menu, just happy to sit down and stretch my back out after a long days walk and a little less blood than I started out with. Looking forward to some kind of pasta with maybe a piccatta sauce or pesto sauce or cream sauce, I discover it’s some kind of high-end foo foo burger place. Ugh. Then I noticed a veggie burger on the menu. Normally I avoid these because one of the main ingredients to add flavor to veggie patties is onions and that’s bad news for me. Using my Google Translate app, I got the idea across about onions and the waitress said no problemo, or whatever the proper Italian is. Out comes the burger with a veggie patty and strips of roasted eggplant, lettuce and tomatoes plus a glass of red wine. It was actually pretty tasty, I need to try these more often.
I made my way back to the ferry ticket office to my helpful man again, he printed out a boarding pass and told me we were sailing tonight! I walked back to the security gate and the guard made it clear that I had to wait 30 minutes to get on. Another guy walked up who happened to be from Detroit. He just finished his journalism degree and is travelling through Spain and Italy before he goes back and tries to find a job.
We got the OK to walk to the ship and we boarded. Already having my door key, I went right to my room and rested for a little while. I then explored the ship which is so much better than my ferry from Morocco, but since it’s low season several of the lounges, bars and restaurants are closed up. Not a problem because enough other facilities are available.
Just as we pulled away, I went back to the room, took a seasickness pill anticipating a not-smooth crossing, and started watching videos. I definitely felt some pitching up and down as we progressed but nothing serious. The seasickness pill really knocked me out, I fell asleep about 10 PM.
Goodbye to Napoli, I only saw and ate a very small part of you but it was definitely worth the visit. Oh, and Napoli is covered in graffiti. Not just the grammatically incorrect “ROMANES EUNT DOMUS” but it’s on every surface, every wall, kinda sad.
