9:20pm: in Naples so tired and full I can barely even stay awake to write this. But first I must make the following declaration. Today, May 17, 2011, marks a divide in my life. All the days before today are BNP days. All the days after today are ANP days. That's Before Neapolitan Pizza and After Neapolitan Pizza. Yep, it's that good.
Anyway. Woke up and left the B&B in sorrento – I had paid the night before. Caught the 8:25ish train to Pompeii which kept filling up more and more with each stop. I was lucky to have a seat and even luckier to make it out alive at the right stop with all my belongings. Suffice it to say if I never see the circumvesuviana train again, it won't be sad. So I got to pompeii shortly after 9, got my ticket, left my suitcase, and set about trying to listen to Rick Steves's audio tour on my ipod. It started well enough but since the site is SO vast and things are always under construction and restoration, it ceased being productive pretty quickly. Got lost trying to find the theatres but finally did. The place is so big that I can see how people would spend the whole day there, yet it's so confusing, the signage so poor, and the roads so difficult on the feet to walk on that I don't see how.
Anyway, made it on a train to Naples shortly after noon. Pretty sure the cabbie stiffed me, I couldn't see the meter when he started and when we arrived it said 16.50 which seemed high. Then I gave him a 20 because it was all I had and he gave me no change. Whatever, I wasn't in the mood to fight over a couple of euros. Let's just say that Naples is like Rome on Charlie Sheen's crack. The traffic is about 1000 times crazier – if cars in front of the taxi were stopped he simply drove into the other lane around them about 3 inches away from their car! I have never seen anything like that.
So this B&B is fascinating. First, the building's elevator costs 10 cents to use. That's just amusing. Second, and I had read about this on tripadvisor but still... you're basically renting a room in his family's home. That means mamma and papa are here, kids, etc. I'm not even sure how many rooms they rent. Anyway, there was a bit of confusion as to whether the room I am currently in was actually mine (it's a huge triple, basically), but I went out and when I came back they said it was mine so here I am. Also when I was checking in, Carmine kind of gave me a once-over to make sure I wasn't wearing any valuable jewelry. Oy, that's an inauspicious introduction to this city.
I went out and set out to find Via Tribunali, a main drag sort of street with several sights as well as most of the recommended pizzerias I wrote down. Found a couple that had fry stands outside, got a crocche (potatoes and cheese fried) and a “pizza fritta” - which at this place was a huge thing of dough, fried, that appeared to have some cheese in it. Whatever, it was good in all its unhealthy glory, and cost a mere 1.50.
Found San Lorenzo Maggiore, a church with a whole old town underneath it, so I went and checked that out. There wasn't really much explanation about anything so I had no idea what I was seeing – basically more old ruins that at this point are looking the same. Checked out the duomo and wandered this area a bit, then went back near San Lorenzo and waited for the 4pm Napoli Sotteranea tour. That was great. Guide Raffaelle made jokes about the Naples contemporary art exhibit in the streets (aka the GARBAGE) and then took us on two unrelated tours. First he showed us parts of a Greco-Roman Amphitheatre, some of which was only discovered 6 months ago underneath the walls of a carpenter shop that closed. It's fascinating to see how people just have these staircases down underground in their homes under their beds and how people just built around the walls and arches of the theatre.
The 2nd part of the tour went over 100 steps underground through the ancient greco-roman aqueducts that were in use until the 1800s, then were used again as bomb shelters in WWII. Navigating a kilometer of cisterns, tunnels (sometimes so narrow and dark you have to hold a candle and walk sideways :/), etc, it was pretty cool. They had some war-era artifacts as well as Roman-era ones. Talking to another girl on the tour, we were joking that even if we had something like this in the US the tour couldn't happen because of the potential for lawsuits. So so true.
Wandered back around this neighborhood and found the famous street with all the handmade ceramic nativity scenes that are very special to Naples. The street is literally lined with maybe 20-30 shops. I Hung around and waited until 7 for Gino Sorbillo pizza to open. I kept reading and hearing that it was the best of the best and I knew I wanted to have an early night for several reasons. And all I can really say is OH MY GOD. Chewy charred crust, perfect light sauce, stringy cheese, way bigger than what most American pizzerias call a “large” and 3.30. yes that's 3 euros and 30 cents. Add in a water and the 10% service they add, and I walked out of there leaving 5 euros on the table. For the best bites of my life. And I'm still so full i'm looking at the delicious pastry I bought before dinner intending for dessert and I don't want it. Anyway, I made it back to the B&B only a short walk away and did some laundry and am planning to settle early since I have no internet and can't download all my Monday night shows anyway. Strangely, I had internet on my ipod when I checked in. But now I can't connect to that hotspot. Ah well. No TV in this room either so I will have to rough it ;)
Because Carmine is the only person who speaks English, I have been putting my little Italian to good use! I understood the mamma when she knocked on my door asking what time I wanted breakfast, and (I presume) Carmine's wife's face lit up in relief when I switched to Italian to confirm with her that this was indeed my room. Yay!
No comments:
Post a Comment