Napoli - where pizza began and home to the mob

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It's no lie. Italians really do eat pizza, a lot of pizza and who'd have thought it...pasta too. I was in heaven - as soon as we left Bari that was.

The morning of leaving hell hostel in Bari we hopped a train for Napoli. A place we had wanted to go because of it's rich history and location - being so close to mount Vesuvius and the amazing Roman city of Pompeii was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. Having studied these places at school it was one of those things I just had to do. Blake was suitably interested too! We also wanted to see Naples because of the notorious links to the mob. Being huge Sopranos fans, we wanted to see a few Paulies and Tony's bobbing around - and did we. A brief stop in Casserta we had our first escalope sandwiches, near enough to chicken schnitzel for us. We witnessed a group of Italian women, middle aged, chat their way into the railway restaurant and order 2 entire large pizzas, that were normally sold slice by slice. The pieces were enormous, yet each woman proceeded to take two slices stack one on top of the other and fold once in half. Each finishing their two pieces in about 45 seconds flat. I had never seen anything quite like it. I have realised that folding your pizza slice is the only way to eat pizza, it also gets eaten quicker this way - I'm not sure that's a good thing though. After their slices followed pastries. I love this country, I thought to myself. After a few tourist shots of us in front of the Casserta sign, we jumped on a smaller train, a lot scungier - kind of like the type of train you would catch from Newcastle to Sydney or Liverpool to Blackpool.

Arriving in Naples we were dubious, to say the least about what our next lot of accommodation would be like. Based on Bari's efforts we were a bit worried and presumptuous. This wasn't helped by the fact that when arriving to the metro station that googlemaps had led us to, we were met with... no hostel. Blake has become accustomed to drawing these maps of where the hostels are in a note book, writing the reference number next to the map as well as the address and contact details of the places were are to stay. An ingenious idea, one that I no doubt would have disregarded and in most cases would have just jumped in a cab. But being on this backpackers "cheap but fun" journey, hand drawn maps have become key. His map was correct, googlemaps was not. We were off by about two streets, no biggy really. After being laughed at by an elderly Italian couple we managed to find our hostel. Through big wooden doors off a main intersection, we were met with an atrium style abode. Several dwellings off each tier. Our hostel luckily was at the top, great. We fell into the doorway. Less then impressed, we told the guy in reception that this place was difficult to find. He seemed surprised and told us there was a big red sign that said 'Welcome Inn' of course there was....


Upon arriving at Welcome Inn, we were impressed and pleasantly surprised. it was clean, the guy in reception, Dave an Italian native born and bred in Napoli was hungover but pleasant and informative. Plus the walls were painted different colours, a sure sign that this place was going to be good. After giving us all the information in the world on where to go in Naples, what to see, where to eat THE best pizza, Dave showed us our palace of a room. It's always harder to find a nice hostel with a double private. Unless desperate we try not to stay in dorms, they are too noisy and usually filled with weirdos that smell bad, so private, if we can afford it is the way! This room was huge, private shower and toilet, big double bed and big windows (note: big windows..). we were happy.

Later that night we headed out for some dinner, around 7.30 and later is when it all kicks off restaurant wise. being a Sunday it was a little difficult to find something that was open and cheap. Finally we stumbled upon the amazing 'da Giginos' this little family run place just off Piazza Dante. It was everything we had hoped for, small, non English speaking and as authentic as they come - well so we thought anyway. The food was great and really cheap too, around €4.50 per main. I ordered matriciana and Blake, rigotoni a la mama. Both delic! We spent all together about 3 hours just sitting eating, sipping and watching the few people that came for late bites. We were among other tourists it seemed, an older Japanese couple, a German couple and their daughter and us. The place was tiny so that many bodies made it seem pretty packed. We all had to communicate in broken English or Blake's "Italian" - Which was just bad Spanish pronounced differently, mostly pointing and hand signals though. like i said, this place was pretty genuine.

About 9.30pm, two older Italian women bustle through the door, they seemed to know Gigino our waiter and had an already pre-booked regular table at the back. They were obviously sisters, one slightly older looking than the other - a smoker we summised. The pair chatted feverishly, loudly laughing and checking all of the tourists out. Within seconds without even ordering the women were served with 2 cokes and a plate of what looked like pastries, pre-dinner pastries was my kind of starter. A younger woman soon showed up with a small boy and a new born baby. The two older women soon swooned over the new born, plucking the baby from its mother. The baby was swallowed in kisses, the loud kind of kiss your nan might give you on the cheek - the kind that leaves a mark! They were rough with the baby but in a loving way if that makes sense. I guess they aren't going to break and maybe that's just how Italians handle their babies - like pass the parcel. Even so, it was an eventful night, very entertaining, cheap and most of all filling!

After a few beverages in us we hit home exhausted and fell straight to sleep.... The next morning we awoke with what seemed to be red welts on our arms and backs. Mine worse than Blake's for some reason. I was convinced that it was bed bugs and instantly freaked out. I thought maybe it was a little gift left over form hell hostel in Bari. I thought maybe the hostel we were staying in was clean on the surface but in reality all for show. I didn't know what to think, just..ewwwww. Fist thing first, we showered, clean out our bags and then demanded a room change. I wasn't sure how that would go down. Blake went and asked and upon his return he gave me a small bottle of lotion, apparently it was mosquito season in Italy and we shouldn't leave the windows open - a mistake I had made the night before. The lotion was for mosquito bites. Still not convinced, I wanted to change rooms then take all of our clothes and wash them - we needed to wash anyway so it wasn't completely a waste of time.

We later spoke to a Canadian guy, Blake funnily enough, that worked at our hostel and he had also been ravaged during the night. For all of its good points, i couldn't understand why the hostel staff did not inform us of this epidemic when we arrived. None the less I was now convinced it was actually mosquitoes and not bed bugs, much to my delight. Nevertheless, we were still marred with the mozzy bites. Bites so big it looked like we had contracted some sort of tropical disease. Luckily it was chilly in Naples and T-shirt weather was out, long sleeves were in. Covered up and masked in 'Targon' an Italian itch repellent, we set off to find a laundry mat and Naples famous pizza from Pizzeria Sorbillo.

We headed down town and found a launderette that Dave, our hostel guy had pointed out to us on a map. Luckily he new where we were headed because we certainly did not. Naples is a funny place, its got the best of everything and the worst it seemed. Beautiful old architecture, cobble streets, food vendors selling whatever kind of Italian food you wanted at a reasonable price - it's also full of illegal immigrants selling junk on the side of the road, homelessness is rife and bad drivers are everywhere. I don't know how we didn't see any road accidents at all. We certainly saw enough close calls though which implied that just because we didn't see any, probably didn't mean crashes didn't happen. Italians in Naples are lunatic drivers. I guess you could say they are almost a little talented, maneuvering like rally car drivers is stock standard there. Small streets which you assume are walkways, quickly become scooter ways when the plentiful Vespas mount the curb. I saw a family of three on a scooter, the dad on the front a toddler standing in the middle and the mum on the back - anything goes on naples roads. Another treat, was seeing the many three wheeled trucks forcing their way up the step streets. These looked to be predominantly used for work trucks - Blake pointed out that these would most likely end in disaster if you hit a corner too quickly - they looked nice an unsafe.

Dropping our clothes off at the launderette, the gentleman there took our name and hotel details, we asked why he needed all of this info? He pointed to a suitcase that had been left by an American woman over six months ago. He said sometimes people can't find him once they leave due to the weaving streets or sometimes they dont come back and pay. This was the case with the American woman's trundle bag. We paid in advance and wrote down his address, just to be on the safe side.

Sorbillos pizza was our next stop. It was on the same street as a pizzeria visited by Bill Clinton when he was serving as US president. It wasn't the same place but came highly recommended - and they weren't wrong. Sorbillos have been serving pizzas since 1935 and it seems to be a family run business - Gino Sorbillo an ancestor of the original Sorbillo now operates this touristy - but very good pizza place. The pizza was served as soon as it was ordered, fired in a wood fired oven these bad boys didn't need long. The traditional way to serve a pizza in Italy is thin and crispy, none of this thick, with cheese stuffed crust business that American chains have brainwashed us all with. Its simple tomato, mozzarella and basil capeesh?. For 6 euros a pizza we thought this was a pretty damned good deal, the pizza on our plates didn't last too long.

Digesting my pizza, Blake next set his eyes on his first proper Italian Cannolo or in English and for those Sopranos lovers - a Cannoli. These are tubed shaped shells of fried pastry filled with a sweet creamy filling of ricotta cheese - heart stoppers in other words. It had to be done though. These didn't last long either. Naples had shown us its fruits and we liked. Next stop was a day trip to Pompeii.

Still battling our itchies and the swelling persisting, we decided to get out of the city for the day and head to the amazing city of Pompeii. Only about an hour out of Naples on the Metro system we had arrived. Not much to look at, at first we decided to have a breather in the cafe/bar and treated ourselves to a cafe, a one euro shot of heaven. Italians really do make the best coffee.

Upon entering the Pompeii complex you are met with a myriad of tour guides bartering to take you on there all singing all dancing all english speaking tour. Us being the cheapskates that were were, took the budget option of a free map and guide book. 11 euro entrance fee and a pre-packed lunch to boot, we were ready for some history. We were greeted with a steep climb of uneven blocks that formed the gateway to the city of Pompeii. There were a lot of signs around basically explaining that the surface was uneven and you should have flat walking shoes on in order to avoid hurting yourself. The first thing we saw was a woman wearing a pair of heels, I was confused. Why would you wear heels to Roman ruins, prey-tell?

The first site I spotted was Mt Vesuvius lurking behind the city's horizon. It looks just like a regular mountain with small homes adorning the base of it. It's hard to imagine it erupting and destroying all life around it in 79AD. The town is almost completely preserved, much to our amazement. I had studied Pompeii in Ancient history during my HSC so new a little about the background but had no idea just how much of the ruins would be visible. It is literally like you are walking through a small city - obviously a city that has been through an earthquake and a two day volcano but still you can see where the markets were, inside homes and atrium's, where gardens were and mosaics and even the remains of several Pompeian's that were caught in the falling 4-6 feet of ash and preserved in molten lava. These people are shown in preserved casings that retained their skeletal forms, its really weird to be looking into the face of an actual Roman, interesting though. Areas of the city are still being excavated, the city wasn't rediscovered until 1599 and I believe excavations are still taking place bit by bit. Its a fascinating place and really does evoke a surreal sense. You are standing in a city that was a functioning at the height of the roman empire, it really does provide an incredible insight into daily roman life.

On our second last day in Naples we decided to try and reach the Almalfi coast. The weather looking oh so dubious we decided to risk it anyways. We hadn't realised just how cold it would be this time of year in Europe. Once again we hadn't researched very well. I guess it makes things interesting though right? We hopped on the metro which took us all the way to Sorrento.

The train pulled up in Sorrento, we didn't stay long as there was a bus due soon that was heading to Positano. We grabbed a macchiato and then headed for the bus. Blake has become accustomed to saying the one and only line of Italian that he knows, luckily for us it is "can I have two macchiato please." The sky was a few shades short of black, but we were here and needed to make it to Almafli.

We could see that the sky was looking seedy from our bus window, having said that, two seconds after getting off of the bus at Positano it started to poor. I'm talking torrential and cold too! It wasn't really the coastal experience that we had in mind. Never the less we got on with it. A 3 euro umbrella that I had managed to pick up in Naples basically folded inside out due to the wind - useless. Our backpack with homemade lunch was drenched on the outside but luckily in tact on the inside. Our ham and cheese sarnys were fine, phew! Our shoes and pants however, were not. The jackets that we bought on a last minute whim have turned out to be lifesavers. You will probably notice that we are wearing them in every photograph taken, we do bathe it's just freezing everywhere we seem to go, or raining so these Euro bad bays have come in oh so handy. A stylish addition to our already pimping backpacking outfits (or outfit, should I say).

Positano even in the rain was lovely. I can imagine just how amazing it would be in the summer time, lots of outdoor eateries and nick-nack shopping to be had. Us being poor however, struggled to find our perfect addition to our magnet collection for under 4 euro. We gave in and bought our Positano magnet anyway.

We sat for some lunch in the church doorway as the rain inhibited us from standing out. It was nice but pretty budget, good all the same. When the rain had eased to a slight drizzle we wandered down to the beach and took a few touristic shots. With this, we had "done" positano and headed for the bus back to Naples. The Journey there and back out did the amount of time total we spent on the Almafi coast. Actually technically we didnt even make it to Almafi, the weather was just to bad. We had a great time though, the weather has become quite a source of entertainment, wherever we go it rains.

As we were waiting for the bus, a small white fiat pulled up next to us. The hill was slight, the car was driven by a lunchy italian woman - she had stalled it. The windows and doors were all wound up and shut but you could still hear her screens and swearing from outside. It was hilarious. i felt bad for the woman as this had happened unfortunately near a tourist bus stop full of tourists. A german couple next to us made no secret of their joy, she loked at them and said something in Italian - it didnt deter them. Meanwhile the traffic building up behind her was growing. She mad a swift phone call and with that a man appeared and eased it off the hill onto the side of the road. two young guys that were stuck behind her must have said something like "learn how to drive" two fingers came up and a sharp "fa fungulo" followed. This in itself was worth the 3 hour trip to Positano.

The next day we set off for Milan, almost sad to see the end of our Naples leg. Its a great city, with plenty to offer - amazing food which at the time we thought expensive but upon reflection was actually pretty reasonable in comparison to places like Milan and Bordeaux. We had a great time in Naples, met some fun people and stayed in a wicked hostel - sure we were rained on and eaten alive by mosquito's but that is part and parcel of travel. Highly recommend this busy, crazy city.

Next blog: Milano!

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Photos

Scungy Palace
There was a bride and groom having their wedding pictures here..amongst the dogs and rubbish. Classy.