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Published: January 13th 2012
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Napoli, city of contrasts!
On our last vacation time before we headed home, we ventured to southern Italy. Forewarned that, "...evil lurking at every corner--wenches, gigolos, and confidence men abound!" 😊 But it was not
too sketchy, and a lot of it was very beautiful. Early in the morning, we embarked on the first of two trains to reach our destination. The regional trains are much cheaper, so we took one from Bomarzo to Roma, and then a few hours later from Roma to Napoli stopping frequently on the way. On the train there were some children sitting across the aisle from us. One little boy with an extremely stretchy face made the most crazy expressions. Both kids were kinda pudgy even though their parents were slim and kid with the elastic face was eating smarties, fidgeting and every once in a while kicking the older man sitting across from him. I'm pretty sure that if they hadn't gotten off the train at an early stop the strained smile of the old man would have turned murderous.
We also made friends with an Italian sitting across from us and are going to visit him in Mondragone (mouth of the
dragon) next week. His town is called that because people used to sit in the hot springs, but sometimes the sulfur was so strong it killed them! (i.e. the dragon got them). The mountain around there also looks a bit like a sleeping dragon.
When we arrived in Napoli we found a city covered in trash (much like after a parade, but before the street cleaners come by). A lot of people tried to sell us lighters or socks (and later Ipads, and Ipods), but we had all we needed so we started off to try and find our hostel. As we walked to the first hostel on our list to see if they had any rooms available, this guy right in front of us walked over to this corner and started peeing! Maybe if it had been dark, or if he looked drunk this might have been unremarkable, but right there in broad daylight, just peeing. The first hostel we tried to stay at was booked so we walked back toward Piazza Garibaldi and stayed at a place close to the station.
We had a lot of walking adventures all around Napoli. We visited castle ovo, (the
Christmas Tree
Where everyone writes their notes to Babo Natale egg castle). It was on a little islet jutting out from the coast. It's called the egg castle because there used to be an egg in it that if it got destroyed the city would also be destroyed. Very interesting and beautiful views.
The next day we ate some delicious pizza from the first pizzeria in Napoli. You can tell how incredibly popular it is by the crazy long line out the door at pretty much all times! Even though there are so many people (and the inside of the restaurant is SO crowded you can barely move), the guys who work there are well practiced and
really fast! We got our pizza to-go so we didn't have to wait for a table and enjoyed it up in our hostel with some new friends we made in the pizza shop.
Earlier that day while wandering around we ran into a festival. It was January 6th, which is known to children as the day that Befana the witch comes and gives candy and little treats to everyone. The fire department was in the piazza and they were giving rides to the children in the cherry pickers that go up
and down on the back of the fire trucks. Then, all attention was directed to the top of the tall building behind us. As the navy band played, a fireman in a dress with an old lady mask and a broom was lowered via zip-line down towards the ground throwing candy onto the crowd (talk about Mardi Gras come early...)! It was from so high up that it shattered a bit on landing, but everyone cheered and loved it!
Walking along the ocean away from the festivities we saw The Happiest Man in Napoli. He was asleep in the sun under a statute with at least six dogs cuddled up around him! This man loves dogs. On our way back we talked to him and learned that he had ten dogs (a few of the names I remember are Big Willie, Rocky Balboa, and another one named after a soccer player). He lived close to there and took his dogs out for walks in shifts. They were very friendly, some of them (even the large ones) had sweaters on and one of the little ones got in my lap and nuzzled me like a cat would. He loved the
attention so much that he would start growling if I stopped petting him.
After lunch, we adventured up to the Castillo di San Sebastian. It was quite the hike! Just when you thought you were at the top of the stairs, it turned and went straight up even more. But it was well worth the amazing ocean views and sunset at the top.
We didn't make it to Pompeii, but went to the National Archeology Museum where they have moved many of the artifacts from there. No preserved humans (except for one mummy). But they had a very interesting secret room with some risque stuff taken from the ruins...
On our last walking adventure we walked for a while on the coast (it's so beautiful!!!) Watching the sailboats and all the people that were out, even though it was pretty chilly.
Although we had a mixed first impression, I really had a great time in Napoli. It's a city like no other I've visited in Italy. Now we're back on the farm, enjoying our last few days of work before we head back to the U.S. (Can't believe we've been here almost 3 months!) We've learned
a lot and had an amazing time in Italy, but we're really looking forward to seeing everyone back home, and hopefully starting on a garden of our own. 😊
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