Naples, a GREAT Birthday and the STUNNING Amalfi Coast

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I can’t even remember when or where I left off with this blog so many things happen and we have had a challenging time with internet access. I think I last wrote a short blog the night before we left Florence and after we had what we both consider one of the best steaks EVER! We are going to try to replicate that steak when we get home but I don’t know if we will be able to, it was divine! The next day we were up and on the train by 9:15. It was my birthday and I opened some cards before we left and we thought of family and friends back home. This is my 5^thbirthday on 5 different continents and YES! I can remember each and everyone so very vividly. Nobody knows better than I do what it means to be very fortunate and blessed. This is one of my life’s’ blessings and without John I know for certain it would not be our reality. He has been with me for all but one of the birthdays. Anyway, instead of dreading the next number on the dial I choose to look forward and embrace what is inevitable.

We arrived in Naples from Florence just after noon on the 28^th and we QUICKLY realized that Naples is a really gritty, dirty, tough city. It is not a place that I would suggest to visit and the ONLY reason we went here was to join our small tour group for our hiking trip on the Amalfi Coast. The garbage in the streets is disgusting. The hotel we were in was nothing too special but the people working there were exceptionally kind and friendly. When we were checking in the girl started to congratulate John and I rather profusely and you could tell both by her expression and her enthusiasm that something was off…seems that through some kind of miscommunication they thought we were celebrating our 50^th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!! When the desk clerk showed us the paper John and I both burst out laughing. John said, “DO we LOOK like we have been married 50 years?” More to the point this is considered a fairly demanding hiking trip who, I need to know, after 50 years has the stamina to hike 15 kms uphill and down in 37 degree temps? Nobody we ever met or heard of! No wonder this girl was so excited. After we cleared that bit of confusion up we headed out for lunch. Naples is the birthplace for pizza and Italy is the home of great wine so lunch was a no brainer. After lunch we met up with our hiking group, filled in some paperwork and met everyone in the group. We are 12 people and of the group there are 3 couples, 1 pair of women friends, 1 single guy and 3 single girls. The women who are friends are teachers who met 10 years ago on an exchange. One from England and one from Kansas and they are good fun. The other two couples: one is our age and the other is younger. There are 3 younger (30 something) people and one older lady. After our orientation meeting we all headed out to a pizzeria! YAY! More pizza! I loved it and after dinner we had limoncello shots and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me in Italian. It was great fun and I really appreciated the memory! Turning 50, in Italy, eating pizza and drinking Limoncello….even though Naples is certainly not the most beautiful part of Italy it will be a good memory for me and John in the years to come.

The next morning we got into two minivans and headed out. Naples once again reaffirming itself as a positive slum; we drove past an area in Naples that looked alarmingly like tin city in Nairobi. I have not really felt that sad about a place and it is profoundly disappointing to see such an incredibly beautiful landscape so soiled by dirt, corruption, poverty and mismanagement. Truly disheartening and for those who have asked about the economic downturn in Italy it is manifested in Naples to be sure. The tourist trade to the north is much more robust and as a result there is little evidence of decline. In Naples it is brutally evident.

Mt Vesuvius looms large over the landscape as we headed to Pompeii. I have, for a long time wanted to see this place. The volcano erupted 24 August in the year 79 AD. The people in Pompeii were not affected by lava but within a few hours were buried under several meters of volcanic ash, the result was a city frozen in time. Petrified if you will. Excavation of Pompeii goes on today. It was really quite something, sad and startling and remarkable. We spent about 3 hours here and were given quite a good private tour. Again, it is very hot and like everything in Italy pretty crowded. The most startling things were seeing people preserved both by the ash and the use of archeological techniques of preservation, however some bones were clearly visible and people were both suffocated and heated to death. We saw original lead water pipes, stores, the forum, typical homes and villas. Some of the frescoes were still intact. The baths, the mosaic floors and most of the infrastructure remains as it was on that day in August of 79AD.

A quick lunch in Pompeii and we were off again to the Amalfi Coast. WOW! WOW! The drive is short but slow and winding. I could tell you pages worth of stuffing detail but instead will just describe the here and now. John and I are sitting in our room. The air conditioning is cranked. John is reading his book and half watching some racecar thing on the t.v. We are each enjoying an afternoon drink: him a beer me a glass of the local wine…the room is simple: wood beamed roof, plaster walls, tile floor, simple bathroom. There are three steps down into the room; it was, after all a Monastery built in the 16^th century. There is wifi, there is a small desk, a wooden chest and a small day bed. From the bed that we are sitting on we can look out the window facing us and on one side is the Mediterranean Sea, the tip of the isle of Capri and on the other side a sheer mountain cliff. If I were to go to the window I would look down onto a vineyard, lemon trees, olive trees and small villas which dot the landscape. We are carved into a niche and it is positively stunning. This is an agriturismo a place that has more than one use: it is a farm and most of what we will eat this week will have been grown here. There are chickens, goats, a large garden and a vineyard. The views are positively stunning. On Thursday night they are hosting a party to celebrate the start of August and many of the local people are coming. The grounds are quite large, there is even a small chapel on site and they host weddings here. I swear this is so beautiful and romantic and amazing. I think we are going to have a lot of fun this week and we are going to enjoy a part of Italy that is touristy for locals but not so well travelled as other parts of Italy. And, for those of you who know us best John and I love nothing more than uncharted territory.

Well, we are now sitting outside, it is very hot, but it is the nicest place I can think of being. Tonight I will have my first Italian cooking lesson. While I am excited for this I am also really looking forward to hiking tomorrow. We go to Amalfi the town. Positano and Capri…Naples may have been a disappointment from the perspective of poverty and decay but I was afforded the lovely luxury of a memory that will outlive the bit of bad stuff, our entire holiday so far…has been perfect! More to come….ciao! nan

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Comments

[Aunt Carol]

Naples
If you read the book Eat, Pray, Love - you would know that Italy was the "eat" part. And the author went to Naples just for the pizza. Most of southern Italy is off the beaten path for all but nationals. And it's stunningly beautiful. So glad you are having such a wonderful time. Monsie is forwarding blog link to me.