December 6th and 8th form a quirky set of holidays in Spain. The 6th is the day the Constitution was ratified after the fall of Franco, and the 8th is the Immaculate conception. 90% of Spaniards take the 7th off to form a "puente" or "bridge" between holidays. When they happen to fall on a Tues and Thurs, like 2011, many people take the whole week off to form an aquaducto. That's how J and I found ourselves deciding to visit Naples and Rome. 130€ later we were set to go on Ryan Air. Side note:we still cant believe that for ~65€ a piece we can get to Rome during a major Catholic holiday...
We were fortunate enough to overlap with my 2nd parents, Mike & Donna Koeppel, in Naples. Unfortunately, David had to go to a training excercise (can you believe the Navy actually wants him to work?!?!), so we only got to see him for a day.
We heard all the warnings about the pickpockets in Naples, even from Spaniards. That seemed odd to us, given that BCN is just as bad (as J can attest to from her first day here!). We were also warned about the traffic, the mob, and the trash problems. The cant miss recommendations of Naples are the pizza, the ruins of Pompeii, and the Amalfi coast, so it's not all gloomy.
Our first impression of Naples is that the city and streets are not our favorite. In an earlier post, I talked about Athens being dirty. The difference between Athens and Naples is that Athens felt like it was decaying, and turning back into dirt, Naples was dirty in a different way. Small piles of trash littered every alley, building corner, etc, while graffiti on top of graffiti on top of more graffiti turned the city into a bit of an eyesore.
Every single thing you hear about driving in Naples is true. J and I were grateful that our hosts have adapted into local maniacs behind the wheel, they both navigated through incredibly convoluted routes, and through traffic that appeared certain to cause imminent death. What you dont hear about is the challenge of being a pedestrian in Naples. People dont stop for you if you are waiting at a crosswalk, and good luck finding a signal. My best strategy? Take a deep breath, cross your fingers, close your eyes, and take that first step. I was never pummeled, and I didnt have to deal with the fear of seeing a car come barreling at me, only to stop at the last second. However, once the locals are out from behind the wheel, they are some of the friendliest and most helpful people we have met. This includes one memorable little old lady who walked us all the way to the train station, even though she didnt speak a word of English, and our Italian was limited to "grazie" and "estacione".
For us, the best parts of the Naples landscape was outside the actual city. 3 specific places we enjoyed were Erculano (also buried by the Vesuvius eruption, smaller, but better preserved), the Amalfi Coast, and J's favorite, the American grocery store on the Naval Base!
The biggest takeaway for J and me at Erculano was that this civilization was not primitive, the people just trying to survive, but people that valued art, decoration, and other luxuries. Many of the residences has art on the walls, fountains in the courtyard, and the floors were incredibly intricate with thousands of small tiles, patterned in various colors, and placed very evenly throughout the whole floor. Someone took the time to collect all the rocks, sift and sort them, and then place them carefully in the floor. It just really struck us how many luxuries the people of the town actually had.
The mudslide that closed the road to the Amalfi Coast ended up being a real blessing. We were undeterred by the police saying something in Italian to the effect of "Not this way pal", not when we had our trusty friend GPS with us. Small, numberless windy roady on the map? Let's do it! Fortunately, this route led through forests and into panoramic views of Mt Vesuvius, the ocean, the neighbouring valley, and of course, the Amalfi coast. In my mind, it was just as stunning as the landscape of Oia in Greece, but it somehow felt a little more real (perhaps the small farms dug into the side of the hills helped). I can understand why nightly rates during peak season have priced the lowly mortals like J and I out.
My new hobby is comparing the experiences of Linhaa in Hong Kong (such as cooking solely with a toaster oven, huge language barriers, but having huge varieties of delicious Asian foods), David and Ali's experience in Naples (95% of restaurants are Italian, trying to get pets calm and happy, and knowing you are leaving in a few years) with ours in Spain. It turns out David and Ali have been cheating in finding American comforts, as they are shipped by the Navy. J's ears instantly perked at the proposal of a guest pass, and the grocery store landed on the agenda. What, you ask, were our high priority items that we just cant get anywhere else? Peanut Butter (naturally), Nature'sValley granola bars, Maraschino cherries (for some reason they are just plain bad here), candy canes!, graham crackers and marshmallows (how can I have s'more if I havent had any yet...), Cherry Coke, and deodorant. $75 later, and a promise by Ali that we could borrow an extra suitcase to fit our unexpected presents later, J was a very happy camper.
Special mention has to go to the food in Naples. The fresh pasta's were delicious, but the wood fired pizza was absolutely fantastic. The crust, the fresh buffalo mozzarella, I dont know how David and Ali stay so skinny! The other local delicacy is sfogliatelle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfogliatelle Layers of awesome filled with deliciousness, it rivaled the pizza as our favorite food of the trip.
Rome makes me sad I am not more religious. The pure grandeur of the cathedrals, and above all the Vatican was overwhelming. I can see why so many people come to this place searching for God. I did not know that I was a fan of Raphael, but both J and I were amazed by his frescoes. The Sistine chapel was every bit as amazing as it seems, covered floor to ceiling in Michelango masterpieces. On the flip side, I am conflicted when I think about how poor many of the peasants and worshippers have been throughout the ages, while the Vatican has spent a large fortune in aesthetic pursuit of art and architecture. I cant deny the success of creating an ethereal house of worship, but I cant help but think they could have used the money to help people better...
Rome truly spans the ages, starting with the Coliseum, and the Empire of Nero. I came away surprisingly disappointed, I guess maybe I expected too much, I wanted to feel the gladiators, but the outside is so much more iconic than anything inside. Then we work our way to the Pantheon, built is ~200 AD, it is the largest non reinforced dome in the world! You could put a sphere 43.2 m in diameter in the building and it would fill up the entire church to within centimetres. It is 1800 years old, and STILL one of the most incredible architectural feats in human history... wow...
Following that, it moves into the middle ages and the rise of the Vatican and church, and all the way to Martini branded skyscrapers and fashionable shopping of today. The other structures that stood out were the fountains. Even though it is a big touristy schtick, Trevi fountain was worth every second of the visit. It was fun to "stumble" across other fountains and plazas, including Villa Borghese.
While we had some good food, Rome was a bit of a letdown compared to Naples. Perhaps we weren't in the right district, or perhaps Naples just set the bar too high. We have developed a benchmark to determine the level of culture... unique things on the McDonalds menu. Italy gave us olives, stuffed with meat, then breaded and fried, fried shrimp, and my fave, pistachio McFlurry. They're the finest delicacies we have seen yet!
Both J and I left Italy with the same concludion, the city of Naples does not pass the "Could I live here?" test (despite the food), but Rome does. All in all, it was a very good week
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