Napoli

Thursday did turn out to be our easiest day yet! We got to the train station in Formia within 10 minutes. Mike was able to get two seats next to each other fairly easily. We had an hour and a half, so we went across the street for, of course, coffee and pastry. This one was a bit crunchy like a rice crispy treat and the coffee hot and bitter.

The one hour train ride started with us finding a woman in one of our seats. She had very black hair and black smudged eye makeup and seemed tired or high. The four seats face each other and she was talking to a man across from her who turned out to be with her. She clearly did not want to leave her seat, so finally he moved next to her and Mike and I took the seats across from them. She had her phone charging in the table facing me and I thought I bumped it, so I straightened it out and she actually scowled at me. I smiled back. She and her husband (?) argued over who got the phone and her feet kept bumping mine, but whatever, I was enjoying the scenery. He started playing maybe YouTube videos of like motor cross racing so loud I actually had to keep myself from laughing! When her charger adapter fell I could see it was under her seat. They were having trouble finding it, so finally I gently tapped her sleeve and pointed and we laughed, so maybe we parted as friends 🙂

The scenery was many farms, with goats and water buffalos! Yep, it’s true. They use the milk to make Buffalo Mozzarella and it is sold everywhere. Literally huge black like cows with huge horns. There were acres of vineyards and some type of vegetables. There were many orange groves and small towns.

Alec’s brother, Cory, had offered to pick us up from the train station–a real luxury! While we waited we had a quick sandwich at the station while listening to several men of different ages play a piano in the food court. One older man played a long medley of Beatles songs!

We were a little weirded out about what we had learned about the area near the train station, and our $150 investment to not stay there haha, but there was considerable police and military presence so it seemed safe enough.

Getting to their apartment was insane. The traffic just moves differently in Italy, with cars and people and scooters going everywhere and squeeze into seemingly impossible places. A car would come straight at you from the side, then swerve or stop quickly. His brother explained that you have to pick a path and go; if you flinch you become a danger. At the red light, we could have reached out and touched a car on either side.

At their parking garage, you drop off your car and leave the keys in it. Some clever guys use lifts to park it like a puzzle within the small garage. They are on the 4th floor, with an incredible, roomy apartment that was warm as a bonus! It was so nice to rest, relax, and regroup at their lovely apartment and we spent some time figuring out where to go next.

Just as we had hoped, they took us to one of their go-to places for dinner. We had a nice bottle of the house red and got to hear more about living in Naples. Cory teaches for the Department of Defense, so he has high school kids whose military parents are stationed here. Sabrine works there too as a substitute teacher–today she is taking 9th graders on a bowling field trip!

They lead us to an amazing view of the city at night. Absolutely breathtaking with Mount Vesuvius in the background! When we got back to their building, a man in the building across from them was hoisting a basket from the ground up to his 5 floor apartment with maybe dinner in it!

Cory gave us a detailed route to take for a nice day trip overview of Napoli on Friday. It began by taking the funicolare, which is like a cable car that takes you up or down a small mountain. 1.10 euros for each ticket and we were on the way down!

Our first stop was a “galleria,” or like a shopping plaza. It was tall and beautiful with dozens of shops.

And a cardboard home for at least 3 people. I noticed an older man talking to the residents, who maybe are regulars.

We walked through the Spanish Quarter. It was very busy with locals and tourists and was simply fascinating. I have never been to Spain (maybe next month?), but parts of it resembled Mexico City, particularly a church I stepped into.

We heard a siren coming close and realized it was someone providing medical help, with 2 people zipping on a scooter and no one moving out of their way.

Of course football (soccer) is huge in Europe. Cory explained that in Napoli, they say it’s a religion, with a very famous player, Diego Maradona, at the top of religion and Jesus in second. His picture is everywhere and although he hasn’t played here since 1991, they were still waving his flag at the recent World Cup for the Argentina team where Diego was born.

Everywhere in Italy there is graffiti. Some of it is like artwork, some just random words, and some political statements. This shop is right near their apartment, along with pastry shops, fish markets, butchers, and fruit markets. As Cory said, it is a working neighborhood and you can get everything you need there.

In Rome I began noticing there was confetti all over. I noticed it in Formia also. Here in Naples, it is everywhere. I noticed large bags of it for sale at sidewalk stands for .50 cents. Cory said it is mostly kids throwing it during holidays. If they are named after a Saint, they will throw it on that Saint’s day also.

The night view area was of course just as amazing during the day. That is Mount Vesuvius with the snow on top–wow!

The huge Castel dell’Ovo was right behind us and although it was a hike to the top, we couldn’t resist. It was begun in the 1st century BC and fortified over the years as it is right on the coast so it offers a great view of all directions.

So yeah it was another amazing day. We enjoyed another lovely dinner with Cory & Sabrine and got to talk about our days. For dinner, I had linguini with fruit di mare, or fruit of the sea, so calamari, mussels, clams, shrimp, and a couple I wasn’t sure of 🙂 It was very good! After dinner, they brought us a basket of warm roasted chestnuts still in the shells. I have never had them but had seen them being sold on the streets in Rome–delicious!

They really love Naples and while they explained the city is working on some of the challenges, the people are friendly and the place it full of charm and character. <3