Sunday, November 1, 2009

Italy Trip - Sorrento & Naples Day 8 & 9

This is taking me way longer than I thought it would.  Oh well, I will plow through it.  Sorry, no pictures for this part of the trip.  This was our second time in the city, so there was not as much new stuff to take pictures of.  The trip to Naples also had no pictures and I will explain why in a little bit.

We got back to Sorrento and we were glad to be back someplace that was familiar.  Unfortunately for us, the hotel we had stay earlier, Hotel Sorrento City did not have room availability that night.  Now I do have to say something about this. Earlier, I gave a fairly positive review of this hotel.  For what we spent, it was a good deal.  But I have to say that the receptionist on this day was extremely unhelpful.  When we got to the hotel we were told they were booked.  We asked if she knew of any nearby hotels that were approximately the same price.  Now most hotels will help you out here.  If they cannot house you, they are usually more than willing to help you out.  But she refused to help us.  I do not know if it was out of ignorance or out of just a bad attitude, but in any case it was very disappointing to me since they had been so good to us earlier.

We made our way down the street where we knew there was another hotel to ask if they had availability.  Lucky for us there was and it was fairly cheap.  Now, I didn't mind staying at a nicer place but this hotel, Hotel Nice,  had one thing really going for it.  It was close to where we were, so we didn't have to carry the luggage any farther, and it was close to the train station where we would have to go to catch the bus to Naples in two days.   The amenities were the bare minimum.  But if all you were looking for is a bed in a good location and a cheap price it fits the bill.  Now a word of warning.  If you want a restful nice sleep with very little noise this might not be the place for you.  The noise outside the window was pretty bad and it continued for most of the night.  To make matters worse, the insulation of the building was not very good and my wife was pretty cold most of the night.  Again, you get what you pay for.

The oddest thing about the trip was that we actually ran into two of our wedding guests in the city.  We had actually run into them twice randomly in Capri and it was odd to run into them again.  It ended up being perfect because it allowed us to just hang out and relax our first night back with some friends without really worrying about what to do.

The next morning, we made our way on the train to Naples.  Naples is the birthplace of pizza.  My wife, being a foodie, wanted to go and get a slice.  So we hopped on the circumvesuviana and headed toward Naples.  Now Naples is not a safe place.  To go with some of the worst driving in Italy (and that is saying something) it is also well known for its mafia presence.  Just the other day there was news of a man shot down in broad daylight.  If that is not enough to scare you I don't know what will.  So we decided not to bring anything of value with us, and that included the camera.  That's why there are no pictures for this part of the trip.

The stories really do turn out to be true.  The driving was quite crazy and the city just has a very dirty feel to it.  We didn't feel particularly safe walking around.  We didn't get mugged or anything but we still decided to get out of Naples as soon as we got our pizza.  We were looking for a particular pizza place that was recommended, but like all Italian locales it is hard to find unless you know exactly where it is.  The problem is that the streets are so poorly marked.  We asked several people along the way and I swear, they all pointed us in different directions.  We finally gave up on that place and just went to a vendor that looked busy.

He had a sign for pizza for 1.50 Euro.  That is pretty cheap but he was busy and the people didn't look disappointed.  We asked for two slices but when he started to hand us a whole pie we decided to just get the one.  We couldn't believe the whole thing was just 1.50.  And it really did turn out to be the best pizza ever.  No joke.  The crust was just absolutely amazing.  There was nothing special on the pizza.  It was literally just crust, some sauce, and a LITTLE bit of cheese.  But it was so fresh and so good.  I would risk going back to Naples just to get another slice.  OK, maybe I wouldn't.

We headed back early and just relaxed back in Sorrento.  We actually had to go back to Naples to catch a plane to Venice early the next morning.

1 comment:

  1. Naples does sound scary. I had heard similar stories from other people but figured they were just that. Stories.

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