Left Florence on an 11am Eurostar train direct to Naples. The Italian trains on a whole might not be the most well kept trains on the planet, but the Eurostar is fantastic. Very modern coaches with really comfy seating and they’re quick too, but pretty expensive just like the ICE equivalent of the DB in Germany. Once off the train I got out my little notebook which I write down hostel directions in, and various other hilarious things that i come up with, and I have to catch the metro a few stops and change lines once as well. All good, im getting good at figuring out foreign train systems. Its all good and well once im on the train, but I was stranded trying to find where to buy the stupid tickets. I couldn’t find anywhere, and the train official I spoke to was a spanner and was no help. I ended up just going without a ticket and risking it. Off the metro and it was supposed to be about a 500m walk to the hostel. It was a sunday so every single shop was closed and there was hardly anyone around. There was rubbish everywhere. Was a bit of a shock to be honest, my first impression of Naples was that it was a third world city and I very well may not make it to the hostel with my kneecaps intact.
The hostel was down a tiny alleyway which on a Sunday looked like it attracted maybe 3 people in the day. Pressed the buzzer for their level and was buzzed in. The hostel (6 Small Rooms) was one level of a multi level building, very common for all hostels in Naples. The hostel was pretty sweet. It was what seemed to be an apartment previously thats just been converted. The three large rooms had five single beds in each one (yes, no bunk beds!), the living room was the common room with a tv and heaps of movies, there was a fully equipped kitchen that was free to use, and free wireless as well. Overall not bad and would definitely stay again.
The time that was actually spent in Naples was just wondering around getting lost and seeing the sights that they have on offer. My initial impression of the city was quickly changed though. All of the tiny closed up alleys that I went down on Sunday were now bustling with street business. There are hundreds of clothes shops, especially ladies lingerie and wedding dresses, a huge amount of pizzerias, and so many crazy scooter drivers it was nuts.
Crossing the street is quite the adventure too. Florence was a cake walk compared to this place. There are basically no rules in Naples, there are lights but they aren’t obeyed, only on the really big intersections they take notice of them. So when you want to cross the road…you just start walking, and hope that the cars stop. It takes a bit of getting used to, but after a while you get confident and just walk straight out on to the road.
Pizza. How can I talk about Naples without mentioning pizza. Its the birthplace of pizza, where it all started all those years ago. Lets just say I wasn’t let down at all. The traditional Margherita pizza is just phenomenal. Fresh made dough, freshly made tomato sauce, mozzarella, couple of leaves of basil, splashing of oil, then blasted in the super hot pizza ovens for about 2 minutes. And the cost? 3 euros. I ate pizza for all of my lunches and dinners bar about two. For lunch the pizzerias sell a smaller marinara pizza. A traditional Neapolitan marinara pizza isn’t seafood though, its just the tomato sauce with a tiny bit of mozzarella sometimes. It costs 1 euro and gets wrapped up like a crepe so you can eat it on the run. Its fantastic. All of the pizzas are just so simple, but they know how to do it right, and no where else in Italy can you get the same style of traditional Neapolitan pizzas.
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