Napoli aka: Naples

A good base for visiting Pompeii and Capri.

Do not arrive by train at night if you aren’t absolutely sure you know the most direct route to your hotel. If you’ve got guts, you can get a ride in a taxi. Walking around with luggage, looking lost, at night, in Napoli isn’t very wise or fun.

Don’t get in a taxi!!!! It was the most terrifying experience of my life (minus the metro being shut down in Roma in the am only to have a sea of people at the bottom of a not stopping escalator)the driver cut lanes, hopped curbs (he kicked us out of the car at one point because he had beached it while trying to get over to the railed bus side to cut traffic – as in we could have been stuck on the tracks). Luckily we had a camera that did video in tow…as our reactions are permanently documented- and he sure did get us to our destination fast.

Interesting story. I had come to Italy in search of discovering my roots and learning more about my family history. Out of the few months I was there this summer, I took a short trip to Barcelona to visit some friends. While there, I met a friend of a friend (born and raised in northern Spain) who had studied abroad in Naples. Since I speak very little Spanish, she and I communicated in Italian, my second language that I am still stuggling with learning. Anyways, as I was explaining to her why I had come abroad, I told her a bit about my family history, what the surnames were that I was looking for, where my grandparents were born, etc. As I told her my last name and where my grandfather was born, she gasped and exclaimed that her boyfriend, who is Italian and lives in Naples, has the same last name as me AND was born in a town right next to where my grandfather was born!
Needless to say, shortly after I arrived in Italy for the second time, I went to Naples, met him, other cousins, and had the time of my life. The city is so full of life and rich in culture, it’s absolutely incredible.
Sigh.

Definitely gonna go again – 2 days was too short to see/do much, but nice trip nonetheless.