7 June: Naples
Oh boy, what a day. Emotionally and physically, it was a full-on roller coaster.
We got up bright and early, ready to explore. First order of business: coffee. This is not anywhere-USA where a coffee shop is within a groggy stumble. The AirBnB had one of those stovetop espresso makers. You know the ones. Water in the base, little strainer thing in the middle, coffee on top, screw it together, put it on the stove. In this case, an induction stove. I had never used an induction stove in my life, so there was a solid stretch of button pushing and Googling before anything resembling coffee happened. And when it did, what I got was the equivalent of a double shot of espresso. I made two of them for myself. We do what we must.
Once we were put together, we set out in search of a proper cup. A bit of Googling led us to Caffe Sansone, a specialty microroastery nearby. I got a cappuccino and a croissant with cream filling. The croissant was a delight, a touch sugary, but good. The cappuccino was an upgrade from the morning's espresso situation, though it was mostly foam. I'm not complaining. Watching the locals knock back an espresso and a croissant in about 90 seconds before rushing off to work was a show in itself.
Next stop was the Naples Underground tour. On the walk over it was fun to take in the residential streets at a walking pace. Based on what we saw, and what we had in our own AirBnB, most apartments here have only a small washer. For drying, everything goes on the line outside. Sheets, pants, underwear, all of it flapping in the breeze. I appreciated the full transparency.
We arrived about a half hour early, which turned out to matter because tickets had to be bought online or in cash, and we had no cash and no euros. Crisis narrowly avoided. There was an English version of the tour, which was a relief. What was not a relief was our choice of time. In a place this warm and humid, 10am is apparently not the move. Afternoon is. We went at 10am. Regardless, it was really cool to walk around down there, even if the tour guide was hard to hear most of the time. Lots of pictures were taken (here).
After the hour-long tour it was time for lunch, which also ended up being dinner. The street above the Underground is packed with restaurants and people. We were on a mission for one thing Naples is known for above all else: pizza. An old guy out front hustled us into his place and honestly, good call on our part. We started with a mozzarella and tomato plate. Fresh mozzarella in ball form, small cherry tomatoes cut in half. Simple, excellent. If that had been the whole meal we would have been perfectly happy.
But the pizza was still coming. While we waited, we started in on a bottle of local red wine. Yes, a bottle. No by-the-glass in these parts. When the pizzas finally arrived, we immediately understood our mistake. They were enormous. One would have been plenty for both of us. But I have a compulsion to eat what is in front of me, so I set off. And I have to say, please forgive the language, the pizza was fucking delicious. I cannot adequately describe how good it was. The dough alone would have made me happy. But then they added cold mozzarella, tomatoes, and some sort of leafy green on top. Just remarkable. Pam, lacking my particular affliction, ate only a little of hers. They don't do takeout in Italy. So I ate hers too. That was a mistake. I'm still full as I type this the morning after. Worth it.
After Pam put me in a wheelbarrow, we headed toward the sea. Along the way we found a small cathedral that was mid-service but open to tourists, which was a nice detour. Knowing that Rome was coming the next day already made it feel quaint by comparison, but still fun to walk through.
We eventually found the waterfront, though getting there meant walking along what passes for a busy road in Naples and through what was clearly where the homeless community made their beds. We spotted a castle that was under repair, and by that point our mental constitutions were running on fumes. Hot, full, tired, and increasingly hostile toward anything uphill. And everything in Naples is uphill. We trudged back to the AirBnB, making it by about 3pm.
There was still so much day left. We just could not do it. Cool-down showers and naps. I limited myself to 30 minutes because I did not want to wreck my body's adjustment to the time zone, even though I could have slept for hours.
By 5pm, still tired but rested, we decided not to waste the remaining daylight. The goal: gelato. We made for Piazza del Plebiscito. The Piazza itself was a bit underwhelming, but from there we could see the sea, so off we went. The city was much more alive at that hour. I wanted to put my hands in the Tyrrhenian Sea but did not find a great spot for it. There was a place where a bunch of kids were jumping in. We observed from the path like responsible adults who had just eaten too much pizza.
The gelato search proved more complicated than expected. Several places along the way looked like ice cream to me, not gelato. We also had no cash yet, which made the whole thing awkward. So we walked and longed.
Eventually our hunt brought us to Galleria Umberto. Walking in, something about it felt strangely familiar. Then it hit us. We had seen it on an episode of the show Travel Man, hosted by Richard Ayoade. Standing in a place you had only ever watched on TV is a genuinely strange and wonderful feeling. We found a bank with an ATM to finally get cash, then doubled back. In the end, what we found inside the Galleria looked like ice cream to me too, but we settled in, ordered something cold, and watched the world go by under that gorgeous dome.
Then we pointed ourselves toward home, soaking in the city and very much not enjoying every uphill step of it.
