Home of the Margherita Pizza

We have a short train ride from Rome to Naples.  As we stand at the station, knowing that the national strike is starting from 9pm tonight, you very much get the sense that things are just going to get worse as the day goes on.  With 10 mins before our train leaves, finally we get a platform assigned and this mass migration of people waiting, starts swarming towards their platforms.  I felt for the family from Missouri who with 5 mins before their departure time still didn’t have a platform assigned for their trip to Venice.  With 29 platforms, we imparted our knowledge -  stick to the middle of the platforms (10) , as 20 to 29 are probably regional and it looks like only platforms 8 to 12 are being used today.

We have taken a lot of trains to get to this point.  And some “rules” for traveling have served us well.  Taking carry-on luggage was the right move.  As we watch other people and families try and get out their giant suitcases, I feel for the pack mule dads doing the brunt of the loading.  The size of some of the suitcases are close to being tiny house size.  Taking transport to get to the station - always take an earlier train than you need.  So many of our traveling days has seen scheduled trains either “retardo” or “cancelleto”. Kaia is not to take any luggage while traveling, and we have a formation of parent, kid, kid, parent on boarding and offloading.  These small things have made our traveling days less stressed as we watch others freaking out and having outbursts on the platforms.

Hoping that Napoli is slightly cooler than Roma, we are disappointed.  Napoli is stinking hot.  After a disappointing lunch (ordering a Margherita pizza in its birthplace) we catch the Metro and walk along the street to our accommodation.  

I’ve never experienced these kinds of roads before.  They are made of big blocks of smooth black rock (Vesuvian Lava)  laid a long time ago, and likely concrete poured in the cracks over time.  What this has led to is the most bumpy uneven streets I don’t think you would ever be able to fix.  Most cars and bikes here would have no suspension, it would be gone in a matter of weeks.  I worried our suitcases couldn’t handle the journey from the metro.  I also worried we may not make it to the accommodation in one piece.  The drivers in Napoli, especially the scooters, are lawless.  We never saw a crash, but holy moley the way they drive is anxiety inducing.  I thought Marseille was bad, but this city is actually anarchy on the road, yet it all seems to work (unless you are a pedestrian).

Our hunter gatherer Gareth goes out at night to get us dinner and finds a very cool burger place where they don’t speak a word of english but manage to have a conversation.  We all agree - we love Napoli and would come back, even though the city is dirty, and the people are what I would call “weathered”, they look kind of tired but determined.  And like an iceberg, there is this pleasantness on the surface, but there is always this feeling of what you can’t see beneath.  At the end of our stay in Napoli, we realise we have been staying in the poor old part of the city, (explains our roads being way worse than downtown) and it makes a lot of sense as to why we really looked out of place, and seemed to be the center of attention as we walked down the street.  We never felt unsafe, but being stared at was just weird.