Arrived to Naples on a crapy train and was eager to find out what was the magic about this city. Cheating my "backpacking" status, I stayed at a hotel. In reality, I booked my accomodations the night before. Somehow, I dont worry as much about the pre planning anymore as I did in the beginning. I am confortable just going with it and it somehow works out better. I was craving a big bed and my own bathroom. Perfect.
Hours after my arrival, I realized how different Naples was. It is true that men in the south of Italy are more "fresh". If I had been feeling crappy-looking because I lack glamour when traveling, the men in Naples made sure that I felt sexy again. Not one block without my boobs being stared at (I was not even wearing anything revealing), a "bella" comment being told to me, or a more descrete flirtitious smile coming from the Naples men. After my Rome incident, I was unconfortable, but decided to let it go and just make up a fake Italian husband and have fun with it. It worked everytime.
My exploring led me to streets full of vendors. I could have bought anything from underwear, to grapes in one block. I quickly learned the game of avoiding being run over by a scooter and walking with purpose to avoid looking like a tourist. Even though, I'm sure my Nike shoes gave it away.
Being in Naples, I had to confirm that it was the best pizza in the world.
After walking the busy and crowded streets of Naples on a Friday afternoon, I headed down to I' Antica Pizzaria Da Michele. This place is a local's favorite and also the set for one of the scenes on Julia Robert's Eat, Pray, Love movie. As I approched it, you would have thought that some kind of celebrity was about to leave as people were crowded at the door. No, it was people waiting over two hours to taste the true flavor of pizza. I walked in to get my number and was psychologically prepared to wait a looooong time. The old Italian man, who seemed to have the control over everything and everyone there, refused to give me a number and told me to just wait one minute. What is going on? Two minutes later, i was told to just go and sit anywhere with a free chair since I was by myself. Are you telling me that I don't have to wait two hours? Well, the catch is that they sit you down on a table with random people who are there together. I was put on a table of a group of 3 friends from London who just took their final exam to become doctors and took off to Italythey had been waiting 2 hours amd were starving. It was awkward. Really awkward at first. I felt terrible, but thankfully we all oke english and the conversation flowed. I did crash their party, but they were totally lay back and really sweet. Eager for food, we ordered the same pizza Julia Roberts has on the movie, a delicious margarita with extra cheese. Wow!! Pizza will never be the same after my taste buds metthereal deal. After this experience, of course gelato and a walk through the streets of Naples was on the list.
That night, a local invited me for a drink. Being cautious, I asked the front desk to get a copy of his ID when he picked me up. Also, I told them to call the police if I didn't come back by 5am. The guy was cool with that, so off to the nightlife in Naples we went.
He took me to a strip of bars on a street where parking seemed to be a novelty. Cars parked anywhere you could imagine. Once there, he told me to look the opposite way, and it was a beautiful view of the ocean. Stunning. We could see the islands from across the street from the bars. Geat night! ... and for some reason, bartenders kept giving us shots everytime he would ask to tab out. It's a "thing" in Naples. Free shots!
By the way, I did make it back to the hotel safe and sound right at 4:55 am.
The next day I headed out to Almafi. I heard great things about it and I wanted to see it. Packed my beach cloths and off to the coast I went. It was an amazing ride as the views are incredible. I had planned to get off the bus, but the weather started to get crappy and cold and rainy. People were begging the driver to let them in. We were at full capacity the buses only run once an hour and this people were waiting in the cold to get back. I realized that it would be me if I got out of the bus to look around. I was not wearing the proper attire to be out in the cold and I did not want to be out at night waiting for this bus and hoping it had capacity to take me back. So, I just stayed on the bus and rode it back to Sorrento. The weather got terrible, so I felt pretty good about my decision. I got to see the amazing views from the conform of my seat. It was a long ride, but definitely worth it. Hope to come back, but would definitely not rely on the public transportation and rent a car and make sure it's warmer.
The next day, off to Paris to meet up with my mom I go!
Daniela Guevara
