Naples, Italy

Naples, Italy: The Explora II docked around 8:30 this morning in Naples. The sky was clear, the sun was out. The temperature would reach 70°. We are docked directly across from the Majestic Princess - and are absolutely dwarfed by her majesty.

There were several places we wanted to visit today - the Archaeology Museum and Antica Pizzeria Port'alba - and naturally both are closed on Tuesdays. No matter, plenty of other things to visit, but that didn't work out either. Dave thought if we bought tickets to the Hop-on/Hop-off bus, that would be a good way to get around town without having to walk six miles. At a few stops, it was an easy stroll to the Duomo and another popular pizzeria was reachable via one of the teeny shopping streets. Done.

The bus has two routes. Route 1 goes around town, and route 2 travels north along the shore, with views to the islands in the Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. We boarded Route 1 and before it reached the 3rd stop, there was a traffic jam where we sat for 30 minutes. At least we were in front of Dante Square, so had a great view from the top deck of the open-air bus:

The bus attendant would not allow passengers to get off unless we were at an official bus stop. Cars began honking and the noise was pretty awful. We moved a few feet, then could see sirens and "police activity" ahead. The bus attendant was on the phone and finally said "someone is dead on the street" in front of us. The passengers were getting unruly, as it did not appear we would be going anywhere anytime soon. Finally, she let anyone wanting to leave to exit. Most people stayed on. We did not.

As far as I know, they are still on that bus.

Just kidding.

So, our easy walking day turned into our usual over-five-miler. Exiting at Dante Square, we actually kinda a straight shot down to the Duomo. The Cathedral of Naples was open for business and there did not seem to be any activity nor display concerning the late Pope. It is a massive cathedral, with many chapels flanking the main sanctuary.

After spending a few minutes inside the church, we continued meandering through the narrow extremely busy and crowded streets of Naples. There are so many tourists here - forget cruise ship passengers. Just tourists from all around the world, but mostly from Italy. Streets are lined with a tacky souvenir shop, pizzeria, cafe with pastry shop, gelateria, clothing store... then it repeats except replacing clothing store with appliance store, shoe store, book store or toy store, etc.

At the end of this street was another popular pizzeria, but there must have been 100 people crowded around outside. One guy said the wait was over two hours. Since there are at least ten pizza places within sight, so we just kept walking.

This pizza, which looks exactly like the other 50 pizzas we saw on our walk today, was delicious. It was about 12 inches across, but most patrons were ordering one pizza per person. A couple from Milan sat next to us with a six year old girl. They ordered three pizzas! Everyone around us said every pizza in Napoli is delicious, so don't worry - just enjoy.

The interesting thing (to me) is that one huge pizza only cost $9 US dollars. We paid a buck more and had buffalo mozzarella instead of cow mozzarella. The crust was sooo chewy!

So we continued our walk, catching up on the Hop-on bus for a bit, then Hopped-off near the cruise port to find the Galleria Umberto I shopping area. Mostly I wanted to see the building itself, which was magnificent - basically one of the oldest shopping malls in the world - and to sit down to have a coffee and a Sfagliatella. This pastry, with hundreds of layers of crispy pastry is stuffed with a citrus-infused ricotta filling, thickened with semolina. So Italian in every way. It basically explodes into flaky shards when you take a bite, which makes all the birds under your table very happy! This pastry is also called lobster tails, due to their shape.

Inside the Galleria Umberto I is a Starbucks, a Sephora, and a McDonald's. This portion of the shopping center was a bit disappointing, but they did have a post office. While we were enjoying our coffee and pastries, I went to a souvenir shop, purchased postcards, returned to our table and wrote/addressed said cards and then walked them to the post office. Not sure about the post office in your town, but this post office was unlike none I had every visited. First, you must enter the post office via a sealed-door system... it's like going into an elevator that goes nowhere. The doors open (just like elevator doors), you step inside. The door behind you closes... then in a moment or two, the door in front of you opens. It's just like riding in an elevator, except the floor does not move up or down. Not sure if this is a safety precaution, or a wind/pressure issue.

So once I was inside the lobby of the small post office, I saw there was a "take a number" situation, but there were no customers waiting and there were three clerks waiting behind glass booths. One of the clerks waved me over (I must have looked like a dumb old tourist.) I gave him my two postcards - clearly marked U.S.A. - and he had to leave his station, go to a back room to find two USA postcard stamps, and return with the two stamps. He asked for 5.10€, placed the sticker/stamps on the postcards, showed me he had placed the stamps on the postcards, then printed a receipt on a 8x8" piece of paper. Seriously, why does it cost nearly $3 to send a postcard from Italy to the US?

Then, I exited the vacumn-sealed Galleria Umberto I post office and returned to my pastry.

After this exciting adventure, we went back to STOP I for the Hop On and Hopped on Bus 2, which travels along the coast with NO TRAFFIC and gorgeous view of the Bay of Naples. It was like we were driving in a complete different town. The busy streets of Naples disappeared and we were traveling along a pretty coastal town, with fabulous mansions perched above the sea. Pretty flowers, gardens, parks. Yachts tied up to piers on the sea below.

The bus was full and I was seated on the upper level apart from DT, next to a young kid. He didn't say much at the beginning, and was quite shy... but with some coaxing during the times we were sitting in traffic, he began to open-up and tell me he was from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and was in Napoli with his parents (seated in the row in front of us) for a holiday to visit the ruins of Pompeii. Then he told me he really wanted to practice his English. (Holy Naples, did he ever sit next to the right person!) I asked him how old he was (and that I was 70) and he said he was 13 and that his Nonna was 70! Boom! I told him about Leo and declared I was his Napoli Nonna. His mother laughed. He said his mom speaks English and never gets to practice, so he is really trying to learn for her. What a nice boy. In his spare time, he is also learning Spanish, will begin German next year, wants to try tacos, and wants to visit New York City.

We enjoyed an hour of this roundtrip beauty before returning to Naples - taking 30 minutes to go the last mile to the final bus stop and our ship.

By the time we reached our ship, Dave and I were one of the last people to board. The Majestic Princess set sail ahead of us, but their Captain DID NOT blow the famed "Love Boat" theme horn. Bummer! We left the Bay of Naples, floating north to Rome overnight. Most of the passengers will disembark tomorrow morning in Rome, and we will have new guests boarding for ten more nights on the way back to Barcelona. (This is the first time we have done a back-to-back trip on a ship, so don't know what to expect. At least we do not need to move cabins.)

The dining rooms were very empty this evening. Easy to get a table anywhere. Fabulous service from nothing-to-do servers. We dined in the Mediterranean Yacht Club restaurant and enjoyed appetizers.

Tomorrow while in port (the port city of Civitavecchia is a one-plus hour drive to Rome), we will not go into Rome during the switch-over. We have been to Rome many times and with the Pope's death really do not want to be in the city. The port city has a few things to see, so we will take it easy. (Ha! Please note that DT will probably not let me get by with an easy day.)

Pedometer: 15,789 steps. More than 6 miles.

Until my next update, I remain, your Napoli correspondent.

LINKS:
Naples Tourism Office
Explora II
Current Ship Location

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