Europe . Italy . Naples: Not as pretty as you might think

Sunday, October, 1st, 2006

Since the train ride to Sicily was super long (around 10 hours) we decided to go to Napoli/Naples along the way. Upon arriving in Naples we met a nice french lady on her way to Rome with her boyfriend and was looking for an affordable place to stay so since we had just come from there we traded travel information and shared some trail mix. We ended up staying at the place she recommended, Albergo Candy, and it was a pretty good deal. The elderly woman who owned the place was entirely incomprehensible because she only spoke Italian so when she showed us around we just smiled and nodded and hoped that we didn't run into any problems. The place was beautiful, it had very high ceilings and murals/paintings all over the walls. It was pretty much a palace compared to the hostels and camping grounds we had stayed in previously.

We spent the late afternoon/night at the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale which was very close to where we were staying. The museum had lots of cool statues so Tyler went crazy taking pictures, and there were even some mummified body parts to look at (feet and a head). They were really gross! But it was cool to see that they have lasted this long, very well preserved. Maybe I'll be mummified when I die..... anyone else tempted?

We decided to get some take away pizza for dinner on our walk home (it's much cheaper to take food away rather than staying in the restaurant). We stopped at a place called La Tana dell'Arte and got an amazing deal on pizza that we still don't understand because we went back the next night but ended up paying double.... maybe the manager just liked us or it was a Sunday special. But we got 2 whole pizzas for 5 euros and this is an unbelievable deal in Italy, you would be jealous of this deal if you were here.

Overall, we were not very impressed with Naples. For some reason I thought that it was a nice, beautiful place to visit from what I've heard from people, but they were totally wrong! It was pretty dirty and garbage was everywhere. All the houses were very well protected with outside metal doors that you had to ring someone to get inside, and the door inside was tiny. Then once inside this tiny door you would be in the middle of a courtyard and then all the houses/appartments were separated around in a square. We got the distinct impression that everyone there had their own space and you weren't welcome unless invited. Felt kinda like being at home in a big city. Whenever we ran into anyone and told them that we were staying in downtown Naples they all thought that we lived for danger and were hard-core.... little did they know that we were just ignorant about the nature of Naples. Luckily nothing bad happened. :)

-Jenny and Tyler, hard-core rebels

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