Off to Naples
After our earlier agony over what we would do each day in Sorento, reality was progressing smoothly. Pompei and Positano had been good hits. Now we were headed to the gritty underbelly of Italy, Naples, the home of pizza, a city of mixed reputation but seems to have redeemed itself in the past years. I embrace gritty underbellies, and even Rick Steves says we should visit Naples as long as we watch for pick-pockets. In my mind, the same advice goes for Philadelphia or Baltimore.
We decided to take the lurch and jerk Circumvesuvius train because it was cheaper, simpler, and took about the same time as the ferry.
Once out of the main train terminal, we were quickly in a busy narrow street. We navigated towards a market area Cindy suggested. It was a scene out of a book, stalls, narrow streets, fishmongers, motorbikes, etc. Everywhere we looked, another alley headed off under a thin stripe of sky. After exploring, we headed to the Archaeological Museum to better look at some of the Pompei artifacts. Cindy was especially interested in the mosaic floors.
After the Museum, we headed to a well-reviewed pizza restaurant. Pizza began in Naples, and this is the mother ship of pizza. Unfortunately, our list of things to try was still long and getting beyond the available time. Sally was determined to have pizza. I was dreaming of a fritto misto, a mixed seafood fry-up.
The pizza restaurant had a line down the street. We opted for a second-best. A guy stopped us in the street and convinced us to try a restaurant up an alley we had seen earlier. Once seated, we realized they did seem to serve pizza. Seafood was their strength. Looking at my phone, I found good reviews, not the best but in the top 1/3 of restaurants in Naples. When asked, the waiter said, "Yes, yes, we have pizza. The best pizza. But wouldn't you rather have fish?"
Cindy ordered fish, Sally ordered pizza, and I ordered a fritto misto. In my seafood mix of lightly battered shrimp and squid was whole sea bass. Cindy also had a whole fish. Wow. We each had a great meal.
After wandering through a few more hundred alleys, having drinks in a cafe, we headed back to the train. Sally may not be entirely as enthralled with Naples. Cindy and I would come back at the drop of a hat.
Back in Sorrento, we picked up some cold cuts, cheese and had a nice dinner in our apartment. Cindy still had a bottle of wine which helped our tired feet, another eight-mile day.
This featured blog entry was written by Deuxenvacances from the blog Italy.
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