Our first days in Naples

After my Italian class and dropping Lorenzo off with his friends (Liz, Steve, and Louis), we took the "fast train" (Frecciarossa) to Naples. When we arrived around 4pm, we were greeted by a nice dumping of rain, so after checking into the hostel and a walk through the historic center, we naturally gravitated indoors to dinner to dry off. We had done some research into the best pizzerias in this city famous for its pizza, and we ended up at Da Michele. We later found out that the movie/book "Eat Pray Love" has a scene set here, so it had to be good, right? (There are photos of Julia Roberts with the pizzaiuoli all over the walls.)

They only serve two types of pizza: marinara (sauce, oregano, olive oil, garlic, no cheese) and margherita (sauce, cheese, basil). Luckily, these are our favorite types! We like to keep it basic :o)

The pizza is super fast. It cooks in the ultra hot oven for about 90 seconds! I hope I didn't distract the pizzaiuolo for too long.

Besides pizza, Napoli is also notorious for its decades-long trash issues. Garbage was heaping out of the dumpsters and piling up in the streets and into the middle of the piazzas. Of course, the mafia has something to do with it.
The next morning (actually, every morning) we woke up nice and early to be out running by 6:45, and we quickly familiarized ourselves with a popular pedestrian path that followed the shore. The low traffic level and the beautiful sunrises were worth the tired legs!

Vesuvius looming behind the Egg Castle (Castel d'Ovo)--so named because Virgil buried an egg in the dungeon, but unfortunately it was destroyed by an earthquake... or something...

Later in the morning: The New Castle

Galleria Umberto

Unbelievable pastries--another Neapolitan specialty.
There will be many pictures of these.

Piazza Plebiscito

A typical Neapolitan "park": tiny, overrun by dogs, lots of graffiti, old guys chatting, young couples making out, and a statue of Caesar. (The names Aldo and Ciro seemed especially prominent in the graffiti...)We took the funicolare (a little cable-car type thing) up a big hill toward San Martino for a great view! With hardly any open green space, notice the intensity of this 3000-year-old city.

The people hanging out and kids playing football on the pavement outside San Martino. We imagined that in a few weeks this spot would also be jammed with tourists.

Taking the stairs back down into the city, we were surprised that people actually live on the side of the hill.

The chaos back down on earth

Old guys playing cards in a piazza...

Picnic with a group of shady bikers in Piazza Bellini

The Archeological Museum. Can you see the family resemblance?

Beautiful mosaics taken from Pompeii

Those same old guys playing cards at the same bench several hours later.

Pizza stop number two: Sorbilla. We arrived about 15min before it opened and there was already a huge queue outside!

Dessert: A ricotta-filled sfogliatella from the well-known Scaturchio