29 Dec 07 - Napoli Day 1

The only good thing about leaving Rome was that we got to say adieu to our hostel, Alessandro Downtown. The location was excellent but its service was rather incompetent and the sheets didn't seem to be washed. The air circulation was poor as well, so a stale stench hovered constantly in our room. The hostel we stayed at the last time, Hostel Des Artistes would have been a much better choice.

The two-and-a-half hour train ride to Napoli transported us into a totally different world. The first thing that struck us when we stepped out of the train station was the air, saturated with exhaust from the numerous number of vehicles on the roads. Before long, we found ourselves gasping for air!

As we turned into the narrowest of alleys, I got reminded of documentaries which showed Singapore in the 1960s. Situated along these streets were small stalls, similar to the mama-shops we have, which sold anything from traditional Neapolitan pastries to haircuts! Laundry hanging from windows and litter lining the cobble stoned streets were a common sight. What surprised me was that I even saw children as young as 7, without any kind of supervision, hanging out in the streets dressed like little punks and others on scooters! Thundering booms of firecrackers being set off can be heard at any time of the day. People with heart problems should be wary as I distinctly remember jumping out of my skin more than a couple of times. The difference in culture and way of life was so vastly different from Singapore's that I was intrigued right away.

Soon after, we located our hostel, which wasn't like any hostel I'd ever stayed in! 'Giovanni's Home', as the name suggests, is the residence of Giovanni, its owner. He made us feel welcome the moment we stepped into his house, a traditional Neapolitan apartment over 300 years old. He spent an hour giving us insights into Napoli's attractions and its history and culture. Napoli was founded by the Greeks and the name Napoli originated from Neapolis (Greek for New City). Thus, Naples has much Greek AND Roman influences, making it one of the most unique Italian cities. After the lengthy introduction, Giovanni offered to cook lunch for us. We were more than pleasantly surprised at this atypical hospitality.


left: at the subway called the Napolitana (haha)
right: Giovanni's pasta, done al dente, with red wine on the side. Buon apetito! :)


left: Giovanni in his most vulnerable state hoho
right: Giovanni's terrace


Giovanni's lunchtime singalong =D


left: a typical Neapolitan street (with the flag of Napoli in the middle)
right: Guillaume pretending to argue with the neighbours in the Italian fashion haha

After lunch, we headed out to visit the Napoli Sotteranea, which were aqueducts in the ancient times but which were used as bomb shelters for thousands to take refuge in during WWII. The 8€ we paid included a guided tour of an hour and a half. Some passageways we had to go through were so narrow that my shoulders could hardly fit and which were so dark that even with candlelight, you couldn't see beyond one foot.


By the time we got out of the catacombs, it was already dark. So we decided to just visit the Duomo before going for dinner.




Napoli has a bustling nightlife. The streets are always filled with people even till late so shops stay opened longer than those in France too. We noticed too, that most souvenir shops sold small religious figurines that weren't found in the other Italian cities we'd been to.



left: one of the many stalls selling Neapolitan pastry
right: a Xmas tree made of green plastic bottles, the crowning glory of a rubbish chute.

For dinner, we decided to heed Giovanni's recommendation, a restaurant called Gino Sorbillo. It was about 8pm and the queue was horrendously long! You had to register with the head waitress, who would call you when your turn was up, similar to Crystal Jade's peak hour system. Believing in the Singaporean mantra of: if there's a queue, it has to be something good, we agreed to wait. =D After only about an hour, did our names get called, but boy, was it worth the wait! The 14-inch pizzas that came were unmistakenly la vera pizza (the real pizza) that is, made using a wood-burning oven. By the by, Naples is where pizza was born!


Lynn teaching Guillaume the our favourite childhood game of Chee Koh Pah =D


above: a pizza called the 4 Stagioni and the traditional Marinara pizza, made using oregano, basil, tomato and garlic (right). They cost a total of only 9 €! In Grenoble, one slice of pizza could easily set you back 3€ or more.

We headed back immediately after dinner at about 1030pm, as Giovanni had warned us that Napoli was a dangerous place, especially at night.