Where Do You Go Too, My Lovely?

The above title references a song from the mid-1960's written by a now forgotten artist, Peter Sarstedt. I was reminded of its references to Naples as we returned to the hotel from a late night dinner.
 At 10pm, most of the tourists are back in their cruise ship bunks and all that remains on the streets are small groups of locals hanging out in the slowly cooling evening air. Perhaps they want company or are just trying to avoid the heat of upper floor apartments that dont have air conditioning. On the main block, Via Foria, several police cars are lined up, most of their drivers engaged in group conversation, while the remainder stand or lean against open car doors as if waiting for some action to occur.
 Several feet away a drunk sits glassy eyed on a small blanket, a 3/4 finished bottle of red wine, open, between his legs.
 Continuing our walk along the Via Carbonnara, kids are playing in the streets while older kids smoke quite openly, cigarettes, some cigars, some joints. Looking down darkened back streets, there is some laundry still hanging and the occasional wanderer, but it doesn't look too inviting.
 As we approach a main intersection, more police cars are visible, some parked with standard police logos, other black and generally bigger SUV's are marked Carbanieri- perhaps they are expecting some action. Again, several feet away another drunk, passed out, ignored, lays half behind a parking barrier while a few feet away a prostitute seems to be negotiating with a client.
 Further on, small food stalls and shops are offering rotisserie chicken and pizza, their owners proudly displaying large dome like pizza ovens glowing red hot, yet they seem oblivious to the heat.
Closer to the hotel, several dozen men, mostly black, are standing silently in front of a betting house window, their attention totally focussed on a large (60inch?) TV which is showing a scoreless soccer game, its speakers cranked high to allow the commentators voice to penetrate through the glass. As we approach the entrance to the hotel, a cheer goes up from the group- I am guessing someone scored.
 Safely inside our building, some time later on, I can hear a group of loud voices shouting boistrously- perhaps someone bet on the right team. Looking down at the street below, a food truck vendor seems to be doing brisk business as people  sit or stand, consuming his offerings. Adjacent to the food truck others seem to be selling trinkets and pens from small plastic tables, with few takers.
 I close the shutters and let the air conditioner drown out what remains of the street sounds for another night.

Napoli- Day 2

A bus ride across town this morning brought us to the Santa Lucia district of Naples where we spent a couple of hours touring the Palazzo Reale ( Royal Palace), built in the 16th century. The museum, which seemed to be the only part of the palace not covered by scaffolding and construction "drapes" consists of a very elaborate staircase and several large rooms. Essentially apartments, they contained various furnishings, tapestries, statues and paintings from, mostly 16th-18th centuries.
 Adjacent to the Palace, the Castel Nuevo, a  13th century castle keep looms over much of the harbour area. Mostly displaying "more old stuff!" we decided to save the entry fee and opted for a walk down to the port area and ferry terminal. The presence of 4 rather large cruise ships explained the thousands of tourists being herded through the city by umbrella wielding tour guides.
An uphill hike into the Centro Historico brought us to a small square where several hundred local students seemed to be behaving just like kids do everywhere! We escaped the crowds by entering the Basilica di Santa Chiara, a rather large structure which was originally ( 14th century) a residence for monks and (somewhat later) for nuns too. Its main feature is an impressive garden area bounded on all sides by cloisters with elaborate ceiling decorations and frescoes. The garden itself features 72 octagonal columns decorated with ceramic tiles. Each column is attached to the adjacent one with a bench of ceramic tiles which feature scenes depicting rural life in the 18th century.
 Incidentally, most of the basilica was reduced to rubble by allied bombing in WWII, restoration being commenced post-war and completed in 1953, 10 years after the initial destruction.
 Exiting the Basilica we sampled some local pizza, ( rather disppointing) before catching a bus back to the hotel, (exhausted but somewhat more educated!) for a quick shower and siesta before venturing out for the evening.

Italy Day 1

Sweet Sleep is the name of the small private hotel that will be our home for the next 3 day. As it is on the sixth floor of an old building Sweat Sleep might be a better title, considering that the temperature at 10pm is still hovering around 27 degrees,get

 Our balcony actually overlooks the Piazza Garibaldi, one of the city's main Squares and the main transportation hub of the town. 

  Our flight landed at Naples airport at noon and it took no time at all to grab our luggage and hop a bus to the Square. Armed with a poor map of the city it took almost a half hour to locate our building. Located on the sixth floor and reached by a coin-op elevator ( yes! a dime a trip) All I had were 2 five cent coins which didn't fit the coin box. So our first trip, luggage and all was via the staircase.

 After a seriously needed change of clothing we set off to explore the old city and promptly got lost. Naples is an easy city to get lost in, with some rather narrow streets and tourist maps that are not quite to scale or accurate. The city is easily walkable if one doesn't mind the rather oppressive heat and humidity. There seems to be a historical church at almost every street corner, most in a state of disrepair and several in a state of what must be perpetual renovation. Beside these various churches, street vendors and small shops offered everything from pizza to purses. As if the streets weren't busy enough, every 50 to 60 feet a Somali street vendor was offering "genuine" knock-offs of famous designers, purses, wallets, bags and the inevitable "selfie" sticks. I am not sure why every single streetvendor seemed to have the same racial characteristics- perhaps to better tolerate the heat !

 Three hours and maybe 15 churches and cathedrals later we returned to our hotel,  loaded up with bevereages, so wecould relax and await sunset and a hoped for drop in temperature, which never really happened.

 We eventually ventured out for supper for a typical Italian meal. Starting with a sizeable salad, I managed to work my way through a pasta (first course) and a plate of grilled calamari (second course) , nicely washed down with a bottle of the local vino- Falanghina de Vesuvio ( I think they call it that cause your head feels like a volcano exploding the next day!!) LOL . Luckily Susanna did her best to make sure she got her fair share, otherwise I would probably still be under the table. The entire meal came to a reasonable 34 euro, including the wine which was only 6 Euro a bottle.

 A walk around the neighbourhood after dinner brought us to the Circumvesuvio train station, from where we will make our way south on Thursday morning. Public transport seems to be quite efficient around here ( apparently Mussolini gets much of the credit for that, if not much else)
 Sorry folks, but no pictures at this point- just spent 30 minutes trying to upload one!

Italy Pre-amble

It is almost 10pm on Saturday Sept 12th. We have just had our last meal of Chinese food in what will be quite a while, in anticipation of a steady diet of pasta, pizza and pesce (fish) for the next 3 weeks.
  The flight leaves Toronto for Naples at 6:30pm, getting into our destination around noon Monday, following a brief stopover in Paris.
 The agenda is pretty well planned out with three nights in Naples in order to explore the various museums, churches and art galleries.
 A train ride to Pompeii on 17th should give us time to drop our bags at the hotel and visit the ancient site of Herculaneum, also buried by the same volcanic eruption, but somehow less well known.
The next two days should give us ample time to explore Pompeii and attempt a hike up Mt. Vesuvius.
  Then a further train ride to Sorrento where the plan is to board a ferry to the Isle of Capri for two nights. A visit to the Blue Grotto is on the agenda as well as some hikes along the island's many trails.
 Returning to Sorrento, I am hoping local buses will get me to the town (village) of Ravello, some 4 km up the mountain from Amalfi. Again some hiking is planned as well as some wine tasting.
 After 2 nights there we have to find our way to the costal town of Salerno where we will stay for one night before catching a bus to Rome.
6 nights and 7 days in Rome should hopefully allow ample time to see most of the major sites. A tour of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel is already booked as well as 2 days of transport using a Hop on, Hop off bus service which stops at all the major historical sites.
 All in all, a very full 20 day agenda which will probably leave me needing a vacation on returning home.
 With the exception of the Vatican tour, the entire trip will be self-directed. While I would normally use G Adventures ( formerly GAP) I decided their tour of the same area were either too rushed with little time for exploring, or the opposite, too slow because they were primarily localized hikes.
 I have a couple of guide books as well as some Rick Steves audio tours for major sites such as Pompeii and the Coliseum, so hopefully we will survive.
I have also restricted our luggage to carry on in order to minimize the physical stress of hauling the casket sized suitcase that is the norm for most North Americans. My actual clothing only occupies half of the space, the remainder being taken up by notebooks, chargers, walking poles and of course my size 11.5 shoes and sandals! With just a little room left over for junk food, bottle openers, bandaids, laundry soap and shampoo.
Assuming I dont have the same struggles as last years trip to the Balkan's ( locked out of my own e-mail because hotmail didn't believe I was me!!!) I do intend to update this blog on at least an every other day basis just to be annoying. I may upload photos if the Weefee (thats how they were pronouncing WiFi in the Balkans) is somewhat faster than dial up.
  If we run out of money we may just stay here, perhaps head for Germany and claim refugee status- two impoverished seniors fleeing a corrupt dictatorship- well it's almost true. Harper is a Dick, with the brains of a tater (potato) operating a sinking ship- hence Dic-Tater-Ship! LOL
 Seriously, I hope , as we are mostly on the west side of the coast, that we do not have to encounter the struggles of the New " Boat People" who are currently flooding into Italy from the Middle East Conflict.
  Chiao or rather Buona notte

Gannin yem

This blog has been dormant since our last trip to europe in 2014.
 Today marks Day 10 in my countdown to my first trip to the UK in almost 20 years.
 May 14th I hop a Transat flight to Gatwick which will hopefully get in on time.
  My plan is to get to Durham in time for "tea" on May 15th and maybe get a plate of fish and chips
( the day being Friday)
 Saturday it looks like I will be joining my cousin Stuart to see a Premier League game in which Sunderland  boots Leicester's arse right out of the park!!
   Then maybe 10 days hanging around with my cousins, exploring the places where I grew up for 9 or 10 days before hopping a train to Edinburgh where I will join a Haggis Adventures 5 day tour of Scotland.
 My last trip home I was blown away my how much had changed since my previous visit home  
( 1978?) Who knows if I will even recognize anything.
 When I checked Google Maps they had messed up the names and addresses of most places in my home town. My childhood home was a full street off with the completely wrong house number, even though you could see the "15" as plain as day on the front door.
  Let's hope my sense f direction is a little better than Google's when I finally make it home.