Founded around the 9th century b.c. as a Greek colony, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Originally named Parthenope and later Neapolis (Greek for New City), it was among the foremost cities of Magna Graecia, playing a key role in the merging of Greek culture into Roman society. (Wikipedia)
Neapolis was a thriving Greek commercial center 2,500 years ago. Today it remains southern Italy's leading city. Naples has almost no open spaces or parks, which makes its position as Europes most densely populated city eveident. The traffic is almost comical to watch. As our driver in Rome said, "the traffic signs and lights are just for decoration in Naples". We stayed in the touristy parts of Naples and really didn't get into much of the traffic are crime ridden areas.
We started out the day heading for the dock to catch a ferry to Capri, an island close to Naples. We joked along the way about Doug's Man Purse which is actually Missys. She asks Doug every day to carry her purse for her which we all just laugh about. Doug doesn't even mind!
The weather was being especially fickle and the wind had made the water around Naples very turbulent. The 45 minute ferry ride to Capri was miserable. We all sat trying to not get sea sick. Brian started feeling it right away and was sweating profusely while turning a pastey pail color. The rest of us sat hunched in our chairs trying to meditate through it. I sat with my hands covering my ears trying to drown out the sea sick chorus of vomitting going on behind us from our fellow passengers. It was a TERRIBLE ride, where you count every grueling minute just hoping to be there! We finally touched ground in Capri. Lisa and Brian had faired the worst on our rocky journey, so our self appointed group pharmacist got them some drugs to help the nausea feelings wear off quickly.
Capri was beautiful, but unfortuneatly due to the windy, overcast weather, all the attractions that we were hoping to do were closed down. The little overpriced city was fun to walk around, but the inevitable was staring us in the face: we were going to have to ride another ferry boat to get back to the mainland. We decided sooner was better than later because the seas were just going to get worse.
With the sea sickness wearing off, suddenly gelato sounds yummy!!
Lemons are very iconic for this region of Italy. They are painted on ceramics, sold at every stand, and little shops are filled with everything you can think of that is yellow and lemon flavored. The gigantic bumpy lemons are actually citrons, called cedri, and are more for show than for eating. They're more pulpier than they are juicy, and make a good marmalade. The other varieties called sfusato sorrentino, and sfusato amalfitano are used in making granita (lemon flavored shaved ice), limoncello (a lemon liquer candy), and delizia (a dome of fluffy cake filled and slathered with a thick whipped lemon cream). Jared and I opted to try some simple lemon drops.
Sorrento was very quaint and cute. With lots of restaurants and narrow streets I was loving the picture taking!
True Italians fold over their pizza slices so that the toppings are all inside like Brian is doing in this picture. The pizza was really good!
Don't you love how old and rustic everything in Italy looks?
About this time.....Brian and Lisa hit a wall. The effects of the drugs had kicked in. We boarded the train to ride back to Naples and board the ship.
3 comments:
That last pic is funny. Not too bad though. Yes, I definitely hit a wall. I was so out of it! That was a fun city!!
very picturesque lil city. I love the doors and bikes and old walls.
Great photos! So many of them look like postcards.
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