I'm having a relationship with my pizza.

After spending an entire night in Schipol airport, attempting to sleep on a bench, whilst my flight got delayed & delayed, I finally made it to Naples.  Unfortunately, having wrapped up in jeans, for the air conditioned setting I'd come from, I failed to have the foresight to change my attire, before leaving Naples airport.

I stepped out into sweltering heat & whilst I've always been quite confident in my Italian language skills, suddenly I realised how little I knew, as I approached people to ask for directions.  Having nothing but a few screen shots to guide me, I pointed avidly at my phone, in the hope that someone could send me in the right direction.

Two of the men working outside the airport pointed to a bus & ushered me to get on.  I dragged my rucksack over the road to the bus & then proceeded once again to gain advice on where to go.  The bus driver told me to get on & then get off at the next stop.  So I did.  Only the next stop seemed even more confusing & further from where I was aiming for.

Three bus rides later, I was on the right street.  Sweat pouring off me & my jeans sticking to my skin.  I walked down the hill, following the map I had on my phone, then got told to go back up the hill by the guy in the local pizzeria, when I couldn't find the road I was looking for.  Then another guy on my way back up the road, told me it was by a church down an alleyway.  Choosing not to believe him, I carried on walking back up the hill.  At the top, another guy told me to go back down, take a left & go up yet another hill.

By the time I'd managed to drag my bag to the top, I realised it wasn't the right road.  Ready to give up & melt into the floor, an old man approached me & told me to go back down & head for the alleyway the earlier guy had suggested.  Muttering to myself, I headed back down the road, into the alleyway & there, next to the church, was the bloody hostel.  I arrived soaked in sweat & headed straight for a shower!  Never been more grateful for a cold shower in all my life.

Within a minute of being in the hostel, I made my first friend in Naples.  A young guy from California, who'd been traveling for a little while.  We walked into the old town together for a look around.  The buildings in Naples are all crumbly & battered & the streets littered with garbage.  In essence, I think this is roughly what I had expected from Naples.

Every few streets, you come across a piazza, centered around a monument & always with a beautiful church.  Through the lanes there are endless shops selling tiny hand crafted figurines.  These stores are often small & every space is covered in an array of tiny people & animals.  Makes your eyes boggle at the sight of them.

That evening California & I sat in the hostel's garden, with two Parisian girls.  It was a Saturday night & the hostel got very busy, both with guests & people from outside.  There was a little sausage dog with a bandana wrapped around his neck, who ran around, attempting to extract food from people.  Made me miss my Pig.

The next day, California left for Venice & I made a new friend; a guy from New York.  Young & enthusiastic, he'd been cycling round Europe for about a month.  We too went into the old town & determined to taste a true Naples pizza, stopped at a tiny pizzeria in the lanes.  The pizzas were only €4 each & tasted amazing.  This was truly Naples pizza!  The only thing that bugged me was paying to sit down.  In Italy, they charge you a cover fee to sit & eat in a restaurant or cafe.

After filling ourselves on pizza, we headed down to the port & walked along, until we got to a tiny beach.  I took off my sandals & went in for a dip.  The water was filthy & there were families all in their swimwear, wading around.  If it hadn't been so incredibly hot, I wouldn't have gone in, but it was so damn cooling!  Although, once a tiny crab started jerking towards me & then I saw a rather large school of fish, I ran out.  I'm not big on small creatures.

Back in our hostel, we met an English guy from Brighton & two Canadian girls & the five of us went out for pizza, again!  This time I could only manage half.  Two pizzas in one day is kinda pushing it.

The next day New York left for Geneva, Brighton & the Canadians went to Pompeii & so I got the ferry to Capri island.  Everyone kept telling me it was only €20 for the boat, but when I went to buy my ticket they charged me €40!  I handed over the cash, but felt like I was getting the ripoff tourist treatment.

Capri was only forty five minutes on the boat & I slept the whole way there.  Once there I avoided shelling out more money for the funicular & headed up some stairs, in direction of the center.  Unfortunately, the steepness of the stairs, combined with the ridiculous heat, lead to me almost hyperventilating like an idiot & nearly fainting!  It didn't help that I would get to the top & then suddenly there would be more bloody stairs!

Eventually, after nearly forty minutes, I made it to the top.  The views were amazing.  I found a quiet road & followed it all the way down to the beach, on the other side of the island.  There weren't particularly any tourists, just Italians & I just about got a spot on the pebbled beach, right near the waters edge.

For anyone that knows me, it is pretty common knowledge that I have a fear of the sea.  Seaweed under foot.  Fish brushing past my legs.  It all freaks me out!  But, in an attempt to get over my fear, I left my things on the beach, within viewing distance & went into the clear sparkling clean water.  It was the clearest, cleanest water I've ever been in & not one fish in sight.  I fully immersed myself.  Although, I did get out once some of the kids found a jellyfish.  There is a limit.

Heading back up on the bus, I grabbed some gelato & headed back down the stairs.  The thing about Italian ice cream is, it doesn't roll into some perfect ball, it's thick & gloopy & is just scraped & piled high onto a cone.  For €2 you get a small cone & a huge scoop of which ever two flavours you like.  It melts down your hand within a minute of leaving the store & you have to devour it as quick as you can.  My favourite flavour has definitely been Kinder.

On my last day in Naples I tried to prepare myself for moving onto Sicily.  I gathered up my laundry & headed down to reception.  There was this lovely Italian guy who worked in the hostel, who helped me with the machine & rather than charge me the €4.50 fee, let me do my washing for free.  You cannot appreciate how good it is to have clean clothes when you're traveling!

Shortly after, I met a Cuban guy, who was working in the hostel, to pay for his traveling & the two of us took a final trip into town.  I tried a panini napolentani, which is apparently a typical Naples staple.  It's a bit like a bread roll, which ham & cheese inside.  It wasn't amazing.  Then I tried a cannoli.  A hard pastry shell filled with a sweet cream filling.  I wasn't convinced, although, it's meant to be Sicilian, so perhaps I shall try them again in Sicily.

Four days in Naples, was quite sufficient.  Bar perhaps Pompeii & Mount Etna, which didn't come back with rave reviews from the other guests, I feel I experienced most of what Naples had to offer.

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