Naples: Love It or Hate It

Naples belongs in a category by itself. It should not be in Italy. It should be in, say, Thailand. Mexico maybe. I had thought Rome was chaotic and dirty. Rome's got nothing on Naples.

After arriving by train (another topic altogether - everything's a fiasco in this country) on Saturday (the 3rd), we wound our way though the city on foot to find our hostel. The hostel was about 2km or so away from the train station, so I estimated that we could handle the 20-30 minute walk with our bags. We soon found that our bags were the least of our worries.

The place looked like a war zone. People (often African or middle easterners for some reason) have rickety tables displaying all types of junk for sale - crappy knock off sunglasses, belts, cell phones, jewelry, umbrellas, watches, corded home phones (must have apprehended these from 1985), etc, etc - that line every sizable street and piazza. The traffic is complete chaos and I'm terribly surprised that cars are able to move at all. Pedestrians and scooters do whatever the hell they want. Helmets are loosely suggested (though I sort of wanted one even as a pedestrian). The movement of the cars is only limited by their size and the speed at which they can accelerate.

And, more noticeably, there is garbage everywhere. Graffiti covers every available surface. I was suddenly very aware that we were both carelessly dressed in flip-flops and in constant danger of stepping in broken glass (which seemed to cover the entirety of the ground surface quite evenly), dog doo, or any number of other kinds of filth (tossed sandwiches, rotting donuts, syringes). It was heinous.

I feared that only cut-throats or the desperately poor (i.e. cut-throats) would live in these conditions, but, surprisingly, the people looked rather normal. Most of the other folks out for a stroll were well dressed with combed hair. They appeared to have homes and showers and cash. I'm not exactly sure what is going on in this town that normal people would choose to live in third world conditions and we didn't stay long enough to find out. I heard rumors about things to do with the mafia, but like I said, we didn't pry.

After our first run through the town, however, I started to get used to it. The very worst parts are right next to the train station and as you venture further out in the city, it mellows out a bit. And though it appears that thieves and hooligans would be waiting around every corner to mug you, we never actually felt threatened, even at night. I think we fly under the radar with Kane being a relatively large man, the two of us always being together, and neither of us appearing particularly well-off (no jewelry, plastic watches, blue jeans, dirty shoes). Anyway, we were able to enjoy ourselves despite the initial fright.

I found myself continuing to swing wildly between hating and loving the place during our 3-night stay. I would become very tense walking down the streets with men offering me iPhones out of their jacket pockets, but then I would be so happy to find an excellent pizza place. I would be completely fed up with the lack of clarity at the train station* but then feel completely content browsing the peaceful nearby ruins of Herculaneum. It was definitely an odd experience.

My final conclusion is that Naples itself is actually a really cool town. I think it has some sights to see and could be quite fun. Unfortunately, we only booked our two days there to see the nearby archaeological digs of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and spent the rest of our time in Naples deciding whether it was horrible or not. Maybe another time, Naples.

*The train station is under construction, as if an Italian train terminal needs further confusion. The day before we left, I stood in one plaza and could see four different signs pointing me four different directions to the restroom. And, unlike in the US, there were not actually bathrooms all four directions. In fact, I couldn't find any of them (the signs appeared to be circular) and had to use the nearby McDonald's (at least some things are constant the world over). Everything at the train station was roughly this difficult.