A tale of two visits - Amalfi Coast and Naples

I was going to get on the rock and do my best "MerMAN" pose, Melanie said that wouldn't be good.

Firstly: This post is the second we've done today, the first, by my awesome wife, is below.  If you haven't already, read it first!

The Amalfi Coast was every bit as amazing and beautiful as we had been led to believe.  From Sorrento, it is the easiest thing in the world to catch a bus over the mountains and along the coast on the craziest, zaniest, death-defying road that I have ever experienced.

Mere inches separate the road from...nothing but air

The bus drivers, being Italian, naturally drive not like they are driving a humungous bus with 80 people (some standing in the aisle), but that they are James Bond driving his Aston Martin.  So the typical hairpin turn consists of the following sequence:

1) bus driver calmly speeding along at 80mph, sees the corner approaching,
2) Honks really loudly, while veering into the other lane,
3) right before the bus crashes through the barrier over the edge (surely sending everyone on board to a shallow, watery grave), the driver slams on the brakes and cranks the wheel, causing everyone on the corner side of the bus to scream as a rock wall passes within inches of their windows
4) curve almost complete, the driver stomps the gas and speeds towards oncoming traffic (who he clearly warned with his horn) and turns at the last possible second, coming within inches of their vehicles (causing everyone on the traffic side to gasp) while swearing and gesturing.

There are a lot of curves on the road, so the above sequence was repeated about every 2 minutes the entire 90 minute ride.  It was even better in the dark, with alternating rock walls and headlights flashing across the windshield.  Wowsa.  But it was totally worth it, because the scenery took our breath away.

There are two towns on the route, Positano and Amalfi, and both were stunning in their own way.  The scenery reminded us a lot of Cinque Terre, but when we asked ourselves which one we like better, it was impossible to compare.  The mountains of the Amalfi Coast were certainly more intense, and the ride on the bus was the most high-adrenaline thing we've done so far, but we liked the vibe of Cinque Terre and the difference between all cinque terre (he he he...italian is so fun) was more pronounced and fun, so ultimately it came out as a tie.  We debated for a while, but ultimately it was like arguing which flavor of gelato is best - who really cares, just be grateful that you have the opportunity to try them!  It was a magnificent, glorious day in an amazingly beautiful place. 

No complaints here...just happy Beasleys

Positano - up, up, and away!

Us and Amalfi

 

End of the day in Amalfi

 To make things a little wilder, the Ferrari club of Naples was making a tour of the Amalfi coast while we were there and had stopped in Amalfi.  So we get off the bus, and there are around 50 red Ferraris (do they make another color?  I'm not sure) of varying age and style all just parked there.  Sweet!

View of Amalfi - fantastic!  And some Ferraris.  And a Rolls Royce

Now for something completely different - Naples!  We hadn't heard to many good things about Naples, mainly that it was crazy, loud, and has the highest population density of any city in Europe - stelar.  But it did invent pizza, so that's one good thing it has going for it.  but it also invented the mafia...hmmmmm.

Anyways, we had a self-guided walking tour in our guidebook for it, so we went for it.  What an unusual experience we had!  I was hoping the craziness would prepare us for Bangkok, and I think it did.  It was a little of everything!

The first thing we did upon arriving in the crowded, dirty, scary train station in Naples was promptly leave the train station...in the wrong direction.  We saw some strrraaaaaange things at this point, including:
1) Trash, absolutely everywhere, and graffiti 8 layers thick
2) Everything that could be stolen, faked, or weird for sale.  I thought we were going to see two belt sellers come to blows, but it always looks like italians are about to fight to us and they didn't.  They are just a passionate language and people I suppose!
3) Plastic buckets and mop buckets being sold out of a shopping cart.  Hmmm... we joked that people in Naples must think "I need a plastic bucket, and I know just where to get one!"
4) Old ladies selling cigarettes out of buckets
5) Christmas ornaments ?!?!?!
6) Roving north africans approaching people to sell them things.  It was terrifying when the first one looked around shiftily then approached us, but hilarious when he revealed his contraband was...lighters?

It wasn't the type of place you stop and take pictures, so we didn't.  This is unfortunate for blogging purposes, but we are not serious enough about our blog to risk our lives to get the perfect shot.

We eventually found our way to one of the famous pizzeria's, which had been in business since 1923.  The pizza was pretty good, but it was more cool to be surrounded by Neapolitans eating pizza at one of the places.    

The real deal!

Our stomachs full of delicious pizza gave us the courage we needed to fight back the urge to just catch a taxi back to the train station and be back in beloved Sorrento and hour later, so we pressed on with our tour.  There was plenty more craziness ahead, and even some history.

Part of the Old Town

The Spanish Quarter, aka the most dangerous part of town.  This is as close as we got

While walking through the tiny, dirty, crowded Old Town, we saw lots of arguments, happy children, christmas stores, and armed guards outside every single bank.  We were stunned by the tour, it was really fun to see the "real" italy, in all its craziness and history.

This building was a church, then a fortress, now apartments!

Hard to see in the shadows, but this lady had just delivered a pizza to two nuns.  Nuns get hungry too!

The walk ended with us heading down the main drag to the Royal Palace, opera house, cool mall, and Pantheon.  They were pretty neat.

100 year old shopping mall, completely enclosed in a glass dome

Naple's Pantheon

Cool fort

 The Royal Palace had statues of the different kings who had ruled Naples, before Italy was unified, and it was a diverse group from all across Europe.  We loved that the most dashing, the only one in action, was the only Italian.

That's right, I'm Italian and I rule!

Just a side note: we've had a lot of catching up to do, and we're doing our best.  I'm actually writing this from Istanbul; we flew here on Tuesday after we decided to skip Greece (whew).  Bangkok is next, and we'll eventually catch up, but first, one final Italy post to go.  Having a lot of fun, thanks for reading!