Napoli

Naples, Campania

This morning we caught the 07:05 direct Intercity train from Bari Centrale and headed west to Napoli Centrale in Campania. Fortunately, the service started at Bari and ended at Napoli so we didn't have to rush to get on the train nor did we have to worry about missing our stop to disembark!

Our train was already there, we had time to figure where our carriage was and had lots of space for our suitcases

Pro tip, even though it is second class, the family/disability carriage has the single row of seats on one side and the double on the other like in first class. This is so as to be able to accommodate the wheelchairs/strollers. It is thus more spacious!

Pistacchio croissant from the local bakery and the smallest cappuccino ever from the vending machine in the cafeteria space, which also happens to be in our carriage

We knew that the chaotic bustle of Naples would be a contrast to the laid back charm of Puglia, but the reality hit harder than expected. Not long after arrival, we had already witnessed passionate disagreements about taxi drivers about stealing each other's rides, a pedestrian down on the road after being hit causing a traffic jam, more crazy driving, and people, graffiti, rubbish and noise everywhere. It was hot and it was loud! I labelled it grungy, but Lara called it dirty, smelly and ugly. The bluntness of youth! The air was noticeably significantly more polluted and made the heat feel ten times worse. We later found out that this was the quiet time in Naples when everyone is on holidays!

Naples was the starting point of our G Adventures "Local Living Italy - Amalfi Coast" small group tour. I chose it to hopefully experience the region "like a local". The idea was also to give my tourist dollar to actual locals rather than multinationals as much as possible. In full disclosure, I did get a significant discount booking the tour as a travel agent. I'm hopeful that it will live up to expectations! The meeting point was at Hotel Correra 241, also where we would be staying the night. The hotel was a good 3 star hotel, comfortable and clean with nice spaces. 

The outside of the hotel had me worried momentarily...not gonna lie!

However, once inside, the spaces were clean and modern

Bright colours with book exchange shelves. Needn't have lugged my own book from Australia lol.

Outdoor nooks to sit on

Larger courtyard areas

Our very bright room with very high ceilings!!

Decent sized bathrooms

No mould in the shower. Passed my bathroom check!

View out from our balcony

A coca-cola point with NO coke. I was so disappointed!

The Galleria Principe di Napoli. Beautiful ornate exterior

And probably interior at some point but sadly has been run down and closed for some time now still awaiting refurbishment

Very late lunch. Most importantly in a/c!

Genovese

Linguine with zucchine pesto, fried zucchini flowers and clams. A surprisingly lovely and light flavour!

The group of 16 met our guide, called CEO (chief experience officer) by G Adventures, Vincenzo, at the lobby at 6:30pm. Vincenzo was a local from Ravello, and went through the geography of the area and outlined our itinerary as well as general information such as how to cross the road without getting run over. We went for a group dinner to get to know each other which was lovely. By this stage, it was well past 9pm and Lara and I were about to turn into pumpkins. We turned down the walk to the Royal Palace and fortunately were not the only niges in the group. Definitely looking forward to tomorrow when the tour officially starts!

The full group of 16. 7 Americans, 5 Australians, 2 Canadians, a Scot, and a Welshman!

Piazza Dante