Naples, or Napoli depending on how you look at it? What a place? Probably one of the most busiest places I’ve been to. The thing is too we was in Quarantine so the place had to be probably at 10% opacity, so god knows what of been like at normal times. Apparently not one of the most visited places in Italy, I’m not sure why tbh because there is lots to do and if you don’t mind the busyness its one of heck of a place to visit. I had 3 days here and I’m going to tell you all about what I did and then write in more detail about the certain places I went to!
So Naples… In my own words I Guess…
Well, I didn’t finish work till 8 on the Tuesday night and was flying Wednesday morning at 5:45am. I had to be at Heathrow airport at 3:45 so I booked a cab for 3am. I packed the best I could but by time I fell asleep was well past 1 but I thought I got some nice business class seats, ill sink some champagne on the plane and get me nut down for a couple of hours. I get up, get to airport and work my way up to the lounge. This wasn’t to bad, I was flying business class with British Airways so once in the lounge all the drinks and amenitys were free, I had myself a nice bacon roll and chilled out on the White Company lounge seats for a bit until the boarding come up.
So I board the plane, I’m in 7A! I find 7A and it’s a normal seat? So I’m like wtf? I go back and see the woman on the jump, she says “ We don’t do the bigger seats for longhaul ” I’m not that happy to be honest because it’s the only reason I paid extra? So I’ve now got a normal seat with nobody next to me? Pointless, now I just going to have a bad neck instead of back, cheers! But all the drinks are free, again pointless wouldn’t have even bothered with the champagne but was the only difference for the price. I arrive in Naples and I realise I’ve only got pound notes on me and a card, was lucky one of them had a machine to pay with credit card. This is not always the case so take note, it’s actually a rarity to find one. I did have a bop around the airport to find a money exchange but not a lot of English spoke and wasn’t one open anyways. It was my first encounter with army. You will see them quite a bit atm to marshall the quarantine, it was when I first realised you wear a mask everywhere you go!?
I jump in cab and my street was call VIA Sao Paolo and was supposed to be near all the main places and it was tbf. I booked an AirBnB for 3 nights and was around 120E and a cleaning charge when I arrived of 30E. The cab cost me 30E to here and again was lucky the guy had machine to pay cleaning charge with. If I’m honest at this time I’m thinking I’m in a right slum but that’s ok with me. The apartment was lovely too had a balcony, 2 beds all modern TVs and appliances, only thing was on the 5th floor and no lifts but they going to be hard to find here anyways and I’m fit enough so.. Well at least I thought I was.
I originally planned to visit Pompei on the first day upon arrival but I was absolutely shattered and the weather was terrible. I thought I’d use one day to explore Naples which was going to be Friday so I just switched the days around, the cleaners were still in my room so I headed out and thought I’d go see what Naples is all about and see the Diego Maradona Muriels. After walking aimlessly about for felt like ages, I finally found someone that could remotely speak English and asked for directions to the Murials?! He put it in my maps for me and I headed off, he did say that it was in The Spanish Quarter of Naples (CLICK LINK FOR IG LIVE ) and is very dangerous around this part of town. I had done some research on it before so kind of knew the deal anyways but I had to see them so I headed off. As with most of Naples, its up very narrow streets, littered with graffiti and mopeds coming from every direction. If you want to see my live video on Instagram of me here please head to my Instagram www.instagram.com/samversusworld Ill be doing a separate blog on this, which also includes a fantastic little bar dedicated to Diego Maradona, so stay tuned.
I thought I’d just have a relaxing evening after this so I headed over to the San Ferdinando which is typically a shopping centre but I heard a fascinating story about the architect who 7 days before the building opened fell to his death right in the middle of the place. I’m not one to wonder but the Mafia are still very influential in this part of town so maybe he put in his invoice a little to high and someone gave him a nudge. I took a visit to the beach although the weather was bad and took a look around Castel Nuovo, the Royal Palace of Naples and lots more. I had a walk round the town at night but headed back to room as I was going to be visiting the beautiful Capri in the morning so wanted to be fresh. I spent the next day in Capri and got the boat from Calate Porta Di Massa, which for return boat returning that day is 43E.
So I spent that next day in Capri, which is worth its own blog too. I then spent the next day visiting Pompei, which again will get its own post but the walk down during the day time past all the markets, just before the train station was a real treat. I really got see how Naples works for the locals. The train station was Central Station and you want to head to Pompeii Scavi, which will take you around 45 mins.
Just after Pompei, I got back around 4:30. I had a few hours to kill so I headed to the Museo Archeological Nazional di Napoli (CLICK LINK FOR IG LIVE ), The Archeological Museum of Naples to you and me. It was 10E entry and was fascinating to see, reminded me at times of a giant chess set, so many statues of Roman warriors. They had all sorts of things dating back to the start of time, they also had a full scale model of the complete city of Pompei, which was incredible.
I spent the last night walking around the streets of Naples, it seemed to get busier. I will say this to you, if you are a nervous person then Naples may not be the place for you. If you like a city that is alive like no other then you will like it here. You will see kids on mopeds, people driving in all directions and you must keep your wits about you. I found all the people I met very polite, but I barely found anyone who spoke English so would be best to do some of your own research before you go here. There are some great shops that was pretty good on price too, if you like Armani and brands like this you will be in for real treat in some places. I also found a shop that just had all sorts of Yeezys just out which seemed odd. I saw some real good fashion shops at some really good prices, some stylish clothes really cheap.
In terms of the food I’m a bit of fussy eater but I thought well I like pizza this should be ok?! I didn’t really like the pizza at all, the Mozarella was lumpy and had a funny taste I wound up being super unhealthy and eating Mcdonalds.
I had a flight the next morning and I had a special treat I wanted to do, I’d done some research and found out that the best place to watch the sunset in Naples was at the very summit of the city at San Martino. Id found out from some locals that the museum is closed because of Covid but that you could still see the views from outside. I though what better way to leave Naples than going to the very top, watching the sun come up and then heading to the airport from there.
So, the sunset that morning was at 7:09 am fgs. What a mission? I’m knackered! It’s also going to be a heck of a walk especially with my case. I’d been going about 20 mins before I hit some staircase. It was a nightmare and at the time I thought this isn’t even the main bit yet. I struggled up the stairs and when I hit the top, I saw that there was a funicular. OMG if there wasn’t I probably would of give up at this point. The funicular cost 3E and got me to the highest point, after another 10 min walk, I finally arrived at the viewpoint, WOW, (IG LIVE)
If you would like to see this sunset live, head over to my Instagram @samversusworld
Absolutely stunning, what a way to end a fascinating 3 days in Naples
