There’s nothing like a first trip to Europe . Emma had been before , but not I .A 24 hour endurance test . Fly emirates to Dubai , then Fly Dubai {don’t) to Naples . The latter was a 6 hour crush with no window , no inflight entertainment ( broken , and with no apologies from staff ) and seating engineered to accomodate small children only . 6 hours of flying in the tuck position … as horrible as it was we still get to the other side of the world in 1 day . I couldn’t imagine how anyone over 6 feet could survive on a FlyDubai charter .
We got out and into our transport pretty quick . You’re still up , fatigued but vacant . Just staring out into the madness of the traffic in Napoli .Little or no etiquette. Mopeds and small European cars tooting horns , cutting each other off , dodging pedestrians on foot crossings . It’s every man ,woman and child for themselves . In a weeks time we’ll be driving in it …please help me god . Our driver stops on a side of a big roundabout in the middle of Naples. It’s a pretty run down area that doesn’t seem the slightest bit touristy . There’s a seedy old guy locking eyes on us and a few others checking us out. Tourist bait . There’s confusion . Emma insists this is not where our hotel is . Our driver is confused , she doesn’t speak English , we don’t speak Italian . She makes a call to her boss ( we were guessing ) then apologises and dumps us in the middle of Naples some 20 minutes from our room . 65 Euros for the privilege. She points us to a taxi and gestures we grab it . We stand out like proverbial dogs balls . Welcome to Naples .
Our taxi driver was great , he got us to our hotel in his little rusted out shit box for 15 Euros . Lesson learned. A taxi from the airport may have been better . The anxiety of been stranded in a foreign city with not the greatest reputation for safety quickly turned to gratitude. On face value Naples isn’t for the faint hearted. Dirty , hectic , rundown and old . Very fucking old . A labyrinth of alleys , cobble stone streets , broken down historic monuments . It’s a city in decay , but it’s fascinating. It’s the people . The locals are so fucking cool . Walking around in their Sunday best , smoking thin cigarettes , groomed to perfection . Middle aged women and men in designer outfits , younger women and men straight out of a fashion shoot and the kids are all models . They are exude style . There’s barely a person without confidence. They are so well dressed and they are fucking good looking people . When Emma bought me a whole new outfit for our trip I rolled my eyes . Geezus , do I have to wear this stuff ? “You’ll see when you get there . “she said . Cafes at every corner , at every alley and and just about on every spare space of footpath . It’s a pasta and pizza lovers dream .
Just 1 day in Naples . 2 would be enough . It’s a melting pot of African street vendors , transiting tourists , Uber cool locals , alleyways , amazing food and architecture so old you can barely comprehend .
The Amalfi coast next : It’s not hard to feel out of place in this area.
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