Naples 24

It was still September, my diet was already underway and I took the plunge to Italy. I wish I'd taken more time for my vacation, in hindsight. It was that nice. So I took the plane from Düsseldorf to Rome after work, Naples itself was too expensive. Valeska took me to the airport again, the best colleague in the world. She always will be. And as soon as I saw myself unseen, I was on the plane. Fully booked this time, a slightly stocky man next to me, I would have guessed he was older than me, but he wasn't, he was much younger. Toni was his name and a full-blooded Italian by profession, no actually he was a yacht designer or something, I didn't understand. We got talking. About the world, Germany and Italy in particular. We realized that I probably knew my way around Italy better than he did, but that he was the hot insider in the cities. And he provided me with these for Naples. He was actually quite a gorgeous guy, only with women, the sayings he let loose. Admittedly, the flight attendant had a really nice bottom, but to tell her like that. Oops! Did that ever work? At the airport in Rome, a credit card saleswoman almost jumped in his face. I didn't know what he said to her, but it was time for me to leave. What are you going to do? Punch him in the face? I already knew from his stories on the plane that his ex-wives did that from time to time. The pictures he showed me, I sometimes wonder what such beautiful, graceful creatures want from such a little pot-bellied pig? Phew, difficult. I liked him at first, but that quickly changed. Too bad. Okay, then at the airport in Rome I had to find my way around on my own. From the past I knew the Leonardo Express to Roma Termini and then on to Naples. Fine in theory, but in practice you first have to find the station. At some point I found myself on a train to Rome that was packed to the rafters and then, after a tomato and mozzarella sandwich, on a train to Naples. I arrived at 11pm, looked for a hotel near the station on the way, only to find myself standing in a fucked-up street looking for the entrance to it. The illuminated sign pointed to a courtyard closed off with a steel grille. Mh search? At some point I noticed the doorbell and pressed it and was granted entry. The hotel was on the second floor of the building. Another locked door, which I could only enter after the guest in front of me had been taken to his room. One floor below me was another hotel, but I had the impression that it was more of the 1 hour or 5 minute variety. Not my thing. After being let in, I was shocked to discover that the hotelier didn't speak any English. So hand/foot/Googletranslate and the adventure began. At first, Guiseppe (he introduced himself to me later) couldn't find my reservation, of course. He had saved me under my first name. He then suggested that I could cancel my reservation via my app and we could do business another way. There was a knock at the door behind me, the next guests. He didn't let this put him off his stride. I declined with thanks, he kept trying. I remained polite but firm. Just like Naples. At some point he gave up and gave me my room key and took me along the neon-colored corridors to my room. He unlocked the door and I was surprised, I must have made an impression and got a really nice room. He asked me what I wanted for breakfast and asked me, no ordered me, not to smoke in the room. Good night.

The next morning I was woken by a knock, I opened the door and there was an elderly woman in front of me with a huge purple plastic tray.On it was a small croissant (called a brioche in Italy) and a plastic cup of coffee, supposedly cappuccino.I enjoyed it and was already on my way outside for some real coffee, Italian coffee, which I found on the next corner.This hot brew was delicious, the real reason for this trip. My first walk took me to the harbor and up to Monte Echia, of course I didn't take the elevator.From the top you have a wonderful view of the harbor and the omnipresent Vesuvius. At the top there was also what I was looking for, Neapolitan mocha from a street vendor, what a wonderful drink, takes your shoes off but is wonderfully refreshing. Unfortunately, the rain slowly set in and I made my way back through the narrow streets to the subway.Naples is really special, for thousands of years they have been building on top of each other, next to each other and around each other.Turn into a street and you can see a completely different cityscape.I like that. Parts of it date back to the Romans, i.e. parts of buildings like cellars or street arches, but more on that later. In the meantime, it was raining so heavily that I had to take shelter and my stomach was already growling heavily. No matter, the photos I took were impressive.Unfortunately, I haven't quite got the hang of exposure time, light and moving objects like rain yet. In reality, it was so beautiful how this pouring rain fell vertically down the canyons. Only when it was raining less heavily was I able to continue to the subway, supermarket & hotel.

A few hours later I was back in the city, again by metro. The metro here is really something special, you have to descend really low to get to the tracks.The stations, each one a gem in its own right and very artistically designed.I wanted to put a tip from Chauvi Toni into practice and was on my way to Naples Underground, a system of catacombs and caves deep under Naples.Over the years, okay let's say millennia, they have been used for different purposes.Probably one of the reasons why the metro was laid so deep underground, if you build it too close to the surface, archaeologically valuable things may be discovered.That was it with the tunnel construction. At some point I was standing in front of the entrance to the Naples Underground, in the queue. One for ticket holders, one for people without a ticket. I stood there for a while and tried to get a ticket online, no chance. At some point it got too much for me, as I didn't get any information about when and where, my impatience set in and I made the plan to try again tomorrow morning. I wanted to run, and up to Castel Sant'Elmo, the sunset was approaching. This meant I could indulge in my second favorite endurance sport: climbing stairs. That's a short 200 meters up to the fortress, stairs. Despite being overweight, no problem of course.Once I reached the top, I entered the fortress and then waited.Unfortunately with a rather cold wind, draughty up there, of course I was dressed far too lightly again.But the pictures were worth it.Then, in the dark, the descent over a Naples illuminated by night, with the dark Vesuvius on the horizon.Down to the Quartieri Spagnoli where I had already enjoyed the rain shower this morning.It was much warmer downstairs, so I sat down in one of the restaurants and enjoyed my two-course meal of pizza quattro stagioni and a durum wheat semolina pasta with a delicious sauce.No idea what it was, the waiter had recommended it to me and I didn't regret it. Apart from the food, what I will remember most is how the motorcycles raced through the alleyways between tourists and waiters and how I devoured my meal centimeters away from them. Then I slowly made my way back to the hotel, as I had plans for the next morning.

The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel and three coffees outside, I was back at the entrance to Naples Underground. And this time it went really quickly. Our guide, with excellent English, really made the tour an experience and took us from the Greeks, who initially built the catacombs and used the excavated stones for building, to the Romans who used them as cisterns, to the Second World War when the tunnels were converted into shelters and the modern era (art & scientific use). Really impressive and not for people with claustrophobia. But that wasn't quite it, our guide took us out of the tunnels and above ground across the streets into a building. Then we went on. Open the cellar hatch and down into the cellar. As it turned out, this was part of a former colosseum where Nero liked to make guest appearances and which had served as a motorcycle workshop for the last hundred years or so, until it was discovered that these old cellars used to belong to a much larger complex. The buildings on top were simply built over it over the centuries, presumably also using stones from the Colosseum. This opens your eyes as you continue to walk through Naples and perceive the different levels of this city. New on old, old on old, new on old, new on new. Like a naturally grown organism, nothing planned, just made. Fantastic. It was around midday when we finished, I wanted to tip the guide, but he refused, saying it was forbidden. Too bad I was really impressed. Afterwards I went back up to Castel Sant'Elmo, just because I love climbing stairs so much. This time I went up the way I came down yesterday in the dark and down the other side. As I was walking down, I saw a woman sitting on her balcony, drinking wine and sunbathing. I wanted to take a photo of her and the scene and was happily invited by her. Of course I declined, I'm shy after all. And ended up back at the Quartieri Spagnoli, it was also dinnertime, so I ate a World Heritage pizza and thought about where I should photograph the sunset today between pedestrians and honking mopeds. It was probably too late to go to Sorrento and watch the sun sink into the sea over Capri, so I decided on Portici, which is easy to reach by public transport. No sooner said than done, I headed straight to the suburb at the foot of Mount Vesuvius with its beautiful little harbor. Of course I had a sense of déjà vu, I must have cycled through here before, back in March 2022 in another life, it's crazy what can happen in two years. And the pictures I took here were really beautiful, the sun setting behind the Isola d'Ischia and, as I still had to wait an hour for the train, the distant Neapolitan harbor lit up at night with its lighthouses. I still get very happy today when I think back to it. With this in mind.