city life

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An evening in Naples

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The previous post in this series is here..

We drove non stop from Positano to Naples. Our hotel originally gave us a scare as the route took us through some run down neighborhoods. Finally when we went inside the hotel, it was really nice. It was the Buono Hotel in an area called Poggioreale. It is actually a 25 minute drive to the city center.

The staff were courteous and told us to take the public transport if we wanted to visit the city. However the ticket booths were closed and they did not accept cards on the bus and also we waited for 15 minutes and no bus/train came. The stop was right outside the hotel.

The little one bailed on us as usual as she had to study and rest. She told us to get her dinner. We just took the car and went into the city. It was a stupid idea. Even though I had been driving in Italy the last two days, in traffic, Naples evening traffic on a Saturday evening is a nightmare. Apparently there was a huge concert happening downtown in the city center. Roads were blocked. We did find parking near the castle. I have never been more proud of a parking job in my life. Jackie Chan would have been proud after seeing that parking job.

Then we walked to the castle. It was meh. So we did not bother to get tickets and go in. Just walked around it. Then came the Galleria. It was just amazing. This is one beautiful building. The photos and pano's are not fair to the place. Go see it for yoursef. We also visited a beautiful church in the city center and walked in Via Toledo which was surprisingly open to pedestrian traffic. Cops had blocked off a lot of roads for the concert.

Even though I took pictures of those strawberries and other foods on display, could not eat anything except the gelato. Thank god I am not allergic to chocolate!

our hotel.. which is actually really nice inside. Very close to airport. Don’t be shocked by Apple maps which says it is 20 mins away. It is 5 mins away in the morning at 4:30AM.

Photos from our walk around Naples city..

Some of these photos were DNG file for some reason and what I see on my phone is not what I get after saving it. Have to figure it out later. The shadows are dark!

This is where we got dinner from. It was really good!

After this we went to the third attaction which was closed thanks to the concert. Finally ate some gelato made from buffalo milk and got dinner from a busy restaurant. It was time to drive back. We used the breakfast area to eat our dinner. The staff said “go ahead. not a problem”. It was an early dinner. We had already packed for the most part.

The two panos from this walk..

The Umberto Galleria is massive!

A video highlights reel..

We had a 6:30 AM flight from Naples to Rome, a 2 hour wait in Rome and a flight from Rome to SFO. We tried to leave at 4:30 to the airport. It took us under 10 minutes to get to the car return area. It took a lot longer to figure out where to drop the key and then walk to the airport from there. It is a good 15 minute walk lugging the carry ons.

We did have a little fiasco where we got seprated from the kids and they did not show up at the gate. Gate D22 is off to some side in the airport and we were trying to get our money back on taxes paid at a kiosk. That process took too long (that counter opens late and there was a line) so we gave up and when we showed up at the gate, the kids were missing. Their phone died etc.. everything you can expect to go wrong and does.. Finally they showed up and we were off.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. Alitalia airlines was decent. First time flying in that but the food, entertainment and service was great. San had upgraded to economy plus as a surprise for the family! Given how tired we all were.

We were all smiles. The overall rating on this trip was an A+. Something for everyone, narrow escapes with sickness, falls, but on the whole made it back in one piece.

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Positano in the Amalfi Coast - Vertical village

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The previous post in this series is here..

After Jr.’s scaring us with her health the previous night post kayaking into the sunset, we tried to get her back in shape with EmergenC, tylenol etc. and by morning she was in better shape.

We had one last breakfast at the Angelino Hotel, said bye to the staff. Loaded our luggage and started driving to Positano. It was a tense drive on windy roads along the coast. Once we reached Positano we found a paid parking garage and walked the entire vertical village up and down a few times.

Thoroughly enjoyed the churches, the lanes, the cute shops, and had a fabulous pasta lunch.

The gallery of photos , mostly in portrait format..

A video highlights reel..

Then we walked back in the hot sun to the car. It was already close to 2 PM when we started. The original plan was to go sleep in Naples close to the airport and catch the early morning flight out. Given the heat and need for some chai, we skipped the gelato plan and drove straight to Naples.

Positano was amazing. It felt like an action replay of Sorrento at placed but the vertical village has its own charm! Do not miss visiting Positano if you go on a trip to the Sorrento area.

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The Amalfi coast - Sorrento

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The previous post in this series is here..

We reached Naples airport close to 8:30 PM. There was no public transport that would get us to Sorrento. It is an almost two hour drive along windy roads and lots of tunnels, with a lot of mopeds cutting in and out abruptly with no road rules applicable to them. Of course, I found out all this after driving. At the car rental place they asked us to take insurance as most cars get hit. They also told me to take enough pictures of the car in the freaking night to make sure we document all “existing scratches”. Was told that there would be. new ones by the time I return the car. Fortunately I got it back in two days with no additional scratches that I could see in “before vs. after” photos.

The family was proud of my effort to get them to the hotel. It was a large Volkswagen and I made a mental note that driving should be restricted only for the from and to airport. Again was wrong.

The hotel itself was cute. The staff friendly. There was no microwave or hot water but there was someone 24x7 downstairs who could get you that. He was like “I can make you a cappuccino now!” and I said “let me show you how to make Wagh Bakri instant chai with hot water”.. he watched me with an amused smile. The next two days he had hot water ready for me! He was reasonably sure there was something addictive in that chai packet. Once he was busy and he asked his daughter to get me hot water.. think the conversation in Italian was “why water? I can make him a Cappuccino!” and the response was something like “give him his damn water and see what he does with it”.. my broken Italian could only comprehend so much.

Where were we? Ah yes.. we settled into the room past 11 PM. So it was lights out. We had to get ready at 7 AM, have breakfast downstairs (which was really nice) and walk 20 minutes to Sorrento City center for a tour the kids had booked. It was Sorrento Food tours ! The kids took “namakku soru dhaan mukkiyam!” to a new level. We were met outside a local church by our guide Tamara. Turns out she was from the US but has spent the last 15 years there. Our group was the four of us, three folks from Irvine and a young couple from UK. We all made friends quickly thanks to Jr. talking about Irvine and me suddenly talking about Dorset and Blackpool. My family was eye rolling. . “who is this guy and how come we don’t know any of this?”. Tamara started the tour with some “good eats” she had got.. This was second breakfast. I also got a lecture on “if that couple from UK wants to have kids, they will. You don’t have to be the old uncle showing them how great it is to have kids by using this family as an example!” … Apparently I am advertising the value of a large family subliminally.. did not know that! All I asked was “how long have you guys been married? and “do you have any kids?”.

She took us through different restaurants, gave us a lesson on citrus, we had breakfast of sorts (again) at Franco’s. They made us a vegetarian sandwich with their special cheese (it had the Italian equivalent of ISI muththirai). In all my life I have not tasted a cheese sandwich that good ! The kids got 11/10 for this.

There was a good 45 minutes spent at a citrus garden and a private garden and limoncello making place. We got a factory tour.

Then we walked some more and came to a shopping district and the old square. There were chocolate fountains, candy stores. One store had lemon candy which I got hooked to. They checked to make sure that this was the only candy I could eat in that entire store. The manager took allergies seriously. Got myself a large bag of the lemon candy which has a small pocket of lemon juice at its core. Still enjoying it. Then it was time for lunch where they gave us pasta and a local cheese made from buffalo milk that was watery. It was interesting texture wise but very tasty. Then we stopped at Raki, a gelato place. Really good gelato! After this it was a walk to an overlook point and we all went our separate ways. We had gotten a good overview of Sorrento history, food, and the layout of the place.

While we were at lunch San kept getting calls from a local number.. We found out later that she had accidentally booked a kayaking tour same time as the food tour. She begged them to move it by a day and they did, but to the last group of the day.. (more on that later).

We walked by ourselves to see both the local church and cathedral. Then realized our legs were tired and our stomachs were too full. So we waited at a bus stop and took the bus to the stop closest to our hotel. They do have a fantastic public transport system. If you have the time and patience to use it. When you are a tourist, every minute counts!

The people and their pace is all laid back in Sorrento. They act like everyone is going to live past a 100 and there is 48 hours in a day. That somehow goes out the window the minute anyone gets behind a wheel.

Here is the morning and early afternoon in pictures. . .

and more photos.. of narrow streets and churches! Here is a quick lesson as we transition from landscape to portrait format photos.. when you do this food tour, DO NOT have breakfast in the hotel. You will be eating plenty and non stop over the next five hours. Also at Tamara’s request, her brochure is in the pictures below.

While adding the pictures I realized that a few things were missed. If you want to walk down from the top of city center, do it later in the evening. The sunset is just glorious here!

A video highlight reel of the food tour..

We also got a discount coupon for leather goods from our guide at some shops. Weren’t planning on it but on the way out of the shopping area the ladies jumped into a store. The owner was nice and he gave us the discount anyways even though it was not the store we were supposed to go to. Turns out all the leather goods came from Turkey which is considered “authentic” in Sorrento. It was a facepalm moment. We usually don’t buy leather goods. Think they got fake leather. It is time for me to stop questioning choices that are not mine.

There is this funny business of an extra tax that you get back at the airport when you show your passport. That assumes you have time in Naples airport to return the car, run to gate and stop at this counter which has long lines to get back money. So if you shop in Italy, give it time. The procedure to get this back after you have exit the country is painful.

There is one pano shot included in this. Italians were not as amused as Turkish folks when I did a backbend to take that photo in the church. The people who stared at me could definitely use yoga. I was not trying to show off. Wasn’t even wearing my challenge shirt yet.

After all the food and the bus ride and walk back to the hotel, we had time to spend. This was the kids part of the trip. So they wanted to go just “chill” and have a nice dinner locally. It was 3PM.

to be continued..

Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.