See the City, Experience the Sights 01/02/20 Day 9

Pompeii, the sole reason for being so far south in Italy, was a remarkably advanced ancient city. 

Most notably, the plumbing throughout Pompeii caught our attention. 

From the underground cisterns, to the way the streets all went downhill meeting in the center for drainage, and the double walls in the bath houses for heating, we were impressed as we walked around in awe. 

The plaster castings left me feeling somber, imagining the fear of impending doom. I also thought about the design of the city. It would be challenging to look out over the city to gain perspective except from the Colosseum at the edge of town. It is no wonder some decided to stay and wait it out; they could not see the enormity of the problem. It was also interesting to see how many fresco paintings were still intact and the colors still so vibrant.

So, other than Pompeii, our starting point in Italy has gotten the best of us mid-trip.

We took a commuter train to Pompeii. Already our moods were not aligned. 

And to top that off, every stop, for 15 stops, a palpable, caustic aroma filled the train. 

Challenging too is coming from Greece where full service food is available everywhere all day long even though meal periods begin at odd hours (10AM, 3PM, 10PM). Here in Italy (Naples), the siesta (1:50PM to 7PM for at least one restaurant we went to and 3PM to 6:30PM at other restaurants) makes us wonder how Pompeii seemed so advanced if the traditional work ethic is so lackadaisical in modern times. 

This is us seconds after the table next to us ordered food. Two minutes later we were told, "Kitchen is closed only some pizzas available." Five minutes later everyone seated around us received a variety of pasta dishes. We were no longer amused, to say it kindly. 
 
After coming up short of a full service lunch by 3 minutes, we can see that pizza is going to be our new staple if we cannot shift to Italy's meal periods ASAP. We also imagine that unless we figure meal periods out soon, we are certain to take away only memories of rude Italians (New Yorkers may not recognize this attitude we are noticing). When you arrive for food near their break time, they are seemingly not pleasant people. We think eating at the beginning of a shift could reveal more pleasant servers.

While picking up our luggage at the hotel so we could get the **** out of Naples. It went like this:

James: "It's a half mile to the train station, should we walk or call a taxi?"

Me: "You decide, we'll get robbed either way."

This is a two-fold commentary on the conditions of Naples and the systemic principle of taxi drivers thus far. To sum this up, our experience with taxis in Naples was not so good. They pick you up, so you ask the fee before getting in. They take you either part way and want 100% of the quoted fee, or they take you all the way to your destination and they charge you double. Another perspective is that in Greece, they charge 7 to 15 Euros to get around town and to the train station from city center. In Naples (possibly all of Italy, we will soon know), the same distance is double (30 Euros).

James caught on quick and made a valiant effort to stand his ground. He asked how much to go from Pompeii to our hotel and the hotel to the train station (an additional half mile from the hotel). Taxi driver quoted 50 Euro. Okay. No problemo. We go. Half-mile from the hotel, he stops, says, here you go, 50 Euro. James, unhappy with the outcome, said, Okay. Here. 40 Euro. And opened the door. Driver says, no, no, no, 50 Euro. Molto Traffico. James: Si! No hotel, 40 Euro. Hotel all the way, 50 Euro. The Goal: To avoid walking the filthy streets as much as possible. 

Course, James loses because this is Napoli (And because it will take until Day 10 to learn the ins and outs of using the Italian taxi system). We get most of the way to the hotel for 50 Euro.

The second taxi, the driver says, 10 Euro to train station. James says: Here, 15 Euro, Grazie! Driver: Prego.

Napoli Italians will not give tourists an opportunity to be gracious. Actually, they are a bit deceitful altogether. Travel Note: FYI, the cost to stay at the hotel in trashy Naples for one night was the same as three of our six days in Athens.

Also note: Buy train tickets to Rome directly from the train station, not online. First, we bought our tickets in advance for what turned out to be 6:30AM rather than 6:30PM. In a mad rush to get out of Naples, we then purchased tickets for the wrong train and then had to buy a third set of tickets for a train leaving in the next five minutes. Fortunately, they were able to cancel at least one set of tickets. Unfortunately,  we had to run for it, barely making it aboard. 

From the point of getting on a train to Rome, our stomachs began unknotting, our muscles unwound, and for good reasons. Entering Rome (at 300km per hour) did not let us down. 

It is 100% more organized and accommodating. The roads are wide and clean, the restaurants inviting. 

Although Italians say to eat outside the Piazzas for authentic cuisine, we could have cared less. By then time we arrived in Rome and checked into the hotel, we were starving and were prepared to eat anything. From anywhere. Fortunately, the restuarant that beckoned to us (literally) was fantastic! 

We enjoyed the food, the wine, and the conversation about our trip so far. Come to Rome, they accept tourists with open arms. 

Naples, Not for Beginners 01/01/20 Day 8

Napoli, Not For Beginners

Come to Naples, they may say. 

Stay in the luxurious San Pietro Hotel within walking distance to the train station, they may say. 

Naples, they may say, is like nothing you've ever experienced with your family before.

Looking for the kind of trip that will bring you and your kids closer together? Look no further than Napoli, they may say.

From The McGehee's Abroad to you and yours, trust us when we say, you could go to your local ghetto for a fraction of the price and come away with a comparable experience to traveling 6,453 miles to see Naples firsthand. In other words, go most anywhere else in the world with your family, and skip Naples. Want to see Pompeii? Okay, okay. Stay somewhere else and travel a greater distance rather than setting up your tent in this town.

Our day started off pretty good for having gone to bed at a reasonable New Year's Eve 2AM and up by 7:30Am. Flight to Rome and then a subsequent flight to Naples. The idea being we would not skip out on Pompeii. In fact, we would stay one night in Naples, see Pompeii the next morning and then take a train back to Rome and then on and on until we have made our way up to Venice. The goal being we would see a lot of Italy before going off to Slovenia and then finally home. No plan is perfect.

Zero meals between 8:30AM and 5:30PM can make the best and most experienced travelers grumpy. Add a two-hour walk through the filthy streets of Naples looking for restaurants open before their dinner hour (7PM), and try not to lose your mind. For as dilapidated as Greece was, it was not filthy. For as rank as California's homeless crisis is through the tent cities, Naples is still worse. No picture can describe the poor condition of Naples. 

Naples has a lot of apartments along the cobblestone streets. Each building is guarded by a heavy steel door with a padlock of sorts. Each door is graffitied, not necessarily by design. One Italian walked into one of these gateways, the door squealed shut with a thud, and then no less than six interior locks engaged on the other side. Madeline and I turned to each other and she said, "You heard that too right?" We have never been so close as a family as when walking through Naples.

No matter how long and how far we walked the scenery never changed. The filth never lessened. Although New Year's Eve could account for some of the waste piling up in every corner of the city, the graffitied churches, walls, statues and restaurants were not part of a mystique or an organized civil protest, it was just evidence that Naples is Italy's dirty little secret and our poor little hotel is trying very hard to reflect the good old days, the hey day, the time before Anarchy ensued. Tough spot to be in. Inform customers and lose business; keep the streets in the streets and out of the brochures and when customers arrive, they post blogs warning others to stay away from Naples, and still lose business. Catch 22. 

If these Coca-Cola bottles represented what we expected versus what we encountered then let Nolan's artwork on the left indicate Naples as it really is. 

Looking forward to saying, Arrivederci to Naples as soon as possible. But first, we are still looking forward to Pompeii in the morning.  

Final Days 12/31/19 Day 7

Final day of the year, final day in Greece.

And everything we did was wrapped around this idea of finality. 

We saved The Acropolis for last, intentionally. We had photographed it and talked about it from afar for so many days. We even drove inland more than 200 miles and kept our eye out for similar ruins and ancient cities and came very close within Meteora, however, nothing compared to the advanced society of The Acropolis. Also, no other places within Greece compared to the ruins of The Acropolis. From within its boundaries we obtained clarity on all that we learned about the peoples of Greece along the way. They are enduring in the face of tremendous adversities. They are the first democracy and their mythologies, lessons, and language are transcendent. 

 
We also finally found a restaurant in Athens serving Gyros. 

We never found other traditional Greek food we have eaten in the states, but this came very close to what we thought we knew about Greece before experiencing Greece first hand. We reflected on the possible reasons for the absence of some foods and the abundance of others. Maybe no saffron rice because saffron is an expensive ingredient that is not generally afforded in these times. Maybe no dolmathakia, grape leaves stuffed with rice and other scrumptious ingredients, due to the season and the grapevines are hibernating for now. Maybe the abundance of canned mixed fruit and canned peaches due to the limited access to fresh fruits this time of year. We forget how fortunate we are in California to have year round access to fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Hot sesame coated peanuts for 2 Euros are scrumptious after a frigid walk through The Acropolis. 

Paprika Pringles are surprisingly excellent. 

Oregano chips are surprisingly good but unexpected when we thought we bought sour cream and onion chips. 

Pure Cola is disappointing when Coca Cola is on the mind. 

  And The Noodle Bar is not Asian food, but suffices in a pinch. 

We also finalized our shopping. 

In some ways the redundancies of souvenir shops was convenient. But getting true Greek (not mass produced) gifts is a challenge comparable to scavenger hunt. We knew what we were looking for from either having it on our list all along, or because we saw it on one of our many walks around the city. The problem was finding some of these things again. So, of course, we spent most of the rest of our final days rewalking the city with our eyes wide open.

Since the night would run long and eventually turn into a new decade, we decided to spend several of the final hours of the year in our hotel room packing since we fly into Italy tomorrow. Lucky for us we were able to get all our first week clothes laundered and returned by 6PM. 

Our final meal in Greece was Mayan food, from Taqueria Maya, which we had eaten before and was convenient since we were not eating until the traditional 10PM Greek dinner hour. The owner informed us we were his last customers of the year, feeding into the pressure of last everything Greek going on in the streets.

After dinner we followed the crowds into the town square by the Parliament building where a festival of lights and live performances would be taking place. 

It was an experience comparable to Dick Clark's/Ryan Seacrest's New Year's Eve celebrations. It was televised for the majority of Greeks who leave this live event mostly to the tourists and immigrants. We stayed in the square with the relatively few Greeks and thousands of people who arrived for the occasion from all over the world until 11:20PM. 

We went to the The Plaka Hotel, which is the sister hotel of The Hermes Hotel where we are staying. Many hotels and restaurants have rooftop seating with a view of the Parthenon on top of The Acropolis. This is also a great vantage point of fireworks all around Athens. I imagine if we were on a distant rooftop, it would appear as if the fireworks were coming over the top or in front of the Parthenon. Instead, we were so close that the ash from the fireworks was falling onto us like rain and we were watching the pyrotechnic on an adjacent rooftop shooting the fireworks off. From that vantage point, it wasn't unlike watching a war zone. Happy New Year!!! It's 2020, 10-hours before California time!!!

After we brought the New Year in, by kissing, hugging, walking down seven flights of stairs, up two blocks of cobblestone streets, and then up six flights of stairs, we finally ate baklava together in our hotel room while prepping to wake at 7am for a 9am driver to take us to the airport. We will be preparing to leave the country when our loved ones back home are ringing in the New Year back in the states. 

Our hope's for Greece at the very beginning of this decade, are for better times ahead. The new Prime Minister had a hopeful message for the people of Greek that allows us to leave this majestic country on a good note. We hope this message inspires the people of Greece, and that the next 10 years are the best 10 years of the Millennium. 

 

Greece can fend off challenges to sovereignty, PM says in New Year’s message | News | ekathimerini.com

http://www.ekathimerini.com/248012/article/ekathimerini/news/greece-can-fend-off-challenges-to-sovereignty-pm-says-in-new-years-message

Efharisto Greece for hosting us!