Culinary Naples

Trip Start Jan 06, 2006
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Trip End Sep 02, 2008


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Sunday, November 19, 2006

Exploring old Naples (Neapoli(s): new city) was also an unexpected pleasure. I actually know very little about the history of Naples and I can see myself going back for a second visit. What I love the most about it is that the buildings are massive, capable of housing people twelve feet tall. The doors are massive, the windows are massive, and each floor is twice the height of the average back home. A six story building in Naples could be twelve stories tall elsewhere. Even the ceiling in my bedroom was closer to the stars that it was to me.

In the older districts, the roads are all paved with flagstones or cobbles. In places there is no sidewalk. I am so accustomed to sidewalks that the walkways on the old and narrow streets felt boundless. The locals seem to feel it too, and consequently walking in a crowd is a complete mess. The streets are a bit gritty, but cities without a bit of grit are lifeless. Many have said that they hate Naples because of thefts and its Mafia character. We saw nothing of it.

Instead we ate a lot of pizza. Many told us it was great but many have been wrong before. The "best" places put together pizza that can be classified only as sloppy. The best bite I actually had my entire time there was in a goofy little pizzeria where we stood to avoid a downpour, and we bought something just to justify standing inside so long. It was a margarita pizza and was it ever delicious. It had been properly spiced: too many tomato sauces here are simply a bland tomato purée.

Much of the eating we experienced in Naples was self-prepared. Bro and I went to a little store near our hostel and buy marvelous produce. We could each cook up a delicious meal for about seven Euro, and all the other people we met along the way were surprised to find out that we both prepared something different. Bro likes linguine and tomato sauce, while I like gnocchi and a Gorgonzola sauce. We were definitely in the right place for that sort of thing! We enjoyed myself so much in Naples that we talked about staying there a lot longer, and the hostel was hiring. But we've both too much to do to spend a few months in Naples. Besides, we would get too fat.

My eating habits probably could have been called gluttonous. It's so hard to control one's self when so many delicious things abound, and the smallest packages for gnocchi are 500 grams. The gelatto (ice cream) in Italy is truly as good as everyone says it is and I limited myself to only two cones a day. Would it surprise you to find out that after leaving Italy, I became as fat as I have ever been?

Exploring Naples' Archaeological museum is among this amateur historian's most enjoyable occasions in Italy. The museum houses so many mosaics and sculptures I really was astounded to find out that so many beautiful pieces from the Roman age still exist. These two are my favourite artistic mediums. There is a collection of bronze statues which I think may be the most beautiful in the world. There are marble giants of Roman leaders and mythical heroes. If I lived in Naples, I would visit the museum every week.
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