Zadar
Trip Start
Sep 23, 2008
1
8
10
Trip End
Dec 11, 2008
Zadar,
Croatia
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
I made my way down to Napoli, where the city government is completely corrupted by the mafia. It's really a shame because the city has such potential to be one of the best in Italy, but instead the buildings are all collapsing, there is little respect for law, and there is trash everywhere. It was by far the dirtiest city I have ever traveled to. The city is still recovering from the Municipal Waste Management strike that occurred earlier this year, in which the city workers who take care of the trash went on strike and refused to clear away any garbage. The strike lasted for months and no garbage was cleared, resulting in an incredibly dirty city. When the strike finally ended, the city had to call in the Italian army to help bulldoze away all the trash in the streets. That happened months ago, and there are still piles of trash all around the city.
The main reason for me going to Napoli was so that I could visit the ancient city of Pompeii, which was buried in a volcanic eruption from nearby Mt. Vesuvious in 79 AD. If I had to do it again, I would stay in the nearby city of Sorrento, where the crime rate is much lower and the city itself much cleaner and nicer.
There were a couple of nice things about Napoli though. For one, there were almost no tourists. It was nice to be able to walk down the streets and see any massive groups of tourists crowding the way. Also, the food in Napoli was much cheaper than anywhere else I've been in Italy. A sandwich that would normally cost maybe 4 or 5 euro in Florence or Rome was only 1 to 2 euro in Naples.
The city of Pompeii was pretty cool. It's full of ancient houses that have been excavated over the past 250 years. The first excavations of Pompeii occurred in 1748, and they still have only uncovered about 40% of the actual city. Walking through the streets is very cool, you get to see the layout of this ancient Roman city, and many of the walls and floors of the houses were preserved so you can still see the ancient frescos and mosaics that covered the walls and floors of the wealthy Romans.
After Napoli I made my way back to Florence where I met up with some of the friends I made in Rome. This time, instead of staying at the Soggiorna Primavera, I stayed at the PLUS hostel in Florence. Initially I was awestruck at the amazing facilities found at the new hostel. It was the cheapest hostel I've stayed in yet (something around 16 euros a night for a four bed dorm room) and they had a pool, sauna, restaurant, bar, dance floor, and almost every room had a balcony. The pool was pretty amazing too, it was lit by these dim lights that changed color and illuminated the water with reds, greens, blues, and violets. It was very 'hip'.
After a few hours though I began to feel like I wasn't really having the true backpacker's experience in the hostel. Almost everyone there was either Australian, American, or Canadian, and no one really seemed interested in going out and experiencing the various things that Florence has to offer. Why leave the hostel when there's a pool, sauna, laundry, computers, bar, etc. Luckily, I only stayed two nights before leaving and heading out to Ancona.
I arrived in Ancona during the day and met up with a cool couchsurfer named Valentina. She helped me to first buy my ferry ticket to Zadar, and then to go around and show me the small port city of Ancona. It was a nice, clean, and quiet city right on the Italian Adriatic coast, and the streets where all narrow and paved with cobblestone. I didn't have much time though, because before I knew it I was on the ferry (which is more like a mini-cruise boat) and on my way to Zadar.
