Napoli!

The last time I got strep throat, I was on my way to Italy via Egypt.  That was four years ago.  Now, the day before my second planned trip to Italy, I came down with strep again!  I had to postpone my flight for a week, so I was now going to have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time.

I had to fly to Naples via Munich.  I was not happy about that, but I didn't really have a choice.  I sat in Munich airport and basically cried during my entire layover.  What a mess I was.  I quickly got myself together for my arrival of what should be an exciting trip in Italy. 

I had a mission:  It was to duplicate the success of my 2009 trip.  I had gone to Roseto Valfortore in search of relatives of my grandfather and I magically found some!  I decided I would head to Portigliola in Calabria this time to see if I could somehow miraculously duplicate the same success.

But first Napoli!  The birthplace of pizza!

Narrow streets of the historical district of Naples.

I was warned about how dangerous Naples is.  Meh.  I didn't really think it was bad at all.  True to form, I booked a cheap hostel for my stay in Naples.  It was a lovely little hostel called Giovanni's Place.  I was greeted at the door by Giovanni.  He even cooked a huge lunch for me and a Kiwi couple that arrived with me.  It was some sort of pumpkin sause over pasta.  I am not a fan of pumpkin, but it was delicious! 

I spent my first afternoon exploring the archaeological museum.  

Sarcophagus at the archaeological museum.

Although I didn't feel unsafe in Naples, the unfortunate thing about it was the sheer amount of graffiti covering everything.  It marred anything in arm's length.  It's too bad because it really took away from the beauty of the old artifacts and architecture.

Graffiti was everywhere.

Walking along the waterfront with Capri in the distance.

Central palazzo of Naples.