napoli
World Cup viewing crew from Hostel Mancini
Street views of Napoli
Catacombs of San Gennaro
Kaelee and Laura
Laura
Kaelee
Laura and I dance-packed to Ray Charles and parted with our beloved Salerno Airbnb. We stopped and got one last batch of fruit and then boarded the train to Napoli. We shared popcorn and a section of four seats with two kind older men. One was French and the other Algerian who spoke French, Spanish, Italian, and English so our use of Spangliano was never better understood!
We arrived in Napoli drenched in sweat, it was the most hot and muggy weather we experienced in our time together. Except for the heat and the huge pile of trash collecting on the street in front of our hostel (which we later learned is collected around 3 AM) we loved everything about Hostel Mancini and the city. Before either of us had even left for Italy, I fantasized about having the perfect hostel experience and I am so glad we had one together in Napoli. We purposely arrived on the opening day of the World Cup because my second fantasy was to make friends at the hostel who would accompany us to watch the opening match, and somehow that happened too. As we walked out of the hostel door on a mission to find some perfect pizza we bumped into two young Aussies, Travis and Jason, who were just arriving. With hardly a “hello” Laura blurted out “Do you guys wanna watch the World Cup tonight?!” and Travis responded without a moment of hesitation “yeah, that was the plan!” We arranged to meet them in the common room in a couple of hours and were excited to have it all work out the way we imagined.
Sorbillo was closed until dinner by the time we arrived, but the pizza we found still ended up being close to perfect and the plain Margherita was only €3! When we returned to the hostel we met our first roommate, Jess, who is also from Australia. We learned about her travels around Europe and invited her out to the game with us and then roped in yet another Aussie, Jackson, who was rooming with Travis and Jason. The six of us set off to find a fun place to watch nearby and I’m still amazed at how lucky we got with both our company and the venue. We chose an outdoor bar/cafe Laura and I had passed earlier and ended up with front-row sofa seats just as the bar owner decided to change out the flat-screens for a projector system instead, mega score! We were even surprised at how good the pizza and wine were, even if the Peronis were just alright; San Diego craft brew, oh, how you’ve spoiled me! To top everything off, the game between Brazil and Croatia was great and I got to talk soccer/football/fútbol/calcio with Travis since he’s also been a life-long player. When we got back to the hostel we all exchanged social media info, said goodbye to Jason who was leaving early in the morning, and said hello to our newest roommate, Meagan (also Australian).
During breakfast I had Laura pose with one of the many giant jars of Nutella and then ended up having another great and lengthy conversation with a girl named Kaelee. She hails from Canada, where the second “t” in Toronto is silent. After our talk she convinced us to go to this cemetery with her and we convinced her to go to Sorbillo with us on the way. We ordered three kinds of pizza to share so we could try different combinations in one go: DOC Margherita, Prosciutto and Rucola, and Artichoke. Sorbillo did not disappoint; until arriving on my first WWOOF farm, Sorbillo had everywhere else beat for best prosciutto, and it was on the dang pizza. Not to mention the perfect dough, it’s alllll in the dough, man.
After pizza, the three of us made the long trek to the cemetery, made longer by us getting a bit lost. Every time we asked for directions the responses seemed to be “just around the corner” and finally, after what felt like fifteen corners later, we found it. We laughed at how happy we all were to find shade and at Laura’s use of her most favorite Italian phrase é gratuito? or “is it free?” There is indeed no entrance fee but there is an audio tour offered for €5 for those interested. Once I got more used to the number of bones present and started taking photos I was actually able to appreciate the design and the thought that went into creating the place; feeling like Indiana Jones in The Raiders of The Lost Ark helped me like being there even more. The arches and the details of each separate room were actually very hauntingly beautiful.
After leaving the cemetery, we passed a young girl with a priceless expression and headed towards gelato at Casa Infante which was as delicious as Kaelee and Alfredo, the owner of Hostel Mancini, had promised. When we made it back to the hostel, we were able to solve the excessive gelato consumption and weight loss conundrum; in our six hours of walking all day (at a leisurely “walk the dog pace”) MyFitnessPal told us that we had burned over 1500 calories, tada! After a short rest, we walked back to the bar from the night before with Kaelee, Jess, Jackson, and Meagan to watch the Spain VS Netherlands match, what a blowout! On our roundabout way of getting back to the hostel we accidentally found Gay-Odin, the other gelato place Laura and I wanted to try, and enjoyed that quite thoroughly as well.
Napoli was great and we were so happy to have made such nice friends in our short time there, it’s already been fun keeping up with their travels on Facebook. The next morning Laura and I said our goodbyes as she headed to Rome for her flight home. It was sad. Laura, when you read this I just want you to know how much fun I had with you in our two weeks together, I cannot believe how much we experienced. It means the world that you were able to join me and I can’t wait for our next “romantic” adventure; I will take you to BarTHelona some day!
