After a happy Roman holiday, our European road trip continued in thebrand new Renault Euro car we hired through a New Delhi travel agent.The diesel hatchback proved a good friend to our group of four as wereached Naples 190 km away in two hours on the autostrada, as major Italian motorways are known.The 2800-year old ancient city of Naples, capital of Campania regionand Naples province, has a rich history - it was founded by the Greeks- in 7 BC, and famous for its culture, art, food, noise and urbanchaos. Naples gave the world the beloved pizza, the six-string guitar,or the 'romantic guitar', and the mandolin.
Our first impression of Naples was not good though, after a 45-minutesearch took us to Hotel Prati, at the Piazza Principe Umberto, wherewe had reservations. The hotel, its service and its scary docksidelocation were forgettable.Since Naples initially looked a bit rough and unsafe, we prudentlydecided to hire a taxi to see Pompeii about 25 kms away. A bargain gotus a round trip taxi ride for Euro 80 (Rs 5,247).Pompeii was an amazing experience. In 79 AD, Pompeii and it sistercity Herculaneum were buried under metres of ash and pumice by anerupting Mount Vesuvius, before being accidentally discovered in 1778.The excavated Pompeii offers an incredible frozen snapshot of dailyRoman life in the 1st century, a memory captured just as it was whenthe city was buried on August 24, year 79. The Roman Forum, manyhouses, the baths, villas remain astonishingly well preserved.
Some Pompeii walls even have the street graffiti of nearly 2000 years ago!After a two-hour walk around Pompeii, Ivan, our friendly Neapolitantaxi driver offered us a Naples evening ride for another 25 euros (Rs1,640). He cruised along the bay of Naples to the areas where the richand famous lived. He said Diego Maradona owned a house on thepromenade, when he famously played for the SSC Napoli in the ItalianSerie A league between 1984 to 1991.The setting sun draped Naples in magical colours and helped wash awayour initial negative impressions of the city.
By 8.30 pm, we were back at the hotel with no intention of walking very far for our supper. We appropriately chose to have pizza, Italy's famous export thatoriginally came alive in Naples as a meal for the poor, until King Ferdinand IV relished it.The popular Margarita pizza was first made for Queen Margherita whenshe visited Naples in 1889. Legend says Chef Raffle Esposito bakedthree different pizzas for the Queen Margherita but she loved the onewith tomatoes, cheese, and basil. Espito called it Pizza Margarita,and the rest is culinary history. But the pizzeria opposite our hotelwas overpriced, as well as having a waiter trying to wangle an extratip.
Early next morning, we took a 45-minute boat trip to the Marina Grandein the isle of Capri, one of the most beautiful islands in theMediterranean. Capri, looking glorious in the morning sun, aboundswith green hills, cliffs, olive groves, vineyards, and garden terracesoverlooking the sapphire blue Mediterranean waters.
After landing in Capri, we sailed to the Grotta Azzurra or Blue Grottothat is a major tourist attraction. The Blue Grotto is a small cave and a beautiful lagoon that was once a Roman bathing place that mayhave been used by Emperor Tiberius. This blue lagoon is famous for itsmost enchanting turquoise blue luminous glow created by sunlightreflecting on the limestone floor and walls.To further celebrate this magical Italian heritage the boatman startedsinging "O sole Mio", the world famous opera song meaning 'My Sun'that Giovanni Capurro first wrote in Naples in 1898. The singing boatmen made maximum use of the natural cave reverberation. Of course,this aural extra required a few more Euros as tips.Back in Capri we lunched at the Da Gioia, a very pretty roadside caféfamous for its seafood, and then took the funicular - a cable rail upa steep hillside - to Anacapri, 980 feet high and less overtly upscalethan its livelier sister city Capri.
A taxi ride up the steep hill took us to Hotel il Girasole, meaning 'The Sunflower', and our superb rooms with fresh sunflowers, balconies,cane chairs and a beautiful view of the whole bay of Capri. It was sorelaxing that we thought of extending our stay by a day and except forthe fact that all our further bookings were already confirmed. We left next morning for the ferry crossing and pick up our car for the 450 kmjourney to Florence.
Our first impression of Naples was not good though, after a 45-minutesearch took us to Hotel Prati, at the Piazza Principe Umberto, wherewe had reservations. The hotel, its service and its scary docksidelocation were forgettable.Since Naples initially looked a bit rough and unsafe, we prudentlydecided to hire a taxi to see Pompeii about 25 kms away. A bargain gotus a round trip taxi ride for Euro 80 (Rs 5,247).Pompeii was an amazing experience. In 79 AD, Pompeii and it sistercity Herculaneum were buried under metres of ash and pumice by anerupting Mount Vesuvius, before being accidentally discovered in 1778.The excavated Pompeii offers an incredible frozen snapshot of dailyRoman life in the 1st century, a memory captured just as it was whenthe city was buried on August 24, year 79. The Roman Forum, manyhouses, the baths, villas remain astonishingly well preserved.
Some Pompeii walls even have the street graffiti of nearly 2000 years ago!After a two-hour walk around Pompeii, Ivan, our friendly Neapolitantaxi driver offered us a Naples evening ride for another 25 euros (Rs1,640). He cruised along the bay of Naples to the areas where the richand famous lived. He said Diego Maradona owned a house on thepromenade, when he famously played for the SSC Napoli in the ItalianSerie A league between 1984 to 1991.The setting sun draped Naples in magical colours and helped wash awayour initial negative impressions of the city.
By 8.30 pm, we were back at the hotel with no intention of walking very far for our supper. We appropriately chose to have pizza, Italy's famous export thatoriginally came alive in Naples as a meal for the poor, until King Ferdinand IV relished it.The popular Margarita pizza was first made for Queen Margherita whenshe visited Naples in 1889. Legend says Chef Raffle Esposito bakedthree different pizzas for the Queen Margherita but she loved the onewith tomatoes, cheese, and basil. Espito called it Pizza Margarita,and the rest is culinary history. But the pizzeria opposite our hotelwas overpriced, as well as having a waiter trying to wangle an extratip.
Early next morning, we took a 45-minute boat trip to the Marina Grandein the isle of Capri, one of the most beautiful islands in theMediterranean. Capri, looking glorious in the morning sun, aboundswith green hills, cliffs, olive groves, vineyards, and garden terracesoverlooking the sapphire blue Mediterranean waters.
After landing in Capri, we sailed to the Grotta Azzurra or Blue Grottothat is a major tourist attraction. The Blue Grotto is a small cave and a beautiful lagoon that was once a Roman bathing place that mayhave been used by Emperor Tiberius. This blue lagoon is famous for itsmost enchanting turquoise blue luminous glow created by sunlightreflecting on the limestone floor and walls.To further celebrate this magical Italian heritage the boatman startedsinging "O sole Mio", the world famous opera song meaning 'My Sun'that Giovanni Capurro first wrote in Naples in 1898. The singing boatmen made maximum use of the natural cave reverberation. Of course,this aural extra required a few more Euros as tips.Back in Capri we lunched at the Da Gioia, a very pretty roadside caféfamous for its seafood, and then took the funicular - a cable rail upa steep hillside - to Anacapri, 980 feet high and less overtly upscalethan its livelier sister city Capri.
A taxi ride up the steep hill took us to Hotel il Girasole, meaning 'The Sunflower', and our superb rooms with fresh sunflowers, balconies,cane chairs and a beautiful view of the whole bay of Capri. It was sorelaxing that we thought of extending our stay by a day and except forthe fact that all our further bookings were already confirmed. We left next morning for the ferry crossing and pick up our car for the 450 kmjourney to Florence.
Am old Calcuttite from the late sixties living in the US. Any hope of JS archives getting digitized?
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