Sept 10th, Bari to Naples

9/10     Tuesday

We get a double-decker bus to Naples, about a three hour ride. The country is just beautiful, more orchards, and mountains closer to the coast. We arrive at the city center and find our way through the station to the subway. Our host has arranged for someone to meet us at the subway stop in our neighborhood. There’s nobody around the stop as we emerge with our bags and backpacks, except for a couple guys standing on the corner talking to each other, who manage to figure out that we are the party they are waiting for. So they greet us, and before taking us to the apartment, one guy has Bob make a phone call to his phone to make sure we are the right American couple with backpacks that we say we are. Can’t be too careful, I guess.

The streets are raucous with traffic, but our apartment is just a block away, down a cobblestone side street to a private dead-end courtyard. We’re on the second floor, overlooking a small grove of trees. The place is predominately bright orange, with photos and decorations everywhere. It’s nice, in a busy, Italianesque way.

Back on the main street, we look for a café for dinner, trying to avoid any serious shopping. Everything is picturesque to us, like we’ve been dropped into a fifties foreign movie. The city has been making a major effort to clean up, renovate and improve it’s gritty reputation. Some of the high apartments around us are decorated with murals: modern, op-art, quirky and fun. As I’m taking snapshots, I notice a couple of mechanics in a garage behind me joking over me. They stand arms around each other, grinning and posing, “Hey, what about US!” This neighborhood doesn’t see a lot of tourists. We have a little laugh together, and ask them if there’s a pizzeria close. They wave in the direction up the hill. We do find a place there, but we aren’t happy with it. A little more exploration gets us to a market, and we figure we might as well get something to take home. We get a little more good-natured taunting from the guys in the deli, repeating our “OOKAAY, OOKAAY” and “YAH” as we point into the cases and select our purchases. Bob practices a little Italian on our way back, and as we pass our mechanic friends, he shows them our shopping bags and says “Por la casa!”

 1 Video Included

Bus Bari to Naples