Chosen Fugue

Obligatory Food Blog, Rehashed

Now would be the point where we share pictures of pasta on vibrant ceramic plates, or paella bursting with weird looking seafood, with one of us sitting at the cafe, with the city scene behind us, holding a glass of wine or espresso. If you expect that, you have not been paying attention.

Instead, it is time for an updated food blog (first one from 11/30/2018). https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/obligatory-food-blog/

Despite travel to food Meccas, our eating habits have not really changed. Pre Covid we didn’t venture out much to restaurants, and because we are us, we still don’t. We ate at restaurants (outside) 4 times over the 3 months; sushi in Valencia (when we had to be out of the apartment for the housekeeper), Pizza in Genoa & Naples, plus fish in Lisbon on our last night. Take-out 6 times (4 of those pizza) and usually on travel days. Wondering if we were missing out on some travel magic by not going out was quickly disregarded due to the awkwardness of restaurant ordering (even with picture menus) plus our love of going to local markets.

Going to the market is one of our favorite things to do. We probably remember certain markets better than certain museums or churches. We probably remember cheese displays better than art or altars. After a day of exploring, we did not discuss art or religion, but rather the many shapes of pasta or new flavor of yogurt. Although we generally buy the same five basic items and make the same five basic meals in every city, going to the market never failed to be an adventure; intriguing presentation, confusing foods and varying variety made shopping simultaneously easy and difficult, but always entertaining.

Our enjoyment starts with the anticipation of google-mapping the closest market when we arrive. Do we try a new market like a Mercadano or Dia (Spain), Essalunga, Pam or Eurospin (Italy) or go with the familiar like Carrefour, Aldi or Lidl? We can recognize a chain market’s logo from 2 km’s away.

With the exception of a few “super-stores” , often at the edge of town, or groceries taking up an entire floor (usually the basement) of a department store, almost all European markets are small, not much bigger than an AM/PM. There’s plenty of room for essentials, once you remove the aisles and aisles of American sweetened cereals, candy, salad dressings and 20 choices of every item, which we don’t appreciate or use in the US. The narrow aisles frowned on indecision, after you enter the labyrinth of one way aisles that end at the checkout stand, you often can’t go back. Confusion, poor translation, overstimulation would force us to try to swim back up-aisle, or check out and re-enter the store for a new lap.

the huge Cortes de Ingles corridor of tinned fish (throughout Spain). Priorities.

Waiting in the checkout line provided its own level of enjoyment combined with trepidation. Our reusable market bag out and visible, we would avoid the first question (we think) of needing a bolsa/sac/or borsa. Then we would start bagging, smile, nod a lot, add an occasional (probably always inappropriate) laugh and show them our credit card. Once in Croatia a checker asked if that was Bob Marley on our credit card.

What did we buy? We ate “authentically”, kind of, looking for traditional and local where we could. Bomba and calasparra rice in Spain, borlotti beans in Italy, pesto in Genova, tarallini in Naples, and any chocolate made in whatever country we are in.

Egg+ potato tortilla, Manchego cheese, Papas Braves and a carton of Gazpacho in Valencia

Would it be embarrassing to say that one of the highlights was a great frozen GF pizza in Italy? Or embarrassing that Nick bought and enjoyed frozen paella (twice) in Marseille since we were unable to make a reservation to have it in Valencia, the home of paella (Christmas time apparently is popular for paella)? Or embarrassing that the best polenta ever eaten was the prepared polenta we bought at the Pam markets?

Cheese was an ongoing surprise as we never quite knew what we were buying, but it was always great and we met some new ones, mixed milk cheese in Spain was something we did not know existed https://www.tasteatlas.com/spain/mixed-milk-cheeses.

Even our “basics” looked or tasted differently from city to city and country to country; eggs, yogurt, pasta, tinned fish, vegetables, fruit, walnuts (Nick), chocolate (Patricia). We always found what we needed and did not desire any food from an American market, although we had to adapt to the dearth of frozen berries/cherries (Europe seems to love their frozen currants) for our yogurt and the absence of sunflower butter to spread on our main staple, the corn/maiz thins/cakes/tortititas/waffein/galletas which we are now the foremost international expert of.

While we generally favored each country’s chain market, we did go to a few gluten free bakeries , even though every market, no matter how small, had gluten free items. Unlike the US, gluten free products were consistently priced equivalently to the gluten full products (even the beer) and were good (except for the piadina, pictured above).

We would cook in a variety of different kitchen constellations, but always equipped with badly scratched Ikea pans, blue or white Ikea plates and blue or green Ikea mugs. Ikea kitchen equipment, is more ubiquitous than the ubiquitous Roman ruins since Ikea conquered more territory .

Taking inspiration from the artistically arranged prepared foods at the market and the many restaurant menus read but not accessed, we combined disparate ingredients creating our fusion meals like tinned fish+vegetables+ whatever cheese on pasta or borsotti bean and provolone nachos and travel day scones- yogurt + oatmeal+ whatever we have left . Even with our extensive market exposure, there was always something that turned our heads but fortunately not our stomachs since we left these on the shelf.

Milano Dog Ciao

Train delays of more than a few minutes are rare in Europe, so we were very confused by our hour plus wait when boarding in Desenzano del Garda for Milan. This was our introduction to the rolling train transportation worker’s strike in Northern Italy. We made it to Milan, arriving to a striking, gigantic Facist era train station. This same train station, around the back at Track 21, was used for deporting Jews to concentration camps and in that location there is now a memorial museum. As we walked there, we stumbled on these on the walls, https://designyoutrust.com/2023/01/simpsons-characters-portrayed-as-holocaust-victims-at-the-milan-shoah-memorial/ painted just days before we got there, and sadly recently vandalized and defaced (on 4/23/23).

These were not commissioned, rather they just appeared as has much of the artist’s other works https://www.instagram.com/alexsandropalombo/?hl=en (worth looking at).

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we covered as much ground as we could before settling in the next day with our dog sit. Milan, the second largest Italian city and the center of most of Italy’s industry was one of the heaviest bombed cities during WW2, and that legacy is pretty clear. Rows of classic turn of the century (20th) style buildings were interrupted by post war buildings, and bordered by some pretty outstanding modernist architecture.

Our jaunt through the city was slightly complicated by the transportation strike which resulted in a rainy night crosstown walk with no phone battery left for directions. It was actually fortuitous so we could see the huge cathedral lit up .(more on this Cathedral https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/world/europe/milan-italy-duomo-cathedral.html )

The next day we headed out to the edge of town where Olive and Odin, two skittish dogs rescued from the streets in India and brought to Milan, were waiting for us.

It was interesting staying in a big apartment building, feeling very local, as we walked the dogs every few hours through an agricultural area just behind the buildings. It was an odd area, with either very spooky or very pretty misty fields spread out under the cackling electricity towers.

We did take some dog-free excursions through Milan’s very distinct neighborhoods.

VERY distinctly different churches throughout the city

Due to its proximity, some areas of Milan felt very German, while other neighborhood’s character and ambience were partially dictated by the degree of bombing and rebuilding.

Visually, depending on where you are standing, Milan is a really beautiful city, or is not.

Installation began in 2014 condemning femicide and violence against women https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-wall-of-the-dolls

We thought our sight-seeing might be slowed down by photographers, because it was fashion week, but, alas no interest in our street fashion. Maybe it was because we have been alternating the same 5 outfits for the past 11 unfashionable weeks. For our trip we tried to pack lightly, even still, our backpacks felt fairly heavy with all our walking. So, anytime we could shed weight was a win. Throwing away our nightly used dental floss was always the best part of the day. So, Nick was very delighted when he was able to locate an E-waste center to recycle his dead Kindle. However, it required him standing in front of a Milan library for half an hour repeatedly trying to ask locals to open the locked E-waste bin that required a specific neighborhood resident keycard to open the bin. Mission accomplished, a huge weight lifted off his back.

We said ciao to the dogs, and then made one last attempt at Italian pizza, although this time we were reduced to eating it while we walked, again, in the rain back to our classically 1950’s hotel. It was not great (the pizza, the hotel was). With that after 9 days in Milan, 6 weeks in Italy, it was ciao to Milan and Italy.

Letting Our Garda Down

In Venice, limited to narrow, canal-lined paths broken up by sudden bridges, we felt like game pieces trying to navigated a board game like Chutes & Ladders (Canals & Bridges?). We needed open space.

Our upcoming Milan dog-sit owners recommended Lake Garda, a local, Northern Italy favorite, although they had never been, which for us was a resounding endorsement.

We elected to bypass Verona and Padua (seen by bus coming and train going from Venice and that was enough for us) and headed to the town of Desenzano del Garda, the closest train stop to the lake and just about 45 minutes from Milan. The name is bigger than the town.

Lake Garda is a summertime vacation spot for Italians so of course we went in the winter when the area is typically covered in a blanket of smog. It was. Our apartment was on the main road, just behind a Chinese restaurant. Our landlord for our short 3 day stay was glad we were Americans and not “dopey Italians that ruin everything in an apartment, especially in the kitchen since they don’t know how to operate anything”. She proceeded to point out all the previous damage to the apartment. She was Italian.

Desenzano del Garda didn’t have much, mainly a kind of cute touristy strip of shops and restaurants across from the waterfront plus a Eurospin market, which maybe is the only European market chain we were not intimately familiar with since supermarket shopping is a favorite pastime. Its name also aligns with our haphazard travel style. We were delighted like in Salerno, and Marseille, coming across another alternative zoo. (https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2023/03/12/san-frenchisco/ + https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2023/03/12/coast-to-coast/

The draw of the area was the town of Sirmione, which is located on the tip of a broken finger of land that jutted into the lake. Easy bus ride there and a 10 km walk back. Like most Italian tourist towns, Sirmione, had a Castle (Scaliger), abandoned fortress plus it’s share of spa hotels, gelato (closed for the winter) and espresso bars.

But the highpoint was an amazing walk around the rocky tip of the peninsula with the Dolomite mountains shrouded (by smog) in the background.

Lake Garda was an unexpected pleasure and we didn’t break anything.

A couple of Dumbos in Venezia

In 697 AD, the twelve founding families of Venezia (Venice), refugees from wars (sound familiar?) chose it’s location as a safe harbor. Eventually, this strategic location led Venice to become a major financial and political powerhouse in the area; a staging site for wars and trade. Based on our experience, they still are a powerhouse in trade, at least the tourist trade.

We got off the bus to Disneyland, whoops Venice, in one of the ugliest spots we have ever gotten off a bus at the outskirts of town. We bypassed the monorail that would take us into town, opting instead to walk for about a half a mile of ugly over the first of many bridges and then found ourselves in a a cross between Fantasy Land and New Orleans Square. Yo ho, yo ho!

St Marks Square, scale and detail were pretty astounding

Raised on Disneyland, it was hard to comprehend that Venice, like Dubrovnik, was real https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/croatia-1-dubrovnik-on-the-rocks/, especially, since like Disneyland, we were trapped in a series of lines and crowds, carried along to the next attraction, unable to identify distinct landmarks (no Matterhorn!) to make our way home as every storefront window had the same souvenirs. Any wrong turn, or any right turn could lead you right into a canal.

yes that is smog in the distance, just like Disneyland

every picture seemed to capture an iconic scene

Although we were off season, we arrived on the very crowded Sunday of Carnival, so like Disneyland, there were plenty of characters walking around, getting their pictures taken, they were all Goofy.

And there were rides, canal rides, we of course did not take one, having used our E tickets for the Flixbus to get to Frontierland at the edge of town.

With 400 bridges linking the 118 islands of Venice, there weren’t any scooters, bicycles or cars to dodge, which was good because we could not do much lateral movement due to the shoulder to shoulder crowds carrying us along. By Monday, the streets were emptier and we were able to cross almost all 400 bridges as we time-traveled throughout the city

Marco Polo’s house ( no pool?) 1300-1324

the Venice Jewish Ghetto (Ghetto Veccio + Ghetto Novo) was the first Jewish ghetto, (1516) prototype for all to follow

Peggy and her dogs at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/en/art/

After a day or so we started to wonder how many people fall into the canals, specifically drunk or selfie seeking tourists. Our research was inconclusive (we did not try), but there will always be fools like this to test the waters https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italian-authorities-venice-canal-intl/index.html . The canals sparkled aquamarine, masking how filthy and polluted they are since sewage and industrial waste goes directly into the canals. Falling in risks catching a severe infection. Katherine Hepburn fell into the canal during a scene of the 1955 “Summertime” that left her with a permanent eye infection.

Flooding has been an issue in Venice. Fortunately, we didn’t experience that. In fact, a week after we left, due to the dry winter and tidal effects, the canals almost went dry. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/01/world/europe/venice-mose-flooding.html?searchResultPosition=1

Low water in the canals does not just lead to a huge smelly wetland, but it also significantly impacts all functions of the city since the canals are the only transport system for people (boat taxis), trash collection, food deliveries, ambulances, basically everything in town relies on the canals to function.

Venice, like Disneyland, is an incredible man-made achievement, that is definitely worth a one time visit. Venice, though unlike Disneyland, was built to be a city not an amusement park, and is being overwhelmed by tourism. We felt fortunate to be there during the off season, but also a little guilty for contributing to the decay. (well to our credit we did not spend or do much). On the flip side, Venice, like Disneyland, financially depends on tourism (well not to our credit we didn’t spend or do much) which Venice is beginning to better manage for their survival. Venice, like many of the places in Italy, was another reminder of the incredible beauty we can make, and how carelessly we take care of it. The rise and fall.

My Bologna

Wrapping up our six weeks in Italy was kind of like cleaning out the fridge, what looks good? Venice was to follow Florence but we needed a palate cleanser in between these two major cities. Bologna it was (although traditionally Bologna is not a classic palate cleanser).

Once we started reading about Bologna, it was obvious we should go there as it seemed to a have a different flavor than other Italian settings. Bologna is nicknamed ” La Grassa” (the Fat City) due to it’s rich cuisine, the “La Rossa” (Red City) due to red roofs in the historic center and “La Dotta” (the learned one) since the University of Bologna is one of the oldest universities in Europe (and the world) founded in 1088 AD. We can’t resist three things mixed together.

Bologna DID feel different from the start. Our apartment was in a Facist, modernist building, a change from the early 1900s buildings we generally had been staying in. It was great. As usual, we were city-centered but not sandwiched in the middle of the tourist area. Again, it allowed us to sample neighborhoods that we probably would have not seen if we stayed in the thick of it.

Bologna was not the Italy we had come to know, definitely a different slice of Italian life. Maybe it was because it was further north or maybe it was the porticos. Miles and miles of portico (62 kilometers) providing shade and shelter while moving through the city since the 12th century https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1650/gallery/ Walking through Bologna, we felt swallowed into the city, looking at everything through the frame of the portico. When you step out of the portico there is weird feeling of exposure, unwrapped as we stepped back into the real world. (note the smog-we were pretty shocked how bad the air was in Northern Italy)

Many of the other Italian cities we visited felt defined by specific time periods. While there were often differences in neighborhoods, there was frequently a visual cohesion of sorts. Not in Bologna, all the eras were cured and ground together. (notice all of the porticos!)

Neon John Lennon with trailing “Imagine” lyrics.

This time-mash up is evident in the Sette Chiese, Seven Churches, a matruska doll of a church. It was like an architectural Mystery Date, you walked through one church, opened the door and entered another church, etc. from the 4th century to the 17th. Which church will you choose from the Church of Saint Stephen, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of Saints Vitale and Agricola, Courtyard of Pilate, Church of the Trinity or of the Martyrium and Chapel of the Bandage (referring to Mary’s headband)?

As you walk along the porticos to the main square, there was another twist. As per most of Europe, we passed many stolpersteine https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/they-do-make-you-stumble/

https://www.comune.bologna.it/servizi-informazioni/pietre-inciampo

but we also passed a variation. A row of bronze rectangles memorializing the 85 people killed and 200 wounded in the 1980 bomb attack on the Bologna train station by a neo-facist group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_massacre

The smorgasbord of styles was evident in the the main square, bordered by an eclectic mix of structures.

The square is bordered on one side by a heart-felt memorial to the partisan and resistant fighters of WW 2. (Bologna has always been very independent and was a hotbed of resistance during the Facist era)

Finishing the sides of the square, are the Palazzos ( D’Accursio and del Podesta), started in 1200 and the Bascilica San Petronio. The Bascilica was started in 1308 as a public space not a church. In 1514, expansion began in the 1500s but was stopped by the Catholic church since it would have been bigger than St Peter’s in Rome. It actually remains unfinished. (A novel church claim to fame- the church has the longest indoor meridian line)

The Neptune fountain, created by the aptly named Flemish sculptor Giambologna is super popular because if you stand in a certain spot, it looks like he has a huge erection (yes that is noted in the tour books). The anti-David.

This desire for the biggest one was also on display in the nearby two towers, the Garisenda Tower and Asinelli Tower. These were built in 1000 AD by two families who each wanted the biggest tower. And yes, these are both truly leaning.

Even the type of museums we went to in Bologna were a bit different- the wax anatomical model museum https://sma.unibo.it/en/the-university-museum-network/luigi-cattaneo-anatomical-wax-collection and the natural history museum, both at the University. We even stopped at the Chemistry museum which was essentially was a hallway with old beakers and pipettes behind a glass door.

Bologna is considered a “foodie” destination. The area is the home of the Italian food classics- Bolognaise, prosciutto, mortadella (aka bologna), Parmigiano reggiano, Modena balsamic vinegar and tortellini. Although we did not eat any of these in Bologna, we did leave feeling pretty well sated.

Frenzied Firenze

We popped off the train in Firenze aka Florence at a rather nondescript train station and followed the multitude of American college students down the cobblestone road passing the obligatory Italian shoe, perfume chain stores, jewelry stores and souvenir stands. Then, around the corner, there it was…. THE RENAISSANCE! The massive and spectacular Florence Cathedral, the nearby and also impressive Baptistery of St. John and Giotto’s Campanile. Florence was ranked as the most beautiful city in the world in 2010 by Forbes, and it has continued to age well.

Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance (15th and 16th century) which occurred right after the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages (14th and 15th century). Our nomadic travels could be considered late middle age crisis, at times they did feel a bit dark, and so paralleling, we must now be hitting a renaissance.

The hordes of study abroad American kids, even more than Rome, were right to have chosen Florence because there was a lot to see, and we saw a lot, but of course we didn’t see everything because we were too cheap. Also, we had begun to hit the religious art wall (mural?). There’s just so many Jesus, Mary and Josephs you can see. Actually, there were very few Josephs, he was, at least artistically, an absentee father. There were though, oddly, plenty of St. Sebastians and his Arrow shirts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Sebastian . Plenty of Ascensions, crucifixions, halos, angels, saints (known and unknown), and lambs …. we saw them all. Rows and rows, walls and walls- more paintings than a Bob Ross warehouse, and enough statues to fill Dodger Stadium.

The sheer volume of religious art, well, all art in Florence was overwhelming. While the Vatican’s collection felt like hoarding, the Uffizi’s huge collection, from ancient to Renaissance, felt more discerning; like the product of a zealous collector with unlimited funds filling almost unlimited space. Oh, that actually was what it was. https://www.uffizi.it/en/the-uffizi.

The lack of crowds, stunning building plus the respectful and thoughtful curation made it a claustrophobic-free pleasure stroll.

And, it had an accidental(?) Hyperart Thomasson (https://www.messynessychic.com/2017/01/18/the-inexplicably-fascinating-secret-world-of-thomassons/)

After marveling at paintings and sculptures by every Renaissance artist and then some, we were a bit awestruck with the Botticelli’s and discovered that he was a lifelong Florence resident spending his entire life in the neighborhood where he was born. We visited his Parrish church for the fresco he painted and found a nun mopping the church floor and yelling at people. Yikes! Childhood flashbacks!

The wonders of Florence were both inside and outside. Walking was a series of “oh, wow, look at that”.

It was pretty amazing to experience the Renaissance where it began. Exhausted, we were ready to move on to the next period, Enlightenment and Reformation or at least Bologna.

Ravenna Pieces

Ravenna wasn’t initially on our map, but should have been considering that for almost 70 years (408-476 AD) it was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire. We have been to Benicia, the capital of California (from 1853-54), so we were obligated to go to Ravenna plus Patricia’s sister recommended it (hat tip to Lorie).
Ravenna is a UNESCO world heritage site due to its well-preserved Byzantine architecture and mosaics. You go to Ravenna, and you hit the circuit of the five buildings; two basilicas, a chapel, a mausoleum (although no one is buried there), and a baptistery. https://www.ravennamosaici.it/en/

It is difficult to describe the impact of walking into these impressive-but-rather bland on the outside building and being walloped by sparkling, deep-hued, intricate mosaics. Seeing religious mosaics were a nice break from seeing religious paintings and the themes of the mosaics were a bit different than the norm as well. They were primarily designed and created starting in 500 AD during the reigns of Justinian and Theodoric the Great, an Ostrogoth who conquered the city as the Roman Empire was waning. Theodoric practiced a slightly different form of Christianity, Arian (not to be confused with Aryan). When Theodoric was deposed, of course, some remodeling and re-mosaicing was done to align the imagery with the Roman Catholic symbology. As you look at these, consider that most of the ceilings and walls are mosaic, not painted. The paintings were added after the mosaics and have the more traditional Catholic images.

Neonian Baptistery

Saint Andrew Chapel and Museum

Calendar to note the day of Easter from 532 AD to 626 AD

Basilica Saint’ Apollinare Nuovo

Basilica San Vitale, good video that also explains Jesus, bearded or not? https://classroom.ricksteves.com/videos/ravenna-italy-exquisite-byzantine-mosaics

Mausoleum of Gaia Placidia

Dante’s (1265-1321) tomb is also in Ravenna, as he spent his last few years there in exile from his native Florence. Florence, later realized their error in condemning and wanting to execute him (for political reasons) and requested his bones back, even building their own tomb for him in 1829, but that tomb still sits empty in the Basilica de Santa Croce in Florence (we saw the outside of the church while in Florence), but felt no need to pay to see an empty tomb since we saw the real one for free in Ravenna.

We varied the theme of our lodging and stayed at a Bed and (Bad) Breakfast, mainly due to availability. It essentially was the person’s house, it seemed, with his two kids the only other guests for the weekend. They made efforts to create a modern, keyless hotel which resulted in us being locked out-twice.

Coast to Coast

Not ready to leave the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, and wanting to stay south to stay warm, we took a short Flix bus ride from Napoli, just past Angri,( the town, not the mood) to Salerno which is wedged between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Dolomites of Campania mountains, at the edge of the famous Amalfi Coast, which was the main reason for the visit.

We had no expectations for Salerno, itself, viewing it as a good place to access the neighboring Amalfi coast, but as often is the case with a somewhat randomly chosen location, it ended up being unexpectedly great. It started with our “mini-hotel”, the Botticelli suite! It was inspiring, although seaside towns are not built for winter (it was freezing). So much for finding warmth.

The introductory walk-around-town led to more un-imagined surprises. (more on the murals https://travelamalficoast.travelmar.it/it/street-art-a-salerno-murales-e-graffiti-nella-citta-dai-mille-volti

An entire neighborhood covered with paintings and poems

An evening stroll was even more illuminating!

The Amalfi Coastline is a series of small picturesque seaside towns, best seen by approaching via a boat. But ferries don’t run during winter and the towns basically shut down in January and February. So we boarded the bus for a slightly harrowing, white-knuckle drive on a questionable two lane wide cliff-hanging road in an over crowded city bus. In fact, most of the drive consisted of the driver honking his horn and stopping as he approached every curve.

Safely disembarked from our bus, we spent an hour wandering around Amalfi, between the square and the pier, enough time to be glad to be off-season and to gain our composure for the bus ride back.

Staying south and warm but looking for something a bit different, we rolled the dice and took a chance and headed east towards the sun to the opposite coast and landed on Monopoli on the Adriatic Sea. We didn’t pass Go, but Monopoli had a nice boardwalk, railroad station, a few motels, plenty of free parking, a ship, some top hats, a canon, and a very old jail (okay, it was a Castle, but probably had a jail).

Bari, less than an hour north by railroad, was a one night stop over so we could catch an early train to a Ravenna. Even the 17 hours we spent there (including sleeping) may have been more than enough. We did enjoy a walk back through time, meandering along one street that started at the nondescript train station, then past striking early 1900s buildings

and ending up at the big old St. Nicholas church that housed THE St. Nicholas’s body. It was a combination Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox Church (upstairs/downstairs). Like a Certs, two churches in one, with that we kissed Bari goodbye.

Blast From the Past

Like Pisa, Pompeii was a “sure why not” stop It’s close, so okay. And, like Pisa, Pompei was a whim that was a Wow! Unexpected, it was truly moving. We arrived in Pompeii 20 minutes from Central Naples on the aptly named Circumvesuviana commuter rail. Mt. Vesuvius looming out one window and the Bay of Naples gleaming in the morning sun out the other window.

Pompeii is one of the most popular tourist sites in all of Italy with over 2.5 million visitors a year, so arriving right when the gates opened, during off season was a good choice plus it was a perfect, sunny day.

Mt. Vesuvius, 5 miles away, erupted in 79 AD (they believe in October or November) and then again in 471-3 and 512. These eruptions completely covered this city of 20,000 inhabitants in 20 feet of volcanic ash and pumice, almost perfectly preserving everything due to lack of air and moisture. In 1592, Pompeii was uncovered while architect Domenico Fontana was building aqueducts, but he kept his discovery secret. Surprise (to us), it took another 100 years, in the mid 1700s, before it was unearthed again, and then another 60 before formal excavations occurred. In the early 1880s, organized excavations were in full swing and continue since only a fraction of the city is believed to be excavated. Last year a chariot and a tomb for a freed slave were unearthed. Although, official exploration took hundreds of years to occur; survivors (within the first few days after the eruption) and looters (constantly) did some unofficial exploration first.

Even with centuries of vandalism and more recent exposure to the elements it’s incredible how well preserved and detailed the area is. You felt what life at that time was like walking through the streets,

Eery ambience way stronger when we were almost the only ones there

seeing the thermopolium (inn/snack-bar)

the central plaza and the amphitheater

and visiting houses (nice floor plans with central courtyards, gardens and a lot of wall decoration).

Apparently dog leash laws in effect in Pompeii

The visit to the archeologic museum the day before, https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2023/02/23/naples-theres-a-darkness-in-this-edgy-town/ definitely expanded our view of Pompeii; reading the museum commentaries, seeing the relocated sculptures, mosaics and frescos (up-close), which included advertisements, store signs and graffiti (in latin slang) Not much social change in two thousand years?

Instead of “exiting through the gift shop” the last stop was a small museum. Here were the plaster casts of people who died in the catastrophe, shifting the focus from the city structures to the about 18,000 inhabitants who died during the two day eruption; 2000 found so far in Pompeii, with 16,000 in total in the surrounding towns and villages. Many tried to flee after the first eruptions, some escaped, others didn’t as it was not the ash but the heat that killed people.

Historic note for beer lovers: Pliny the Younger, some 25 years after the disaster, wrote a first hand account of the eruption from his vantage point across the Bay of Naples. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, died trying to save evacuees as he loaded them onto his ships in the Bay. https://www.russianriverbrewing.com/pliny-the-younger-release/ https://www.russianriverbrewing.com/pliny-the-elder/

The other excavated ruins site is Herculaneum, 10 minutes up the coast back towards Naples. This ancient seaside retreat for Roman elite, is less visited than the more famous Pompeii but is promoted as more intact than Pompeii due to less looting (it has been protected since its discovery in 1709) and the type of dust that covered the town allowing fragile objects like wooden structures (roofs, beds) and food to be preserved . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum

We thought we would tackle Herculaneum after Pompeii. The ticket counter was set off to side AFTER you passed a perfect bird’s eye view of Herculaneum. Feeling burnt out, full of Pompeii, we decided this taste of Herculaneum was enough for one day.

Naples, there’s a darkness in this edgy town

Since we had just left Rome, it was hard not to compare Rome and Naples, two cities whose present is so imbued with their past.
Naples (Napoli in Italian) had a gritty underdog feel to it. Southern Italy, poorer and less cosmpolitan, has always been in the shadow of the more prosperous northern part of the country. This could explain why the city’s wore their history so differently. Rome basks in its glory as the center of the Roman Empire. Naples shrugs off its inglorious history as the home of Carmorra, a Mafia style criminal organization dating back to the 1700’s, although this OG persona seems to persist.
We immediately fell in love with the personality of Naples. It didn’t hurt that each time you turned around, when the rain clouds parted, there was the equally intriguing, ominous Mt Vesuvius.

You could spend weeks in Naples and every day would have a different ambience. You can walk along the Mediterranean, window shop at fancy stores, admire elegant buildings, eat at a seaside pizzeria. Naples is the famous creator of pizza, and we had pizza at the most highly rated pizzeria-and… not as good as Marseille’s Pizza Charley. https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/trends/restaurants-and-chefs/pizza-chef-gino-sorbillo?refresh_ce= (see Vesuvius between the buildings in the picture)

The ‘new castle’ from the 13th Century (see Vesuvius on the left of the castle)

You can be more cultural, head into town and go to the Archaeological museum that has the Farnese Greek and Roman Collection. Here the highlight was learning that most of the Greek and Roman statues seen in museums are actually Frankensteins- with heads, torsos and limbs either made new or borrowed from another sculpture (kind of like exchanging Barbie heads). You can see many of the original frescos/mosaics from Pompeii- (kept here rather in Pompeii for protection) where the highlight was watching a woman methodically take pictures of every Pompeii pornographic artwork on display and then halfway through, need to take her jacket off. https://hyperallergic.com/725957/pompeii-erotic-art-exhibition/

You can also walk through the poorest neighborhood, straight up the hill, to the Capodimonte museum at Capodimonte’s Palace, the palace of the Bourbon rulers. .

The advertised Caravacchio was out on loan but the eclectic collection was worth a visit

Yes, your grandmother’s Capodimonte porcelain

with the bonus of panoramic views of the city and Vesuvius.

You can walk through the Spanish Quarter (where we stayed), named for the Spanish Soldiers who occupied the area in the 16th century. Experience it here https://youtu.be/cGYtnYwsjBk . Walk through the VERY narrow streets, window shop at butcher or produce stores, admire street art or eat at a pizzeria while dodging grandmas in leopard print pants and high heeled boots zipping by on scooters (felt so stereotypic!)

.Most importantly, join the eternal celebration of Maradona.

Argentinian futbol star Maradona, himself from an impoverished background, immediately connected with this blue-collar city when he joined the then lowly Naples FC in 1984. Within a few years he led the city team to national and European championships at a time when tension between the Italian North and South were high and Naples was a mess. As a local newspaper said “despite the lack of mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment and sanitation, none of this matters because we have Maradona” (thank you, Wikipedia). His fan worship, even 30 years after he played continues despite his fall from grace in his later years due to drug abuse, tax evasion and infidelity. Maradona remained the saint that Naples, with its own sketchy past, could identify with.
Our initial reaction as we walked up the narrow vibrant hectic alley to our apartment adorned with Maradona banners was that we were in South America, although we’ve never been, it just gave that aura. We deep dived into the party by staying here https://www.booking.com/hotel/it/casa-maradona-napoli.en-gb.html?aid=356980&label=gog235jc-1DCAsocUIUY2FzYS1tYXJhZG9uYS1uYXBvbGlIM1gDaHGIAQGYAQm4AQfIAQ3YAQPoAQGIAgGoAgO4Apzx2J8GwAIB0gIkMDk4MmNkYTAtOWY0MC00ZDY0LWJjNWItMGM3MWM1Y2FmMmRk2AIE4AIB&sid=726586f2abc2d057b1c8e7f281a2ee0f&dist=0&group_adults=2&group_children=0&keep_landing=1&no_rooms=1&sb_price_type=total&type=total&

Like Rome, okay like every city in Italy, every block had at least one church, each was uniquely gorgeous. And as with every city in Italy, almost every other building facade had a small religious themed grottos, often of the Madonna (not to be confused with Maradona), or a family memorial.

If there wasn’t a Maradona or a Madonna there was graffiti, chain stores, souvenir shops or a pizzeria.

And sadly, even some Stoplesteines, (called Pietre d’Inciampo in Italian) reminder that nowhere in Europe seemed to escape. https://chosenfugue.wordpress.com/2019/01/07/they-do-make-you-stumble/

You can take day trips to various Islands (we didn’t), hike Vesuvius (closed off while we were there), take 20 minute train ride to visit amazing Pompeii and Herculeum (see next blog post), or Amalfi Coast (see next blog)
And experience all of this while eating pizza (we did) under the haunting shadow of Mt. Vesuvius.