Transportation went fairly smooth this a.m. despite a demonstration @ the train station blocking all traffic. Packed train to Napoli. I spent the 2.5 hr ride enjoying the landscape; old ruins just outside of Rome, lots of farms & mountains. I made sure to keep an eye out for water buffalo, & sure enough, the closer we got to Naples, I saw them. Got off the train and was thrown into the chaos of Napoli right away. The traffic is insane here, esp. by the station, where the drivers do not obey traffic lights at all & all you hear are horns & you just kind of have to dart into the road to cross & hope you don't get hit. Scooters ride wherever they want & carry up to 4 passengers (today I saw a woman riding one along with 3 girls piled on). It's a dirty, gritty, raw, unattractive city, but once you get into the old part of town & walk through all those narrow streets with people everywhere & laundry hanging from clotheslines above, there's something that just draws you in. After I settled into my hostel, I decided to go check out he city, & of course got lost right away. I visited a few churches and just enjoyed wandering the streets & checking out the shops & vendors until it was time for dinner. I arrived just in time @ Gino Sorbillo for it to open and was seated right away and got my giant margherita pizza within 5 minutes of ordering. Delicious, and cheap! Napoli is wonderfully cheap-€4 for a whole pizza & € 1 for a 2 liter bottle of water! I made my way back to the hostel after dinner, since I didn't want to get lost in the streets after dark. Too sketchy.
