Even if I`m writing this note almost a month after visiting Naples, I can easily recollect my memories related to what I saw and what I felt. I`m going to start with the negative sides of this place and finish with the positive ones.
Contrary to Potenza, in which I spent a certain amount of time, Naples stinks. It REALLY stinks! The city is much more polluted, there are piles of rubbish scattered on the streets. I also remember a dead pigeon pressed down into the pavement... Of course, it could happen in every place in the world, but, it was not an extraordinary view there :-P
Besides, the pavements are rather narrow, hence there is not much space for pedestrians. What is more, sometimes these passages are blocked by the cars. Vehicles are left in a non-parking zone, e.g. near the zebra crossing or on the pavement... My friend and me were walking down a narrow traffic island (situated between two terribly busy roads). We felt as though we had been in the middle of the jungle :-P
Our primary aim of the trip was the harbour. First, we went in the wrong direction because we got to the industrial part. As a consequence, we had to come back (down the narrow traffic island). Finally, we arrived at the port. We took a few pictures and sunbathed for 40 minutes (we were lucky because we could sunbathe on February 17th :-) ). There was +30`C! Unfortunately, I couldn`t take the photo of the bay because one of the guards suggested us paying "extra money" for coming closer and doing so. Let`s leave it without any comments.. (therefore I have got only one shitty picture).
Then we saw Castel Nuovo near which you are likely to come across both the homeless begging for cash and the emigrants selling Chinese staff. Nevertheless, the castel itself is a breathtaking monument :-) It turned out to be a convenient vantage point. I was observing the passers-by and took up street photography for the time being.
Now, it is time to draw attention to the positive sides of Naples. I think I may just enumerate them and add some short comments:
1) architecture - especially castles, the Galleria Umberto I (which reminds me of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan) and the metro station near Stazione Centrale (unfortunately I didn`t take any photo).
2) even if I don`t know the Neapolitan language, I could communicate in my quasi-(standard) Italian.
3) food - of course it is a must to buy, at least, a piece of Neapolitan pizza. A friend of mine tried patatosa for the first time (Sicilian pizza with French fries). A typical Neapolitan pizza should consist of San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di Bufala Campana and basilica (three colours of the Italian flag: green, white and red).
4) Despite various stories about robbery, we spent there half a day and left the city safe and sound!
And I will give some advice for those who want to visit Naples: you need at least two days to see all necessary monuments due to the fact that they are situated in different districts of the city and you need enough time to take metro, busses or trams.
I don`t know if I would like to come back to Naples, after my first visit I have got mixed feelings about it...
