Greek shoes, a run through history, and 2 kilos of cherries

Parthenon

Athens, Greece....like Rome, Athens was a more of an obligatory stop on this trip. Since we wanted to visit some of the Greek islands, we felt we should at least stop in Athens. And like Rome, I was pleasantly surprised.  The first thing Brad and I noticed as we left the airport on the metro was that the subway was pretty nice. I know Athens was pretty dumpy for awhile and they did a lot of revitalization work leading up to the 2004 Olympics. It certainly paid off!

View from our hotel balcony

Brad did a great job of finding us a hotel right in the central part of Athens.  We could see the Acropolis from our balcony...pretty cool! Seeing as that was one of the main attractions we were interested in, we headed there after getting settled into the hotel Monday afternoon.  With just over 24 hours in Athens, we knew we had to plan our time wisely.

I wish we had been able to get a guided tour of the Acropolis but the guides office right by the entrance was empty and after a few minutes of waiting, we gave up.  During the few minutes we were waiting, I had a good laugh when a dad and his two sons (they sounded American) walked right by me, talking about how hot they were (the sun is brutal here!!). The younger son, about 8, was saying, "yeah, I'm all sweaty and my underwear is really bunched up..." So I of course had to chime in from a  few steps away, "that sounds pretty uncomfortable!" The kid looked mortified and said nothing as he kept walking by. Sorry kid, but it happens to the best of us.  Thanks for the laugh!

Walking up to the Acropolis

The main attraction... The Parthenon

We spent over an hour wandering around the Acropolis, seeing the Parthenon, among many other ruins up on the hill (which is the acropolis) and below.  A quick history lesson: The wall up on the hill that currently surrounds the Acropolis was built by 1200 BC. By 480 BC, several monuments were in place in the Acropolis, including the original monument for Athena (for whom Athens is named) and the foundation of the Parthenon.  However, then the Persians came and destroyed quite a bit. The original Athena monument was gone, and in less than a decade, they built the Parthenon, in tribute to her.  Around the city, tons of other monuments were also built and worshipped.  However, if you remember from history classes, there were a lot of wars, and a lot of other peoples came in and destroyed the temples over the next 2000 years.  They literally hacked off beautiful pieces of art and looted or destroyed them.  Many were buried for hundreds of years and as a result, are in better condition than they might otherwise be. So anyway, as impressive as the structures are now, it's unbelievable to think of what they were like then.

After a great Greek dinner Monday night, Brad was interested in dessert so while I waited for him to get something, I chilled out in Monisteraki Square and people watched for a bit. The guy next to me, who I later found out was a life-long Athenian, started up a friendly conversation by asking, "where are you from, Italy?" Haha nope, but almost!

Delicious breakfast at the hotel

Greek yogurt in Greece is amazing!

We had plans Tuesday night to catch an overnight ferry that left the port at 10pm. So we knew we had to plan our day wisely.  Brad was in desperate need of new sneakers and I had heard about this guy, Stavros Mellissinos, the "poet-sandal maker of Athens." The family-owned sandal-making shop has been around for like 85 years and the grandson has continued on with it.  He is the last custom-made, hand-made shore artisans in Athens and dozens of celebrities, including the Beatles, Jackie O, Sarah Jessica Parker, etc, have been customers.  I was interested, and the shop was just a few minutes from the hotel. I chose from 30 or so different designs, and they took a sample pair in my size and then custom -fitted the leather to match my feet. For 32 euro, it wasn't bad at all.  Brad, meanwhile, found a pair of Adidas sneakers for 130.  I think I got the better deal here....

My Greek sandals 

After that we made our way to the  Panathenaic Stadium, another must-see.  Built on the site of the ancient Olympic Games, this stadium hosted the first of the modern era of Olympics in 1896. It's also the only stadium in the world entirely made of marble. It was 3 euro to enter and you got a free audio tour, which was fascinating. After the tour, despite the sizzling heat, I decided to get in a short workout on the track, realizing this was an opportunity that probably wouldn't come again and I needed to run anyway.  So I did! It was pretty awesome. The track, by my measurements, came out just over 400 meters, but the straightaways are about 185m, so those are some tight turns! The surface was pretty decent, too.  During the entire time we were there touring, not one person ran on it, but once I started, a bunch of others did a lap or partial lap for a photo op. Several hours later, on our away to dinner, a guy we were passing recognized me from running on the track earlier! Cool fact: the distance of the straightaway measured one stade, a unit of measure, and that's how the word stadium got its origin.

The rest of the day consisted of some more historical sights, the acropolis museum, which was pretty cool, dinner, and heading to the port for our transport to Crete. On the way we stopped at some fruit vendors to pick up some fruit for the ride. Brad and I each went to a different one and each requested a bit of cherries, which went for 1.69 a kilo.  I guess they didn't want to try to figure out the math, because the smallest they would give each of us was one whole kilo! So now we have two kilos of cherries to eat up. That's a heck of a lot of cherries! Good thing the fruit in Europe is so delicious!

All in all, Athens was great, a notch above Rome. I'd give it an 8.

Acropolis Museum

Dinner Tuesday night: souvlaki and "stuffed hamburger" with cheese inside...and no bun

Heading toward our ferry as the sun was setting

Proud to be an Italian

My impressions of Napoli:

Just over a week ago, on our last day in Lucca, Sarah and I ran into to a guy from California that we had previously met in the Lucca market, who was staying in the city for few weeks. He asked about our trip and I listed off the places I would be going post-Lucca. When I mentioned Napoli, he immediately cut in, saying, "Don't waste your time in Napoli." I pointedly responded, "My family is from Napoli!" And he wisely didn't say anything further on the subject.

Arriving in Aversa, 104 years after my great grandfather left

However, despite my defense of the city, I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect, as except for the pizza, Napoli doesn't have the best reputation. Well, I am happy to report after spending several days here that Napoli is definitely worth a visit! As in any urban area, there are of course some not-so-nice areas, but there are many different things to see and do and lots of picturesque views.  And the freshness of the food is unlike anything I've had! If I had to sum up Napoli in one word, I would use the word "character." Napoli has lots of character!

Here's the verdict on several key components:

THE PEOPLE:
-many Neapolitans do seem a little rough around the edges at first, but all the ones we have talked to have been very nice. And when I've mentioned that my family is from the area, their faces immediately light up! Best of all was meeting Guiseppe D'aniello outside his photography shop in Naples. He was thrilled to hear my name was also D'Aniello and he insisted we take multiple photos together. If we traced the family tree back far enough, we'd probably find we're tenth cousins or something like that!

-Neapolitans are so proud of who they are! It's actually been fairly amusing at how much regional pride there is, not only here, but all throughout Italy. Nino talked about how you could spend a few weeks in Napoli and not run out of things to do, and added, "I don't know why anyone would want to go to Rome for even a week."  He was curious about my opinions of Milano, as based on what he pointed out, every single thing was better in Napoli than Milano.  Nino also mentioned how the Royal Palace of Caserta was built to look like Versailles, and many say this is nicer. He couldn't say, though, because he'd never been to Versailles. "Why would I go to Versailles when I have this beautiful palace right here??" He did make one concession, though, admitting that while Neopolitan wine is good, the best Italian wine is in Toscana.

-there used to be hundreds of different dialects spoken across Italy, but in the last century, through the invention of mass media and in attempts to further unify the country, one official italian language was proclaimed. This is the language that I've been attempting to learn.  Well, Nino informed us that just a few months ago, a second national language of Italy was announced: Neapolitan! I couldn't help but groan inside, thinking, "should I attempt to learn that language too??" After all, this is where I am registered as an Italian citizen.

-while I did not come across any rude or aggressive men, some stereotypes did prove to be true....particularly the one about italian men and their moms.  We thought it was funny to learn that not only did Nino's sister live next door, but his mother lived downstairs.  When I asked Nino to use his washing machine, there were a bunch of clothes in it. He had Pascuale go get the grandmother, as she was the one who had done the laundry, even though she had her own machine downstairs.  "Sometimes she washes my clothes," Nino explained with a smile.  Then, when I asked him how to use the machine, he looked at it for a moment and then admitted, "I don't know, my mother always washes our clothes!" Luckily Nonna was around for him to ask!

View of our balcony from the room in Nino's place

-one other thing I found to be particularly entertaining was when I went for my run on Friday. I planned a basic 3 mile loop, wrote down the directions, but of course got lost, with less than a mile to go. The lack of street signs and constantly changing names did not make it easy. So I kept stopping to ask for directions (silently thanking the Italian audio CD I listened to that really focused on direction-asking!) and probably asked 8-10 people as I went along. Now remember, I was within a mile of where I needed to be, and the majority of Italians have spent their whole lives in the area they live.  Well, not one single person knew where I had to go. I began to feel like I was in a comedy routine, unbeknownst to me. I would see someone that looked nice, stop and ask, "dov'e via Giovanni Pacoli?" (Where is Giovanni Pascoli Street?) And every single person would repeat, "Via Giovanni Pacoli? Hmm...uno momento!" and they would walk over to someone else and repeat my question. This happened close to 10 times! And I think a lot of the responses were incorrect, because I definitely got turned around. So I ended up asking at most street corners to ensure that I was on the correct route.  There was even one time when I saw a guy in his 20s in the front yard of a house and I said, "Questa e via Cavour?" (Is this street Cavour St?" The guy turned to the lady behind him and said, "Ma, e via Cavour?" (Mom, is this Cavour Street?) He didn't even know his own mother's street! (For all I know, he could have lived there, too!)

THE PIZZA: while all the food was excellent (even the gelato seemed consistently better than other cities). Napoli is of course known for being the birthplace of pizza. Before this trip, the best pizza I'd ever had was Sally's in New Haven, CT.  As a fourteen year old, I ate nine slices there in one sitting.  So I was excited to see how Napoli compared.  Brad and I got pizza for dinner both Friday and Saturday nights, at two different places Nino recommended. Both were fantastic! What really caught our attention was the flavors, so fresh and vibrant! While the pizzas are all cooked in brick ovens, they came out still soft, so it was kind of like eating the pizza on naan bread. They were great, of course....but, I am a big texture person, and I love the crispy dough of Sally's, so I think I might have to go with New Haven pizza on this....maybe Napoli will prove me wrong next time!

THE HISTORY: I hadn't realized how fascinating the history of Naples was. Between all the castles, the underground tunnels, the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, and the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano), there is so much to take in.  Nino encouraged us to visit Ercolano over Pompeii, as the civilization there was much better preserved after it was covered in the eruption of 79 AD, plus it is a lot smaller than Pompeii, which takes a full day to see on its own. So our final day in Napoli we toured Vesuvius (the kid in me couldn't help but excitedly think, "I'm perched on the edge of a real live volcano!) - the last eruption being in the forties so they are probably due for another soon - followed by Ercolano, which was preserved so incredibly well. It was an amazing sight. Another cool thing I hadn't really thought about...Neopolitans originally came from Greece, thousands of years ago. So it makes it fitting that Greece is the other country we decided to explore on this trip!

This woman and her dog absolutely cracked me up

Vesuvius from the distance

Ever hear of this Neopolitan song? It was written for the cable car that used to go up Vesuvius.

Ercolano (Herculaneum) 

Ercolano was buried under 50-60 feet of lava that turned into fertile ground.  The civilization wasn't discovered until the 1700s when some guys were trying to build a well.

The coolest part of Ercolano, in my opinion, but also the saddest.  The ancient shoreline used to be much further inland and the grass you see in this photo was ocean. These are the boathouses of the people of Ercolano.  They weren't discovered until 1980 and hundreds of skeletons were found inside of people who had been trying to escape.  If you look closely, you can see some of the bones by the door openings. 

I was disappointed not to learn any more about my family while in Napoli or see the address where my great-grandfather was born, but without a car and so little time, it just wasn't doable on this trip. I will surely be back, though.  The Italy phase of this adventure is officially over, as I am writing this from the plane to Athens.  Using my Italian passport at the airport and communicating with the check-in guy fully in Italian, I couldn't help but feel so proud! Yes, I am a citizen of this wonderful country!

Final gelato count: 121 

Now that I've toured Italy, here are my views on the cities I visited, on a sliding scale of 1-10, 1 being definitely don't go; 5 being it might be worth a look for a couple days but if you don't make it, don't stress; and 10 being you must visit and spend as much time as you can there!

Milano: 5

Venezia: 9 (definitely a place to visit, but probably just for a few days)

Lucca: 10 (yes, I am biased. If you love big cities you might get bored here...but it was just perfect for me)

Firenze: 8

Cinque Terre: 10

Roma: 7 (the massive amounts of tourist prevented this from being higher)

Napoli: 8

So long for now, Napoli!

Aversa and Naples

Our adventures in Italy continued this weekend. After our quick stop in Rome, Lisa and I caught an early morning train to the town of Aversa, just outside of Naples.  Our host for the weekend, Nino, picked us up. He welcomed us into his home with open arms, offering to take us around and help us out any way he could. Once we were at his home, we met his 12 year old son Pasquale.

Our first stop with Nino and Pasquale was the Royal Palace of Casterta, built in the 1700s. Picture this: as we are walking towards the palace, Nino mentioned a Pavarotti song and asked Lisa if she knew it. She wasn't sure, so he immediately started playing it on his phone. So we are walking towards this magnificent palace, with the sounds of Pavarotti surrounding us! What an experience.

Tall doors!

The palace was amazing. It was complete with all the rooms still intact. Marble was everywhere we could see, from carved statues to steps, columns, floors, and even the walls. High ceilings, massive doors, chandeliers...all the things you expect to find, except all the king's horses and men. We toured the castle while Pasquale and his dad played football(soccer) on the grounds surrounding the palace. The palace also has an English and Italian garden. Interestingly, while we were there, they were setting up for the Pope's visit the following day. "Pappa Francesco" as they call him, was apparently following us after we left his home on Thursday.

After viewing the palace, we met back up with Nino and Pasquale and headed to the English Gardens on the grounds, but a good 4 kilometers from the castle. Only a small portion of the garden was open to the public, due to vandalization. The garden is filled with gifts of plants to the king from all over the world. Some very unusual plants and trees that are now very mature. One silly fact we found inside the palace was that the king had made his artist paint pictures of the English gardens just so he didn't have to walk all the way to see them. See even kings are lazy!

Walking back toward the palace from the gardens. The palace is 4 kilometers down the road straight ahead

A very old tree from Algeria that was given to the king


Nino then took us up a very windy road to see the town of Casertavecchia (Old Caserta). It is a medieval town in the hills over looking Naples. All the buildings seemedancient...well, it was founded in 861 AD! The view from the town was spectacular to say the least.

Now until this point I had not been in an automobile in Italy. I wasn't missing it either! This was totally different experience! Europeans seem to have no rules to the road. Park any which way you want, drive on the wrong side of the road, oh stop signs... What are those? It appears to be a free-for-all here! If someone is too slow, just pass wherever. And try not to hit the pedestrians.

Saturday began with Nino making us breakfast. A true homemade breakfast! Everything was from scratch. Fresh-squeezed orange juice from local oranges. Ricotta cheese from the local area. Fresh
bread, the best tomatoes I've ever had, and I'm not one for tomatoes! Plus, it is cheap...Nino said tomatoes equate to about 40 cents a pound. Everything is fresh, and there is no such thing as high fructose corn syrup!

Fresh squeezed orange juice and amazing ricotta with some honey

Frisella, a Neopolitan dish of bread toasted with oil, tomatoes, and mozzarella

After stuffing ourselves at the breakfast table, we caught the train to Naples. Nino, a travel agent, had given ups an enormous list of things to see. First on the list was an old castle on the coast, one of several in Naples. This was complete with cannons and thick walls for defense. An interesting thing Lisa noticed was some of the cannons were pointed towards shore...not sure why. We saw a couple bridal parties being photographed at the castle. You can't do that too many places in the States!

At the medieval castle, Napoli in the background

We strolled up into the city as some rain drops appeared from the sky. Our next stop was the opera house, the oldest continually run in Europe and connected to the kings' quarters directly through a secret passage way. The king had his own box in the back of the theatre. All the personal boxes that lined the theatre (180 of them), have a mirror that faces the king's box. That way everyone knew when the king arrived. The opera house is an amazing sight! Originally done in blue, the fabrics are now red. We cut the tour a few minute short. We had another to get to!

The king's box

We wanted to see the Bourbon tunnel, built originally for King Ferdinand of the Bourbon family. (The same king just mentioned in the previous paragraph). He wanted a direct route between the palace (attached to the theatre), for easy escape and for his men to reach him if under attack.  The tunnel was attached to the pre-existing tunnels deep underground that were used to house sisterns for Naples's water supply.  While the Bourbon part of the tunnel was never used for the king because he died before it was finished, the tunnels in their entirety became one of the primary air raid shelters during WW II. Some families lived in there even after the was was over because they had no homes to go to. Napoli was devastated from bombs.  It was pretty cool to hear our guide mention that one of the children who been down there during air raids had carved his name on a wall and they actually tracked him down a few years ago, still living in Naples as an old man.  He recalled that as a kid, he enjoyed going in the tunnels because it was the only time he could play with other kids, because it was just too dangerous up on the streets.  We had an excellent tour guide and both of us thought it was one of the most unique tours we both had ever been on. So many things had been dumped in the tunnel over the years, including many old cars from the police impound lot, including an old Chevy and a Plymouth. It was neat to see how the tunnel was used over the centuries.

Imagine hundreds of Neapolitans fleeing down these narrow steps when the air raid alarms began sounding

Abandoned old cars in the tunnel

Following the tour, we went to the the historic district where we saw many old churches and yes we made a gelato stop while we waited for dinner (the restaurant didn't open until 7). We had pizza at Gino's, a recommendation of Nino's and a place Mayor Bill De Blasio of NYC visited just a few days earlier.  Check it out:

http://time.com/3025336/bill-de-blasio-pizza-italy/

The verdict: we both agreed that never before had we had pizza that tasted so flavorful and fresh!

SoG: 115