Went to Naples in April for the first time with the wife, our 11 year old son and my mother in law and we all absolutely loved it!! I can understand some peoples comments about how it looks (my first thought was that some of it looked vaguely favela-eque!) but I guess that's almost inevitable when you have so many people and such economic diversity in such a small area.
I'd also have to admit it is a health and safety conscious persons nightmare...most things are old and any repairs or enhancements seem to take the form of patches...on top of other patches! In the majority of cases that just added to the charm and interest for us but I could see some people just not being comfortable with many aspects of the place as a whole.
Personally I thrived on the lack of cotton wool protection and the 'challenge' of getting into the citys groove - from crossing the road! to rapidly learning enough Italian to allow us to breakfast on hands down the best tasting prosciutto, bread, tomatoes and basil I have ever tasted!!
We stayed in an old apartment my wife found online and it was fantastic...right in the heart of the old town. Waay too many stairs to climb up to the street itself with luggage but we only had to do that once. It looked like nothing from the extremely narrow street but once the big door opened it revealed a beautiful courtyard and a hugely characterful building. The apartment itself was superb - no complaints whatsoever and a great base to have for our stay.
+ the food
+ the vibrancy & energy (it was always buzzing no matter what hour of the day or night we ventured out)
+ the food!
+ the sheer number and diversity of family run shops, bars, cafes and restaurants (chains and franchises are definitely in the minority...how refreshing!)
+ did i mention the food?!
+ the prices...nothing felt expensive
+ the people - my son and I 'accessed'! a rundown 5 aside pitch near our apartment and ended up there most days playing bounce games with an assortment of local kids and adults and we all had a blast and had no issues at all
+ we felt 'safe' - difficult one this. There is undoubtedly an underbelly to Naples - of that I have no doubt but, at the same time, we saw children and OAPs out at all hours either alone or in groups and that made us feel comfortable doing the same (we had zero problems during our stay aside from teenagers asking for cigarettes and Africans trying to sell selfie sticks or other tat neither of which amount to anything in the scheme of things)
- the traffic (totally MENTAL!) The 30 minute taxi ride from the airport to our apartment was enough to convince me that this is a place I would never ever consider hiring a car and driving in. Almost every car you see is damaged/scarred (some to frankly hysterical levels). It reminded me slightly of Chennai (enough said
)
- the roads. To cross roads in Naples you need your wits about you and you need to be decisive. Survey the traffic, choose your moment and do it without hesitating and you'll be fine...hopefully
- not for OCD types...bits are dirty, there's lot's of graffiti and damaged cars, you see wires sprouting from things you'd rather they weren't. It can't be inherently unsafe - millions of people live there every day and some of them are very old lol but look at it with your UK eyes too hard and I'm guessing for some it just wouldn't be comfortable.
One last..ok two last things if you do go anywhere near here - eat LOTS of gelati (at least one a day) and do yourself a favour and take a boat to Ischia, stay at least a day and enjoy one of the most beautiful places I've visited.
Going back next year without a shadow of a doubt...
![[FnG]magnolia](/styles/overclockers/avatars/9.png){kind=avatar}
