There is something disappointing about going to a foreign country and spending time where thousands of tourists have been before you. No matterhow beautiful a place is, if it's overtly touristy it loses part of its mystery and charm. But Naples had none of that feeling. It was so wonderfully ITALIAN.
I went to find my hostel, which I had called earlier. It was full but the woman who worked there, an Australian who had moved to Naples several years earlier, offered to walk me to another hostel they were friends with. Along the way we talked and I went with her to run an errand: going into a crazy little deli (full of more movie scenes!!) to buy cat food. She was free-spirted and eccentric, traits that I love in people. One particular comment she said stuck in my mind. She was talking baout how when you travel, you always here hype about certain places and criticisms on others. She found whenever everyone else said a place was awful, then she knew she had to go. "Everyone always said Naples was dangerous and ugly, so I knew it had to be great!" and she was right. She just moved there out of the blue, started a hostel, and loves it. It made me want to change my whole perspective on life.
Eventually, we got to the other hostel, which was as awesome as the first one. It was part of a guy's private apartment, a musician, whose room was filled with instruments and records. I could have lived there! The whole place was big with hardwood floors, several bedrooms with cozy beds, a large kitchen for the travellers, and a HUGE roof patio!!! There were other travellers there: another Ausralian, an Isreali guy, and some Americans. We made it a first priority to sit on the patio, get acquainted with each other, enjoy the urban night air, and drink LOTS of red wine. Then a bunch of us went out for pizza....we HAD to--since Naples is the birthplace of pizza.
And let me tell you about the pizza we had. OH MY GOD. It was the best pizza I've ever had in my life. I had Pizza Margherita with Caprese--Buffalo Mozzerella cheese. It was an orgasm in my mouth. Woooo!! I still think about that pizza, plus a few others that I had in Italy. They don't make food like that anywhere else.