TexasAggie's Trip Report: "The Twelve Days of Pizza"
May 26th, 2005, 03:10 PM
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TexasAggie's Trip Report: "The Twelve Days of Pizza"
Brief Background:
We spent our honeymoon in Italy last June and decided to return this year for an early 1st anniversary trip. We are in our 20s and live in Denver, Colorado. We’re very "active" travelers, and to say we have no sense of direction even between the two of us is an understatement... hence our trips are usually full of moving around, often times in circles ;-)
This was an 11 night trip and the sights seen were Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii, Paestum, Positano, Capri, the Cinque Terre, and Rome. We stayed at La Tonnarella in Sorrento for the first 4 nights, Hotel California in Positano for the next 2 nights, an overnight train for a night (what an experience that was!), Hotel Villa Steno in Monterosso for 3 nights, and Hotel Oceania in Rome for our final night. I will write detailed hotel reviews in the report. Many thanks to all of the posters who kindly and energetcially helped me to plan this trip, we really could not have done it without all you Fodorite friends.
As a final note, we are not foodies. We really did have pizza at least once every single day of the trip.
DAY ONE: "On the 1st Day of Pizza…"
THE DANCING MAN
Our plane arrived an hour late after the most turbulent transatlantic flight I’ve ever taken in my life! We flew American. Service was pretty good due to my Platinum FF status, food was awful as usual, and riding in coach is just miserable even if you are a small person. We caught the Leonardo Express (9,50€ each) to the Rome Termini train station (22€ each) and took the EuroStar to Naples. In Naples, we caught the Circumvesuviana train (3,10€ each) to Sorrento. In Sorrento, we took the SITA bus (1€ each) to our hotel on Via Cap, the hill up above the city with a view of the Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. As mentioned above, we are very active people but all of that transferring after an international flight was rough! We had gotten an excellent deal on airfare ($671 roundtrip from Denver to Rome), but it really might have been worth it to fly into Naples in retrospect.
After we checked in we cleaned up and decided to head down Via Capo into town to go grocery shopping, find the webcam, and have dinner. There is a grocery store on the right side of the street as you walk down Via Capo. It was about 6-7 minutes down. We bought small cherry tomatoes on the vine, a couple of oranges so fresh there was still dirt on them, a wedge of fontina cheese, a wedge of a mild white cheese starting with a "c" and that had crushed red peppers in it, 8 slices of salami, and a big hunk of fresh foccacia
This was our picnic lunch for Pompeii (Day 2).
We didn’t feel like trucking back up to the hotel only to head immediately back into town for dinner so we just took the grocery sacks with us. I wondered later if jetlag mentality had anything to do with this decision…??
We saw a pizzeria off the main road into town and stopped in for a "snack"It was about 5pm-ish by this time but we were too hungry to wait another couple of hours to eat. We ordered a margherita pizza and watched the man make it. I love the way they toss the pizza dough – reminiscent of one spinning a Frisbee on his/her fingertip. Instead of the normal "hunks" of mozzarella, this place tossed long shaved curlicues of the cheese onto the pizza in a couple of layers with the tomato sauce. YUM! While we were waiting for the pie to cook I spied some odd looking fried objects and inquired about what was inside of them. The inquiry led to a spirited explanation in too-fast-for-me-to-understand Italian and a napkin-full of the stuff proffered with great ceremony. Turned out to be fried pizza dough, or something like that. I didn’t really like it but felt obligated to eat them since he had given them to me for free and was watching me eat to see how I liked them. Oh well, no harm done. Pizza with a can of coke for DH was 5€. I wanted to eat in town on one of the benches and people watch (anything to stay awake for a few more hours!!).
We found a bench on the main street (the one that ends in the pretty yellow Barouque-looking church) and sat down to eat. The pizza was fabulous – the tomato sauce was so flavorful compared to what we were used to and the fresh basil leaves added the perfect amount of "kick". About 2 slices in, we were approached by this truly tiny elderly man. He literally danced up to us, this amusing skipping-shuffling-wiggling motion. At first I thought we wanted some of our pizza but he just wanted to chatter and shake my hand (numerous times). DH was beginning to get a little agitated but he went away after a few minutes. We finished our pizza and it began to rain so we ducked into a church. I don’t recall the name of it unfortunately, but it was beautiful. There was some sort of ceremony going on at the front (a wedding rehearsal, I think), so we walked around the back and sides. Lo and behold, the dancing man appeared out of nowhere as we were looking at a painting. To my great surprise (and DH’s great annoyance), he leaned over and kissed me soundly on the cheek!?? I made a speedy detour away from him with DH in tow and we proceeded to play a game of "chase" with this guy until we made it to the exit. We were moving clockwise around the back of the church trying to still see the paintings and side altars and yet stay at least 10 feet ahead of the guy who was following us, still doing his wiggle dance thing. We eventually made our escape via a quick dash across the nave to the door and a couple quick street turns. The man either couldn’t or didn’t follow. This was probably the weirdest experience I have ever had in Italy.
We walked further down the main street (at least it seemed like the main street in town!) and looked at the pretty yellow Baroque-looking church. It was closed and looked to be in pretty poor condition considering there were weeds growing on the stone roof. We found gelato on the other side of the street and went down a smaller street to the right as we walked back. This street turned out to be a little “market”, with fresh fruit stands, spice stands, soap stands, leather shops, etc. We did a little shopping and then to my surprise and delight, the street dumped into the exact webcam square. We both waved like crazies (and got a few crazy looks!). It was 6:35pm Sorrento-time on May 14th (Saturday). I have long brown hair (pulled back), average height. I was wearing a black silk top (sleeveless with square neck) and pencil khaki skirt with black sandals. As I was waving, the thought occurred "Oh no, am I guilty of banding because I am wearing black and khaki??".
The jetlag was really kicking in at this point and we were somewhat laden with packages due to the grocery shopping and market shopping. We decided to head back to the hotel and pass on dinner. We spent about an hour on the terrace reading and then turned in early.
Note on Napoli Centrale Train Station: We did not find the train station intimidating at all. We were not approached by unauthorized porters, not did we even see anyone remotely resembling a vagabond or pickpocket inside the train station (outside is a different story, but we loved Naples anyway). When you come off the track from your train, follow the signs (white with blue lettering) marked "Circumvesuviana" downstairs. Don’t take any of the signs to the metro once you are downstairs, follow the signs to the "Treni". We just walked briskly like we knew what we were doing and as mentioned, had no problems whatsoever. We ran into a couple from Mississippi once we were down at the Circumvesuviana tracks who had used one of the "porters" and had to pay 50€ for the "guide and baggage service". Amazingly, they did not seem perturbed by this and said that they felt it was worth it because they would not have known what to do. To each their own…
We spent our honeymoon in Italy last June and decided to return this year for an early 1st anniversary trip. We are in our 20s and live in Denver, Colorado. We’re very "active" travelers, and to say we have no sense of direction even between the two of us is an understatement... hence our trips are usually full of moving around, often times in circles ;-)
This was an 11 night trip and the sights seen were Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii, Paestum, Positano, Capri, the Cinque Terre, and Rome. We stayed at La Tonnarella in Sorrento for the first 4 nights, Hotel California in Positano for the next 2 nights, an overnight train for a night (what an experience that was!), Hotel Villa Steno in Monterosso for 3 nights, and Hotel Oceania in Rome for our final night. I will write detailed hotel reviews in the report. Many thanks to all of the posters who kindly and energetcially helped me to plan this trip, we really could not have done it without all you Fodorite friends.
As a final note, we are not foodies. We really did have pizza at least once every single day of the trip.
DAY ONE: "On the 1st Day of Pizza…"
THE DANCING MAN
Our plane arrived an hour late after the most turbulent transatlantic flight I’ve ever taken in my life! We flew American. Service was pretty good due to my Platinum FF status, food was awful as usual, and riding in coach is just miserable even if you are a small person. We caught the Leonardo Express (9,50€ each) to the Rome Termini train station (22€ each) and took the EuroStar to Naples. In Naples, we caught the Circumvesuviana train (3,10€ each) to Sorrento. In Sorrento, we took the SITA bus (1€ each) to our hotel on Via Cap, the hill up above the city with a view of the Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius. As mentioned above, we are very active people but all of that transferring after an international flight was rough! We had gotten an excellent deal on airfare ($671 roundtrip from Denver to Rome), but it really might have been worth it to fly into Naples in retrospect.
After we checked in we cleaned up and decided to head down Via Capo into town to go grocery shopping, find the webcam, and have dinner. There is a grocery store on the right side of the street as you walk down Via Capo. It was about 6-7 minutes down. We bought small cherry tomatoes on the vine, a couple of oranges so fresh there was still dirt on them, a wedge of fontina cheese, a wedge of a mild white cheese starting with a "c" and that had crushed red peppers in it, 8 slices of salami, and a big hunk of fresh foccacia
This was our picnic lunch for Pompeii (Day 2). We didn’t feel like trucking back up to the hotel only to head immediately back into town for dinner so we just took the grocery sacks with us. I wondered later if jetlag mentality had anything to do with this decision…??
We saw a pizzeria off the main road into town and stopped in for a "snack"It was about 5pm-ish by this time but we were too hungry to wait another couple of hours to eat. We ordered a margherita pizza and watched the man make it. I love the way they toss the pizza dough – reminiscent of one spinning a Frisbee on his/her fingertip. Instead of the normal "hunks" of mozzarella, this place tossed long shaved curlicues of the cheese onto the pizza in a couple of layers with the tomato sauce. YUM! While we were waiting for the pie to cook I spied some odd looking fried objects and inquired about what was inside of them. The inquiry led to a spirited explanation in too-fast-for-me-to-understand Italian and a napkin-full of the stuff proffered with great ceremony. Turned out to be fried pizza dough, or something like that. I didn’t really like it but felt obligated to eat them since he had given them to me for free and was watching me eat to see how I liked them. Oh well, no harm done. Pizza with a can of coke for DH was 5€. I wanted to eat in town on one of the benches and people watch (anything to stay awake for a few more hours!!).
We found a bench on the main street (the one that ends in the pretty yellow Barouque-looking church) and sat down to eat. The pizza was fabulous – the tomato sauce was so flavorful compared to what we were used to and the fresh basil leaves added the perfect amount of "kick". About 2 slices in, we were approached by this truly tiny elderly man. He literally danced up to us, this amusing skipping-shuffling-wiggling motion. At first I thought we wanted some of our pizza but he just wanted to chatter and shake my hand (numerous times). DH was beginning to get a little agitated but he went away after a few minutes. We finished our pizza and it began to rain so we ducked into a church. I don’t recall the name of it unfortunately, but it was beautiful. There was some sort of ceremony going on at the front (a wedding rehearsal, I think), so we walked around the back and sides. Lo and behold, the dancing man appeared out of nowhere as we were looking at a painting. To my great surprise (and DH’s great annoyance), he leaned over and kissed me soundly on the cheek!?? I made a speedy detour away from him with DH in tow and we proceeded to play a game of "chase" with this guy until we made it to the exit. We were moving clockwise around the back of the church trying to still see the paintings and side altars and yet stay at least 10 feet ahead of the guy who was following us, still doing his wiggle dance thing. We eventually made our escape via a quick dash across the nave to the door and a couple quick street turns. The man either couldn’t or didn’t follow. This was probably the weirdest experience I have ever had in Italy.
We walked further down the main street (at least it seemed like the main street in town!) and looked at the pretty yellow Baroque-looking church. It was closed and looked to be in pretty poor condition considering there were weeds growing on the stone roof. We found gelato on the other side of the street and went down a smaller street to the right as we walked back. This street turned out to be a little “market”, with fresh fruit stands, spice stands, soap stands, leather shops, etc. We did a little shopping and then to my surprise and delight, the street dumped into the exact webcam square. We both waved like crazies (and got a few crazy looks!). It was 6:35pm Sorrento-time on May 14th (Saturday). I have long brown hair (pulled back), average height. I was wearing a black silk top (sleeveless with square neck) and pencil khaki skirt with black sandals. As I was waving, the thought occurred "Oh no, am I guilty of banding because I am wearing black and khaki??".
The jetlag was really kicking in at this point and we were somewhat laden with packages due to the grocery shopping and market shopping. We decided to head back to the hotel and pass on dinner. We spent about an hour on the terrace reading and then turned in early.
Note on Napoli Centrale Train Station: We did not find the train station intimidating at all. We were not approached by unauthorized porters, not did we even see anyone remotely resembling a vagabond or pickpocket inside the train station (outside is a different story, but we loved Naples anyway). When you come off the track from your train, follow the signs (white with blue lettering) marked "Circumvesuviana" downstairs. Don’t take any of the signs to the metro once you are downstairs, follow the signs to the "Treni". We just walked briskly like we knew what we were doing and as mentioned, had no problems whatsoever. We ran into a couple from Mississippi once we were down at the Circumvesuviana tracks who had used one of the "porters" and had to pay 50€ for the "guide and baggage service". Amazingly, they did not seem perturbed by this and said that they felt it was worth it because they would not have known what to do. To each their own…
May 26th, 2005, 03:31 PM
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Oh what fun!! The dancing man sounds charming (in a deranged sort of way). I bet it was a long day of traveling. We are doing the same thing in July. I know we will be exhausted (and irritated by 2 cranky kids) by the time we arrive in Sorrento.
Can't wait to read more. Sleep well.
Can't wait to read more. Sleep well.
May 26th, 2005, 05:23 PM
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Hi TexasAggie, love your report!! 50euro for a nonauthorized baggage handler. My this is a bit steep, LOL.
I hope that your jet lag passes quickly so we can read the rest of your wonderful report. Love your dancing man story. You captured his heart no doubt. Wish I had seen you on the cam. Banding huh! Black and kahki sound great to me. Sweet dreams!
I hope that your jet lag passes quickly so we can read the rest of your wonderful report. Love your dancing man story. You captured his heart no doubt. Wish I had seen you on the cam. Banding huh! Black and kahki sound great to me. Sweet dreams!
I want to hear more!
May 27th, 2005, 02:58 AM
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hi Texasaggie-
I'm glad you had such a fine trip and look forward to the rest of your report! I love your way of enjoying picnics while sightseeing.
The story of the "Dancing Man" was interesting, and reminds me of an elderly man who approaches me every time I am in or around the piazza of his town on the outskirts of Sorrento. The first time, it was annoying, but it's funny, if I went back there now and didn't see him, I would feel something was amiss!
"He literally danced up to us, this amusing skipping-shuffling-wiggling motion. "
"10 feet ahead of the guy who was following us, still doing his wiggle dance thing."
Is it possible that this gentleman was disabled in some way that caused him to move in a way that seemed funny or strange to you and your husband?
And if he was elderly, is it also possible that he may have thought he recognized you in some way? This sometimes happens to an aunt of mine who is elderly and often confuses people's identities, including those of her own children and her sisters.
Just a thought...
I'm glad you had such a fine trip and look forward to the rest of your report! I love your way of enjoying picnics while sightseeing.
The story of the "Dancing Man" was interesting, and reminds me of an elderly man who approaches me every time I am in or around the piazza of his town on the outskirts of Sorrento. The first time, it was annoying, but it's funny, if I went back there now and didn't see him, I would feel something was amiss!
"He literally danced up to us, this amusing skipping-shuffling-wiggling motion. "
"10 feet ahead of the guy who was following us, still doing his wiggle dance thing."
Is it possible that this gentleman was disabled in some way that caused him to move in a way that seemed funny or strange to you and your husband?
And if he was elderly, is it also possible that he may have thought he recognized you in some way? This sometimes happens to an aunt of mine who is elderly and often confuses people's identities, including those of her own children and her sisters.
Just a thought...
May 27th, 2005, 03:29 AM
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Hi TA,
Great report.
>He literally danced up to us, this amusing skipping-shuffling-wiggling motion.<
Are you sure that it wasn't your jet lag that was affecting your senses and that the kind gentleman was concerned about your odd behavior?
Great report.
>He literally danced up to us, this amusing skipping-shuffling-wiggling motion.<
Are you sure that it wasn't your jet lag that was affecting your senses and that the kind gentleman was concerned about your odd behavior?
May 27th, 2005, 11:56 AM
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Hello All!
No worries, "On the 2nd Day of Pizza" is soon to come and the jet lag is disappearing pretty quickly.
Hi WillTravel, don't laugh too hard, but yes I have already run the "actual vs. estimated" spreadsheet!! We came in about $90 under. The numbers obsession must be genetic as both my father and grandfather were accountants
For the posters who asked about our "dancing man" and if he was possibly handicapped... thinking back, I don't think so but if he was then I certainly feel terrible about finding the experience so amusing. He had a really "springy" step and he wasn't slow in the least, quite the contrary as he was able to move in rapidly for that surprise kiss!
No worries, "On the 2nd Day of Pizza" is soon to come and the jet lag is disappearing pretty quickly.
Hi WillTravel, don't laugh too hard, but yes I have already run the "actual vs. estimated" spreadsheet!! We came in about $90 under. The numbers obsession must be genetic as both my father and grandfather were accountants
For the posters who asked about our "dancing man" and if he was possibly handicapped... thinking back, I don't think so but if he was then I certainly feel terrible about finding the experience so amusing. He had a really "springy" step and he wasn't slow in the least, quite the contrary as he was able to move in rapidly for that surprise kiss!
May 27th, 2005, 01:14 PM
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DAY TWO: "On the 2nd Day of Pizza..."
NAPLES – SEX AND THE SEXY
We had planned to go to Pompeii on Day 2, but we decided we didn’t want to get up quite early enough to beat the crowds so we opted for Naples and the National Museum of Archaeology instead. We roused ourselves from bed about 9am and after a couple (ok, I admit it, I had three) cappuccinos we were feeling pretty energetic and perky. We walked to the station and after a few wrong turns from reading the map backwards we found it and caught the Circumvesuviana train to Naples.
At the Meta stop, a group of Italian teenagers (probably about 13-14) got on. There were 4 boys and 3 girls including one stunning young woman who had the "art" of flirting DOWN. We watched in amusement as she managed to keep all 4 of the guys completely enthralled with her long wavy hair (tossed over her shoulder at just the right moments for effect) and fluttering green eyes. We also observed the increasing malcontent of the other 2 girls. Ah, jealousy.
Upon arrival in Naples, we took the escalator upstairs from the Circumvesuviana tracks and went into the TI (tourist information) booth on the right. We had researched the Campania ArteCard and had decided that the 3 Day Pass for 25€ was a good option for us. For those who haven’t heard of the pass, details can be found at this website - http://www.campaniartecard.it/index.php?lingua=2 . The general gist of our card was that we were given free access to one major sight, 50% off admissions to all other sights, free transportation on all the trains in the region (including the Circumvesuviana, metro and SITA bus system), a map of Naples, and varying discounts on audioguides and in bookstores. We would later discover that the week we were there was "Cultural Week" and all of the sights were absolutely free... however, after seeing Pompeii and Paestum we were both really happy that we had spent the money on the card if even just a little of it goes toward the conservation of these world treasures.
Map in tow, we ventured out of the train station in what we hoped was the direction of the museum. The area in the immediate vicinity (a 3 minute walking radius) of the train station is the only area of Naples in which I didn’t feel completely comfortable. An hour and fifteen minutes later we had not found the museum… I was having a marvelous time soaking in the pulse of Naples and DH was quite grouchy about his failure to make any sense of the map. The streets of Naples are laid out almost like a Medieval city – narrow, winding, few street signs, and lots of alleys and small no-name piazzas. The city and especially its streets overflow with people – all sizes, all colors. The city exudes passion, energy and vitality that is hard to describe, calling it "alive" is a vast understatement.
We didn’t do so well with our navigation attempt, despite a valiant effort, but we did find a leather shop so all was not lost
I wanted to get my Dad a wallet for Father’s Day and this shop had a great collection. My Dad is an amazing person... I hope I am like him some day. He is one of those true "salt of the earth" people, I’ve never met anyone more caring or generous. Even though he could afford the best he always prefers the simple and understated. Picking out a wallet for him was agonizing because I wanted to get him something he would like, even though I know by now that he treasures anything my sister or I give him. With DH’s help we ended up with a black classic-looking trifold. Anyway, after our hour and fifteen minutes of circling and shopping (with me peering into every café, pizzeria, and ristorante that we came across) I was pretty hungry. While DH consulted the map (more like cursed the map), I perused the "fish stand" on the corner. I grew up in Dallas and have spent the last few years in Colorado so I am a true product of a "land-locked" upbringing I guess. I found the different types of fish on ice very interesting as I’d never seen many of them before and the man running the shop let me "water" the rock-looking things (oysters or were they clams?) with a spray hose, further endearing Naples and its charming people to me. For someone who abhors seafood, this was surprisingly a lot of fun! We found a neighborhood pizzeria without an English menu (sorry, I didn’t write down the name) very near the big castle-gate structure, I believe it is called Castel Cuavano. DH had Pizza Diavola (spicy salami, mozzarella, and tomato sauce), and I had Pizza Margherita with little green peppery leaves ALL over it. It was fantastic, the little leaves really made the pizza. They weren’t basil and I don’t recall the Italian word for them. Lunch was about 10€ including cover charge. I was able to get good directions to the museum from the waiter by asking "per favore, dove Museo". We were there by 2:30 (in about 10 minutes)... DH had an adorable sheepish look on his face when we discovered how close we had been ;-)
We used our ArteCard to get into the museum and we got 2 audioguides for 4€ thanks to the discount. We got reservations for the Secret Room for 3:15pm at the booth next to the audioguide booth. The ArteCard discount in the bookstore is 15% and we bought several books on our way into the museum. They accept credit cards. The museum is AMAZING, the Farnese collection will leave you breathless. One thing that I found disturbing is that flash photography is apparently allowed in all of the rooms. I am no expert, but I had always assumed flash photography must be damaging to works of art because so many museums prohibit it. Be sure to see the collection of sculpture, the mosaics taken from Pompeii and Herculaneum, the Temple of Isis diorama, and the Sundial room. We were there on a Sunday (May 15th) and the museum was fairly empty with the vast majority of the visitors being Italian.
Alright, now for the SEX promised in the title. The Secret Room, a collection of ancient erotic art (much of it from Pompeii), is on the same floor as the mosaics. We arrived at 3:15pm like our card said to but no one was checking tickets. The frescoes and penis statues/amulets were interesting but not the most interesting items in the museum at least in my opinion. I found the wall of different frescoes that were used in a brothel as a menu of services to be the best items in the collection. As I believe ira said in his fantastic trip report, sex hasn’t changed much in the past 2000 years. We went through the collection at the same time an Italian couple (probably in their late 40s) did. We had a blast watching them because the husband would point to the most graphic pictures, the ones depicting different sexual positions, and whisper to his wife and she kept giggling and blushing and shushing him. They left with their arms around each other and an intent look on their faces, so all you ladies who bring your men to the museum keep in mind what this room can inspire
THE SEXY: We spent about 4 hours in the museum and saw most of the collections that were open. We left about 6:45pm, walking out via the street that becomes Via Toldeo. I will probably butcher the spelling, but we hit the streets just when the passegiata was heating up. Hordes of people take to the streets, strutting their stuff for a couple of hours while chatting with friends or shouting into cell phones. The sidewalks fill up so they flood the streets. And the Neapolitans look damn sexy while doing it time-honored ritual – pointy high high heels, skin-tight pants, short skirts, unbuttoned blouses, see-through pants with lacy thongs underneath… these people know how to entice, let me tell you! We had a fantastic time strolling the streets, rubbing shoulders with them.
We decided to stay in the city for dinner and found, you guessed it, another Pizzeria. Pizza twice in one day, a college student's idea of heaven. I'm a couple years out, but I still enjoyed it
I actually wrote this one down it was so good - Pizza e Contorini on Via Diaz. It was about a 20 minute walk from the station (10 minutes from the Galleria). Pizza for both, aqua naturale, and house wine came to about 16€. We made it back to the train station without a single wrong turn and caught the 9:43pm Cirumvesuviana back to Sorrento. Spent a little quality time cuddling out on our room’s terrace (what’s a girl to do after such a day with the secret room and all!) and turned in early. 
