Our first post-pandemic trip was to Naples, Italy–the City of Pizza. Why Naples, you may ask? Well, cheaper flights and accommodations. But first, we had to get there.
Travel Again!
I am so excited to travel again. I haven’t been out in the world—really been out in the world for two years and I am so ready to experience the wonder and joy of adventure.
This past fall, my partner, the love of my life, fiancé, Beth, had been perusing Scott’s Cheap Flights and texting dates and locations of possible trips. We both wanted so badly to go to Europe but being a teacher, it’s hard to nail down a good deal since we always have to travel in prime times (Christmas, summer, Easter). She scored big time though.
My reply to her “want to go to Pompeii?” The text was HELL YES. Book ‘em, Danno! (A reference only us gen-x-er’s will get.) She did well.
It’s still a Pandemic–travel with a mask and paperwork
Six months or so later, I am packing and filling out paperwork. Traveling during a pandemic is less than ideal, but at least we now can. In order to get into Europe, more specifically Germany and Italy, you have to fill out a very long statement that says you have been fully vaccinated with a booster shot within 270 days of your arrival.
Well, that part was easy since I had already taken care of that. There are photos of the vaccination card to upload, solemnly swearing we do not have COVID or if we had it, we had it some time ago and are fully recovered. We were told we had to have the card to get into restaurants and we had to wear the K95 masks when in public buildings.
Some of this was true. We were told a few times about the masks on the airplanes but weren’t bugged about it when we had on a regular surgical mask. Not one person besides the person checking us in at the airport asked for our vac cards. So for the 3 very long legs of our journey, it was like 2021: we wore a mask. The six-foot rule did not apply.
Finally to Europe–but no Italy stamp
I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to land in Europe. But then, there was the Frankfurt airport. It was cold, and the border control people were rather grumpy and did not appreciate my “It’s spring break! We are going to party!” attitude. Now in my recently renewed passport, I have a stamp from Germany instead of Italy. That whole EU thing kinda put a damper on my excitement about getting an Italy stamp.
After miles and miles of walking to our gate, I was convinced that the Frankfurt airport stretched the length of the town and the announcement that we would dock at terminal 1 and our next flight would leave from terminal 1 was just a rouse. Oh, it was true except that terminal one is just HUMONGOUS.
Our First Steps in Italy
Naples, however, was amazing. Even that first day of utter exhaustion would not keep us from food and wine. We were able to drop off our bags at our Air B&B, but it was not ready for us yet, so we had to go explore our area for a few hours. We walked around the corner and found a sweet little Pizza shop. The owner or operator greeted us with a ‘PREGO! PIZZA?”
I answered with an emphatic “YES!” We had a pizza margarita for €3.50 and I had 2 glasses of chilled house red wine.
Beth had a beer and then switched to wine. I got a little buzzed, so that made a walk down the steep hill to the piazza the perfect thing to do. Relaxed and rested, we took our first pics in Italy.
Accommodations in Napoli
We stayed at an Air B&B in Piazza del Plebiscito, a town square that hosts the Royal Palace. I would call it the perfect location with one minor issue: it was 4 flights up with no lift. When I was booking it, 4 flights did not seem that bad. After an exhausting day walking around, it wore on our legs.
On the other hand, it was within walking distance of the Metro, the shopping district of Chaia, and my favorite place, the Spanish Quarter (more on this later). It was next to the port where the large cruise ships dock so it catered well to tourists. That being said, also watch out for pickpockets in the crowded streets.
Language and Cash in a strange city
Most of the people that ran the stores and restaurants spoke enough English and were very friendly. We walked several of the streets around the area looking for an ATM for cash as we found that most places like it better if you pay with Euros. Plenty did take cards though. We had a hard time finding an ATM machine at first, but we figured out later that we were just exhausted and had passed several in our search.
Use caution with the ones that are not attached to a bank. Euronet is one of the worst ones you can use because the conversion rates are horrible. If it gives you the option to decline the conversion rate, do it! It may ask you more than once. This does not cancel the transaction and saves you a bit of money.
Getting Around the city
Getting around Naples is very easy. Most of the time we walked. We took a Hop-on-Hop-Off tour, to begin with, to get a feel for where we were and see the sites. The metro is very easy to figure out and we used it the most. Taxis are also easy to find, just make sure the meter is running or you agree to a price before you ride. Not all taxi drivers are honest.
A Lovely day ends early (because we were so exhausted)
After what felt like 8 miles of walking (which was truthfully a mile and a half) we received word that we could go back to the Air B&B. We stopped and picked up a few pastries for the next morning and walked back up the steep hill and 4 flights of stairs. We sat on the couch for a while, so tired we could not keep our eyes open. It was about 5 pm and we thought we would take a little nap and then go out and eat.
Turns out, our little nap was about 15 hours of sleep. But we were well rested for the next adventure, Pompeii! You can check out the blog post by clicking on the link.
Here are a few images from the first day!
Shelley is a full time traveler, blogger and podcaster currently living in Portugal with her wife, 2 dogs and a cat. She is a former history teacher originally from Winston-Salem, NC but wanted to see what life was like abroad. Now she travels all over Portugal and Europe writing about what she sees and does and tells you all kinds of fun stories on the podcast at Wandering Works for Us.