Hopping in Napoli

Like a previous trip I have been extremely remiss in not staying current on these posts.  However I did use that wonder App called Track My Tour (please tell Chris that I sent you if you check it out) which did a much better job.  Here is the link to this part of the trip -- Click here.

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Seeing as we only had one day in Naples we thought the best thing to do was the hop on/off bus tour that is in many cities these days.  It left from the big castle so was just perfect for us.

There are two routes -- one along the coast and one into the city.  We took the first that came along which was the seaside route.  I do like these buses as the format is the same wherever you are -- every 20 mintutes or so another one comes along with 8 choices of languages describing the scene.  With this tour in between the chatting was interspersed local crooners singing songs about old Campania and Naples and all the rest of it.  Just charming... to start with.

The Bay of Naples is huge and the city is sited on pretty much the only flattish land hereabouts.  This is one old city founded in the 7th century BC by Greeks looking to expand onto the mainland from their stronghold cities in Sicily.  They landed further north in a place called Baiae and further south on the bottom part of the massive bay that encompasses Vesuvius and reaches Sorrento.  Being Greeks they fought amongst themselves more than anything else according to the very limited writings around today so while you may have thought that the Greek settlements here may work together in reality it was just like home with competing city states looking at one another first.  This was never part of the Roman make up and one of the reasons why the Romans were so contemptuous of the Greeks, even though they did acknowledge that the Greeks did come first.  The Romans were all about solidarity, country not city, and global not country which is why their empire was so much more successful than the Greeks' attempts.  They had their chance when Alexander was around but as soon as his appendix flared up, his 'friends' and inner circle started divvying up the pie and of course quarreling.

Once the Roman Empire collapsed, the region obviously remained and the Amalfitana Empire rose up -- a strong maritime nation that did pretty much what Roman trade used to.  The city of Naples itself carried on for 500 or so years until the Normans arrived ... always the bloody Normans.  The Normans are the descendents of the Vikings (Norsemen) who gave us such a hard time.  

The Normans got first into Sicily by offering to help against the Moors who kept on calling.  They then turned around and massacred the encumbents and took over moving a couple of hundred years or so later over to Naples where they created the Kingdon of the Two Sicilies.  This endured through various invasions until the Risorgimento in 1860-61 about which more later in another post.  

Architecture therefore is massively mixed.  The big castle for example is Norman whilst are there are huge numbers of buildings from many different eras.  One constant though are the tiny roads and the constant congestion wrought by Neapolitan drivers who must be either the best or worst in the world.

A typical snarl up in the old town

These days the region is very poor.  Most industry of any sort is either struggling or has closed down. Employment is high in this area whilst all the problems of southern Europe are here in spades ... immigration to the fore, particular illegals arriving by boat.

This is a deserted tuna canning factory that has been abandoned for 20 years right on the Bay of Naples, so its a pretty good location.  The commentary on the bus was hopeful of development but didn't provide a time line.

But as everywhere there are always people who are well enough off as well the very rich.  The local tennis club for example is sited right on the King's favourite footpath on the sea front.

About 8 red clay courts.  They looked pretty darn  nice.

Security was curious.  There is heightened tension with worries of terrorist attacks so in various places small groups of armed soldiers are placed looking ominous.  But to me there seemed little rhyme or reason for their location or precisely what they were doing.  I hope someone knows better than I.

As we were stationary for 20+ minutes here on the bus, we could tell that this was in fact a chemist that these soldiers were protecting.  Customers kept coming and going all the time.  

However there are precious few bad views here.  Something we were to discover later on this holiday in other locations.  

And of course Vesuvius was everywhere.

Buses, fish and endangered species

On Tuesday we started late as it kept on raining but managed to find a number 34 bus to the bus station after a while for our intended journey to Al Mina where the dhow harbour and various markets were located.

When it rains, it pours

Public transport here is pretty good and essential for Abu Dhabi is well spread out and that doesn't make it an easy city to walk about in.  The bus stop nearby had a decent understandable map that showed the correct way to get to Al Mina.  Number 34 to the bus station and then one of eitther the 9, 56 or 11 to Al Mina.  Trouble was when we made it to the bus station, we discovered it was huge.

Also no local buses stopped there, only the long distance buses that went to Dubai, Al Ain and elsewhere.

A very kind guy asked if we were in trouble and helped us locate a bus stop ... that turned out to be entirely wrong, but another guy did get it right so we hopped the number 11 to Al Mina.

2 dihrams each for bus fare is the equivalent of a bargain.  About 50 cents.  Everything is subsidised here.

The harbour and various markets are really tatty but functional.  The dhows looked as though they had seen better days and it seems a bit of a wonder to think that these boats used to go out in summertime on pearling expeditions when the men would be out on the sea for 120 days at a stretch.  Maybe they were more sturdy than they look.

Not every mosque is as impressive as the Grand Mosque

The fish market was jammed with fish.  Not sure how much of it is endangered though as many sources say that most of the fish varietals around here have been over-fished and when I saw the dozens of huge fish pots outside, I'm not surprised.  These fish pots have been banned in Bermuda for this very reason.

This guy was de-gutting shrimp

Dozens if not hundreds of fish pots

The market is divided between people dressed in blue and those dressed in red.  No women at all unsurprisingly.  Those in blue sold fish whilst those in red were the fish cleaners, de-gutters and de-scalers.

The restaurants in and near the market were pretty scuzzy looking and clearly operated for the local workers and other call in orders.  The map I'd found showed a restaurant that turned out to be closed when we passed there around 12 noon (it was open and thronged by the time we passed going the other way 2+ hours later... I guess lunch time here is later than in the west) but a few doors along we found the Al Mina Fish Restaurant which happily was open.

The restaurant was divided into 2 parts, one part being regular tables and chairs but the other was divided up along traditional lines with patrons sitting on cushions and mats and taking their shoes off to eat.  That side was jammed whilst ours was half empty.

It was an absolute gem.

As it turned out we had the local Haroumi fish (endangered, sorry) deep fried along with tandoori grilled locally caught shrimps.  Just fantastic!

Before we hopped on the bus back to the bus station (and Al Whama Mall) we gave the fruit & veg market and the date market a once over.  All the F&V were imported which was quite disappointing but the date market was enormous and jammed with loads of different types of date... that we'd eaten in the desert a few days earlier.  Still sweet and yummy though.

But I think we nailed the buses though!