My bad and good expectations of Naples, Italy

My recent trip to Italy didn't exactly start well. Here's my bad and good expectations of Naples, Italy.

Ten minutes after we were due to land, the captain announced that due to thunderstorms, he had tried, but was unable to land in Naples. We were now on our way to Rome, some 250km away. An hour later we arrived at Rome. They were figuring out what to do next. The options were to either take us by bus, or fly back to Naples. If we still couldn't land in Naples because of the thunderstorm, we had to fly back to Rome and by that time, we may not be able to land in Rome due to the night time curfew. It was already 11pm and we were kept on board. People were getting very agitated especially when we found out other planes landed Naples when we couldn't. The captain blamed it on lightning which happens very quick. He was essentially closing the door for potential compensation claims.

Eventually they decided on the first option - bus. By the time we passed border control, it was past midnight. A handful of us had to wait for our luggage, and that took another two hours. We have no idea what was happening and the ground staff couldn't give us an answer. I'm sure it would be much quicker to go out to the plane and get it ourselves!!!. But everyone was so tired and hungry. Luckily there was a vending machine and I managed to grab a few sandwiches. By the time we left at 2am, thid vending machine was totally empty.

Finally, we got on the bus and arrived at Naples airport at 5am!!! What an eventful way to start our holiday

Deep fried pizza

After a few hours sleep it was time to get some proper food. Naples is the birthplace of pizza, we have to start with that, but not the traditional pizza as we know. We went for a fried pizza, which was delicious. Or maybe we were still recovering from last night's ordeal.

Maradona

Naples is also famous for Maradona. He's treated like god here, or is the city milking his connection? There's a fine line. You can see his murals everywhere, and they even have a special shrine for him at Quartieri Spagnoli. It's a little trek, and after all the effort to get there I made sure to leave a Worldmappin Hive pin behind.

During our stay, we visited some typical touristy spots, and went for a @livinguktaiwan/the-gran-caffe-gambrinus-in-naples-and-all-the-queues" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">grand afternoon tea.

My eyes wandered up to the dome as I was resting inside the basilica. And it really bugged me. I get 7, 7 days in a week? But why 32? Where does 32 fit in our life? Is this supposed to make us think about the greater universe? Can anyone enlighten me please?

Napoli Sotterranea

One of the must go, in my opinion is the Napoli Sotterranea, but only if you're not claustrophobic. And if you do go, make sure to book in advance.

Naples has an impressive underground network dating back to 300BC. The Greeks mined the volcanic sandstone called tuff because it was strong and durable, and used it to build their temples. Then the Romans dug tunnels and aqueduct to feed water to different parts of the city. And in more recent times, the underground network was used as air raid shelters during the war.

And this is what's so fascinating about the tour as we're led 40m underground and walk through 2400 years of history. We walked through dark narrow conduits were only a person could just about pass through. This lead us to massive cisterns with water as clear as crystal. Ending up in chambers big enough for tens of people.

I had no expectation of the tour. But fair to say, it exceeded all my expectations. Highly recommended!

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