Naples

Although Naples has somewhat of a poor reputation owing to the rubbish problem a few years back, the pickpockets and the traffic (lets just say road markings, signs and lights have little value!), we had a fantastic time in and around the city.

We really hadn't done any research on Italy before coming here, let alone Naples...which may have actually been the reason we enjoyed it so much! Imagine what we were thinking when after one day of exploring we had visited Pompei and climbed the volcano known as Mt. Vesuvio, with its spectacular view over the bay of Naples.


Thanks to the staff at our hostel (the Welcome Inn - can recommend!) we were asked if we knew about the 'manifestation' known as 'Adota un turista'. I have to admit I thought he was saying there was an outbreak of bedbugs or something but we soon realised that he was inviting us to attend the first 'Adopt a tourist' day in Naples! Of course we figured why not, given that we are always hoping to see the real side of a place. Basically some locals adopt you for the day and show you around the things you'd like to see or, as we did, let them take us where they thought would be good. This afternoon event turned into one of the best experiences of our trip, and also became a massive weekend full of fun! Firstly, we had about 5 guides (Ida, Enzo, Luca, Paulo, Guiseppe) for 3 of us tourists an we wandered around for a bit before we had lunch at Sorbillo's pizzeria which is locally famous as having the best pizza....we have to agree that it was the best pizza we have ever eaten, and given that pizza was invented in Naples, this makes it potentially the best pizza in the world.


After that we did the subterranean tour which is tour of the Greco-Roman aqueducts and theater under the city of Naples...a phenomenal piece of architecture with a long history. During WWII Napolitans took refuge from the bombing in these aqueducts. Although the day was very hot it was bloody cold under there! Our hosts also took us to one of their friends birthday party. They know how to bounce because there was so much food and drink on offer that we ate and drank for hours...we were also very popular and spent a lot of time fielding questions on every facet of Australian life, which of course we were more than happy to do.


The following day (Sunday) we were invited to a traditional Napolitana Sunday feast with all the family. My god. For 3 hours 13 of us ate about 8 courses, while the soccer played in the background (complete with swearing and cursing in Italian). We followed this up with about 20 games of fuseball too. I think I'm safe in saying we got the authenic experience for the whole weekend...certainly one we will never forget, and some of the kindest new friends that we hope to see in Australia in the near future. They knew so much about their city and were so proud of it that its hard to explain.

Now we head camping at Baia Domizia en route to Rome...can't wait to get to the beach!

A Rainbow Beach Wedding

After a good start at our travels, we headed home to Australia for Anita's sister's wedding, held at Rainbow Beach. The wedding was fantastic - great location, beautiful bride, and fantastic weather (after a wild rainy start to the morning).
Then after a few very relaxing and enjoyable days at Rainbow Beach and Brisbane, we headed north to Koah/Cairns for some more well deserved warm weather. This was a pretty busy pit stop - in about 5 days we crammed in a stint of crabbing off the esplanade, some NRL test match action, a jam session with the Loaded Dice, accountant appointments, random shopping and repacking of the total sum of our Australian possessions (9 boxes, 11 guitars and a saddle). Then after a welcome exchange of winter woolies for summer singlets, we hoppped - somewhat reluctantly - back on the plane for another screaming-baby-and-uncomfortable-seat-type long haul flight to London. We're currently in Italy sampling plenty of the classic dishes... more on that in the next post.