Summer Travel 2023 – Naples – Aug 18-21

Rolling Tsuchinoko

Sep 17

I always do my best to find the good things in the countries and cities I visit. It's a privilege to travel and I should try to find the positives anywhere I go. Well, here goes. Naples looks great from above. It's also a short ferry ride to Capri from Naples. That's about it. I was told that Naples has the most Michelin-starred restaurants in the world. Well, I don't dine in many of those, so that doesn't do much for me.

In short, Naples is a dump. It is possibly the dirtiest city I have ever visited. And I've been to a lot of countries of varying states of development. Every wall is covered in ugly, talentless tagging. Every street is covered in trash and shit. Most of it is dog, but not all. The human waste on the street doesn't match San Francisco, at least not yet.

The negative vibes began upon arrival. My Airbnb was a 15-minute walk from the train station. The walk was not a leisurely stroll through a beautiful city, but a keep your head on a swivel quick march through a slum. Carefully stepping around the trash and shit on the streets I was glad I had received my Bangkok street crossing training. What does Bangkok street crossing training entail you might ask. Well, basically, it means that before you cross the street, you must look left, right, behind, ahead, above, and even below. But that's not all. As you cross the street, you must continue to look in every direction. It is never safe to cross the street in Thailand. It's pretty much the same in Italy, but Naples seemed to be a special case. The drivers in that city are lunatics.

I managed to make it safely to my Airbnb, but things did not improve there. It took a bit of searching to find the apartment building and I was searching, I could feel eyes boring in on me. I didn't exactly blend in in that neighborhood. Let's just say it was, um, very diverse. Not only that, but the native Italians didn't seem too pleased to see some stranger in their midst. I was definitely getting the, "What the hell are you doing here, boy?" vibes. I haven't felt that uncomfortable in a foreign setting since I was deep in the Mississippi countryside. The 15-minute wait for my host seemed like hours. Every person who walked or drove past gave me the evil eye. My host finally showed up and I was able to get my pack off and not be so conspicuous in my presence.

Because I spent the day exploring Pompeii, I arrived early in the evening. After a shower and a change of clothes, I went out to see what I could in the dying light. Well, anyone who has lived in a city knows, that is when the street rats come out to do their thing. No, not the four-legged variety, but the street rats that have two legs. Little did I know, but the street rats operate at all hours of the day in Naples. I had to get going quite early to catch my ferry to Capri one morning. I decided to take a shortcut through an alley to make it to the pier on time. Well, that was a bad idea. There must have been a dozen street rats fighting over something. Money, drugs, food, I don't know. All I know is that I felt quite exposed walking through the middle of them with a daypack on my back and my camera dangling from my neck. I put my head down and picked up my pace, but not so much as to attract attention or display fear. Street rats can sense fear. Obviously, I made it to the pier without incident, but that was not a pleasant experience.

Naples is just a rough city. Has it always been this way? It is a port city, and that just seems to give them an edgy side. Of course, Yokohama is a port city, and it's as peaceful as any other city in Japan. But that's Japan. A different planet on this planet. I think the best way to visit Naples is to have a lot of money. Stay on your yacht in the marina and have your driver take you to the Michelin restaurants or the tourist highlights. Walking around the city while being harassed by street rats is not a great way to spend your vacation time. I know this is a very negative review, but I was shocked by the ugliness of the city at the ground level. From the Castel Sant'Elmo, Naples is incredibly beautiful. It's just a shame that the residents have let their neighborhoods become graffiti-plastered, garbage-strewn, and shit-covered slums. When it appears that the residents of ancient Pompeii lived in better conditions than the residents of modern Naples, you have some problems.