On The Other Hand

Don't bother with Naples. It's dirty and hot. I just walked around for five hours and the difference between this and other large Italian cities is amazing. Falling apart all over the place are buildings, cars, street signs. The roads are somehow falling apart, despite proximity to the ground and consequent inability to fall anywhere, shaken perhaps, or stirred. Could be tremors from nearby Vesuvius (the pretty backdrop to the ugly city). There are some monumental constructions of overlookable beauty—churches, monuments, piazze—overlookable because the disrepair suggests even the locals don't care. The city may have no greater merit than being home to pizza napolitana, which I declare (with a sample size of one) very good. Hopefully, I can bear to leave the hostel to get more.

This hostel is awesome. It has a bar/cafè that looks like (and it turns out may actually be) a nightclub, it's spotless, it has a large common room with a large TV and large beanbags. And ping-pong. And a courtyard. Some things live up to their hype.

Tomorrow I'll probably check out Pompeii and then hit the beach in Sorrento, unless Scot looks at the text message I sent him and recommends I come to Perugia. Scot?