We made it to Napoli! Its been two long weird days, getting here, connecting with Zoe, feeling the time change, etc - but we're all together and ready to enjoy the next week of travel.
Zack, Chris and I started Wednesday in Jacksonville. Zoe was in Florence finishing up three weeks of a study abroad program through Florence University of the Arts. The three of us traveled through Chicago (and had our first travel beer).
Before boarding our 9 hour flight to Napoli.
Ready to go!
Enjoying the complimentary wine with dinner.
I'm definitely getting older - because that overnight flight was hard. My body was not happy - even with all the fancy foot hammocks, eye masks and travel pillows that TikTok promised would make sleeping on a plane easy peasy. But we made it. I think all three of us slept for about 3 hours. Plenty of sleep to keep moving!
We are staying in almost all Airbnbs during this trip. Our Napoli home base is adorable. Cutest little entry way - and courtyard.
They were cleaning when we arrived, so we dropped our luggage and headed out to explore!
Rick Steves described Napoli as gritty - and team Bender agrees. For most of our afternoon walk, we were surrounded by locals. We heard very little English and communicated with our (minimal, poor) Italian that we've learned. I love melting into the local community and taking it all in. We were surprised at the massive amount of graffiti on everything - some very talented artists!
We did walk by Galleria Umberto which was crazy cool. We may try and make it back tomorrow to do some window shopping - it's a quick walk from our apartment.
I'm obsessed with all the restaurants with tables basically on the street. There actually weren't too many cars on the roads that we wandered this morning, but there was a ton of motorbikes, electric bikes and scooters. Definitely not just a St. Johns, Florida issue. Everyone WAS wearing a helmet here - but they were flying in between people and cars and maneuvering in the tightest spaces!
We made it to Gran Cafffe Gambrinus to take a picture for Michael and Sheila DelCharco. Sheila's great Uncle used to hang out here in the 1800s!!
We were having a great time exploring - but we were also really starting to drag, and after 1.5 miles of walking, we still hadn't found a bank to grab Euros. But never fear, Zack found a Monster that isn't available in the US, and we buckled down and found an ATM.
We were never so happy to input a pin.
Then it was back to Pizzeria Brandi. Brandi's chef invented the Margherita pizza in 1889. We snuck into a 4-top, ordered, answered some questions in Italian - and hoped for the best.
Looking rough but happy enjoying a Birra Moretti. We ordered 3 Margherita pizzas and a Caprese salad. We quickly discovered the mozzarella here is so much better than what you normally get - and the pizza was really, really good. Floppy, uncut, but so, so good. I will forever be on a quest to find Buffalo mozzarella in the states. Delish!
We even got serenaded while we were eating, but we were running behind to go grab Zoe from the station. She had taken a train from Florence with her huge suitcase and was ready to not be in charge of it anymore. It was so good to see her face. We dropped her big bag at a spot near the airport that you can stow baggage until we return next week, and headed back to the apartment!
She did an amazing job shopping in Florence and Cinque Terre. We all loved all the pieces she picked out for us. Leather goods, jewelry, ornaments, bags....And she got the most amazing things for herself as souvenirs of her trip! My favorite thing was having everyone together though.
Our bedroom has a balcony that overlooks Castel Sant'Elmo and surrounding neighborhood. Chris may run up there tomorrow morning because the views are supposedly out of this world. But today, he just enjoyed an espresso on the balcony.
Then we headed out to explore with Zoe and eat some dinner. We were on the early side tonight because everyone has a conference call to do tonight :)
Family pic in a local piazza.
We walked by kids playing in the square...
And took our time strolling the side streets with fun decor hanging above us...
We found an excellent dinner spot that had plenty of gluten free options! We didn't have reservations tonight - unlike almost every other night of the trip - so it was an adventure to walk down a side road and try to pick - which being encouraged by employees out in front of each establishment. They were all convinced we would like them best - and were happy to throw in some free limoncello to sweeten the deal.
Maradona is king in Napoli. He is everywhere - street art, on restaurants, whole stores devoted to him.
Dinner was a fried pizza/tomato/buffalo mozzarella dish, a yummy salad with fennel and buffalo mozzarella, a spicy pizza and a gf ragu pasta - which Zoe thought was delish. I promise to get better about taking pics of food - we were just hungry today! We also tried the Limoncello, the Hugo and the Maradona Spritz. Hugo was my personal favorite.
Then it was off to find the first gelato of the trip.
We also found a store that sold only cans of spray paint. Thousands of different colors and kinds - but nothing else. Wild.
It was time to head home and get ready for calls/class/meetings. Looking forward to joining the 9pm dinner club for the rest of this trip.
I finished the night with a UF training. I was as tired as I look.
The view from the balcony tonight as everyone tackles their jobs. So thankful to be here all together and for the adventures we'll have over the next week.
Thanks for joining along on our travels! We end the day in Atrani tomorrow!
XOXO, the Benderz
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