Naples, with Bee

Naples weather is having its wild and crazy ride this week. Rain, wind -- that was yesterday. Snow again on Vesuvius overnight. A cloud break at dawn and then, just when any decent tourist would want to head out -- more rain.

(from the tiny balcony, at day break)

Consider this as simply bad luck (it clears the day I leave). Or, view it as an opportunity! Bee and I discuss our options over breakfast.

There is little sense in visiting either Pompeii or Vesuvius or even the Amalfi coast in this weather (these had been our plans for Sunday). I mean, a diehard tourist who wants to check off all the boxes and send a couple of pics by the volcano back home to friends -- maybe. But I do not choose my visits for what they may bring to Ocean (sorry, readers! Vesuvius is a no go this time around!) and Bee certainly isn't into box checking. We are in Naples today, but tomorrow, we will head out to some place that doesn't have steady rain in its forecast.

And now for a more thorough exploration of this city. Instead of heading toward the Centro Storico, we first walk the streets of Chiaia. The Naples Riviera. 

What stands out? Well, it doesn't look a bit like any other Riviera that I've seen. There's a strip of green, there's traffic, there's the sea. Somewhere on the other side of the strip of green is a row of buildings that may or may not have interesting shops or eateries. We don't know, because it's not easy to cross the green strip to see what's on the other side. I dare say, it's not possible to cross it. Once you've committed to the sea, you stay with your choice for a long, long while.

The sea is more gentle today. The kilometer we spend by its shores is deeply satisfying. 

(full view of the volcano)

We turn in then and start going up the hills, mostly to locate a Funiculare that has a station somewhere in the vicinity. 

Bee and I want the city views again from the Castle Sant'Elmo -- the fourteenth century fortress that towers above the city. But it's little more complicated: from where we have walked, you take a train to the nearby Funiculare. Once we understand this (it takes many helpful people), we wait for the train. On the wrong side of the platform. We don't know this, we don't know that. So typical is our tourist's fumble that the train ticket agent points to my camera and shook his finger with warning words about keeping it secured, so no one will snatch it. I can tell his thought process: distracted older women, innocent, perfect victims for petty crime. Ha! Knock on wood -- here we are at the end of the day and 1. nothing was stolen, 2. no car ran us over on a crossing, and 3. no one cheated us out of house and home. But, we did get significantly lost toward the end of the day, and we put ourselves into the shadier neighborhoods of the city, and as the phone map keeper, I have to say -- it was my fault.

The little train did indeed take us to the cable car (Funiculare) up the hill and from there it was an easy walk to the castle. I wont show you too many views -- you've seen them! Though I have to say, today brought with it the unrelenting rain, so that a significant portion of the coastline was under dark clouds. In other words, visibility was more limited. But, it's all still pretty!

(Vesuvius is under a cloud cover...)

(so is the coast to the north)

(selfie!!)

From there, down we go in another Funiculare  and man oh man, could we hear the rain beat against the roof of the train car! We step out into as close to a downpour as I hope to get here. Still, we follow the streets, full of (wet) market stalls and zucchini flowers and artichokes and oranges and fresh fish (and umbrellas!)...

... and I have to say, Naples is colorful even in bad weather!

Once we get to Toledo Street, we have the idea that this would be a perfect time to go to the Museum. Gallerie d'Italia is just down the street and it displays of a gruesome but famous Caravaggio canvas, along with other Neapolitan artists who painted from the 17th to the 19th centuries. There's a long wait for tickets, but the museum rooms aren't full at all. One of those mysteries of tourism that are hard to explain.

(Caravaggio)

And now we are heading deeply into the Centro Storico.

It's still raining, but, too, we see that the sun is waging a war with the dark rain clouds. And by the time we enter the Cloisters of Santa Chiara, the sun wins and we see wisps of a blue sky. Not total blue and not without a rain later on, but here, in this garden of orange trees, and colorful tiles, the day just got that much brighter.

Back to the narrow streets and alleys of this old section of Naples. People are eating fried pizza on the street again!

We have been walking for hours. It's three o'clock! The rain has wet our shoes. It is cold. We need food!

There are many pizzerias to choose from -- hey, this one looks okay! (Attanasio Pizzeria)

It's casual, it's not fussy and the pizzas - a margheritta and a pizza con porcini, with some meats thrown in along with the mushrooms -- are fabulous. We split them evenly.

Fortified, we continue to the Duomo. I am not at all a lover of ecclesiastical architecture, but we do spend some small amount of time inside. As we leave, I'm thinking -- my but we are both getting tired now and it is still a long walk back to the hotel.

Made longer by me taking a few wrong turns along the way. 

Finally. We are by the water again. A pause to admire Vesuvius in the evening light...

And we are home! We both turn on our tea kettles in our rooms. Nothing hits the spot as well as a hot cup of your favorite brew and we each brought baggies of teas from home.

An hour later we are out again for the long walk (ha! all of two minutes, but we are walked out! My watch tells me I broke all records today!) -- to the restaurant called RestaQmme.

What caught my attention (after reading various reviews in places that write about food) was the name of the chef: Magdalena Buczynska. Sounds Polish, doesn't it? This was to be Bee's 70th birthday dinner from me, so it had to be special. Good Neapolitan food, cooked by a creative Polish chef? In a room that announces itself as a "trattoria di charme?" Sounds perfect.

We make no bones about it: we tell the maitre d' that we are Polish and we are wondering if Ms Buczynska is at the helm tonight.

She is! And right away, Chef Buczynska comes out to talk to us. From there, it's uphill all the way.

She is of Bee's and my daughters' generation. First came to Naples at the turn of the century. She fell in love with the city and decided to come back eventually, after completing her culinary education back home, and start cooking professionally here, in Naples. Seriously so. Within a few years she worked her way up to this elevated position and she has had tremendous success in a city that is known for excellent cooking and fabulous restaurants. (Top Ragu in Campania? Oh heavens, it doesn't get higher than that!) How does she do it? "I have a stable client base and they keep coming back." 

We can see why!

She tells us the specials of the day and when the maitre d comes to take our order, we say -- we want the two dishes recommended by the chef! Both the soup and the main course!

Within minutes, Chef Buczynska is back at our table. You come all this way and you both want the same thing? How can you sample the full range of what you can have here? Let me split some of the dishes between the two of you. You should taste more than what you just ordered.

And so we leave it all in her hands. Give us small portions of whatever you think is special.

And she does.

I cannot say what the highlights were. Pumpkin soup with black truffle from Piedmont which she generously shreds for us? 

Or, the eggplant dish with gently stewed onions? The risotto with lemon and seafood? The pork filets over a beet and tomato sauce? Was it even tomato? Something else? How about the totally famous Neapolitan Ragu -- only this one served with three delicate fried meatballs made of dark pig meat? Do you know how long a Neapolitan cooks her ragu? The standard is more than 12 hours. She cooks hers for 16. (Some photos of this are on my Flickr account if you are a curious foodie.) And can I ever forget the dessert trio, with the chocolate cake and pumpkin sauce? Or the macaron tiramisu? Or lemon baby tart in this land of delicious lemons?

All served with a lovely regional red wine.

We were very impressed by many things actually. By Chef Buczynska's knowledge of food of course. By her graciousness toward us -- these two guests from Poland who showed up at her door full of awe and expectation. She came out with each new dish, and then I would watch her move seamlessly around the room, greeting others, making eating suggestions to some. And we were impressed by the intimate room that was neither too stuffy nor too casual. 

We ate extremely well tonight! If ever you come to Naples, book a table (you can not get in otherwise). And enjoy this gifted chef's creations!

We stumbled home and called it a day after.

With so much love...