Naples

I'm leaving for Naples. Soon. To nowhere else. Just Naples.

I know what sparked my interest to visit Naples, but I can't really put my finger on what pushed me to go with it. I have many sparked interests, after all. Few ever turn into real trips. So what is it about Naples? 

In all my travels to Italy, up and down the coasts, the islands, the cities, the small villages, mountains, lakes, places of beauty and places of history, I have never wanted to pause in Naples. For years and years, I have had images of a chaotic, dirty, and yes, dangerous city. Not one for the solo female traveler, in clothes that flashed her American naïveté and a big camera that paraded her tourist vulnerabilities. Not during Covid. I've heard the rumors about Naples hospitals -- you don't want to wind up in one, not without relatives minding your care from the sidelines! 

So what changed my mind? 

Was it the promise of good food? Of warmer winter weather? Of color? Street noise, of the type that you would run to, rather than run from? An understanding that this is a city with a people who have compassion as well as passion? Who live by rules that are truly their own and who value a day well spent, especially now, but really, also decades ago, a thousand years ago? There's beauty in all of that.

Naples is like Italy once was, they say, but really, Naples is like no other part of Italy.

So I wanted to be there and see for myself. And taste their pizza and sip their espresso -- both have their roots here -- and watch the people go about their daily lives in this crazily beautiful city that is, they say, like no other. Anywhere.

Naples is the third largest urban center in Italy. After Rome and Milan. But it's no Chicago: it's a third its size, which explains why it's so easy to plan excursions outside of it. And with Vesuvius towering to the east and the Amalfi coast shooting due south, you've got choices!

What really sealed the deal for me though was that my Polish friend, Bee, who has traveled to spend time with me before, was willing to come to Naples to spend time with me there. In January, which, though warm-ish, is known to be right in the thick of the rainy season. (They say it rains all winter and then in April, the summer heat rolls in.)

So here I am, boarding the noon flight today, minutes before a snow event here in Madison, to Atlanta, then to Paris, and if all connections work for me, then, finally -- Naples.

Because I changed the departure date just last night, moving it up by a day, things are feeling a tad chaotic. But, it's chaos I am used to. The chaos of travel.

Still, I have a quiet and lovely pre storm walk to the barn...

And I have a most wonderful breakfast with my ever encouraging beloved Ed...

(who will miss me more -- Ed or Dance? can't tell....)

And then I'm off. I don't trust that I will have enough time to post between flights, so I'm posting early and hoping that my next one will be from...Naples.

with so much love...