We got a little turned around while searching for Giovanni's Home. That is the name of the hostel that we're staying at in Naples. Luckily Giovanni was looking out for us from his balcony and called out to let us know where the entrance was to his place. Had he not done that we would have walked right past it completely lost. The hostel is in what looks like an apartment building filled with locals. Similar to the last place I stayed at, only this one feels a little more cozy. Although there's no elevator so going to the third floor (which is technically the 4th) is tiring. It's a little depressing that I'm winded by the time we get up the stairs but Cory's still got energy and is good to go. Go him for being in such great shape.
When we arrived Giovanni offered us glasses of water and got us to sit while he processed our information. There's little cards that hostels have to fill in with our passport information so they register us with the local police in case anything should ever happen. I had a little scare and had trouble finding my passport. It was hidden at the bottom of my purse and I thought I had hidden it in my main pack so that was fun. I did eventually find it and everything's good. It was just a tad embarrassing to search through so much stuff in front of the hostel owner.
Giovanni offered to make lunch for us and Cory ended up helping him with it. They made pasta carbonara which was absolutely delicious and by the sounds of it super easy to do. We ate lunch with some of the other travellers. One had been here a few days, he's a German studying Italian. I can't recall his name. Two girls from Philly, one of them has had some of the worst luck imaginable on this trip. Her phone was stolen in Rome and her wallet was stolen in Naples on her way in. Poor girl, she's thinking of going home instead of finishing her trip. Another is from Washington. We're supposed to go see Vesuvius, Ercolano, and Pompeii with him tomorrow. He's never been and wants to see it. Cory and I are going anyway so why not have an extra body with us? Lunch itself was really fun. Giovanni banned all electronics and books and whatever else could distract us and had us all seat together at the same table so we could simply chat. It was surprising, since we all thought he was kidding and quickly realized he wasn't. It was nice and kind of family-like. A whole group of strangers talking, laughing, and sharing stories together. Good times.
After lunch Giovanni sat us all down at his office/desk/front reception and went over the city map. He went over sights to see, how to get to them, what's worth it, where not to go and so on. He even recommended this great (and inexpensive) pizzeria. The pizza there was amazing.
Once we received the map and some general information Cory and I headed out to see the city. We did the Napoli Subetteranea tour which was neat since they switched some things around from last time I did it. When the tour was over we went for that delicious pizza before slowly strolling back to the hostel to relax before bed.
As I started to write this last night, the others that we met came in (they too had gone out for pizza and had wanted to go on the tour but they still had to register into the hostel first so they missed it and will do it later). Some of the girls asked if it was okay to join us on our trip today. We're going to attempt to see Ercolano before climbing Vesuvius and then going to Pompeii. All in one day since there's so much to see in Naples itself. We'll be a largish group today, it'll be really neat.
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