Naples' dirty NOT so little secret

The Colosseum, Vatican City, the hills of Tuscany, The Leaning tower of Pisa, the canals of Venice. Those places are some of the beauty that is Italy. But in the southern part of Italy near Naples, where we live, the side of Italy that many people never hear about is right outside my back door. It's the reason that Naples has been described as "A beautiful woman with ugly feet." I'll let you be the judge.

My house is on the other side of that fence

Down the street from the hotel we stayed in when we first moved here.

This pile is on the side of a major freeway.

Yep. Those are old discarded refrigerators on the side of the highway.

The sights on the way to the base.

The sights on my way home from the base.

Anyone need a couch???

I've heard that the trash problem here has to do with the mafia being in control of waste removal. Someone told me it's the mafia's way of showing the people of Naples who's in charge. Up north towards Rome and above they do not have this issue with trash. It appears that garbage on the roadside is unique to the Naples area alone.

Lucky us. Fortunately, we live in an area of town that actually has a garbage man that comes by the house and picks up the trash. If we didn't, then we would either have to drive our trash to a central location where it would eventually be picked up, or we would be like all those other folks throwing our trash on the side of the highway too!

So....can you appreciate a beautiful woman with ugly feet???

Parco Virgiliano and Sybil's Cave

The little guys and I took a couple of day trips recently. One trip was to Parco Virgiliano in Pozzuoli and the other to Sibyl's Cave in Cuma. Parco Virgiliano was a beautiful park with an awesome view of the sea. It also had a small area where kids could skate or ride bikes and a small playground.

The ever present Mt. Vesuvius

The ageless Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy. The cave is a trapezoidal passage over 131 m long, running parallel to the side of the hill and cut out of the volcanic tuff stone and leads to an innermost chamber, where the Sibyl was thought to have prophesied. 

Going up the stairs over the top of the passageway takes you to an overlook with a great view of Lake Averno and the sea.

The Island of Ischia

Ciao! Until the next day trip................

Holidays in Italy

Our first Christmas in Italy was a little tough. No Christmas music on the radio, no fighting traffic at the mall looking for last minute gifts, and not being able to spend time with our family and friends for the holidays was difficult but I think we made the best of it. We had Gingerbread House making contests and Santa was very good to the kids!

While living in Arizona we would usually go to Zoolights at some point during the holiday season or go look at the big neighborhood light displays. Many Italians decorate their homes with Christmas lights but nothing as extravagant as Americans will do. BUT, Italians love to showcase Santa Claus!
You can find a hanging Santa on just about every street you go down.

And while the Christmas lights in the neighborhood left much to be desired, we traveled to Salerno, Italy one night to check out their Christmas Market and light display. It was beautiful! It's set up in an area where there are a lot of little shops so there was the hustle and bustle of shopping going on around us as we walked.

As you can see, it's just a little bit crowded.

The capper to the holidays was New Years and this was a New Years like I have never seen. First  of all, Italians light fireworks and firecrackers NIGHTLY. I still don't know why they do it, but it's become common for us to fall asleep to the sound of "popping" outside our window.  So I knew that an occassion like New Years was sure to be a show of loud sounds and bright lights. The noise actually started early in the day with what sounded like M-80s outside our back door. By 10pm it sounded like bombs were going off around us and at midnight it was WWIII. This was the scene outside my bedroom window.

http://youtu.be/E7wp3Znz_04

Between the fireworks and the gunfire, the show lasted for at least an hour! Italian New Years festivities definitely put Americans' little paper horns and confetti poppers to shame!

The Mergellina

The base offered a free bus trip down to an area of Naples called the Mergellina. Once dropped off we were able to go to the aquarium, walk through the park, and down along the waterfront to the Castel dell'Ovo.

 

Castel dell'Ovo (in Italian, Egg Castle) is a castle located on the former island of Megaride, now a peninsula, on the gulf of Naples. The castle's name comes from a legend about the Roman poet Virgil, who had a reputation in medieval times as a great sorcerer, that he put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications.

 

The sights on the waterfront. We took this trip at the end of November so it was a bit chilly. If you notice we all have on long sleeves. However, I guess since the sun was shining it was okay for some folks to be half naked!?

 And it appears that making out on the rocks in front of children is also quite acceptable.

Since it was around Thanksgiving time, Dante, my preschooler, told us that this ship was the Mayflower.

And it seems like everywhere you go in Naples the volcano is within sight.