See Naples and die...

...is the meaning of the saying in Italy that goes 'vedi Napoli e poi muori'…and no, it has nothing to do with the Mafia. Before I go on to describe why the saying is true, I should also mention that although I really had a good time in Naples, I am in no hurry to die (in case the Devas/Angels are listening and saying Thathasthu/Amen :D) !

The birthplace of Pizza Margherita
It would come as no surprise if I said that I had the best pizza in my life for the first time in Italy; it was in a small restaurant close to the Piazza San Marco (city square) in Venice….it was this moment of revelation where I thought to myself ‘ohhh…so that’s how a pizza really tastes like’ while the fresh mozzarella cheese mixed with the San Marino tomatoes were still melting in my mouth. Once I tasted the pizza in Naples, I have had to rethink those thoughts again.

The pizzeria, Brandi, in Naples is considered to be the birth place of Pizza Margherita. This was when the pizza was named after the Queen Margherita who had dined there and chose the pizza with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil (representing the colors of the Italian flag) as her favorite.

I had the good sense to google for other good pizzerias in town (I was there for 3 days and had 6 meals, excluding breakfast and there was no way I was going to try just one pizzeria :D) and ended up having a really delicious pizza at the Pizzaiolo del Presidente (shown in photo below), apparently named so after Bill Clinton dined there and this was rated even better than Brandi.

Making pizzas in Naples is not just a trade, it is more or less a way of life. There is a society (Associazone Verace Pizza Napoletena) that goes around checking the quality of the pizzerias (that are members) as well as pizzas and if you fail the test, you can make no more pizzas. The pizza is cooked only in wood burning brick ovens and it takes at least 2-3 years of formal training for someone to become a pizzaiolo (the one who stretches the dough)...you gotta love Italy for this, not only do they never let down vegetarians but they take food seriously!

And my rule of thumb: if you can eat a pizza with one hand (either using cutlery or not) then its not the Italian kind….the real Italian pizza crust is soft and light and will need both hands !

And then there is Sfogliatelle...

No, no, that’s not swearing in Italian, it’s a dessert, looks very much like our samosa with multiple layers and is filled with vanilla or chocolate. While you enjoy the crunchiness, the chocolate melts in your month and this is when I think ‘oh..you poor skinny models’ :D !

The 2000 year old city of Pompeii
Its 79 AD. A volcano erupts and viciously wipes out an entire city.

Its 1748. Archeaologists are digging for remains of a used pot, some weapons and lo! they find an entire city, preserved underneath layers of volcanic ash with so much detail that they can completely reconstruct how the city would have looked 2000 years ago - the city of Pompeii with its houses, cemetery, sports arena, market square, theatre and above all, the gladiator arena aka the amphitheatre. The ancient city boasts of both Greek and Roman ruins and thanks to Asterix, the movie Gladiator and my ever-ready-to-go imagination, I was able to picturize everything like it was and that was an experience worth every minute of the 3 hours I spent there all the while wondering why I hadn’t planned more time for it.

The place is fairly well-labelled and it was impressive to see the effort they have put into recreating the vegetation within the ruins to resemble the actual city as much as possible. The more time I spent there, the more I started thinking about Indus valley civilization that dates back to 4th millenium BC….many people are hardly aware that it was one of the earliest civilizations. What is sort of frustrating for me is their inaccesibility today because of their location and the safety factor associated with it (Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are in Pakistan), maybe I can visit Lothal in Gujarat…oh..well…I digress.

Pompeii is a must-see place if you go to Naples and here are some tips:
- Wear good shoes. You would think that this is a no-brainer..well, think again...I almost laughed out loud when I saw people women with flip flops and even worse, high heels, wincing with oohs and aahs….how hard is it to understand that you need good shoes to walk on stones and it is totally not the time to display your fashion sense ?!
- Take a guided tour if you have enough time or choose the next option, an audio guide.

The history-creating volcano, Mt.Vesuvius

How can one see the ruins and not see the volcano that destroyed and ironically, also preserved it all these years?There is a bus ride from the Ercolano station to Mt.Vesuvius but if you want to get a really good feeling of Italian driving, you should take one of the taxis (they are reasonably priced)….if ever you have taken a bus or a taxi up on the mountains in Kodaikanal or Kulu, you would understand what I mean. Imagine Indian driving but at much higher speeds with some swearing in Italian and loud Italian football commentary in the background.

The 1.5 Km walk up the mountain to see the crater came in handy for burning off all the calories from the pizza but you forget all that when you get to the top and see the crater on the one side and get a view of the city on the other. Peeking into the crater gave me goose pimples !

Another must-see place if you go to Naples and here are some tips:
- Wear good shoes and stay away from white or other light colored clothes unless you think that the volcanic ash and dust might give your clothes a rugged look
- Unless you are pregnant and/or very asthmatic, you should attempt the climb. If you are not too fit, it might take you longer but there are 3 shops on the way where you can rest or get a drink.

The Godfather ?
Thanks to many books and movies, I have always associated Naples and Sicily with the Mafia. Anytime I saw someone well dressed with a long overcoat, greasy hair and earrings, I gazed at him for a split-second longer wondering if he was one of them….sadly (or luckily ?) I had no encounters with them but I did meet a Pakistani who told me that the Mafia indeed controlled everything. I then remembered the Naples trash crisis from 2008 where the Mafia was heavily involved and breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t anywhere near to witness it.

Haggling with cab drivers or TTR* – take your pick
Someone who does not know the ticket system in Italy or Spain would think that I am a chain smoker….I am always looking for tobacco shops since that's where you buy tickets for the public transport (for whatever reasons) and many times they will not have the tickets you need, so you end up buying the expensive ones (single tickets instead of day tickets), then there is the ticket validation that you do when you first use the ticket. Most of these machines are out of order most of the time and as luck would have it, it will work when the TTR tries to use it. So, this fellow says something to us in Italian and we try to explain in Italianglish that we tried but it didn’t work and the fellow keeps repeating the same thing. We wonder if we should just step off the bus or if we have to pay a fine, when a girl next to us said something to him that sounded like she saw our failed attempt. As soon as she started, the others in the bus started saying the same thing and the TTR left with a shrug. Napolitenas either love tourists or hate TTRs

Taking a taxi is not very expensive, if you know the distance, have an understanding of the route and can haggle with the driver BEFORE you get into the taxi. Well, thanks to Chennai Autowallahs, I am a master of that game.

Is Naples really Europe?
No one cares about pedestrian crossing or traffic rules
There are no proper plans for public transport
Buses stop anywhere according to the driver’s wish for people to board
Cars are allowed within the historic center and there are no pedestrian walkways
You haggle with cab drivers or you end up being taken for a ride (pun intended!)
There are street vendors everywhere who insist that you buy a Prada bag for 20 bucks!
If you do not hold on to your wallets 24/7, they will be gone.

Naples comes as a shock to many tourists and even to some Europeans who are unprepared for all of the above and are used only to cities like Milan or Florence that are completely in a different league. It was very amusing for me to watch a couple of English tourists struggle to cross a major road with cars whizzing by with no concern whatsoever for pedestrians and they were gaping at us as we were just darting through the cars and buses with practiced maneuvers….I was thinking ‘idhellam oru mattera, naanga ellam remo stylela** mount roade cross pannuvom’ (cannot translate this, feel free to use your imagination :D)

Anytime I saw a scooter (it was a vespa) or an apartment with umpteen antennae mount on the terrace or colorful clothes hanging from a balcony, I couldn’t help but grin…call it primitive, under-developed, developing or whatever, I don’t care….I have fond memories of them and its not everyday that I get to see them in Europe.

On the flight back, I met travel agents from India back from a 4-day trip on the Amalfi coast sponsored by Italian tourism. They were to promote these places back in India. I wish ‘Incredible India’ does something like that too, we surely have a lot more to offer than any other country (and no, I can’t be impartial when India is involved !). On another note, at end of the conversation they gave me a box of our very own Made-in-Bombay kaju...one has to accept that this will happen only with desis, God bless them for that !

The Island of Capri (which is a short ferry ride from Naples) is probably the most frequented place in Italy by rich party-loving people. But it also a great place for a weekend-getaway from the city. If you have enough time in Naples, Capri is definitely worth a day-trip. The archealogical museum in Naples can easily occupy a good part of a day while a walk through the historic center or a visit to the Naples Underground can keep you busy for the rest of the time.

In short, Naples is a great place to visit, just keep your mind open and bags locked !

*TTR: It is actually a travelling ticket examiner but for some reason, the person is referred to as TTR (instead of TTE) in India.
**Remo style: In the tamil movie Anniyan, Remo (Vikram, the hero) crosses a busy road (near the beach in Chennai) backwards to prove a point (!?)

Copyright for Vesuvius aerial photo: spatiallyadjusted.com

A rainy week in Frascati

Traveling to Italy is always something I look forward to, be it work or vacation. As soon as I landed in Rome, I had a great cappuccino for just 1 euro when I would have paid almost thrice as much for something that mildly tasted like one, in Germany. I was struggling with my laptop, rucksack and a huge suitcase while climbing some stairs and in a span of 5 minutes, 2 people offered to carry it for me (Although I refused, I still like being asked :D!) and again I struggled the same way in Munich with no one even giving me a second look (To be fair to Germans, its more a question of independence than chivalry).

This time I was going to Frascati, a small town, about 20 km away from Rome (No wonder it took me almost the same time to get from Rome to Frascati as from Munich to Rome !) and it is a science town since it houses the European Space Agency.

Being back in Rome after 4 years brought back lots of memories. The metro was, as always, unbelievably crowded and I had to cling to my items since pick pockets in the Rome metro are quite skilled! Then when I got into a taxi, there is the Italian driver talking non-stop although he knows I don't have a clue of what he is talking about ! Whenever I understand a word, I will nod and say ''Si'' and he will break into a huge grin :D ! And all this while he is driving, paying no attention whatsoever, to the speed limits and doing things that could get his license banned for 2000 yrs had he tried that in Germany !

Then there is the really warm welcome at the hotel reception, where not only questions are answered with a lot of patience but you also get a load of extra information that you know you will never use :) ! I got in at 3:30 pm and was starving since I had neither had a decent breakfast nor lunch. The guy at the reception says the hotel restaurant is closed and so are the others in the vicinity but he will call the chef and get him to make something for me - that's Italian hospitality combined with the importance they attach to food, very similar to desis and quite hard to come by anywhere else in Europe!

Frascati boasts of a number of villas that were built in the 16th century by the noble men and aristocrats from Rome. Even today, it is a popular destination for a weekend get-away from Rome, even for the Italians or for a day-trip, in case of tourists. Since I was neither, and was stuck with work, I just got a few glimpses from the car. But on the day I was to leave, I resolved to start early (and since I hate getting to the airport a few minutes earlier than the when the flight begins boarding !) and spend an hour looking around.

The weather refused to cooperate, it had rained all week and on the last day, it rained even more....oh...well, I walked around in the city centre, wrapped in my jacket and with a sturdy umbrella ! I enjoyed it and all along kept wondering how much more beautiful everything would look on a bright and sunny day....I was told it has carnivals, wine festivals and is a very good place to visit, in summer and spring. So, if you are in Rome, take a break from the queues in front of the Colosseum or from the crowded Fontana di Trevi area and visit Frascati. I know I would....

Nikkumo Nikkadho

It is a good idea to go to South Italy in the summer and why?

- the long days (its sunny atleast until 9pm) give you a lot of time to go around and enjoy the tourist spots

- Italy is the one place where you can always find tasty vegetarian food (mind you, classy hotels and restaurants will not offer pizza, since it is considered a laborer’s meal) and you can sit outside in the good weather to enjoy it

It is a bad idea to go to South Italy in the summer and why?

- everyone knows why it is a good idea (:D) and the reasons listed above, so the place is swarming with tourists ! To give you a perspective, there is atleast an hour and a half of waiting time to even get into the colosseum in Rome

- it is hot, hot, hot and you sweat like a pig. You might think that this will not be a problem for someone from Singara Chennai but there is something about the sun in Europe that I don't get (or get along with!), 35 deg C in Munich is intolerable while I have roamed the whole day in the Pondy bazaar area at the same temperature without even feeling it !

Since we are eternal optimists, we chose to go to South Italy, to Pisa. Since the numerous websites all caution you to rush to the Piazza dei Miracoli to buy your tickets to get to the top of the leaning tower since no. of visitors per day are restricted (what's with all these places ? they have a similar rule for the statue of liberty and thats even more annoying since you spend a considerable amount of time waiting for the ferry to take you to the statue !), thats exactly what we did. Thankfully there is a time slot given in the ticket, so we chose to look at the Cathedral, Baptistery and the churchyard. The beautiful roof of the cathedral, the sound acoustic design of the Baptistery (people working there make sounds to prove this to you !) and the arcades on either side of the churchyard pushed the video and picture capabilites of my camera to the hilt !

By this time, we were totally dehydrated under the scorching sun and decided to take a bite before climbing nearly 300 steps to the top of the tower. Unfortunately we had to eat in the vicinity and prices were exhorbitant - something you cannot really worry about when dying of thirst ! After boosting our energy levels, we were just on time for the tour after leaving our rucksacks in the cloak room.

The climb started normally and as I was thinking about all the hype given in the website, I realized the passages were getting smaller and smaller. At one point, it became narrow enough to fit just one normal person (no place for obese people) and the steps were worn out and uneven and one had to balance using the walls. However when we got to the top, the views made us forget everything else...well...almost....its one thing to be standing on top of a tower and totally another thing to be standing on top of a ''leaning'' tower...there was always this eerie feeling in the pit of my stomach (had flashes of peeping from the mottamadi water tank as a 9 yr old kid, just to prove a point !). You get only a few minutes here since the next group is already waiting at the foot of the tower for you to make your descent. All along, there is still this thought in the background about the tower as an engineering marvel....you know the facts, the figures and the fact the tower is leaning more and more every year and you still cant help wondering about it.....will it still be tourist-friendly when my son or daughter get there with his/her spouse ?! Time has the answer !

The first few minutes of the descent would have been a little uncomfortable had I not been forced to help a 12 yr old who burst out crying and as I was leading her down I had to keep showing off my bravado to let her know that its really easy, once we got down I was really thankful to my comfortable clothes and good shoes !

We then went to the hotel for a quick siesta and I was so thankful that the hotel had AC (many hotels in Europe don't). Its amazing what a couple of hours of sleep can do to your energy levels. We woke up refreshed and the coffee completed the cure.

We then took a bus tour and saw everything else Pisa had to offer. Like every other European city, there was a river with a bridge across it, a square in the city centre and above all, excellent camping grounds.

If you live in Europe, Pisa is a good weekend get away and if you are coming to Italy from elsewhere Pisa should not occupy more than a day of your agenda.

To Gschnitz and then Bolzano....

No..no...neither am I having a bout of flu nor am I swearing....Gschnitz (I dare you to try saying ''Gsch'' without laughing !) is a small town in Austria, close to Innsbruck and before going there, I did not know it existed too :)

It all started on a fine friday morning when one of my American colleagues (lets call her K), who was here for the 6th time and still had not managed to see anything except our offices in Europe, resolved to herself that she is spending saturday in a different country before catching her return flight to the US on sunday. So what next ?

at 12:30: K decides she wants to drive to Trento in Italy and decides to break her journey in Austria
at 13:30: She comes to me with a plan and asks me if I want to come with her. Ofcourse I said yes (when have I ever said no to ooru suthifying ?)
at 15:00: She gets a rental car with a tom tom and reserves a hotel in Gschnitz since thats the cheapest option
at 17:30: I go home and pack a rucksack
at 18:00: We are on the road driving from Munich.....and then it gets interesting !
at 18:30: We are heading north of Munich while Austria is in the south. Since we chose a route with no toll roads (basically the cross country auto-bahn stretch since with our small car, a VW polo, we can definitely not go at speeds worthy of the auto-bahn where the minimum recommended speed in most cases is 130 Kmph) we assumed it was a round-about way.
at 19:00: We are still driving north and directions point to Munich airport. I get suspicious and query the tom tom again only to realise it is indeed taking us to the airport (which was probably the last used destination) since it did not recognise Gschnitz !!
at 19:01: We reset everything so that it atleast points to Innsbruck and begin driving south...phew !
at 21:00: We arrive in Innsbruck and learn that Gschnitz is not far off only wondering why our hotel reservation simply gives the name of the hotel and Gschnitz without any address or street name
at 21:30: We arrive in Gschnitz (atleast according to the name board on the side of the road!). Although we are impressed with the beautiful small houses, we still do not know how to find the hotel. So we pull up infront of a fire station, the only place open, and ask for directions. Although I know German, I hardly understand what he is saying (since he is speaking the austrian version !) but I pick up a few key words to know that we simply drive straight ahead.

at 21:40: We arrive at the hotel. There is no way we could have missed it since it was the tallest building in that town (had 3 floors) and we also realise that Gschnitz has only one street and hence no street name or address in the reservation ! While we were wondering how to get in since the whole town seemed asleep, we notice an envelope sticking out from behind the hotel door handle with our names on the outside and keys on the inside...Voila !

Neat, comfortable rooms, nice beds => slept soundly !

K wakes me up in the morning saying ''you should see this'' and waking up at 8 on a vacation is beyond difficult for me but finally I gave in. We go to the balcony and this is the scene that greets our eyes - sheep with bells around their necks (the bell sound is what awoke K) grazing and its green as far as you can see with mountains, whose caps are covered with snow and fog, behind....is sure a great way to wake up !

After a good breakfast of bread, homemade jam, farm fresh butter, we headed out for a small hike - saw a quaint little church, a small village with all the age old machinery to grind corn and make flour well preserved and finally a beautiful waterfalls (hiked to the top to get a better view). Words cannot describe how beautiful the place was, imagine the best calendar pics of mountains and greenery you have seen ! We then found a restaurant and I ordered a salad and what I got blew my mind - boiling hot plate of 2 kinds of fresh beans, corn with yoghurt sauce and sitting among these was an oven-baked farm potato wrapped in an aluminum foil like a chocolate...yum....best salad i have had in Europe so far !!


After lunch we decided it was time to head to Trento and since we had no other choice we put our trust in the tom tom again and again chose the ''no toll roads'' option.
at 14:00: We are driving to Italy from Gschnitz
at 14:30: We are climbing a mountain and wondering how Trento could on a mountain...and yeah, obviously you cannot turn back on such a mountain road
at 15:00: altitude 1000m
at 15:15: altitude 1500m
at 15:40: altitude 2200m and we finally arrive at what looks like a ski resort still wondering where the heck Trento could be ! Well, actually, we wondered much later since there were more beautiful views from that altitude and after enjoying it to our heart's content we were relieved to see the road going downhill on the other side
at 16:25: We are finally almost at the foot of the mountain and just when we were thinking that we might see Trento we go through a really long tunnel and then follows 22 other tunnels !!
at 16:55: After all the ''tunneling'', we see a sign that says Trento is 55 km away. At that moment we decided we were not going to drive any further instead we would explore the place we were in - Bolzano !

Bolzano looked like a perfect german-italian town, obvious from its location close to the border. Not only did all signs read something like ''Banco/Bank'', the city centre looked very ''german'' too while the shopping area and the cafeterias made it obviously italian ! After spending some time at the Duomo (Cathedral), we walked into the shopping area only to come across the veteran car team - a group of old veterans with their 1923-30 model cars....and whats more we even saw them driving those cars - I really couldn't have believed that those cars would run !!


After a typical cappuccino in a typical Italian Cafe, we were ready to head back home and we were home after 4.5 hrs of driving and this time we ''cleverly'' avoided the mountains :)

Moral(s) of the story
- It pays to be cheap (:D) or rather economic - we never would have seen those breathtaking views if we had not tried to save money on a city hotel or toll roads!
- Tom tom shows you the route most of the times but not necessarily the shortest or the fastest !
- When you are on vacation, do not have a strict agenda, go where the tom tom takes you to have the maximum fun :D !

To conclude, one of the most beautiful places I have seen and one of the best road trips I have had.....