An unusually quiet moment in one of the large cobbled tunnels that lead in and out of the centre of Naples
Nothing is ever quite what you expect it to be …
Driving in Naples, Italy: spanner in the works
To be a dog in Naples …
In the Bay of Naples
His master’s swim
First impressions stick in the mind like chewing-gum. It doesn’t matter how the impression is made – through direct experience or second-hand – the more startling the impression the more sticky the fix.
In August we moved to the south of Italy, just outside the historic city of Naples with its reputation for crime, corruption, trouble with rubbish, and the small matter of the Camorra.
The pre-departure reading had been interesting in a disturbing kind of way but what really stuck was a brief headline deposited in the spring in amongst London’s daily serving of global news – Naples was about to start the DNA testing of dog mess.
Taxi takes the skin off the walls in Rome
A car barnacled to the wall outside the Hotel Due Torri in Rome
Taxis, especially those of foreign lands, are jammed together in a corner of my mind that I would rather keep shut. I don’t like to be in the back of a stranger’s car, city blind and barriered in by language, especially when the price to pay goes up with every sweaty minute.
However … late September en route to Rome we decided, despite all my worst fears, that a taxi was the best option.
The Phraser 