Capri and Real Italian Pizza

Date: July 23, 2008
Location: Naples and Capri
Lat: 40° 50.3N Long: 014° 15.44E

Well, the good ship M/V Explorer has finally made it to Italia. Naples is a pretty nice place. Sure, there is still trash on the streets because the Mafia controlled garbage men went on strike after the government made a play against the organized crime, but it is still nice. Though, to be fair, I have not spent a lot of time in Naples.

After we landed, a few people and I headed out for Capri. Capri is one of the most gorgeous places on Earth. Fortunately the ferry landing out to Capri was right next to where the ship docked. This made heading to the ferry extremely easy for us. We quickly boarded it and we were on our way. It was perhaps a 45 minute ferry ride out there. Auspiciously, there was a bar on the ship which enabled us to quickly acquire some red wine. This made the ferry ride that much more fun.

Capri is absolutely stunning. The island is surrounded by the glorious Mediterranean blue that is indescribably magnificent. The island is sort of M shaped with two large plateaus on opposite sides forming a valley in the middle. This valley is where most people live. There is hardly any flat land at all on Capri; however the natives did not find this a problem. Instead, every building is carved into the cliffs at an angle. There was a reason that the Roman Emperors chose Capri as a place to get away from the duties they were already neglecting.

Mount Vesuvius’ shadow looms over the entire area. I was able to take some excellent photos of it. Hopefully it will put the ruins of Pompeii in a much better perspective when I see them in a few days.

Once we made landfall, we got some food. I ordered a glass of wine and a Margherita pizza. This is the classic Neapolitan pizza; it just has mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil on it. This meal was excellent.

After we had these affairs settled, we quickly headed towards the beach. This is kind of bad, because while swimming in the Mediterranean was excellent; the beach isn’t nice sand, but rocks. There are some jagged rocks out in the water and as I was swimming a good ways I cut my foot on a rock. It hurts, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I am a bit gimpy, but I shrugged it off. I also managed to cut my shin, but after a little bleeding, it is fine.

After we finished swimming, we decided to head towards the town center of Capri. This took a bit out of us because the center is up on a great height. We moved out along a road that winded back and forth between houses and such things. It was a pretty tight squeeze for traffic, but these European cars are so tiny they easily fit.

Once we got to the center, we celebrated our accomplishment with some gelato. I thought it was really good. We also got some Lemoncello. This is apparently a delicacy of Capri. It is pretty much lemon-flavored hard liquor, it can be adequately described as if someone had some vodka and dropped a lemonhead in it and let it dissolve. We mixed this with some lemon slushies, it was an excellent treat after all the walking on a hot day.

We took the funicular back down the mountain. We explored the local shops for a bit and I grabbed a Capri t-shirt. We then took the ferry back to Naples. Once we made it back we decided we were all in need of a break. We took showers and relaxed for around an hour. After this we decided to set out to find “the best pizza in the world”.

The Washington Post apparently sent a correspondent out to Naples at some point. The columnist said that the Antica Pizzeria Da Michele was the best so we set out to find it. The article sort of played up Naples as some sort of Pirate Island Mecca. Naples is not that bad. If you keep your head up and play it safe, you’ll be fine. The pizza joint wasn’t exactly in the nice part of town, but it was by no means in the ghetto.

It took us some time to find it since it was a good bit off the beaten path. We had to wait for around thirty minutes, but it made the pizza that much better when we got it. The menu is extremely simple, there are four drink options (Fanta, Coke, Water, and Italian Beer, all costing the same price) and there are two pizza options, pizza with cheese and pizza without cheese. Despite this, or perhaps because of, the pizza tasted outstanding. The sauce was impeccable, and the cheese tasted exceptionally good. I don’t know if I’d declare it the best pizza in the world, but it is certainly skewing towards the upper end.

I also managed to receive an excellent tan in the process. I look quite dark and am fitting in with the locals, skin-wise anyways. After our pizza experience, we headed back to the ship. I wanted to sample the night life, but I had to make the smart play and defer to my better judgment. The game plan is to head out for Rome, the Eternal City, around 0730 tomorrow. I need to clobber together a pack for a night before I sack out. Another day and life is outstanding.