Eat, Pray, Love, Pizza

Thursday June 7^th

Today we got up early and headed to Pompeii.  We took the high speed train to Naples, which took about a hour and then transfer to a little commuter train that travels down the coast past Mt. Vesuvious. It was a pretty easy trip, just over 90 minutes in all.  It was pretty exciting to be headed to Pompeii. Last time I was in Italy it was my biggest regret that we didn’t make it there since we were so nearby (we were in Sorrento).

The train dropped us just about 100 yards from the entrance to the Pompeii archeological site and before we knew it we were walking up the original roman road (which was quite steep) and through the city gate into the walled city of Pompeii.  Pompeii is now a few miles from the coastline, but before the eruption it was actually a port city and we could see the iron rings dangling from the walls that were used to tie up boats. 

The city was quite well preserved from all those years it spent buried in ash, and there were a lot of interesting sights to see.  The roads were all original and made of large cobblestones.  Every so often there were cylindrical stones raised above the road surface about 12 inches which were for pedestrians to use to cross the road since the roads were flooded regularly for cleaning. The road stones themselves had very deep ruts from chariot wheels.

The town center had a courthouse (basilica), a temple to Jupiter, a fish market, a granary and several other large buildings. As we wandered deeper into the town we also saw a bakery, many well-preserved houses, the Roman baths, a theater, and a lot of fast food places.  Seriously – ancient Roman fast food counters.

Although the wealthiest citizens had large houses, most of the people lived in very small apartments with little room for cooking. Most people ate their meals at “fast food” places which had soups, wines, cheeses, breads and other foods for takeout.  In fact, there were over 80 of these establishments in Pompeii.  They had marble slab counters facing the roads for easy service.  One of the most popular was across the street from the baths.

Pompeii was really fun to wander around in, imagining the life of an ordinary Roman citizen. Pompeii was a standard middle class town until the eruption.  Looking at Vesuvious is it easy to picture the amount of devastation. The mountain blew its top off, just like Mt. St. Helens, and you can see the spot where the peak is missing, where it became nothing but just and ash that rained down on Pompeii.  Several plaster casts of human bodies and one of a dog were on display, captured in their final moments of despair, hiding their faces from the flying ash.

Pompeii was a very interesting trip and well worth the effort to get there. As in other places the tour groups are annoying, but if you get off the beaten path and jut explore, the city is quiet and peaceful.  We stayed in Pompeii for about three hours and then took the train back to Naples.

Once in Naples we had a quest – to find the pizza place mentioned as the best pizza on earth in the Eat, Pray, Love book.  I have wanted to eat at this pizza place since the very first time that I read the book, and I have now read the book more than 20 times.  The pizzeria is Pizzeria da Michelle and it is only about a 10 minute walk from the station if you don’t get lost. However it is hard not to get lost in Naples which is full of very small winding twisting streets that change their names around every corner.  It makes it even harder when the free map from tourist information only labels about 1/4 of the street names.

We did finally find it though and it was a buzz of activity. It was hard to tell if it was a line to get in, or people waiting to pick up takeout pizzas.  We soon determined (by asking around) that we needed a number that would then be called for us to order our pizzas. So how to get a number? Easier said than done. I tried first, muscling inside the door and asking.  The old man who worked the cash register didn’t speak English but indicated that I need to get the attention of the loud busy Italian man in the chef’s hat wandering around and making jokes with everyone, and sporadically calling out number for people to come inside.  I tried to get his attention for a while but he walked past me several times before Paul caught my eye and wanted he wanted to try. I hate to give up so easily, but was getting tired and frustrated.  So I sent Paul in and he soon had a number.  He’s pretty big guy and tough to ignore so that may have been it, or they Italian guy just has trouble with women. I’m not sure which one.

Our number was 66 and they were on 48, so we had to wait for a whlle. I stood right outside the door clutching our number in my hand for about an hour as I waited for our number to be called.  About an hour later we heard him call “sessantacinque” and hen finally “sessantasei”. We were lead inside, pointed to the next room over and more or less abandoned to find a table.  ... Of which there were none.  But it looked like a gorup ws leaving – was this what he meant? Pounce on their table?  I sent Paul back to try and check and while he was gone the table cleared out and Katie and i sat down. Paul soon came back confirming that this was our table.

The pizzeria was very basic, with white tiled walls and basic woded tables.  There were photos of Julia Roberts with the restaurant staff, but not of Elizabeth Gilbert who actually wrote the book that made them famous world-wide. That doesn’t seem right.

There are only two types of pizza here, margherita (with cheese) and marina (without).  All three of us ordered the double mozzarella margherita pizza, and Paul and I each got a beer. We settled back to see if the pizza was as good as claimed.  About 15 minutes later our pizzas were set down in front of us hot and bubbling and we eagerly dug in.

OK – I have to say, this was the best pizza i have ever eaten!!!  It was so delicious that every single bite was a delight. You want to moan with pleasure when you bite into it. The pizza in Florence was excellent too, bu the crust here was so much better. It was thin and chewy much like a top-notch Indian naan.  Oh My Goodness!  Conversation slowed aw all three of use ate our way through the pizza. Paul finished his first and then ate some of Katie’s since she couldn’t finish hers.  She did eat all the cheese of it though and Paul had nothing but tomatoy crust to eat – which was still worth it!  I ate all the inside of mine and then cut the crust into smaller pieces. “What are you doing?” asked katie curiously? “I’m wrapping the crust in my napkin and taking it with me since I can’t eat anymore right now,” I replied. With a withering look she said,” Is that really necesary?”  “Of course it’s not necessary,” I replied,” I just WANT to.”  So i wrapped up  the best pizza crust in the world, put it into my bag and we headed back to Rome, full and satisifed.