where is memmi?

Days 17, 18: Napoli To say I had high expectations for Napoli is a violent understatement. I expected her to be The Thing. Everywhere I had told people I was coming here, they - people from France, Genova, Sardinia, Sicilia - told me it's amazing. Meraviglia. La città più bella del mondo. Tutto che c'è è a Napoli.  And Napoli delivered. If it was difficult to put in words my feelings towards Palermo, it's impossible to do so with Napoli. I am in awe.

Currently sipping coffee and charging my phone in a cafe, mostly waiting for time to pass by so I can get to my ferry. I'm exhausted - last night was chaotic trying to find a place to sleep while in the harbour at 11pm and then at 2am trying to find a way to get to Napoli the following day. Again, things would have been a lot more difficult without other people's help. Turns out the most important phrase of all is "I don't know what I would have done without you." Yet to prove myself, I want to mention that I got the help I needed because I reached out to the right people at the right time and came up with solutions myself. See, Mom and Dad? I'm out here. I'm doing ok. And I'm clever enough. I'm going to miss this a lot. It feels good to pass by places and cities knowing I'll soon be somewhere else again. Not worrying about anything that might be going on at home, because I'm too far to help anyway. I haven't seen myself in a mirror...

Day 16: ??? This is not quite what I meant when I thought I'd love to spend longer in Palermo. Due to unfortunate circumstances (read: ones that I'm too embarrassed to admit publicly, but including and not limited to preferring wine to sleep) I missed my bus to Napoli. So. Yeah. We'll see. I'm pretty upset, to be honest, because this cuts my stay in Napoli to only two days and I have SO been looking forward to it. Then again, this gives me 1) more time to splurge on Sicilian delicacies, and 2) a good excuse to return to the south as soon as I can because I barely saw Napoli! So. Could be worse.

Days 13, 14, 15: Palermo (For some reason this is all bolded and I can't undo it) It's been hard trying to gather my thoughts and write about Palermo, because to write you need to detach a little and the city is so immersive. I love southern Italy and the second I arrived here I loved it even more than I ever thought I would. (Bye, y'all!) Palermo is a loud, noisy city. Every morning you wake up to the sound of huge church bells, or kids playing and shouting outside, or the huge sea birds crowing, or all of them at once. In the wide streets with people going from one shop to another or looking at sights or chatting you hear laughter, cars honking at each other or at women or just for the fun of it I assume, the neighs from the horse carriages running by. In the smaller streets and alleyways full of street vendors cars, motorbikes, bicycles and pedestrians all in the same single lane attempt to move to their own directions resulting in a mix of screams, honks and c...

Day 12: Cagliari Super tired. Checked out the beach near the city and met some cool people. Took the ferry, had fun. There's so much in my mind about Sardinia and Italy and the sea and everything, but I'm way too fucking tired to type on this phone. I'll write a longer and more thoughtful post about those topics later. ♡

Day 11: Cagliari Today I decided to stop doing loser stuff like socialising and did some proper touristing with a camera in my hand. Cagliari, as it turns out, is the capital of Sardinia and so the first bigger city on this part of the trip. Tunisia is closer than Rome, but Cagliari is still the most Italian place I've seen on the island so far: piazzas with people sitting outside cafes, little alleyways with shops, parks, big churches etc. In a way Cagliari really reminded me of Rome, even though with one huge difference for the better - Rome is located between mountains so the heat and smog is terrible, but the sea breeze made Cagliari pleasantly "cool" and fresh at +31 c. Anyway, I checked out the old cathedral (with a Roman exterior and a baroque interior - always shocks me), the archaeological museum (which was incredible) and the botanic gardens (palm trees!). Very beautiful places, I'd post some pictures but I'm currently on the ferry and the internet ...