Dinner in Downtown Naples

My last post about my trip to Naples will take us to downtown Naples for some delicious authentic Napoli seafood.  Initially, I wasn't going to do a post on this because it wasn't really a trip and I only had a few iPhone pics to show, but I decided to post about it, because I feel it was the most authentic Italian experience I've had during my trip.  There were definitely no tourists in this area.

On the weekend after one of my classes a classmate offered to take me out to dinner with some of her friends in downtown Naples.  It was the last free night I had in town so I was excited to get to experience Naples at night.  I probably wouldn't have done this by myself because I'm not familiar with the area so I snatched up the opportunity.  We drove, probably the scariest drive through Naples (with the horrible traffic and driving) for about 20 minutes to downtown Naples.  To be honest, I don't know the exact name of the area besides downtown Naples.  It bothers me now that I didnt' ask where exactly we were going but I just went with it.

We found a parking spot and walked along the cobble stone streets to a bustling row of restaurants and people gathered in massive crowds on a Saturday night.  I was actually surprised by the amount of really young people I saw.  It was pretty late but everybody was out.  I understand this is pretty typical of this area.  Not only were young teenagers out, but entire families, little kids, and babies, and it was 11 pm by the time we left and it seemed like things were just getting started.  We settled upon this family style Italian restaurant and met up with some of my classmate's friends.  The evening was filled with great conversation and vini!  I wish I would have saved the menu  (or remembered the name of the restaurant) but it's great to not always be thinking about blogland.  So here are the dishes I had.  My new friends told me that this was about as authentic of Napoli food as you can get and explained that it was different from Northern Italian food in that they tend to use simple spices and herbs.  I love sea food and I thought it was great.  BTW, please leave a comment if you know what any of the side dishes are!

Delicious pasta with clams and muscles, cherry tomatoes, and basil!

Pic # 2 little smoked fish, fish mouse, mini calamaris, and some sort of fish cake.  Pic #3 was some sort of fritter.  And pic #4 was a shell with a fish mixture that tasted like fish flavored mashed potatoes with seasoning on top.  It all sounds pretty scary, but I love trying new foods and it was all pretty good!  Glad I got the opportunity to try it all.

What a great night out with people I will never see again.  That's what is so fun about solo travel.  You can meet people just once and not have to worry about how you are being portrayed because it doesn't matter.  Everything is new and taken at face value in my experiences anyway. 

If I could have spent more time in Naples, I would have definitely traveled to the Amalfi Coast and Positano, and even the lesser known Ischia.  I've had quite a bit of experience in Italy so far but they seem to slowly keep getting better.  I've had my reservations with some of the cities, even Venice and Bari, but like Belgium it's slowly starting to become a favorite country of mine.

What was your favorite spot to see on my trip?  Naples, Capri, Anacapri, Pompeii, or Sorrento?

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