FROM FLORENCE TO NAPOLI

April 11, 2018

As for me, the most surprising about Florence was the size of the city... It seems so small.. In fact it is. But as someone said: It is not about quantity, it's about quality.

And there is a lot of quality in the city.

After check-in last Tuesday evening, I went out for a walk and discovered the Westin Exclesior and above all their Sesto on Arno: a rooftop restaurant and bar. With a glass of Veuve Clicquot I was overlooking the splendid night panorama of Florence. - A MUST -

In the morning I enjoyed a great breakfast at the place where I stayed:

Palazzo Alfieri Residenza D'Epoca

I can only highly recommend the hotel. Great location, awesome staff, stylish rooms..

And Via de' Tornabuoni is just around the corner. Heaven! I made some sightseeing as well: Armani, Gucci, especially Gucci Garden, Prada, Dolce&Gabbana..

Before leaving, I had a great Detox Juice at the J.K. Place, cannot wait to see the one in Capri soon hopefully...

At 2.08 pm, I was already sitting in the train to Napoli. I couldn't wait to see the city. By the way, I have to say that the high speed trains Frecciarossa in Italy are really great, on time and super comfortable..

As I wasn't sure if I would stay one or two nights in Florence, I booked a hotel in Napoli the same day after breakfast. I decided to take a 5 Star this time: the Grand Hotel Parker's.

After such a pleasant time in Florence, where everything was very peaceful, beautiful and luxurious, so exactly the way I admire and take simply for granted, I stepped out of the train station in Napoli and realized immediately:

Welcome to hell Baby!

There was a guy who assigned the taxis. When he showed me mine I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry or just say: "What?! I'm not getting on this. Give me a normal car. Simply a car." The taxi was of course a car, but so small and cheap and ugly and disgusting, I even do not remember the brand. Well never mind. I decided to take this all as an adventure, so I took the "taxi". Two days later when I landed at the Wrocław Airport in Poland, there was a Mercedes S-Class waiting as an usual taxi. Just to show the small difference between Poland and Italy. Back to my ride with the super taxi. I have never ever seen in my entire life and I am living almost 31 years here in this world, such a dirty place as Napoli. Dirty streets, dirty people, unpleasant noise, it was like a nightmare for my eyes and this drive killed all my sense of aesthetics. Moreover, it was super funny when the driver covered the taximeter while driving and asked me later to pay much more then he should but still a silly amount. But I was alreday so happy that I arrived alive at the hotel, so it did not matter.

Grand Hotel Parker's. It is unfair to judge cause so disappointed by the first impression of the city, the hotel could only be a disappointment too. The room was a double room and yet super too small even for myself. The rooftop terrace was closed, spa closed, fitness - very poor, no minibar, no bathrobe in the bathroom (SHOCK!), breakfast- so, so......... If it would not be a 5 Star Hotel I would say nothing, but it is a 5 Star Hotel and it's a no-go. On the other hand, it's Napoli. But the staff was great, really great.

As I wanted to do something tacky as trying a pizza in Napoli, the concierge recommended me 50 Kalo by Ciro Salvo for dinner. Well, well.. If you want to eat the best pizza in the world, go to Balthazar St. Moritz. If someone says the best pizza is in Napoli, it's simply ridiculous.