Perche

No, not on or near Via Tribunale or Spaccanapoli. Stay on the Lungomare and make visits to the center. It's only about a mile away.

Flying Machine

Why is that? I also updated my question to "first time in the area adventurous solo traveler".. The seafront promenade seems so sterile to me, am I missing something why I should not situate myself in the historic center? Thanks and Safe Travels

Perche

Via Tribunale at night is like no other place I've seen. Rough and tumble, but actually quite safe. Few people without sufficient experience and language would feel comfortable. Even near the lungomare, go walk the Spanish Area. This is an area that tourists never see. It will challenge you. It is safe, but it is Italy in the raw, not sterilized for tourists. It's worth seeing, but if you have to walk from the downtown Via Tribunale to the Lungomare, you have to know how to not get lost, and you have to show enough confidence to stay out of trouble

Flying Machine

Thanks for the prompt and insightful reply..

Perche

I might have another option for you, although you should definitely focus on Rome and Naples, but you said you have been to Rome many times.

Has it ever happened that you learn a new word, and then as soon as you learn it you hear it said within the week, when before you never heard it in your life? My theory when you didn't know what the word meant, it never registered when you heard it. Once you learn the word, then you start to hear it.

When in Italy I usually try to take some type of class. Cooking, wine, history, whatever. I was in an Italian poetry class in Rome this week and we read a poem that had the word, "Ciociariano" in it. The teacher asked if anyone in the class knew the word. None of us did, even though passing an advanced Italian test (B2 or higher) was a prerequisite to register. She explained that between Rome and Naples there is a special hidden region called Ciociaria that few people know about because it's not on the map, and someone from there is called a Ciociariano.

The poem was a love poem by a man missing his lover who he referred to as a Ciociariana. The name comes from the unique type of shoes that the people wore there, called cioce. From the teacher's description it's sounds like it was like a Dutch wooden shoe but made out of sheepskin not wood, and held in place by straps that wind around the calf, up to the knee.

I responded to your question that there really isn't anything between Rome and Naples because it's fairly urban, and a fairly short distance. I was wrong. I didn't know about Ciociaria.

Even then, when the teacher talked about Ciociaria so we would understand the poem, I filed that away in my mind as useless information. Then tonight I was catching up on news in the USA and behold, there was an article on CNN.com talking about Ciociaria as Italy's secret gem hidden between Rome and Naples. I wouldn't have bothered to read this if the teacher hadn't just discussed it three days ago, which made me recognize the word.

I haven't been there (yet), but from what the Professor said in the poetry class and the CNN coverage, it's now on the list. It might be an option for you to consider.
http://edition.cnn.com/travel/articl...ays/index.html

Forrest Bump

Relevant to Ciociaria is this great classic movie: La ciociara (or "Two women")

Director Vittorio De Sica, starring Sofia Loren.

KLouis

What a great product of the neorealismo period of Italian movies. De Sica delivered a masterpiece! [No smilie/emoticon available for my feelings]

jg70124

Reporting live from the Partenope Relais: it is indeed a very nice little hotel, with friendly staff and mostly nice rooms. (Beware of 114, which has the shower in the sleeping area instead of in the bathroom). However, the rooms are on the 1st floor above via Partenope, where the party last night went until 3:00 a.m. or so, and the garbage trucks came at 5:00 a.m. Since the windows are only single-pane glass, we didn't really sleep.

Also, it's actually quite far from the center - a 45 minute walk or a 12€ cab ride to the Archeology Museum, for instance.

So I would not recommend this hotel.

Flying Machine

Enjoy Naples besides your Hotel. I was there two weeks ago and had a nice time. Took a walking tour, ate lots of pizza, frito misto, seafood and pasta. People are really nice.. Have fun..

Perche

I don't think that's far out of the way. Naples is a big city of about one million people. It's two-third the size of Manhattan. Metropolitan Naples is the 9th most populated area in the European Union. It is not realistic to expect all of the places that tourists might want to go in such a large city to all be clumped together.

You are staying right on the Lungomare, maybe a 10 minute walk to
Castell dell'ovo. A little off in the periphery, but not bad at all.

If you want to go to Piazza del Plebescito, that's an easy walk. If you want to go to the historic center as in Via Tribunale, then you need a taxi unless you know your way around Naples very well, and can walk for 30 minutes. I've done this dozens of times, but I wouldn't recommend anyone trying it. It's just like you would need a taxi in NYC to get from Greenwich Village to Times Square, except that's for distance reasons. Unless you know Napolitano alley ways, you will just be lost in a few minutes. Take a taxi. It's part of the deal.

Someone can say that Times Square is far from the center of NYC because it's a 35 minute walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Someone staying near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco can say it's not centrally located because it's a 50 minute walk to the symphony. These are big cities.

Being far away from the Archeology Museum, is relative. Someone visiting NYC and staying lower downtown 5th Avenue, or on the upper West Side who wants to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art has to ride the subway for 35 minutes. Or depending on the time of day, take a 40 minute taxi ride. You can walk to the Archeology Museum in Naples from Castell dell'Ovo in less than that time, or just take a taxi.

Adjust expectations, and enjoy. Staying on the water, the Lungomare, is where you want to be in Naples. Unless you know your way around and are a good walker you have to take taxis or a subway, just like you have to do in most big cities, like LA, Chicago, or Philadelphia. The interesting things to see will not be all clumped together.

Rome is the same way, although it's much easier to navigate. Venice is like that too. You can walk from one end to the other in 30 minutes, but good luck. If you don't know the city you'll be lost for 30 minutes, and probably wind up back where you started.

I can't speak to the specific hotel, but location is important. You are in a decent location, and just have to adjust expectations. Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It has been around since about 600 BC. The USA wasn't discovered by Europeans until 2,000 years later. The hotels and infrastructure are going to be different. There are always trade-offs between location, budget, amenities, etc. Location ranks way up there, and you are not in the best location, but in a pretty decent one.

Flying Machine

I voice a different opinion of the Lungomare. I felt it a bit sterile there and lacking the vibe and flavor that Naples has to offer. It is off the beaten path for what most would want to venture in Naples..The meandering streets are something that must be taken in (albeit if you get off track for a little bit) Google Maps (will get you back on track) don't even need cellular service just download in advance.. I freely walked around and only took one taxi my whole stay.. People were so nice, I didn't feel apprehensive anywhere in the city.. However, the Lungomare was meh for me (compared to all the other places I had walked to..) Just a different perspective..

KLouis

The lungomare is a) for people in love (in the evenings) b) for kids with bicycles/skateboards c) for parents and their baby/babies d) people deprived from the sea for several months.

As for the distance to Piazza Dante, the Metropolitana or the Cumana are faster than walking and cheaper than taxi from Mergellina.

Careful: Somebody told me that the Cumana no longer stops at Mergellina...