Naples Italy 40 years ago. We would lean over the side of the ship and count turds and condoms floating in the bay. The smell taught me why big cities have street sweeping machine that wash as they go and the biblical phrase "those that pissith against the wall" meant..
Ben
Amen... Naples was the armpit of the world... Nasty, dirty would have been a compliment! I was there... What year in the 80's did we bomb Gaddafi? Now that was interesting... we were to far offshore to see flames though, darn. Besides, the MIG's were keeping us busy. Well, the ones he had left anyway.
I was in Naples in winter, cold and nasty... We had to take a bus to get to a Naval Air station to shop at the PX, have american food. The road the bus took... it was just after dark. Beside the road, every 50 yrds there was a 55-gallon drum with a fire built in it and young women standing around the barrels to keep warm. We called them "Camp Fire Girls".
They were there plying their trade... We were stopped at a traffic light when we noticed one of the girls had a small pet dog. Then we realized it was the biggest rat most of us had ever seen. It was as big as a beagle, would have eaten a chihuahua as a snack. I wondered aloud if it was her pimp. Even the bus driver laughed at my joke.
I never rented a car and always took taxi's in Naples. But yes, a dirty city with horrific traffic.
Every city I went to in Italy seemed to have a body shop on every street corner. There is a reason for this!!!!
You were a wise man, just get a taxi. I'd never try to drive in that country, unless it was a bumper car with wheels. Paris isn't much better but the french country side isn't to bad. I had a car in Paris. I drove about 6 blocks from my hotel, then drove back and parked it. I was there for another month, never had the inclination to drive again. Insane place to drive but at least you can't understand the people yelling at you.