Tag: Naples

Rocks from Vesuvius

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

There’s a legend that bringing rocks down from Vesuvius makes the bad luck come home with you. Not sure what the origin of the story is, perhaps Pele’s Curse from Hawaii. Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, doesn’t like her rocks taken away by tourists. Wash your shoes if you visit Vesuvius.

The photo above represents what I saw from the crater last week.

Naples vs Sofia

~ Veselin ~ 13 Comments

I spent a week in Naples for a team meetup with my team. I kept comparing the city with Sofia for reasons that may not be immediately obvious. At least not obvious to me. Don’t take this post seriously.

Here’s this spreadsheet with an honest and unbiased comparison between Sofia and Naples.

Sofia 🇧🇬Naples 🇮🇹
Volcanic activity🚫✅
Nearby mountain✅✅
Mountain tries to kill you🚫✅
Lots of pizza✅✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Lots of trash✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 🍌 💩
Dog poop💩💩 💩 💩 🤦
Frequent dealers🚫✅
Sidewalks blocked✅,✅,
Pineapple pizza✅🚫
Roman ruins✅✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Has skyscrapers✅✅
Has skyscrapers everywhere✅ 🚫
Has a giant brutalist trash can🚫 in progress ⏳✅
Restaurant food prices💰 💰 💰
Restaurants offer salads✅ 🚫
4-course meals for tourists🚫✅
Food is usually great🚫✅
Yogurt is usually great✅ 🚫 🤦
Coca Cola Zero bottle size500 ml ✅450 ml 🤦
Number of cats🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈
Crowds of tourists🚫✅
Drivers sometimes stop for you✅🚫
Taxi prices💰💰 💰 💰 💰
Taxis may attempt to scam you✅✅
Walkable🤦🤦

Naples for me was a place with a long history, old buildings, too much pizza, and lots of cars.

Castel Nuovo

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

Castel Nuovo was built in the 13th century and hosted kings, popes, thinkers, and artists. I walked by it and it made me think about AI rather than history. People built that thing and felt like it was impenetrable, and then came artillery and it was suddenly just a cold building. A story that keeps repeating. You have a status quo, and you have people thinking how to break it, over and over throughout history.