The only thing satiated is my curiosity

This post is supplemental to yesterday.  After brief naps to rest off the 56 stories my watch said we walked yesterday, we ventured out for dinner.  A few months ago I realized that gluten and sugar were causing a whole host of undesirable symptoms for me.  I have avoided it since, and it hasn’t been much of a problem.  However, it’s been hard here.  We estimate 85% of restaurants in Naples are pizza restaurants.  Determined to find something else, I asked our downstairs concierge for a non-pizza restaurant.  “Anything but pizza” was my request.  He made a recommendation.  I looked it up to make sure I was going to the right place, and this is what I found:

I mentioned that this restaurant appeared to be a pizza restaurant and he got offended, insisting that was not a pizza restaurant.  We were on our own after that.  Restaurants that don’t sell pizza serve pasta here. It’s very difficult to stay away from gluten besides steaks and whole grilled fish with bones. I have not seen chicken on a single menu since our arrival.  

We searched online and found a Sri Lankan restaurant not far away.  The food looked good, mostly meats and vegetables.  We headed out that way.  As curious and food adventurous people, this sounded like a fun experience.  The place got stellar reviews.

When we were right in the vicinity of the restaurant, we saw two groups of young men standing in a park.  The whole area was bustling with people shopping, drinking, walking, or loitering.

As we walked by the groups of men in the park, we watched two light a moving box on fire, with one holding the lighter and another spraying an aerosol can as a makeshift flamethrower.  We captured pictures and walked briskly toward the restaurant.

Box on fire

The group of guys in the park (burning box also in the pic). 

The burning box grew into a bonfire and the guys all started to run. I got that on video too.  You can see the kids running down a staircase on the left. The fire has grown large. 

But let’s turn our attention to trash.  The trash receptacle next to this scene looked like this.  Trash in cities is never a pretty site but this seemed out of hand.

We watched even well-dressed folks add to the trash mountain.  Maybe this is the sanctioned trash disposal location?

As we were distracted by the trash, we were standing outside our chosen restaurant with what appeared to be a crowd of Sri Lanken men loitering outside.  As I was puzzling over how and whether to eat there, we heard an explosion. It sounded like a gunshot but larger.  Surveying the scene, we see the boys running away altogether.  Other shoppers paused to assess the danger. The Sri Lanken crowd didn’t appear to care at all. I was assessing exit routes into the visible staircase down into the bowels of the restaurant. Jane says “I’ll have whatever you’re having”, thinking we were still eating there and being too afraid to go inside and order.  After moments go by, we’re (1) guessing that the aerosol can had exploded in the box fire and (2) we were not meant to eat in this neighborhood. We decided to briskly walk away from the entirely busy scene. Sri Lanken food was not for us. We agreed that we needed to eat at tourist restaurants where tourists eat in the tourist district. 

The gate shown is the gateway to the tourist area of Old Town. We skedaddled that way. 

As we crossed into the portal, Jane made us laugh by saying “Well, the only thing satiated now is my curiosity.” 

We walk straight into the tourist district and eat at the first tourist restaurant we see. The only other diners were a very American family of four with 2 teenagers until this Friar walks in with some Italian folks. We felt we were in the right place. 

The menu was sparse for non-gluten containing food but I didn’t care. It wasn’t a pizza restaurant. However, the calamari came out differently than I thought it would. Jane loves this series of pics so I include it here for readers. A picture is worth 1000 words I suppose. 

It was almost unchewable. Imagine fish flavored bubble gum.  I strategized to cut it into micro pieces and chew until I was tired then swallow.  

They brought out dough balls filled with pasta that had been fried. When he put it in front of us he insisted it has “no flour.”  

Eventually they brought pork sausage which was delightful!

The eggplant and tomatoes were lovely too!  I never did finish my calamari. 

Tonight we have much sought after reservations at a restaurant translated to “Old Jesus Inn”.  We will keep you updated.