The Week 07Feb2020

30 LEISURE Travel

Travelers are returning to Naples in big
numbers, and I can’t blame them, said
Dave Hage in the Minneapolis Star
Tribune. After a recent five-day holiday
with a friend in the great Italian port city,
“we came away intoxicated by Naples’
vibrant street life, charmed by its garru-
lous people, and dazzled by masterpieces
from the early Baroque.” Make no mis-
take: Naples remains crowded and gritty,
and “if you’ve been to Rome and found
it overwhelming, you probably shouldn’t
venture south, where Italy only gets
more Italian.” But ever since Neapolitans
staged protests in 2013 to demand action
against organized crime and pollution, the
city has been cleaning up its act, making
it a must-stop for any casual student of
European culture. “And did I mention piz-
zerias? We had the best pizza of our lives.
Three days in a row. Without trying hard.”

Naples was a cultural powerhouse in the
17th and 18th centuries— Europe’s third-
largest city after Paris and London. Yet it’s

This week’s dream: Rediscovering the energy of Naples

Ala

my

,^ A

na

nta

ra^

Go

lde

n^ T

rian

gle

El

eph

ant

Ca

mp

“Let’s talk about the elephant

outside the room,” said Inigo

Del Castillo in Apartment

Therapy.com. Anantara’s

resort in northern Thailand

is home to 22 elephants,

rescued from city streets,

that now roam 160 acres

of bamboo forests and

fields. Recently, the resort,

which is perched on a hill

overlooking the Mekong

and Ruak rivers, debuted

Jungle Bubbles: luxury

suites with transparent liv-

ing rooms where guests can

watch roaming elephants,

then stargaze after dark.

The resort also offers a

biologist-led walking tour

among the gentle giants.

anantara.com; bubbles from $580

Hotel of the week

An amazing natural phenomenon is about to

occur, said Mary Forgione in the Los Angeles

Times. Each year for two weeks in February,

the setting sun strikes a waterfall in Yosemite

National Park at just the right angle, creating “a

streak of orange resembling a lava flow.” The

annual “firefall” has drawn shivering crowds

ever since a National Geographic photographer

captured the magic in 1973. Nature can be fickle,

though: Skies must be clear, and there must be

enough snowmelt to feed Horsetail Fall, which

tumbles 1,570 feet down the granite face of

El Cap i tan. Photographer Aaron Meyers has stud-

ied the firefall and predicts that this year it should

appear from Feb. 12 to 28, peaking between

5:28 and 5:40 p.m. on Feb. 22. No passes or

reservations are required, and visitors can set up

anywhere between Yosemite Falls (where there’s

parking) and the El Capitan picnic area, which is

one of the most popular viewing locations.

Getting the flavor of...

Get to know the neighbors.

Last-minute travel deals

A wine country retreat

Spend a weekend in Sonoma

at the Gaige House + Ryokan,

a leafy creekside property

with Zen gardens, a yoga

enclave, and an on-site spa.

Through March 5, stay one

night and enjoy a second free.

Doubles start at $299.

thegaigehouse.com

Point anywhere on a map

Indus Travel currently has flash

sales on two dozen group tours

to destinations worldwide, many

of which expire Feb. 7. One, the

eight-day Marvelous Morocco

trip to Casablanca, Rabat, Fez,

and Marrakech, starts at $1,230—

$600 less than usual.

indus.travel

The perks of cruising

Select Seabourn cruises are

being offered with a mix of

perks such as $500 in air credit,

half off your deposit, suite

upgrades, $1,000 in shipboard

credit per suite, or $2,000 with

any penthouse or premium

suite. Book by Feb. 28.

seabourn.com

possible to see its cultural riches in a day

or two. The Museo Archeologico, “one

of the great archaeological museums of

Europe,” houses artifacts from Pompeii

and Herculaneum in a gorgeous 17th-

century palazzo, and it sits just a short

walk from Naples’ “breathtaking” Baroque

cathedral, the art-packed Sansevero Chapel,

and the Santa Chiara monastery, “where

you can catch your breath and relax in the

lovely garden cloisters.” We lunched

at Pizzeria de Matteo, then grabbed

gelato as we strolled the Spaccanapoli,

the old town’s main street. I recom-

mend a second day for visiting the

Capodimonte, a palatial former hunt-

ing lodge that’s now home to “the fin-

est art collection in southern Italy.”

You can avoid overnighting in the

city by staying in Sorrento, a town

across the bay that’s “the opposite of

Naples: relaxed, spotless, and designed

for tourists.” From Sorrento, it’s easy

to catch a ferry into Naples or Capri

or grab a bus or taxi to cruise the Amalfi

Coast. A train took us to nearby Pompeii,

which proved a highlight. Though we had

read up on the Roman city destroyed by

the A.D. 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius,

“we weren’t prepared for the scale and the

detail.” Wandering an ancient city frozen

in time, “you can lose yourself in the grid

of alleyways, courtyards, temples, and half-

preserved houses.”

Chasing Yosemite’s ‘firefall’

In Quebec, “it’s possible to escape the oval con-

fines of what we normally think of as ice rinks,”

said Elaine Glusac in The New York Times.

Canada’s largest province is full of villages and

parks that host unique skating areas—“from rib-

bons plowed on rivers to forests that are flooded

to create skating mazes.” I had an icy labyrinth

mostly to myself one morning on Île St-Quentin,

an island at the confluence of the St-Maurice

and St. Lawrence rivers. Skirting the seaway

and weaving through the woods, “I thrilled to

make each iteration different.” Another day, I

found farm pens dotting the 9 miles of iceways at

Le Domaine de la Forêt Perdue (the Lost Forest).

“It was this skater’s dream come true, a maze so

vast that each turn felt new: sprinters’ drift-walled

alleys; pine-dense spurs where teenagers fell

laughingly into the snow; four-way intersections

where parents pulled their toddlers, taking breaks

to feed the eager goats.”

Skating Quebec’s forest mazes

Chiang Rai, Thailand

Anantara Golden Triangle

Elephant Camp & Resort

Shoppers on Naples’ ancient Via Toledo