On the way down to Amalfi Coast, we stopped for an afternoon in Naples to wait for our friends to arrive at the train station. We left our bags in Left Luggage and walked straight to the pizza joint Elizabeth Gilbert went gaga over in "Eat, Pray, Love," L’antica Pizzeria da Michele Forcella. There’s close to 1000 pizza places in Naples, often referred to as the birthplace of pizza, and Michele Forcella make’s everyone’s Top 10 list, from the Guardian to Yelp. We took a number, waited about 30 minutes with a mix of locals and travelers and then were squeezed into a long table in the last room. You have only two choices, margherita, with a fresh dollop of mozzarella or marinara, tomato sauce only with oregano and garlic. We ordered one of each (Gilbert ordered the double mozzarella in her book) and waited as the pizza come out of the wood-fired oven at breakneck speed. Each of the thin-crust pizzas, which come whole, not sliced, were delicious. But if I went back I’d go with Gilbert’s order. The cheese was so fresh, it made each bite sublime.
We had a couple hours to kill so we wandered the bustling streets of the city, walking past university students at a college before coming upon a handful of restaurants all with the artist Caravaggio in their names. I turned to Lisa and said there must be something by Caravaggio somewhere around here. Lisa went online and quickly realized that we were standing directly in front of a church,
Pio Monte della Misericordia, that was home to one his seminal works,
The Seven Works of Mercy (1607). We bought tickets and then went inside to see this impressive painting, one of his largest works. Caravaggio arrived in Naples in 1606, after fleeing Rome when he killed a man in a brawl. Luigi Carafa-Colonna, a nobleman who was a member of this congregation, protected the artist after he fled from Rome and then commissioned Caravaggio to execute what would be one of his great masterpieces. The painting depicts the seven works of corporal mercy to which the activities of Pio Monte were dedicated: give drink to the thirsty, bury the dead, house pilgrims, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, feed the hungry and comfort the sick. In Rome and Florence, we would see Caravaggio’s best works with crowds of other admirers. Here in Naples, we had the place to ourselves.
I just received word that Seastreak, the company that offers ferry service from New Bedford to Martha’s Vineyard, will bus clientele from Boston’s South Station to the ferry in New Bedford starting next April. This is wonderful news for people traveling into the Boston area who don’t want to rent a car, only to leave it at the ferry terminal parking lot. It’s also much cheaper than flying into the Vineyard. You’re shuttled one hour by bus from Boston’s South Station to the ferry terminal in New Bedford, where you board the high-speed ferry for the short crossing on Buzzards Bay to the Vineyard. Cost is $68 round-trip for adults including both bus and ferry. 
Need to get away? If you live on the East Coast corridor and just endured another snowstorm accompanied by temps in the single digits, I would say you’re due. You might want to know about 
Sitting at the southernmost tip of South Africa, Capetown can certainly match Sydney and San Francisco as the most beautiful city in the world. Table Mountain, often draped in its tablecloth of clouds, forms a spectacular backdrop. A nice little warm up ride will bring you from the city to the exquisite beach of Camps Bay and the mountains rising behind Hout Bay. Serious bikers can then continue on to the Cape Peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope, where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean. Just be on the lookout for baboons that often cross the road. Once you’ve properly explored Capetown, drive one hour to the west and start your tour of Stellenbosch and its award-winning wineries. 
Celebrate Winter Solstice by dining on fondue in the Seaport at 
Saturday morning was a bit nippy when we met Andy Levine, founder of