They told me the roads would be bad

This morning I awoke with some apprehension and.... worry. Streets of Naples were calling and our rental car pickup was due.

Talking to other travellers they told me I was crazy about renting a car and driving in southern Italy. When we mentioned this to the tour guides Raphel and Noemi they both (separately) advised: "you're game".

Time to farewell Naples

After our lovely long evening with Noemi and Michel last night, we didn't get to bed until the wee hours of the morning. So it was a late start to the day today...well for me, Shannon was still wide awake at 6am. The benefit of this was catching the sunrise over Mt Vesuvius from our apartment window.

We didn't really have a plan for the day today, our last in Naples, but had to attend to things like laundry and packing up our things. We had breakfast at a little cafe just downstairs from our apartment, in true Italian fashion - cornetti and a cappuccino.

The best and worst events in 24 hours.

Well into the evening, it is now quarter to midnight, it has been a big eventful evening.

The day started by going to the pharmacy for an event that started on Tuesday, let's go back. 

Tuesday morning we left Lubeck Germany around 6am and then got to the Airport after a separate minor event, then got the plane to Naples some 2000KM and 2hr and thirty minutes later. It wasn't until Tuesday night when Katie asked "where is your insulin?" when re realised that three weeks worth of my Diabetes medication was mistakenly left in the apartment fridge in Lubeck.  

I was in a little trouble, with no way of getting the much-needed drugs from the fridge in Lubeck it was our first mission of Wednesday morning to go to the pharmacy and try to get some. Luckily I come prepared for most emergencies and this was one of them. I had my prescriptions. Travel tip #34 if you need medication, always carry your prescription, it helps.

So with them in hand, we were at the door as the pharmacy opened at 8am, and with some strange conversations, I was

Crazy, beautiful Naples...

What a day! It's 9pm and we've just sat down. We left Lubeck very early this morning, to arrive at Hamburg airport by 8 am, to catch our flight to Naples at 10am. Our timing was perfect and the flight to Naples only took around 2 hours 30 min. The flight with Eurowings (Lufthansa sister line) was very comfortable. Shannon got some great shots over Croatia and coming into Italy.

Getting ready to Rome

It was slightly pleasing to wake up this morning knowing we would be in Rome by days end, Naples is a lovely place to visit and has many great attractions but it has its issues. I would recommend you visit Naples however only for a few days, any more than that and it would get very hard to tolerate. Some of the poverty in the region combined with the many years of poor governance have left a toll on the community.


For example it was quite surprising and concerning for us to be walking along the waterfront region around sunset and seeing around 5 (suspected) homeless people standing around a fire in the middle of the park. It is hard to believe these people needed the fire for anything else than to warm and cook food as the evening was warm enough to not require heating. This incident was then less than 300 meters from one of the main shopping strips of the city containing world renowned coffee shops, restaurants and clothing stores.

A bride only 300 mt from where the 'homeless' fire was

It is like the Neapolitans are ignorant and walk the streets oblivious to these scenes of poverty, could it be they are desensitised as they have lived their whole lives with it?  Alternatively, they know there is nothing they as a person can singularly do and have been burned in the past by corrupt governments and illegal activities.

Today we had a number of hours before we were to get the train to Rome and decided to check out the two castles that are on the Bay of Naples. This is the same area where we saw the men with the fire, but with the sun high in the sky it did feel slightly better.

The castles are very important tourist sights with the first one we visited being the Castel Nuovo.  This castle appears to contain a number of office staff in the halls and confines but what we were permitted to look at was a couple of small chapels and a very impressive collection of artworks from the 15 and 16th centuries.

I would like to note that this castle does not look like it has had any form of maintenance for the past 20 to 30 years, with any external painted surface completely raw and paint peeled off long ago.  We walked into one of the small chapels to see a lovely view of the harbour (below) and were refreshed by the breeze coming through the window. It wasn't until we got closer that I saw the glass was missing, and had not been replaced. I was shocked to see the artwork and frescoes in this small chapel exposed to the elements of the Mediterranean.

The next castle we visited, Castel dell'Ovo, was touristically a disappointment. The view from the top allowed us to look over the Bay of Naples and onward to Mount Vesuvius. However there was no information available for us to read or even pay for, to learn more about the castle.

The afternoon was spent on the very fast train from Naples to Rome. It is such a great way to get between large cities in Italy travelling at speeds up to 300km/h

Todays video.

Tomorrow, time to Rome.

Hercules

Sometimes the guide books get it right. Tourists should stay in the centre of town. We witnessed the outskirts of the city today on our trip to Herculaneum and were surprised by the poverty, unkempt and dirty surrounds and shifty looking characters. I was pleased to return to the hustle and bustle of the city this afternoon.

We were extra cautious on our train trip to Herculaneum, ancient town with hands on cameras and bags pulled in tighter. But we didn't encounter any problems of course. Herculaneum is a smaller version of the famous Pompeii. It was discovered by those drilling for water back in the 1700's. What they uncovered was truly remarkable. It is far more in tact than Pompeii. We saw some beautiful mosaics and colourful frescoes dating back to the 1st century. We were also surprised to see the skeletons of some of the people who came to their demise under the explosion of Mt Vesuvius which looms over the area.

Hi mum!

 

TodaysVideo.

We spent a while exploring this fascinating site before walking back in to town. We had burgers for lunch. Yes...burgers! Sometimes you have to answer the calling of your cravings. It hit the spot too. We got the train back to Naples and spent the afternoon relaxing in our hotel. Hotel il Convento was once a convent. The owners have tried to keep some of the original charm of the place. It's a nice little hotel and a good place to retreat from the noise and chaos of the streets! We are on the fourth floor and have a private terrace attached to our room. Check out the TV antennas Shannon spotted this afternoon on the building next door! Population density to the extreme.

Tomorrow, last of Naples and then lets Rome.

Museum, monsoon and margherita

(Warning; Today's blog post and video does contain some mild adult content related to ancient art)

It was back in 2012 that I heard about the Naples National Archaeological Museum (NNAN) when we were touring the Pompeii site.  During this tour we were advised all 'the good' artefacts have been removed from Pompeii and relocated to the museum in Naples. Pompeii was a truly impressive site but I realised that we only saw part of it on that tour.

Firstly I would like to note that the Naples metro stations are some of the cleanest we have been on in this trip and they are also the most awarded for their layout and decorations inside. Here is Katie descending into the Toledo station.

At the first level it is covered in tiles of a brown earth colour, then as we went down to the lower levels to get the train the tiles changed to mosaic, initially white then changing to aqua and blue as if we were descending into an ocean.  They also have shafts that go from the lowest level to the surface that are giant tubes, again covered in mosaics.

The Naples National Archaeological Museum contains many artefacts and unfortunately due to poor funding has some sections closed and is lacking in amenities for tourists. It took us about two and a half hours to tour the museum. We saw impressive statues, frescoes, mosaics and wall art.  Following are a few photos of the museum.

 

After the museum we wandered the streets of Naples, checking in on a few places that we only saw from the outside during our food tour.

The main attraction we stopped into was Museo Cappella Sansevro where we were able to see The Veiled Christ. Unfortunately no photos were allowed to be taken inside but we did purchase some postcards which will be added to our photo albums when home.

http://www.museosansevero.it/en/the-veiled-christ/the-statue 

This masterpiece was created by Giuseppe Sanmartino in 1753 and is a life size sculpture created with one piece of marble. 

It is truly one of the most amazing things I have seen. The cloth over christs body actually looks like real cloth.The veins in the hands can be seen through the skin and then through the cloth. The nail holes can also be seen in the hands.  Amazing.

For dinner this evening we only spent 20Euro (30AUD), for both of us. We had house wine, bottled water and an entree of bruschetta.

Katie then followed with a Margherita Pizza and I had a calzone with cheese, pomodoro and prosciutto (Pizza folded like a pastie with Ricotta Cheese, tomato and ham inside).

The food was truly great and we couldn't believe how low the bill was. 

Today's video;

Finally, here is a picture of the fish marketeer, just next to the hotel where were are staying in. (I'm not sure why he has sparkling wine bottles in with the clams etc.)

Tomorrow, Hercules.