Naples,

This morning we arrived in Naples.

That’s the “New Castle” on the waterfront, and if you squint, you can see one of the other castles on top of the hill.  Apparently there are two more in other parts of the city.

Naples is famous as the home of pizza, crazy drivers, the mafia (known as the Camorra here), and a great archeological museum.  We experienced three out of the four.

We had opted for a bus tour around the city, which would have been okay if it weren’t for the annoying guide who laughed uproariously at his own jokes (no one else did).  Thankfully it didn’t last too long, and we again left and set out on our own as soon as we got back to the city center.

From one of the “scenic lookouts” where we stopped we could see an abandoned manufacturing plant - John thought it looked like a pre-stress concrete plant.

Our guide said that the government has been announcing plans to clear this area and develop it for the last 30 years - no one’s holding their breath.

At the next stop we had a good view of Naples and the bay.

We looked down at the apartments and streets below us - it’s easy to see why people ride scooters and drive tiny cars.

Most of the vehicles we saw were scooters - including one that hit John when he was in a crosswalk (two young girls were riding it - they just laughed when they ran into him)..

We were glad we didn’t have to call on these guys - motorcycle ambulances.

This municipal plaza was behind the castle.

We walked up the (mostly) pedestrian street Via Toledo toward the archeological museum before taking the metro (subway) the rest of the way (it was uphill).

We heard this procession coming before we saw it.

Even the metro station had statues - it seems like they were everywhere.

Speaking of statues, as well as mosaics and all kinds of antiquities, the archeological museum is probably the must-see site in Naples.  Most of its collection came from the archeological digs in Pompeii and Herculaneum, the cities that were buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted, preserving them.

As a reminder that times may change but people don’t, the first century residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum enjoyed erotic art, and a collection of such artifacts are found in the museum’s “Secret Museum” or Secret Cabinet.”  Here’s more about it from Wikipedia, if you’re interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Museum,_Naples

We walked back to the ship, stopping along the way to have a genuine Naples pizza.  Unfortunately, the English translation on the menu wasn’t entirely in English.  Turned out that one of the un-translated items on our pizza was sautéed broccoli.  I ate mine and considered it “interesting,” but John just picked his off.  

We found Naples loud, as reputed, not scary (except for an occasional bad driver on a scooter),with lot of graffiti and occasional spots of beauty,

And they’re still uncovering antiquities whenever they dig a hole anywhere.

After we got back to the ship, I did a load of laundry before we headed to the theater to hear a talk about Hannibal (the guy with the elephants) and then a short talk about the rivalry between Michelangelo and Rafael.

Then dinner and calling it a night.

Leaving Naples tonight: