Naples (2 For 1 Trenitalia Saturdays)

Trenitalia is running a special 2 tickets for the price of 1 on Saturdays, so D and I took advantage of this and bought Frecciarossa (the express train) tickets to go to Naples for the day.  It's an hour each way.  I've been to Naples before, but the first time was a few years ago with SYA and it was a tour in Italian and I didn't understand a thing. The second and third times were just pass throughs to see Herculaneum/Pompeii/Vesuvius and Capri.  This time, we got there around 1015 in the morning and walked around the ENTIRE part of central Naples and I really felt like I got a sense of the city.  Just like everyone says, its loud, raucous and CROWDED, but I felt safe and comfortable.

To understand Naples, one has to understand that the city and the famed soccer player, Maradona are one.  He played here and brought them two championships  Shrines to him are everywhere.

 

 

 

Our goal was to walk the city and then end up a the world famous Naples Archeological Museum, but we didn't make it.  However, we did go into the small, but quite prominent Cappella Sansevero.  It's "capolavori" are this "Veiled Christ" (its marble)

"Disillusion"  Both are amazing!

 

We walked the famous Spaccanapoli (Naples splitter) which divides central Naples into North and South.  Here at the western end is the Piazza Gesu Nuovo and the church of the same name.  I love the texture of the facade (pyramids).

This ornate tower is baroque monument to the counter-reformation.

Naples City Hall....part of the Facebook revolution

Castel Nuovo.  I like how they filled in the area between those two turrets with a Roman Empire style arch.

Central Naples is flat down by the sea.  There are hills surrounding the city (there are many funiculars) like the one shown here. That building is a monastery.

 

 

Occupy Naples?  The line "Noi sappiamo..." translates to "We know where to get the money!"

Naples...high quality and quantity graffiti.  "Berlusconi and the rich cry"  The 2, stands for the 2 "scudetti", or soccer championships that Maradona brought to Naples.

Piazza del Plebescito.  "Do not lose hope Naples"

Here's the Naples we know from the movies.  The Spanish quarter with the tall buildings all so close together.  The laundry hanging everywhere.  Two of our favorite moments of the day happened when just walking around.  The first was a man on a Vespa which zipped by us, then he circled around, whistled, parked and then looked up to be greeted by his family on the balcony.  The second was seeing an older Neapolitan woman open up her window and sell gum out of her front window.  Running a store right from her living room.

Turning around from looking west to the Spanish Quarter, on the other side of the road, just a slew of fascist architecture, which I like because its just so.....simple in its message.

Umm, what's a windmill doing in the middle of Naples.  And look at the panels on the apartment building behind it.  "Labor is GOOD!"

Along the way....lunch.  Of course, Neapolitan pizza!  This is a "famous" pizzeria.  Lots of locals and tourists, like us.

It's for purists.  Margherita and Marinara only.

The obligatory food shot before the chow down!

The weird thing about Naples for me was that I was lost during the day....TWICE.  That NEVER happens.  I could get my bearings but I didn't know where we were and it didn't help that we didn't have a physical map, only the map on the Kindle.  As D has learned, when I am lost, I internally FREAK OUT.  I'm going haywire inside.  Then, when I figure out where I am, I instantly calm down inside.  Turns out, guidebooks are BETTER when actual books because it's just easier to look at maps when they are on paper..  Lesson learned.