Napoli

Naples or Napoli was our last stop in Italy. It was more of a quick layover before we made our way back to London.

We got back on the ferry to Salerno and then a quick train ride to Napoli Centro. The hotel is under a 10 minute walk from the train station. The area, Piazza Garibaldi has a reputation of being rough and it really lived up to that. There were definitely more locals than tourists in Naples. More cigarette butts everywhere, more garbage all around, more crazy drivers. We were not interested in exploring the neighbourhood. We stayed in our room and caught up with this and that.

At 5pm, feeling a bit hungry we went looking for a pizzeria. Nothing was open, and even if it was opened, it wasn’t appealing. Most of the restaurants do not open for dinner until 7:30pm… fortunately the hotel recommended a decent restaurant 2 blocks away that was open. I enjoyed the seafood risotto and Jeff had a Margherita pizza. Did you know that in 1889 the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito, Pizzeria Brandi’s chef, invented a dish called “Pizza Margherita” in honor the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, and the Italian unification. The toppings are tomato (red), mozzarella (white) and basil (green), representing the same colors of the national flag of Italy.

The next morning we walked to the museum and saw someone’s ID and credit card on the sidewalk.. Hmm, I guess that poor person had his pocket picked, yeah, rough neighbourhood. The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is an important Italian archaeological museum, particularly for ancient Roman remains. The museum has one of the world’s best collections of Greek and Roman antiquities, including mosaics, sculptures, gems, glass and silver, and a collection of Roman erotica from Pompeii. Yeah, they had the full collection of the illustration from the brothel in Pompeii.

Lots of statues…

Hercules

This statue was put back together like a big puzzle.

Diorama of Pompeii.

The most fun we had in Naples is the cab ride to the airport! The cab driver was very aggressive and was weaving in and out of traffic probably thinking he is a F1 driver.  We did not fear for our safety probably because the congestion prevented him from driving fast. We found it quite entertaining as he was muttering in Italian at the other drivers… Not quite smooth sailing on our flight back to Gatwick airport. The flight was delayed for just under 2 hours while we remained in our seats in the plane. There was a weather system along our flight path that made it unsafe for travel. The flight experienced some turbulence and I was almost green by the time we landed. We spent our last night at the Hilton in Gatwick Airport before making our way home. (Don’t stay there, desperate need of improvements. )

We are finally back home and all tanned from our honeymoon in Italy and of course weighing a few pounds heavier from all that pasta, gelato, cheese and bread. I guess all that walking just wasn’t enough. We had a really awesome time and thanks for following us on this incredible trip.