No alarms today. For starters, I went to sleep late because last night, my oldest boy got engaged and I wanted to hear all about it. He called me at 1:30 am, Italy time, to share that Emily said "yes." I am beyond happy for him because Emily is perfect for him. Definitely a match made in heaven. I am not losing a son, I have gained a new daughter.
Even after going to sleep that late, I woke up at 7:30 am. My internal alarm clock is more exact than the outer one. We had breakfast at the hotel, which was also included to my surprise because when I booked it the breakfast was optional and I decided not to take it because we are only having continental breakfast so I didn't feel it was worth the additional 60 euros. Hotel Vesuvio gets five stars in my book.
After breakfast, guide in hand, we decided to venture into Napoli, never anticipating that we were going to walk ten and a half miles, as our phone indicated by the end of the day. Our walk began at Castel Nuovo, which was right across our hotel and therefore I've photographed plenty.
Our first stop was the Piazza Del Plebiscito. Apparently at night it's very popular but on this Sunday morning, it was deserted. We noticed a church at the end of the square. We approached it, entered and perfect timing, mass had just begun. It was the Church of San Francesco di Paola. An amazing work of art, with its Pantheon-inspired dome, broad colonnades and neoclassical huge interior. It could easily accommodate over one thousand persons, but unfortunately, we were only fifteen persons attending mass. It was quite a contrast from the previous day, when the tiny church in Pietrelcina was packed with more than one hundred persons.
After mass, we continued our walk up Via Toledo. We passed the Royal Palace and Teatro di San Carlo, built in 1737. We entered Galleria Umberto I, a shopping mall that is over a century old. Since it was Sunday, most of the stores were closed. The Italians are still pretty strict when it comes to traditions and old customs. Most places close from 1 to 4 pm for the mandatory "siesta" and most stores don't open on Sundays.
We then came upon the Spanish Quarter. It was packed with people. The streets are unbelievably narrow and the buildings were all four to five stories high.
A lot of the stores were closed, but you could easily see that in this neighborhood, the streets are always lively. The stores that were open were practically selling in the middle of the street. There were meat and fish stalls, produce and fruit stands, street food vendors and much more. This was by far the liveliest face of Naples.
We continued our walk through a few more piazzas (Carita, Sette Settembre, Dante, Bellini, Cavour) and ended at the Archaeological Museum. After having visited Pompeii, this was the crown because this museum houses most of the art and decorations that were discovered in the excavations of Pompeii. We would not have appreciated it as much, had we not visited Pompeii. This helped to put everything into perspective. And it made us realize that this culture was truly amazing. They had quite a collection of fine art and artifacts.
They have an entire section, labeled Gabinetto Segreto (the Secret Room) which is dedicated to all the pornographic statues and art pieces that were found. It gave us a clear glimpse to the perversion that was Pompeii. The sizable assortment of erotic frescoes and frisky statues, once decorated bedrooms, brothels, meeting rooms and even living rooms for the entertainment of the guests. The acts of sodomy that were clearly illustrated in these pieces were pretty horrific and left nothing to the imagination.
In addition to the Pompeii collection, there is also an impressive set of gigantic statues, known as the Farnese collection, which were excavated from Rome. They were discovered in the 1500s when Alessandro Farnese was building his palace in Campo dei Fiori. He found quite a treasure.
After witnessing these vast assortment of art, our stomachs were growling. We made our way to a street caffe and had some pasta. I ordered lasagna for the first time and was surprised that their lasagna is quite different than the one we eat in Miami. This lasagna was made with penne pasta and had no meat. It was delicious, though, no complaints.
After lunch, we decided that after viewing so much pornography we needed to be purified. We took a detour from Via Toledo towards the Duomo. This street, known as Spaccanapoli, has a different formal name every few blocks, and it must contain at least three to four churches per block. We didn't take into consideration that most churches are closed from 1 to 4 or 5, even on Sundays, so we passed church after church after church and they were all closed. It was sad to see them on the outside because they looked dirty, their walls filled with graffiti and in total decay. The only ones that looked slightly in better shape and I would have really liked to see them on the inside were la Chiesa di Gesu Nuovo and la Chiesa di Santa Chiara.
This street is also known for the array of stores that sell Presepi (Nativity Scenes). Unfortunately, once again because of the time or maybe because they simply don't open on Sundays, most of them were closed. We got to see glimpses of what they sell in a couple of them that were opened, and it's truly amazing. You can create an entire village because they have all types and sizes of figurines, some even move. Back in America we are big on Christmas tree ornaments. I usually buy at least one new one each year. In Napoli, they are big on the Nativity and they usually add a new piece to their presepe each year.
We continued our walk because I had read on my guide that the oldest and best Gelateria in all of Napoli was at the end of this street. Oh what a disappointment when we finally found "Polo Nord" and it was closed. Oh well, maybe not the best, but there are plenty of gelaterias all over Italy, so I could satisfy my "capriccio" later on.
We made our way to the edge of the water and walked back to our hotel through the Via Maritima. By the time we got back, we had logged 24,632 steps. I could definitely eat a gelato at night. We were so exhausted that we literally collapsed. That night we decided to eat at the hotel and it turned out that the restaurant was excellent with some magnificent views.
My feelings for Napoli are mixed. It's truly a city of many faces: lively, historical, dirty (lots of graffiti on the walls and smelly streets). You may encounter a beautiful, clean and painted building in the middle of two unpainted buildings.
It's also a city set in its traditions (the people collect Presepi but yet the churches are empty). It's not a town that calls me to return like Venice, Florence and Rome. And yet, I'm glad we retraced our steps and got to experience it for a day. And Mama Mary continued to accompany us, occasionally popping up where we least expected her.
Tomorrow, we decided to return to Florence, a city we visited nine years ago and we have many fond memories from that visit. So today we booked a train and it will take us just three hours to get there. I can't wait.
Buona notte!!!
Santa Maria, prega per noi!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment