Naples. How many times have we been here? We have no idea – but when we think about it, we’ve always just used Naples as a jumping off point for somewhere: Sorrento, Amalfi, Pompeii, Heracleum, Proscida, Capri. We’ve not spent any meaningful time here – except the 2 times we tried to go to that stupid San Elmo Castle up on the hill.
So today, we ditch our plans to go to Sorrento (because how many times can we really go there? Once you finish wandering the streets full of touristy shops, there isn’t all that much there for us) and plan a whole day here in Naples. Starting off early, we hit a little bit of a kerfluffle at the gangway when the security guard won’t let us off without our passports. They’ve been making announcements all morning saying the Port officials require either a passport or official picture ID. We have our driver’s license, as always, but the Security lady doesn’t think that is enough. Sigh. She gets on the phone and starts calling around (we stand there wondering if we are the first off? Nobody else came off without their passports? Coz we just aren’t comfortable carrying them around if we don’t have to). She finally gets somebody who tells her picture ID is fine, and we are off into the terminal (and we are pretty much alone, so maybe we are the first?) and onto the streets of Naples.
Heading for the old part of Naples, we of course stop along the way at a little café for cappuccino, then stroll uphill a bit to the old, narrow cobblestone streets of Spaccanapoli. We’re in search of the Underground tours up here – there are a number of different tours of the tunnels that have been found and excavating running under the vast majority of Naples, but tickets are not available online, they appear to be all sold out. I’ve found one place where it says there maybe day-of tickets available and we are trying to locate it – but Google maps fails us once again, sometimes I wonder why we bother…..
At any rate, there are tons of different things to see up here, like the Duomo, with an unassuming façade of marble, but which is massive and ornate on the inside. Columns soar up to the domed gold and frescoed ceiling, cherubs are everywhere, a huge organ above the pulpit, mosaics of Mary (who really doesn’t look happy) and a bizarre confessional of a small table and 2 chairs in a chapel (we figure out it is because of COVID and social distancing).
Circling the entire nave, we head back outside and decide on another cappuccino to waste some more time – it’s not even 10am yet! Moving on through the little streets, dodging the occasional motorcycle or van, we pass by where Google maps says the underground is located, moving on toward San Paolo Maggiore church with the awesome cobalt black statue outside the serene beige and grey church…
…when I peek around the souvenir kiosk behind us and find, yes, the entrance to the Underground! Sigh. At least we found it. La Neapolis Sotterrata is a whole museum complex with the church of San Lorenzo Maggiore as well as chapels, underground excavations of the old Roman settlement and 3 floors of museum. They promote themselves as the “not claustrophobic visiting path” tour – which means (as we see on signs later) the other tunnel tours are claustrophobic. Yeah, sort of glad those tours were sold out!
We choose not to take a guided tour and just wander along by ourselves. We enter into a beautiful courtyard, with a well as the centerpiece…
…and enter into a room with these amazing little walnut shells that hold miniature figurines in all sorts of scenes. The patience and the detail are amazing!
Also in this room is a huge animated creche that defies explanation. There are so many different scenes and moving pieces and parts – it is easier to just look at the photos and video here.
Moving to the far end of the cloister, we enter into room Sisto V, named after the pope of that name, and once the old refectory for the monks. The frescoes here date back to the beginning of the 17th Century, but the room dates back further than that, having been used as the Neapolitan Parliament’s seat in 1442.
Next we explore the Capitol Hall, where the monks met to confer tasks upon themselves. The room dates back to the 1200, and the beautiful frescoes here are from the 1600’s. The ceiling is amazing, but the family tree of the Franciscans with the missionary monks and literates and cardinals and popes and saints is what really stands out. Each individual portrait is painted on the wall in such detail.
From here we finally move to the underground and the excavations from the Roman period. The first part of the excavations are from the 6th century, the columns and ruined walls of the courthouse of San Lorenzo. The deeper we go though, the older the ruins – we traverse down the Roman road, where all activity took place, basically the agora. There is the treasury, where citizens came to get their money. The bakery. The Laundry – with a laundry “tub” made of stone in one corner. The dyeing shop.
Winding our way through the “cardo” as the road is called, we get to an intersection and enter the “cryptoportic” which is a covered market divided up into smaller adjoining rooms for displaying goods. You can almost imagine yourself in this place when it was bustling with people shopping and marketing.
Rising back to ground level, we enter into the museum where there is a collection of ancient, medieval and Roman period relics. The first of which are sarcophagus statuary of what we assume are monks or priests, but all with dogs under their feet. Interesting, we had to look up the significance of that. Turns out the dogs are the protector of the deceased in the afterlife. Sort of sweet in a way.
Moving on through the various rooms, there isn’t much else besides a large chapel-like room with some great inlay, various paintings and portraits and the like.
Having exhausted the museum displays, we’re back on the streets, perusing different little cafes and restaurants for possible lunch locations. It is far too early to eat, so we press on, wandering through the increasingly busy cobblestone lanes, heading toward the Archeological Museum. Might as well, we’ve managed to visit an archeology museum pretty much everywhere we could on this trip. But sadly we are foiled today. We find the museum easily enough, but they are closed today for some reason – it looked like they were moving in a big new exhibit, but the woman at the desk never explained why the closure. Oh well, not a big loss – we’ve seen a lot of archeology already!
Deciding to head back to the port area, we start traversing the city, past the cobblestone little lanes and onto more main streets (well, not really, just not as narrow as the ones in Spaccanapoli) and stumble upon the Gesu Nuovo, the new church of Christ. We just sort of spied the doorway and decided to go in, which was a great find. The church is beautiful with marble columns, lots and lots of gold statuary and filigree. It isn’t as big as the Duomo, but it sure rivals it for the decorations and stunning art.
The church is located on the aptly named Piazza Gesu Nuovo, with a lovely statue in the center, along with a bunch of restaurants lining the perimeter. Perfect – because we are ready for lunch. We choose O Munaciello, a trattoria and pizzeria, because when in Napoli…..it’s pizza! Asking if they are open, the waiter shrugs and says yes, then shows us a table. We sit down, he grabs menus and then tells us they aren’t serving until 12 noon. Ok, it’s 11:30, why did you have us sit down then? Really strange! But at least we could order drinks, so what the heck. A nice big beer and good glass of wine while we wait to order is fine. It is a beautiful day and we’ve nothing else to do – so we can hang out here and waste time.
The menu is huge, so additional time is good for us to try to figure out what we want. There must be 50 pizzas listed here! I end up opting for the Capricciosa, heaped full of mushrooms, artichokes, olives and ham. Ed goes with the San Daniele, which turns out to be a white pizza with tons of cheese, an excellent sauce and lots of prosciutto. Yum. Fabulous, if not overly filling lunch. Seriously, nobody makes pizzas like Neapolitans.
Back on the street, we wander toward the port area, stopping at the Fontana del Nettuno with the great mythical figures surrounding Neptune in the middle, making our way to the New Castle, that we have walked past numerous times, but never visited.
We may not be visiting today either, as the helpful attendant there tells us that the next tickets available are at 2:30. Hmmm. That’s 2 hours from now. Do we want to wait that long? We say thanks, but no thanks, although he sweetly lets us take photos of the interior courtyard before we leave.
Meandering around the streets leads us past the Umberto Galleria, the beautiful glass domed shopping area, past the Royal Palace which I had read was closed today, but where there are a lot of people out in the gardens. Don’t understand that, but not really interesting in going there anyway. Then onto the Piazza del Plebiscito which is bookended by the Palace on one end and the Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola on the other. It’s a massive open space, great for events, rallies or what have you. And today, not that crowded or busy, even though it is a gorgeous sunny afternoon.
From here we proceed to the waterfront and walk a little way along the seafront promenade. It’s lovely and a nice walk, but we are looking for a place to stop for a drink, and you know any place on the water will be pricey. Reversing course, we head back to a cute little café called Gud; Lovely drink and Fud. Loved the name, and the drinks are reasonably priced. Though they don’t give us any snacks with our drinks, they do set down a whole basketful of packaged chips and peanuts and such. We weren’t too certain if we would be charged for them, plus, we’re still stuffed from lunch, so we eschewed the packaged treats and just enjoyed our beer and wine in the sun. As we sat there and watched the time, we decided we might as well go to the castle – what the heck. By the time we walk back it will be almost 2. The fly in the ointment is that we need reservations and I didn’t scan the QR code the guy there showed me. The Castle’s official website stinks with a capital S…there is a link that says to click for reservations but it doesn’t work at all.
Oh well, we’ll see if we can go back there and get a reservation. Worth a try, and it is on the way. No harm, no foul.
Back in the entryway to the castle, we scan the QR code and proceed to fill out the somewhat tedious form that finally provides another QR code with our reservation. Now it is just a waiting game. We’re first in line at least, because it does start to fill up fairly quickly with people who have no clue what to do – I mean, it is a relatively awkward system. And the sweet guy and gal who were here earlier to help are obviously on their lunch break as well as the ticket office which is closed until 2:30. The only people around are 2 older Italians who are actually guarding the entranceway – which also is confusing because it looks like you can just walk right in. Makes for good people watching – but it is a little silly and confusing.
After helping numerous people with their QR codes and explaining to others that then you have to pay, the ticket office finally opens and we go in first. We opt for the basic tour – the guided tour is 50 minutes long and gives us access to other areas of the castle, but we don’t think we’ll have enough time for that. Plus, why put ourselves in a tour with a bunch of other people we don’t know? Not when we have the run of this place for a while as the ticket office slowly processes the rest of the line of visitors behind us.
We’re happy just wandering around this castle that was built in 1279 as the royal residence and fortress protecting the city. There are fabulous carvings and paintings on archways, incredible brass doors, that gorgeous courtyard that is empty except us. Yeah. Fun.
Also surprisingly fun is a special temporary exhibit that has just opened focused entirely on the Songye African ethnic group living in the DR of Congo and their magical-protective figures called the mankishi. These are considered “cult effigies” and were used to invoke the spirits to protect those who have them. There are hundreds here, and all are amazing in their own different ways. Some have animal skins and snake skins incorporated, others are just carvings, but all so spiritual and, well, many creepy looking. But fascinatingly creepy! Quite the surprise, and well worth it.
Especially interesting as these statues are juxtaposed with the religious statuary located here in the Palatine Chapel of the Castle. Because the mankishi were considered spiritual, almost religious, to the Africans, the placement here in the chapel makes sense in a way.
Continuing on, we move upstairs to the permanent exhibition section of the museum where there are fabulous original bronze gates from the 1400’s with 6 bas-reliefs depicting the most important episodes of the 1462 war. These gates were originally located at the entrance to the castle (the ones there now are obviously replicas). There is an iron cannonball embedded in the lower left corner, which is a little odd. But the historians believe this is because these gates were stolen by Charles VIII, loaded on ships headed to France. The armada was attached and conquered off the coast of Genoese and during the course of the battle, a cannonball hit the gate panel. Pretty impressive.
There are paintings and portraits and some interesting metal sculptures, but basically, the best thing about this part of the museum and castle is the access to the outside walls and terrace. The views across the bay were fantastic, as were the close up views of the castle turrets and walls.
One of the last rooms we visited was the famous (or infamous) Baron’s Hall, so named because this is where the barons who plotted against Ferrante I of Aragon were arrested. It is a magnificent and monstrous room with a soaring 100 foot high dome with an oeil-de-boeuf in the center.
Finally we reach the Amory Hall, where there is what I called the “empty” exhibit. A room filled with blank white exhibit posters lining the walls. Hmmmm…..we walked in, and headed toward this fascinating statue at the end of the room when suddenly, we looked down and realized we were walking atop plate glass flooring that allowed us to look down into the excavations of the ruins beneath the castle. Too funny.
It is time to head back to the ship now, and as we are leaving we notice that the English tour (the extra cost, get to go to extra rooms in the castle) is just now organizing in the courtyard. Good thing we didn’t spring for that tour- we’d not make it back to the ship in time!
The walk back is pretty quick as the castle is very close to the ship. And of course, this being Italy, no one ever asks us for our photo ID! Just like having to fill out all the forms last year and no one asked for them or cared then either. Sigh. Onto another lovely evening aboard the Dawn, gym, dinner, show then balcony drinks. And tomorrow, 2nd to last port, Livorno.
Andiamo 