SUNDAY

Another bright and early start today, thanks to the Sisters and their bells.  After a leisurely breakfast we decided to use our 3 day pass and go up to the Vomero on the funicular rail.  We expected sensational views on the way up but were disappointed as most of the journey was through a steep dark tunnel.

The Castel Sant Elmo, which can be seen perched high up on the mountain top from many parts of Naples turned out not to be a royal residence,  but a massive military fortress  built in 1538 by the Spanish.  Apparently it saw little in the way of military action in its day but was well utilised more recently as a military prison until the 1970s.  The views of Naples from there are spectacular despite the inclement weather.

Then a short walk to see the Certosa di San Martino museum, originally a Carthusian monastery founded in the 14^th century. The church and rooms contain religious frescoes and paintings, and superb hand-painted tile floors.  Unfortunately, being  Sunday, a lot of the exhibit rooms were closed to visitors but we still managed to get a sense of what it must have been like in its heyday.  The building is in a sad state of repair, a shame as it is a major tourist attraction.

We spent a restful afternoon at our hotel before heading off to dinner.  Pizza of course.  What else do you eat in Naples, when every third shop is a Pizzeria.  We were entertained by watching some street vendors,  black African men being harassed by the local police.  The men set up stalls in the main street  to sell hand bags, sunnies, in fact anything you can think of, without a permit.  Then when they spot the police closing in, they quickly gather up their goods in large bed sheets and disappear down a dark alleyway until the threat of arrest has passed before going out into the street  to set up shop again.  It must be an exhausting process for them, and we wonder how they can make enough money to get by.

MONDAY

Yesterday we visited the old castle, today it was the turn of the “new” castle, Castlel Nuovo which is just a baby, built “yesterday” in 1317.  It is a civic museum and houses many interesting bits and pieces on display, and was at varying stages of its history the Mayoral Palace, and housed other royals and  important rich people.

The most interesting feature is the Bronze Door located at the entrance of the castle and commissioned in around 1475.  There is an iron cannon-ball still embedded in the 6 inch thick bronze.  Cannon-balls sure packed a punch!!

We stopped for lunch at a kerbside cafe.  Pete had pasta and I was interested to compare their version of Minestrone to what I make at home.  Sad and disappointing to say that my version beats theirs, hands down.

We bought tickets on the hop-on-hop-off bus and spent the afternoon cruising around Naples enjoying the sights in comfort.  While on the first of our tours, we encountered another “manifestation” (protest) .  There was lots of yelling, sirens of all kinds, and the road was completely blocked off. After sitting in the sun on the open upper deck of the stationery bus for half an hour waiting for the crowd to break up, we decided to cut our losses and got off and walked back.  We had to navigate our way straight through the middle of the manifestation which was quite scary.  The demonstrators were very angry.  There was even a line of riot police.  I wonder how long the bus had to wait before it got through the roadblock.

Our second tour was up the coast road to take in the sights along the Bay of Naples.  The tour took us upward along the cliff tops and past fabulous villas build to take in the splendid views of the Bay and of Naples and Mt Vesuvius beyond.

On the final day of our stay in Naples a few observations of Neapolitan people and life.

Motor scooters by far outnumber cars.  The Neapolitans have taken lessons from Japanese kamikaze pilots.  They drive along at breakneck speed, tooting at anyone who dares to impede their progress.  They know the width of their scooters to the millimetre and manage to squeeze through seemingly impossible spaces.  Can you carry a couple of bags of cement mix and a large roll of polythene, and drive along the road at speed while steering with one hand and with your mobile at your ear with the other hand?  Yes, you can.!!  Can you drive your entire family, two children plus wife on the scooter at the same time, again while steering with one hand and with your cigarette in your other?  Of course you can!!!  Can you do all this, while no-one wears a safety helmet?  Yep.  Have we seen any collisions?  Nope.  Near misses? sure, plenty of those, but no actual blood on the street.  Go figure.

Fuel is very expensive, 1.70 Euro for a litre of diesel, and 1.74 Euro for a litre of petrol.

There are electric car battery re-charging stations around town, and you can pay either by cash or credit card.  Just drive your car into the city in the morning, plug it in, go shopping, have lunch and collect it again in the afternoon, fully charged.

Everyone lives in apartments.  Apartment   blocks fill the skyline, rising five six, seven, eight and more stories high.  The buildings are in various stages of decay, some can be seen with bits of concrete missing and cracks in the walls and some are brand new.

Neapolitans love their dogs.  They love them in all shapes and sizes.  Small dogs are the most popular, with “hand bag” size dogs like Chihuahuas (no idea how to spell this) bichon freise, and dachshunds outnumbering the larger breeds.  Oh, and the owners don’t bother to pick up their doggy doo-doos when they take them out for walkies  They just leave them right where they drop, in the middle of the footpath, in the middle of town.  Yuck.  Watch your step!

Most of Naples inhabitants smoke cigarettes.  There are cigarette butts everywhere, and “hole in the wall” vending machines outnumber ATM’s. We needed to get some cash out today, and had to walk for miles to find an ATM.

As you would imagine, there are churches on almost every corner, although they are architecturally different here and most don’t actually look like churches.

And lastly, for all you Melbournians, freezing your butts off, it’s 25 degrees and sunny here.

Good night, we’re off to Rome in the morning.

Ilze