Not much to report today. We trained it into Naples, wandered around and did the Underground Naples tour.
Our start wasn’t too rushed this morning, we were hoping to get the 9:30 train from the Villa Regina train station so we walked the 15 minutes to the station rather than take the bikes. We’re still worried we might run out of gas, so just had coffee and tea in the van rather than cook a breakfast.
The first picture today isn’t a great tourist board shot for Naples. This sort of rubbish is pretty much everywhere where we’re staying around Pompei. Can’t vouch for whether the rest of Naples is like this, but our bit is.
Other than seeing a guy stop his car and sneak behind a gate for a wee, the trip into the station was uneventful. Though it’s a tough call as to whether being on a bike is more or less dangerous than walking these narrow streets with no pavements.
Once we got to the station (having guessed the entrance ‘cos there’s no signs directing you – chaos), we discovered our train had been suppressed (suppresso) or cancelled. So we ordered a coffee at the station cafe and waited.
Then our train got un-supresso’ed but was 28 minutes late. Anyway we took the train for the 30 minutes or so into the Porta Nalona station (passing through the central Garibaldi station).
It’s amazing how much the train tracks and trains are graffitied…
The graffiti thing was an abiding memory of Rome too, so perhaps it’s an Italy wide thing.
From the train station we walked the 2.5km to the start of the GPSmyCity 12 stop walking tour of Rome.
- Piazza del Plebiscito
- Royal Palace
- Teatro di San Carlo
- Galleria Umberto 1
- Castel Nuovo
- Toledo Station
- Via Toledo
- Santa Chiara Complex
- Museo Cappella Sansevero
- Spaccanopoli Street
- Via San Gregorio Armani
- Naples Underground
- Via dei Tribunali
- Duomo
As we walked to Piazza del Plebiscito, we covered the castle and the front of the Umberto shopping centre.
But when we got to the square we went for a wee in one of the weirdest toilets. There was a guy escorting you, and feeding the money into, an automatic toilet. He put the money in. You stepped in and did your business, then the whole thing got sluiced after you left. it was the fact an automated system had been out in place that clearly confused people enough that they then had to have an attendant! Great idea poorly executed. And there was a huge line too!
Then after a couple of pictures in the square we went to the Gran Cafe Gambrinus, just off the square. It was probably a massive rip-off but I was hungry – American Breakfast was about all I could have, Sue had the toast. And since when do Americans have olives and hotdog sausages for breakfast. We also got charged for a latte we didn’t have.
But here’s pictures of the walk as the GPSmyCity app suggests.
Then we wandered the shopping streets recommended in the city walk.
We went down into the Toledo station but couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was awarded 2013 public building of the year. We nearly bought a ticket just to get past the barriers, to see if we were missing something, but were on a schedule so didn’t bother.
The Santa Chiara complex was next…
We then made our way to the Naples Underground experience.
Boy was this hilarious!
There were people queuing to get into the tours but nobody seemed to know what queue we were meant to be in. We got moved around a few times. Then we were called forwards, and immediately told to stop and wait there! Then an Italian tour started and people emerged from the various queues to go on the tour. Then finally the English tour was called again. Chaos!
We the walked down the start of the 132 steps and were held while other tours left the tunnels. And as we walked around the tunnel system, other tours crossed our path and I’m sure people end up following the wrong tour. Chaos!
Our guide was a Finn doing his degree in Naples. I suspect he’s an actor, given how he over did the whole thing, and comes a close second, for an Oscar, to our friend at the Amalfi Arsenale for “the worst acting performance of the year”.
The tour was really interesting though. The tunnels were originally built by the Greeks then turned into an aquifer system by the Romans. We were told that in the 70 year development under Emperor Nero (of the 400 years they were worked on) 300,000 slaves died making the tunnels!
The tunnels were also used as a bomb shelter in WWII.
The tour was interesting but we didn’t get much sense of how it was constructed, who paid for it. Why it was so important. Not quite why the Greeks started the work.
It was raining when we got out of the underground tour. So we then we headed for the Duomo. A very impressive (if size matters) Cathedral.
Here are some street pictures from the day…
Update: Pulcinella is a comedic character meant to represent Naples residents (Plebeians). I also found this comment…
The statue of Pulcinella is an ode to the cultural and artistic heritage of the city. Its features pay tribute to the famous character of Neapolitan commedia dell’arte, known for his wit, lively spirit, and irresistible charm
There’s a Wikipedia page about the character, here
And that was Naples. We got there at about 10:30 and left at 3:15. Lots of walking. It’s the sort of place we’d need to spend a few days in. We really didn’t do it justice… but we did get a flavour. (Must do the Archaeological museum as apparently most of Pompei us in there)
It’s tough for us not being able to enjoy the local food – no pizza, pasta, bread, pastries and ice-cream. It all looks lovely and fresh even the tiny corner shops look tempting! One can walk round a corner and see lots of people queuing outside a tiny shop for some local delicacy.
And then back to the campsite on the train. The only semi interesting thing to note is that we seemed to struggle to get Sue into the only women’s loo in the train station. A woman and a guy had gone in there and were in there for about 10 minutes before Sue gave up and used the men’s. We suspected it was being used for the world’s oldest trade!
In the train Sue struck up a conversation, of sorts, with two elderly Italian women (one of whom had a tracheotomy) heading home with suitcases. We ended up trying to get them to use Apple Translate, with varying success depending on the subject. They were keen to give us tourist advice we think.
Back at the campsite and we’re in pack up mode. Thunderstorms are predicted overnight so we don’t want the awning out and to be packing in the rain/mud in the morning.
Tomorrow we’re heading home proper. We’re aiming for a farm on the outskirts of Lucca, about 500km away. But we also need to see if we can get a camping gas bottle and probably get to a supermarket too.
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