NAPOLI, ITALIA

Eric and Aimee traveled to Italy! They arrived at the very end of June and then stayed until July 14th. They were here during the July 4-day and so we decided to travel to Naples [Napoli] Italy. It was my first trip to Naples and we had no idea what to expect. The downtown itself wasn't a city that I would classify as picturesque but it did have its unique parts that made it a fun place to visit. We stayed at B&B A un passo da which I think we all thought was a great place. It was located right near the Basilica Reale San Francesco di Paola and was an easy walk to the waterfront and to the main city spots. The waterfront area was filled with delicious restaurants with beautiful views [especially of Monte Vesuvio]. We lucked out and had a beautiful sunset that night!

The city is not pristine and needs some maintenance [the facade of the famous Galleria Umberto actually crumbled while we were in town], but it had lots to see and do. Sadly, many of the buildings have been tagged with graffiti and many of the streets had glass between the cobblestones, but there were many beautiful churches and sights to see. The city is bustling with mopeds and pedestrians and the streets are filled with cars and horns blaring; a little reminiscent of NYC. The restaurants were good, the bars were fun and we were able to celebrate my brothers 27th birthday with some grappa and a delicious icee/aperol drink. 

We were able to see and do a lot while we were there. We wandered through many streets and stumbled upon sights such as:
→ piazza del Plebiscito with the Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola 
→ Santa Chiara 
→ Teatro San Carlo
→ Castel Nuovo
→ Castel Sant' Elmo
→ Piazza Gesu Nuovo with Chiesa del Gesu Nuovo and Chiesa di Santa Chiara
→ S. Domenico Maggiore
→ S. Lorenzo Maggiore
→ the Duomo
→ Castel dell' Ovo and the Borgo Marinari
→ the Spanish quarter
→ etc...

We also found a tour of the Napoli Sotterranea. It started in Piazza San Gaetano and brought us under the Greek Roman city to see the old remains of what once was. We were able to wander through the tunnels and see the old Roman and Greek cisterns, bomb shelters and the remains of the old theater.

Pompeii and Monte Vesuvio

One day of our trip was spent visiting Pompeii and Vesuvius. We did a tour and the company picked us up from our B+B and brought us first to Pompeii, where we toured with a group. Pompeii is an ancient city which is located at the foot of Monte Vesuvio. It is believed that it was built around the 6th C BC and became a Roman city in 80 BC. The city is filled with theaters, an amphitheater, temples, villas, Roman forum, court house and an aqueduct system. We also learned why it is better to live on the top of the sloping streets, and why crosswalks were needed at the time [bc they used the streets for sewage and needed elevated crosswalks to cross without dirtying themselves]. The horses, however, were not as lucky. They had to walk amongst the sewage. 

In 79 AD Vesuvius erupted and completely buried the city under ashes and cinders. Temperatures reached to 250 degrees C. Due to the ashes covering the city, its buildings managed to be well preserved. In 1748 the excavation process began and it is still being worked on. 

There is an area in the forum that has cast statues of people and dogs. These were created after they found voids in the layers of ash and realized that they were left by decomposed bodies. They were then able to make casts out of the voids in the actual forms people were left in. 

A quick visit to the local brothel was also on the tour. Original frescos depicting sexual positions are still on the walls and some of the original stone beds can be found in the rooms.

After Pompeii, we headed out to hike Monte Vesuvio. We took a bus to the starting point and headed to the top. The climb didn't take too long and we were able to explore the top for a little bit. It was a cloudy day so we were unable to see the full view from the top, but it was still a great experience. Aimee was in heaven! 

Monte Vesuvio is one of the best known and deadliest volcanoes. The eruption of 79 AD supposedly lasted for 19 hours and buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. It then erupted about every 100 years or so until 1037 and didn't go off again for 600 years. Its last eruption was in 1944.

Capri and Anacapri

Capri is an island off the coast of Naples. It takes about 50 minutes on the high speed ferry and 60-80 minutes on the regular and slow ferry. It is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea on the southern part of the Gulf of Naples. The island is broken into 2 towns, Capri and Anacapri. 

We started our day with a trip to the beach! We took the cable car to the top of Capri and then wandered our way down to Marina Piccola where we found ourselves some lounge chairs and hung out for a few hours. The water was clear and the view was beautiful. It was a pebble beach, but the water was warm and calm.

After that our day got a little more stressful. BEWARE that there are seemingly only 3 ATMs in Capri and, of course, the one in the lower area near the ferry terminal was not working. We tried to buy tickets to go to the blue grotto, but it was cash only and the only ATM near the ticket place was broken so we were unable to go. That was disappointing at the time but looking back on it, it was probably not worth the money based on what other islands charge for the same thing. 

We then decided to head up to Anacapri to check out the town and ride the chairlift up to Monte Solaro. Unfortunately, the lift closed 5 minutes before we got there [it stops at 5:30 during the summer fyi]. The town of Anacapri is nice to walk through though. Both towns are cute but very different. Both are worth a visit and are only a quick bus ride apart. 

Before heading back we grabbed some dinner and hopped a ferry back to Naples. Overall, it was a fun trip with lots of great memories!