Naples

We are writing this post for the third time.  2 previous attempts disappeared.  We think it was due to the wifi connection.  So we recall our days with Riley in Naples from our new apt rental in Bologna.


Sunday, July 6.   We arrived in Naples by train and proceeded to La Ciliegina Lifestyle Hotel.  Very nice rooms, but they lost our reservation.  Luckily, Leslie had the confirmatory email in her phone.  It was too early to check in so we went off to the museum.  When we returned, they had found rooms for us for the one night and arranged for us to transfer us to another place for the other two days.  We spent the afternoon at the archeology museum, which is known for its assemblage of well-preserved objects recovered from the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

E.g:







We had dinner at a longstanding family restaurant.  Good, but nothing to blog about.

Monday July 7. We left our luggage with the hotel to be transferred.   We chose a very hot day to visit the excavation sites.  Most of you are familiar with pictures of  Pompeii, so we limit ourselves to Riley's panorama:

We will miss Riley's panoramas.

We selected a few photos from less-visited Herculaneum:

Plaster ceilings:






Mosaic made with glass tiles:





We checked into the venerable Grand Hotel Santa Lucia.  Our luggage was waiting.  We ate across the marina at one of the seafood restaurants.  Excellent. (shrimp pasta, pasta with mussels, pasta with clams.)

Riley got many fine views of Vesuvius.  This was from the restaurant.

Tues, July 8. 

Capri.  Cool and too windy to see the blue grotto, but we did enjoy the vivid shades of the water on a short boat tour.



Riley's choice:

We spent the most time in Anacapri, where we found the Axel Munthe Museum.   A sign outside said
the gardens came in second in a most-beautiful-garden-in-Italy contest held in 2013.  We would like to know what came in first.





Dr. Munthe owned this table, which we admired a lot (the design in the middle is a quincunx):



Common Mediterranean pine tree:

 

 For dinner, we were referred to Sobrillo for the best pizza in Naples.  We ordered salami; Riley pesto.  Both gave credence to the claim .  The wind blew over and shattered one of our wine glasses!

Wed., July 9.  This morning we visited the Cathedral church of San Gennaro.  Little is known of San Gennaro (Janurius) except that he was a bishop martyred under Diocletian around 305.  The chapel contains two vials of the blood of the saint.  Three times a year, the blood miraculously liquefies.  The failure to liquefy portends a disaster, perhaps plague, perhaps a bad football season. The chapel dedicated to the saint:



Impressive tiling near the tomb of the Saint:



 Riley and Bruce took the tour of Underground Naples.   There is a vast system of tunnels and tanks that served as a water supply going back forever.  In 1885, after a cholera epidemic, the cisterns were closed and drained.  In WWII, they served as bomb shelters.  These toys  are a poignant reminded of those awful times:

We then took the train to Fiumicino so we could stay close to the airport.  Our last dinner was at the Bisetto, a lovely restaurant.   We had lobster (Leslie), mussels and orate (Bruce), and clams (Riley).

Thurs, July 10.  We left Riley at security to return to Knoxville, took the train to Bologna, and crashed.  We will miss him.