We started today, Sunday, by walking toward
the funicular base station to take us up the hill to Vomero, where San Elmo castle
and the San Martino monastery are
located. We thought we were on the right route, but we kept ascending and
ascending we began to doubt this. Joan remembered that the base station was
supposed to be in the city. Luckily for us, a local who was descending to steps
and saw we were a little out of place, said that we should go back down to the
first funicular stop. I was reluctant but he said it was a long long way to the
top (this turned out to be nonsense, but it was still a fair way up). He was
very kind, and a little bit insistent, so he guided us, nay escorted us, all
the way to the funicular station. It was a less than five minute ride to the top
station. There, fortuitously, another local man was directing some Venetian
cruise tourists toward the castle. One of their number spoke good English and
invited us to come along with them.
The view from the castle really is splendid
– you look down on all of Naples and toward Vesuvius and across the bay to
Sorrento and Capri. We could identify lots of landmarks in the city that we had
walked past. In fact we thought we could see the terrace of our B&B but a
reality check back at base proved this to be impossible. Within a fairly narrow
field of view one could see ten church domes.
Joan went alone to view the monastery of San Martino while I enjoyed the view
from the terrace.
We walked all the way down into Vomero, a more up-market suburb on the
hill. It was a very lively place on the main descending street on the other
side. Many people out and about. The busking musos were there too, and one with
partner caught our attention. He was a saxophonist and was playing a romantic
song that appealed to us, so we made a small donation.
After a simple lunch there, we headed back
to the funicolare to return to the
old town where we visited Church of Jesus
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| Most unusual church exterior |
Refreshed after a short break back at base we headed off (on
foot of course) to the harbour area, Piazza Plebiscito. In the vicinity are the
Porta Nuova fortress,
the Royal Palace,
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| Roger of Normandy |
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| Carlo d'Angio |
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| Royal Palace |
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| Victor Emanuelle |
the Galleria Umberto, and on the piazza, the Chiesa San Francesco di Paola. It is very similar to the Pantheon in Rome, but the central hole is covered.
Sadly, this church was the target of much graffiti action.
The Galleria is very much like the one in
Milan, but little utilised. It also has central floor mosaics featuring the signs of the
zodiac. Joan did the customary twirl on the designated spot in front of her
sign – Pisces.
We mistakenly walked along the working harbour
hoping to get some information about ferries, but it was a waste of time.
We
decided to have an early night by getting takeaway pizza. This proved to be
easy, very quick and cost-effective. While enjoying this meal on our terrace we recognised sounds
of the same muso that we had encountered up in Vomero. Because they were such nice songs we decided to go out and
give him another contribution. I made him understand that we were staying
nearby and could hear and enjoy his playing. From our terrace:
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| Santa Chiara bell tower |
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| Santa Chiara |
Other photos from the day.
Many attractive Buildings
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| University |
Grafitti
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