Naples' Royal Palace

It's not one of the must-see destinations, but we had a free pass and were walking right by it, so we dropped in to the Royal Palace in Naples...home of the Kings of Naples over the last 200 years, until 1946 anyway. Although relatively new, by palatial standards--it's mostly 18th and 19th century--it was nevertheless strking in many ways.

Unimposing exterior of the palace



Along the exterior, one of the eight Kings of

Naples...can you name them all?

Grand entry and stairs, incredible rose marble

Theatre

Throne of the King of Naples

View of harbor and Vesuvius from palace

Italy's great blessing and curse...incredibly

great monuments like this, but operations and

maintenance costs that must be staggering

Great Hall

Reading machine; you can flip back and forth among seven

different texts

Hall after hall; the queen had three different

sitting rooms

Royal chapel...the largest we have seen anywhere except

El Escorial

Of course, being Spanish, they had to have world-class

nativity scenes

And, of course, at this point we had to stop by Gambrinus',

one of Naples' premier cafes, for a pastry and expresso