A Walk In Naples, 2013

So we decided to walk from the Museum of Archaeology back to the Garibaldi Stazione and our train back to Pompeii. Naples is intense. The urban part is URBAN. But we had done this before and knew we would enjoy it again.

In the bookshop district, outside a place called
Descartes and Dante...

Many old structures, including this torre,
built from a variety of re-cycled materials

Alley scene; there are no streets...just
boulevards and alleys

Another

One alley had dozens...scores...of miniatures shoppes, as
above...a video I made for our grand-daughter is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abBl7W8FF1w

We had dinner at Michele's, another old pizzeria that is said
to be Naples' oldest and most popular...here, the Margherita;
the Marinera, no cheese,  is the only other flavor; seriously

We got back to Pompeii early enough to have a nice long visit
with Al and Carol from Colorado, the fifth US couple RVing
in Europe we have met in the past seven months; in the
previous four years we have seen only Rick and Kathy from
South Dakota (Texas? California? where are you two really
from?); Europeans must think there's an invasion underway;
anyhow, it's especially nice to be able to talk to people who
understand this mode of life and travel...

Naples' National Archaeological Museum, 2013

After an administrative day, we took the Circumvesuviana to Naples and then the subway to Naples' National Museum of Archaeology.  The Museum is where the major items from Herculaneum and Pompeii are kept and displayed. Frozen in time, Herculaneum and Pompeii are the clearest and closest pictures we have of our classical past. In addition to Herculaneum and Pompeii, the Museum also displays the Farnese sculptures, that is, the Roman sculptures discovered in quarrying Caracalla's Baths, in the 16th century, to build St. Peters. They constitute one of the greatest collections of classical sculpture, both Roman and Roman copies of Greek. Our past posts from this Museum are at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/naples-archaeological-museum-farnese.html, and
http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/naples-archaeological-museum-pompei.html, If you care anything about the classical world, this is a special place.

The Farnese Hercules at Rest, 12-15 feet high

The Farnese Bull, one piece of marble, the
size of your living room

Plate-sized, the largest cameo so far known

Detail from among the scores of Pompeii
frescoes

A dancer, one of the scores of bronzes at
Naples...that is, one of the scores of
bronzes to have come down to us from the classical world

Amalfi, 2013

After the uphill climb, we caught the bus and road on to Amalfi. Part of the motivation for returning to Amalfi was having a favorite dish at a favorite restaurant, the pacchieri Genovese (veal and tomato and cheeses and pasta) at Il Tari. We approached with some caution. They say you can not go back. But we did in 2011, same dish, same restaurant, and it was even better, more closely observed and savored. We found the restaurant doors open, but, alas, the owner/manager/whomever told us, sorry, the place was closed Tuesday afternoons. Alas! Why did we not go to their website?! Oh well...it might have been disappointing. Vicki has taken to replacing the provola with smoked mozzarella--we're not sure where this idea came from (Costco?)--but we like it as well or better. We walked on, deeper into Amalfi. Hunger is the best sauce, as the fella says, and we had a perfectly fine if somewhat pedestrian lunch down the road a bit, steak pizzaola and veal piccata, and managed to see a good bit more of Amalfi than the previous two visits. We took the front seats of the return bus, for maximum thrill, and the Circumvesuviana had us back in Pompeii by 7PM. 

The town center hasn't changed much; much more crowded
than in spring of 2011

Our old friend the Royal Clipper or whatever was waiting
for us in Amalfi...seems more like a sprint than a cruise

Street scene

They're really into miniatures here--I think
it's the effect of Spanish rule and culture--every
block or so there is a model of the city or
something, usually with a Nativity embedded
within, sort of like an Elder Breughel religious
painting

We walked as far as the paper mill museum,
demurred, and walked back; we are saving
ourselves for a return visit to Hokitika's
world famous Museum of Sock Manufacturing
Machines; http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2009/
01/dont-go-too-near-glaciers.html

Unlike Positano, Amalfi is mostly in a gorge

Some beautiful street views

And here, a real find: another model in miniature, this time
in a basin

Complete with a watery Nativity Scene: Adoration of the
Gold Fish!

Positano, 2013

We did the Amalfi coast bus ride twice in 2011 and wanted to do it yet again. The Circumvesuviana took us to Sorrento Tuesday morning, and we were on the crowded Amalfi bus by 10:30. We decided to get off at Positano's first stop, walk down to the beach, and then back up to the second stop. The following pix are mostly incidental. Our previous Amalfi posts are at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/amalfi-coast-road-not-driven.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/03/amalfi-bus-ride-on-youtube.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/04/amalfi-again.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/04/ravello-and-klingsors-garden.html.

Most of Positano, from our walk's end

Halloween approaches in Positano (and all of Italy): "be
afraid"

The twisting, turning path down to the beach

Positano bus terminal

Looking down to the centrum; note parking
garage left

Looking back up to where we came from; and the mountains
beyond

In the centro storico now; merchants gearing
up for Xmas

Fig-covered shopping arcade

Busy shopkeeper

Perils of playing futbol in the piazza in Positano

Mer-persons

Warm day on the beach

Positano

Steinbeck liked it

Color everywhere

Everywhere

We like it too

Capri Out-takes, 2013

After our circumnavigation of Capri and visit to the Blue Grotto we decided to hop the bus up to Anacapri for the views, the shops, maybe lunch.

Here is our boat, that is, the open motor-boat, the Lady Maria

And now we are again on one of Capri's pint-sized buses, headed up and over
the mountain

Thus; the bus ride on Capri almost rivals the Amalfi bus, at least for a few
minutes; here, you're looking back at the Grande Marina, Capri town on the
upper right, Italy's Sorrento peninsula in the distance; nothing below

Tile bench in Anacapri

The old parish church; everything is white here

Kissing alley masquerading as street

Lunch: surprisingly good Neapolitan pizzae...her's a salami (spiced sausage, like
pepperoni), mine the romana (capers and anchovies); I continue to maintain that
the crust is merely for handling the pizza, not edible

It's a very multi-cultural place, and probably always has been

Taxis are pretty much all open-air or convertible

Old money

We took the bus back down to Capri town, walked a bit there, had our daily
gelato, then rode the funicular back down to the marina and the 5:30 ferry
back to Sorrento; then the train back to Pompeii; another pretty good day 

Blue Grotto

So finally you round a bend and see a sort of cove and 20-30 dozen boats there and you know you have arrived at the One True Blue Grotto. In our boat, the cap'n asked who wanted to go and who didn't--incredibly, about half did not. They were transferred to another boat and sent back to the Grand Marina. In shame, I presume. We, the faithful, remained. And remained. The way this works is, in order to get into the Grotto, you have to be transferred to a little rowboat, 4 passengers, one mariner, who takes you to the ticket office and then tells you watch your head and then sings "O Solo Mio," or maybe "When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...", badly [see video], and then demands a tip, ideally as you are midway between his little boat and the big motor-boat. Anyway, we continued remaining. And waiting. And waiting. Wondering why our boat was sort of standing off, aloof...although if there was a queue of any conceivable Mediterranean sort, we could not discern it. Other boats arrived. Their parties got in the little rowboats and went into the Grotto. We observed this and apprised our captain. He then was on his cellphone, talking, gesturing wildly, in the Italian manner. Crew members of the little rowboats were on their cell phones, also gesturing wildly, sometimes apparently approaching violence toward each other. Or perhaps it was all just part of the act. Anyhow, after 45 minutes or an hour of this, two of the wildly gesturing ones approached, gingerly off-loaded us, and we were on our way. Someone in this operation should visit Disney. The mercifully short video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmMUgDmG7k.

We were on a boat pretty much like this

And now we are in the little row boat, headed for

The ticket office; 8.50 euro admission fee plus 4 euro "tax"

And here is the entrance...you have to lay down flat in the
boat while the guide/mariner does the same while pulling
you through via a chain; the entrance, in calm seas and low
tide, is about a meter high, maybe two wide

And then, voila and shazzam, you are there, in the Blue
Grotto

Thus

And thus

And thus

And you are so busy doing stills and adjusting the camera
and then trying to provide video-documentation of the whole
incredible thing, while not being overcome by the silliness of
the situation, the singing (wait for the video), that you forgot
to notice any of it at all...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCmMUgDmG7k

And then, no sooner than you can say, "Avast!" you are out
again, boarding your open motor-craft, and headed back to
the Grand Marina: fulfilled: another once-in-a-lifetime experience
experienced