It's a brief walk up the hill to the San Pietro in Montorio, a monastery and church on the site that was originally mistaken for the place St. Peter was martyred.
The view from here back is quite expansive and different from the others we've seen.
After 45 mins or do strolling and Sim complaining about the steps we head back to the apartment and head off to the train station Termini.
On our second encounter with Termini and it's surrounds it's not that bad. The building has an interesting mosaic ceiling to the swooping roof and there's a really beautiful modern sculpture of John Paul II at the bus entrance.
We sort out our tickets, grab a coffee and a panini (Sim a juice and some fruit), relax and wait. It's been an epic few days in Rome. Loved it!
Aboard the Fresscarosa to Naples and we arrive in just over an hour. Getting out at Naples and we have our first casualty of the trip. The wheels on my bag have shat themselves from all the cobbles. Not made for Europe I think!
We get in a cab and head to our hotel by the sea. The cab driver is a lunatic! Seriously crazy driver. No wonder Aussie F1 drivers don't win the drivers championship. The Europeans overtake and drive racing lines everyday. He nearly killed 6 people. In fact I'm not 100% sure he didn't. We arrive in no time at all, but there seems to be a hefty price for efficiency because the price he charged was ridiculous! We later found out that's the norm. (Note; avoid taxis in Naples)
We check in then hit some more cobbled streets by foot. It's now 3 in the afternoon and we havnt eaten. Sims starving so we stop for pizza at what is a rather generic cafe. The pizza comes out and it's ok, not amazing. It's a little soggy as there's lots of olive oil. So far the thin crispy crust pizza in Rome was my favourite but i will reserve judgment on Napolitana puffy crust pizza until I try another.
We head along the sea and then turn up to the Piazza Plebiscito. It's a large open square, similar in shake to St Peters in Rome.
We then go through the centre of town past the old palace and the Castel Nuevo, down to the ferry port terminal areas to check out ferrys for tomorrow. It's quite a busy port and a rather ugly one too. Considering this is the prime spot on the water it is dominated by cruise ships, cargo ships and ferries, as well as a motorway. This however was a cool building.
After sorting out our ferries we head back into Municipio and up to via Toledo, which is a buzz with people. It's a closed shopping street. We stop for gelato at a recommended place, Officina Gelati. Best Gelati of the trip for me so far, a scoop each of Stracciatella and canolli, with real bits of the shell.
We head down along Toledo, stopping in at Galleria Umberto along the way, an under refurbishment grand glass dome space. It's quite wonderful.
At the end of Toledo, it runs into a large roundabout where all the facets of the city collide; people, cars, bikes, scooters, shoppers, ristorantes and bars. It's so alive now as it's Friday evening! We head up via Chiaia and follow its shopping street all the way until we get to piazza Vittoria. Along the way there are some narrow steep staired streets up to the upper hilltowns of Naples. Quite amazing little vistas.
When we reach Piazza Vittoria we are again by the sea and we walk along via Partenope back to our hotel. Along the way all the hotel buildings skirted by their restaurants below are awash with beautiful evening light. It's now after 8:30pm and the sun is starting to set offering us a spectacular sunset over the bay of Naples. We walk past the old medieval fortress Castel dell'Ovo which is beaming in the sun. It's so pretty down here by the Harbour. I'm starting to like Naples.
Buenosera
mat + sim
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