Naples happened!
View from our neighborhood
We went to Naples on Monday, February 16, and came back on Monday, February 23. Our dear friend Donna Ellefson, from Seattle, urged us to come along with her to Naples. We thought, why not?
And so we were in Naples for a wonderful and hard-won week.
Gorgeous, noisy, full of enthusiasms, with great food, fabulous geology, deep history, and a full complement of urban travails. Hard-won because Naples is hard to navigate, being pretty much hilly with bus schedules impossible to determine - but once you manage it, you're happy.
Nancy was writing and I find that I have something to add to everything. The italics will be my interjections. -Julianne
Nancy is totally right in her description. I went to Naples with no expectations, only interested in the Greek legacy. I also intended to try pizza. I leave after a short visit, glad that there is such a place as Naples. It crystalizes many of the characteristics I admire in Italy generally--a mix of physical styles in an artistic melange which really works, beautiful city; a sense of generosity, genuine kindness and welcome; plus the legacy of Magna Grecia everywhere.
We're breaking the post about Naples into sections, one per sunny day and one for the rainy weekend. Total, five, not focusing on our two travel days.
This post is about Tuesday. Our landlady, Gabriela Rinaldi, offered a trip down to Sorrento as she was on her way to a garden she has near there.
Thus on Tuesday, Julianne and Donna went to Sorrento and I went walking and taking pictures in the neighborhood of the Archaeological Museum in Naples.
Sorrento was an adventure in beauty and transportation. The Bay of Naples with the island of Capri off to the west is stunning. You circle the bay all the way to Sorrento and it is in your eyes everywhere there. Greek walls, medieval and renaissance churches, much to see. It was Carnivale so we saw many children in costume at various events and hung around where a parade was trying to happen. Stilt walkers in shiny suits were cool; the rest not ready for prime time. A little local event. Maybe in the evening something more would occur but we were off on the circumvesuviana train. It skirts the bay to Naples with everywhere orange trees. The agricultural abundance is stunning even in this wintry part of the year.
Pictures of Sorrento, taken by Julianne:
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| Harlequin stilt-walkers getting ready for the Carnivale parade |
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| They bounced the blue balloons at children |
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| Citrus season--lemons and oranges grow on terraces along the train tracks |
On Tuesday, I (Nancy) had in mind to see a bit of Naples. Actually I also had in mind to go to the contemporary art museum, called MADRE; this wasn't interesting to the others. Sadly on Tuesday, museums are closed. So instead I walked and walked and walked, wiped myself out. Lots to see, and sometimes I got so interested in what I was seeing, I forgot to take a picture. These pictures are all from the area south of the museum, part of the Centro Storico (historic center).
Nancy's pictures of a Naples neighborhood:
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| A street leading off via Cavour. There's a bar/tabac on the right where I had a coffee and pastry, delicious. Then I walked through the arch to explore in the neighborhood. |
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| Veggies and fruits sold from back of a truck. Note scales. Note laundry. Note sticker ads on the walls. Note grand doorway overgrown with weeds. Note seller is nowhere to be seen. Maybe it's his lunchtime. Could be the honor system. |
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| Laundry everywhere. No dryers. This is on via Pisanelli. |
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| Via Sapienza, where I turned from Via Pisanelli. See how the pedestrian walkway is protected by posts, and mainly protects scooters |
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| Madonnella on via Sapienza. Very frequent imagery on the house walls of Naples, though this one is a little grander than most. I had somehow turned on the sparkle feature in the camera - it didn't really send of light-rays. |
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| The Hospital for Incurables is afflicted itself with the ailments of age in a damp climate. I sat on a bench with an elderly woman, very frail and downhearted. |
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| A shop window, all the knick-knacks and this striking reproduction. |
Among the delights with no pictures: lunch from a streetside cart.
That is, no picture of the cart, the pizza, the smell of traffic, the sound of it, the rushing pedestrians, the dappled sun, the genial counterman. There is one picture, below, of the street corner.
I had passed many such carts when I saw an elegant young woman sitting on a parked motorcycle eating pizza with an expression of delight. The trees at the curb all had standing-height tables under them. Many people were elbows-on-table munching on pizza. After dithering, I finally chose a sliced-cherry-tomatoes-only rectangular piece of pizza for 4 euros.
Oh, heaven! Standing for lunch at a street corner cafe watching the traffic and the arcade across the street which turned out to house homeless men wrapped in blankets, and opposite that the world-famous Archaeological Museum (closed). Well, I really loved the pizza!
by Nancy and Julianne
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