A stop in Naples

Typical claustrophobic Naples street

November 2, 2018 - We left Rome today to travel south for a few days. We arrived to a very wet Naples but that did not discourage us. We toured the Naples Archeological Museum. It houses one of the world’s greatest collections of ancient art - the majority of which comes from Pompeii just down the road. When the site was discovered in the 1700’s, the King of Naples insisted that the best things found be brought to him. It is that demand that formed the foundation of the Museum we visited.

A rather haunting picture of a young Roman couple from Pompeii who likely died in the disaster

Another painting from Pompeii from before the eruption. It shows what the volcano looked like then . It was covered in trees and was very green. It is quite barren today

Naples is an interesting city. It is quite different from Rome. The picture above reflects the narrow streets and claustrophobic alleys. Laundry is hanging from balconies and stores spill out into streets. Graffiti is everywhere, nothing appears to be spared from it. The population of over a million people are packed into a very small area and all in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, the very volcano that devastated Pompeii.

Naples was a powerhouse and very affluent city for much of Italy’s history. But when unification occurred in 1870, power shifted to Rome and Naples declined. Today, unemployment here is greater than 30% and much of our stories of the mafia started here. None the less, the intensity can be charming among the chaos of the alleys and the people, at least the ones we met, were vibrant and and friendly.

It is evening here now. We have made it to Pompeii which we plan to tour in the morning. We walked from the train station to our hotel in the dark which can be disorientating. What surprised us was the intensity of hotels, mass parking structures, and camp sites (of all things) that surround the site. I fear we may have stumbled on the Disneyland of ancient ruins. I hope it is not too crazy tomorrow

An extraordinary mosaic recovered from Pompeii. The figure in the scene is Alexander the Great.

And just for fun - Yes, they have chocolate waterfalls here.