Naples December 2011 – Saturday 31 December

Our last day in Naples started with clear blue skies. I always find the last day difficult because there is a chance that I'll never go back to a place again. I said goodbye to Jinesh (from India) who shared reception duties with Giovanni at the hotel. We arranged to leave our bags at the hotel.

We walked through the town to the Museo Archeologico Nationale, which cost us €20 entrance fee & audio guide hire. We wandered around the whole museum looking at statues, mosaics, busts, paintings, frescoes and so on. Many of these items had been recovered from Pompeii., Herculaneum, and a Roman villa in the area. Some of statues were massive (4m) and the detail was suburb – it was as if they been made the day before rather than 2000 or more years ago.

 

 

After that we walked back through town to Castel dell'Ovo which juts out into the harbour. The promontory also had numerous restaurants. We walked through the castle to the top where there were great views over the bay towards Vesuvius, Carpi & Sorrento.

After getting lunch (we refused pasta with vongole as we'd had enough seafood), we wandered back through the town and eventually back to the hotel, where we said goodbye to Giovanni, his wife and young child (playing games on the computer).

We walked back to the station to where the bus dropped us off. Eventually, we discovered, because an Italian family tried to get on the bus, that the bus was only picking up passengers for the port – we had to go to another bus stop down the road. So, having got there and waited for a while, the Italian family went to get a taxi, which were queued up at the station. We did the same. At the airport, we got through security and sat in the departure lounge watching red, white & green fireworks going off over the town. A few hours later, about 10:30, we were back home.

So, that was the end of the trip. Naples has a reputation of being somewhere that you are likely to be set upon. The city, with its narrow and dark streets does feel threatening. But it really is not like that at all – everyone who we met – Enzo the taxi driver, Giovanni & Jinesh at the hotel, the ladies running the hop-on/hop-off bus, the guide at Underground Naples, the waiters in the restaurants, the owner of the cake shop opposite the hotel – were so helpful and friendly. At no time (other than crossing the road on the first day) did I feel unsafe. Naples is a lovely city, and I'm so pleased that I spent some days there to find it.