World Upon Your Shoulders (Sorrento - Naples)

Yes, dear reader, this is a two day post. Fear not it won't be that long.

Tuesday

As our Italian sojourn came to a natural conclusion, we decided to have a quiet day around Sorrento. Really it was just an opportunity to sleep a little later and wander the streets of the old town and look at the other lanes we hadn't explored. 

The backstreets of Sorrento.

Although our time here is not quite over, we have enjoyed it, Sorrento particularly. However, as for the Amalfi Coast, from our limited exposure, it is a cut and paste of towns on the coast or up in the hills. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The towns all have the same shops selling the same products. In fact there were multiple stores with the same goods in Sorrento. If you were after linen, lemons, limoncello or a restaurant you were in luck.

Limoncello? Orangecello? Just have a drink.

Today was meant to be our trip to Procida or Ischia, but both proved to be a little difficult to fit in to our schedule, as in, either would have resulted in a very long day. Capri also was considered, but in the end it proved all too hard so we listed that for our return to Naples next year.

The streets we frequented today offered more food options than the main corso and the other standout was a number of inlaid wood studios. That was unexpected given what Giovanni had said about it, describing it as a dying craft.

Art or graffiti? Who am I to judge?

We walked back to the "garden" overlooking the port. I'm not sure it deserved the title, a couple of trees struggling for life in a sea of cement and pavers. There was some graffiti, of course, another church and a courtyard. Oh, and cats, lots of cats, black ones.

It looked inviting, but then you have to walk up the hill.

One of many.

The afternoon and evening were spent on the balcony enjoying the distant Vesuvius. It is a view we will both miss. Although I'm not sure about a permanent occupancy so close to an active volcano.

Sigh.

Dinner you may be surprised to know was left overs from our Culinary Backstreets tour. It makes the tour even better value.

Wednesday

Today we attempted the Circumvesuviana again, although later at 7:30am because we had purchased online tickets for entry to the Naples National Archeological Museum. Reverse the title for the acronym MANN. Unfortunately our tickets did not arrive, despite emailing them as requested. So I had a screen shot of my purchase to argue my case should that be necessary.

The Circumvesuviana was only slightly more comfortable due to less crowding and we arrived in Naples Garibaldi close to the scheduled time. We were swept along with the morning commuter traffic to the Metro where we were confronted with an incredibly crowded platform and a 13 minute wait for the next train. It turned out to be less than that but the train was crowded all the way to the Museo station.

As you exit Museo station.

Museo is literally next door to the museum and within five minutes, I was having a discussion with the attendant about the non-arrival of our tickets. Back up was called for, hushed discussions ensued, the screen shot on my phone was examined, as was the emailed receipt. Finally they went old school and resorted to a print out of people who had purchased tickets online. Thankfully we were on the list. Magically we were through and made a bee-line for the café to have breakfast.

The museum covers three floors, well four if you include the underground Egyptian display and the toilets. Given we will be in Egypt on Friday, we decided to give it a miss. The ground floor is devoted to Greek history or should that be Greco-Roman history? Regardless, it was room after room of statues, some of them absolutely massive. Their size surprised. Having seen many Greek statues in many museums across the world, including Greece, I don't recall seeing any of this size.

Sometimes the busts are hollow.

Hadrian's boyfriend.

In colour.

Many of them had been restored in some way after damage. Some had heads that were not on the original body. Mostly you wouldn't know if you didn't read the plaque, but some well, just didn't look right.

The Pompeii exhibits were on the top floor so we skipped the middle level and went straight there after we had seen the entire ground floor. Unsurprisingly the exhibits consist of numerous frescoes, sections of tiled flooring, statues, jewellery and the implements of every day life. Well, every day life, if you were a part of the ruling class.

Miniature statue.

Artwork on a plate.

While the museum offers more protection than the Pompeii site itself, seeing the frescoes, sometimes complete walls, out of the context of the town just didn't sit right. I had a greater appreciation of the remnant frescoes we saw in situ at Pompeii.

Nice floor.

The baker and his wife.

Wall fresco.

We had completed the circuit of the top floor and yet something was missing. The famed and fabled plaster casts of the victims of Vesuvius and the objects of daily life. We checked the map. No mention. We checked Google, it said they were held in the MANN. And Google of course, since AI answers everything, is never wrong. Right?

A water or wine thingy.

Intricate detail in miniature.

A loaded die.

In desperation, we approached one of the museum staff to be told the only casts on display are at Pompeii. We had a brief look at them when we were there in the (mistaken) knowledge that we would see them here. Disappointing.

There was a scale model of Pompeii and a very rudimentary audio-visual display. To be honest, we both expected more than old school static displays - as fascinating as that may be to our generation. I doubt that it would have cut it for the two primary school tours we saw. Any of the many subscriber TV services have programs on Pompeii showing what it looks like now and then rebuilding the past. Given this is the national museum I thought Pompeii and Herculaneum would have been their A list attractions. Then again there was a lot of work going on so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and see what's on offer next year.

Earrings. Bi earrings.

The ceiling of ... something.

How rich are you if your horse has tail pieces?

That all said, we still spent almost 3 and half hours there and that was without an audio guide. If we'd been offered the guide and accepted we may still be there.

A satyr, apparently drunk.

Satyr asleep ... more like ecstasy.

Painted eyes are scary.

We had allowed more time for the museum so we were early to Lombardi 1892, an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria, making pizzas for over 130 years. The restaurant was less than 15 minutes stroll from the museum and recommended by Francesca, our guide from a few days back. I had booked a table but they were unconcerned about either the reservation or us being 30 minutes early.

Escorted up stairs to level one, there was a level below us and at least one more above, we were shown to our table and provided with menus entirely in Italian. Not really a problem. We ordered the 'local wine' red of course, the equivalent to a house wine I assume and a capricciosa pizza. Then we discussed more food, depending on how we felt.

The wine was more than passable and went well with the pizza which was excellent. Neapolitan pizza is so superior to that of Rome. It is light and tasty with a chewy crust. The capricciosa went down a treat so I ordered a ripieno. To be specific a Ripieno al forno. It's a stuffed pizza similar to calzone. It proved to be a little too challenging and some accompanied us home on the Circumvesuviana.

Have you really had pizza if you haven't been to Napoli?

The trip home was on the same time train as our previous visit. It was, however, much more crowded when it arrived at Garibaldi. I stood all the way to Sorrento while Jayne managed to score a seat about half way home. I had already positioned myself between her and any potential seat nabber.

Securing a seat on Italian public transport is much like hand-to-hand combat. There is a lot of eye movement and staring down your opponent for any seat that might become available. One woman in her mid-twenties provided much entertainment. Anytime a seated person moved a muscle she materialised next to them in the hope they were leaving. She moved with the speed of Usain Bolt. 

I saw this strange dance three times and wasn't sure if on one occasion she hadn't used some dark art because I didn't see her move, just her arrival at the seat that didn't become vacant. She stood till she alighted.

Our last evening was spent as you would expect with us sitting on the balcony, sipping wine and admiring Vesuvius and the lights of Naples.

You've got to carry that weight.

Hmmm. Conflicting song choices, but I opted for Silverchair and World Upon Your Shoulders.

Alla prossima.

PS apologies for the museo photos. I thought a lot of things would be behind glass and so didn't take the camera. all shots courtesy of my phone.