sketchtown.

This Friday I made it down to Naples, Italy. I went with Vivi, her husband Tonio, and their son Damian. We left at the ungodly hour of 7 in the morning, but that gave us plenty of time to make our train and give ourselves plenty of time in Napoli. The train was about 2 1/2 hours. It was spent sleeping, reading, and playing rockets with Damian.

Once we arrived in Napoli we spent the first hour or so just trying to figure out where we were and where we wanted to go. Napoli really isn't that tourist friendly around the train station, there was a ton of sketchy booths and we saw two prostitutes within the first 20 minutes of being there! I was warned that Naples was bad, but I didn't think it would be that bad. Thankfully we had Tonio with us! We finally got a map and got our bearings in order. We found what looked to be a castle but was really just an arch way. Then we went to the main church of the city, Duomo di Napoli, or the Cathedral of Naples. It was a very pretty church.

Fake castle. I couldn't find the actual name of it.

Duomo di Napoli.

Statue in the Duomo di Napoli.

After the the church we walked to the church of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The actual church was closed for siesta, but we went to the archaeological site beneath the church instead. They had Roman and Greek ruins, including actual shops, houses, and original roads. It was really interesting. We also checked out the museum from the excavation.

Street in Napoli.

Old Roman houses under the church.

Museum display.

When we left it had started to rain, so we decided to get lunch. This is pretty much the reason why I wanted to come to Napoli. They claim to have the best pizza in all of Italy. I will say it was high on my list, but my main pizza place in Rome still holds my heart! After we ate our pizzas, we went across the street and got pastries for desert. Again, I think I'll probably go into pastry withdrawal when I get home, but I can't stop they're just waay to good!!

Delicious pizza margherita.

Sfogliatella, a traditional Napoli pastry.

After stuffing our faces we decided to walk to one of the actual castles in Naples. The Castel Nuovo was originally built in 1279, and now houses an art museum. It is culture week in Italy, so we got in for free. The art ranged in everything from medieval to modern and the castle provided some beautiful views of the city and sea.

Castel Nuovo.

Damian passed out. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone push you around all day!?

One of the rooms in the castle had a Plexiglas floor and you could see a bunch of tombs and skeletons.

Ceiling of one of the rooms in the castle.

Cannon stuck in one of the original castle doors.

Bay with a huge cruise ship.

Me in front of the bay.

We then headed back to the train station to catch our train back to Roma. The train ride home ended up taking an hour longer than it was supposed to so we didn't get back until 9. All in all though it was a successful day!

Sunset on the train back to Roma.