Assisi and into Naples - Naples, Italy
Naples, Italy
Where I stayed
Palazzo Caracciolo Napoli
What I did
Assisi
I hated to leave this lovely hotel (Holiday Inn Express—I know!!). I hope our hotel in Naples is good.
Breakfast was continental only but with lots of choices. Just as well since I'm staying clear of the sausage! We had just a 30 minute ride to Assisi. It’s another medieval town, high on a hill. It’s especially lovely though, with the Basilica of St. Francis and the narrow winding streets and pretty piazza at the top (or as far up as I went!). We had a tour guide for inside the Basilica. The frescoes are beautiful and really tell the story of St. Francis and his life without possessions and excess. Some of the frescos depict the life of Jesus and our guide pointed out that there were many correlations between the two. I’m not sure St. Francis would have wanted anyone to equate his life with Jesus’ but people just really love him and admire the choices he made.
After the tour, I walked up to the piazza, about 20 minutes. The buildings are charming. There were lots of souvenir shops but also some art galleries, high end shops, and restaurants. Gorgeous views, of course!
We met back at the bus at 10:30 for the long drive to Naples, with a lunch break about 2 hours in. The drive was across the Apennines so there are numerous tunnels, sometimes ¼ mile or more long. Lunch was at an Autogrill. These are all along the motorways. They have a deli-like bar with sandwiches but they also have a full cafeteria with a salad bar, pasta dishes, cuts of meat—you can even have a steak grilled up. All of this was sold a la carte so it can really add up. I picked up a premade salad (greens, tomatoes, mozzarella, olives, anchovies (?!!), a bowl of pineapple and a slice of Foccetta bread and it was 9,70 Euro! On my way out I bought a bag of black licorice pinwheels—yum!
We arrived at the hotel in Naples at about 4 PM. We’re meeting at 5:50 PM to go on a tour of the Spanish Quarter of Naples (a favorite of our guide, Joe) and dinner at a restaurant in the city.
The hotel, Palazzo Caracciolo is beautiful, very luxurious. By contrast, the neighborhood looks a little dicey…! My room is lovely. There is a big full-size bed with a thick comforter and lots of pillows. The floor is tile and the ceilings are vaulted. The bathroom is beautiful, with a tub and 2 shower heads. I have a balcony (tiny, just enough room to stand on) overlooking the front of the hotel and the incredibly busy street it is on. There is a church across the way—the bells started ringing at about 5:30 PM so I took a video that included the crazy traffic!
About 22 (of the 32) of us went on this optional tour/dinner to downtown Naples. Joe, our guide, took us on a walking tour of the Spanish Quarter (Quartieri Spagnoli, according to Wikipedia, was "created in the 16th century to house Spanish garrisons whose role it was to quench revolts from the Neapolitan population.") He says it is one of his favorite areas and even though it is not the best neighborhood he likes to take his tour groups through there to give them a taste of the “passionate” part of Naples (he says not many tour guides do this—imagine that!) The traffic was crazy—street lights, what few they have, are more of a suggestion than a requirement! There are tons of motorbikes. It’s messy and dirty—must not be a street cleaner on the payroll. It all made me think of what I've seen on TV of large cities in South America.
We walked up and up, through neighborhoods, down narrow streets (still with unbelievable traffic!), into and then quickly out of a church. I’d forgotten about the tour at first and just thought we were walking to a very well hidden restaurant for dinner! We finally did reach the restaurant, Rosso Pompodoro. We had a room to ourselves upstairs. We had all already chosen our starters, entrees, and desserts from a choice of four for each. It was fun! The presentation was really nice and I liked most of my choices (I didn’t care for the Gnucchi –dumpling like pasta made from potatoes but the sauce it was in was good).
We got back to the hotel around 9:30 PM. We have an early day tomorrow. We leave at 7:30 AM to catch the boat to Capri!