Friday & Saturday in Naples | fja travel journal

We decided to slow things down a little after each of us walking nearly 10 miles each day on Wednesday and Thursday. But we maintained eating well as you’ll see.

I’ll take a few moments to fill you in on our Naples apartment before we check out without having snapped a photo or two. The apartment, like many we have stayed in during travels in Italy, was created inside an old palazzo or palace. The walls on this guy are three feet thick. Like in some of our own cities with historic homes, the folks in these palaces cannot make any changes, internal or external, without approvals from various city and provincial authorities.

The inner courtyard of our palazzo. Our apartment is on what we label the 2nd Floor (called the 1st Floor here) on the right. Those are garage doors on the ground floor. Stairwell up to our apartment is down to the left beyond the plants.

The door into our palace. It’s all mechanized and remote controlled but there is a personnel door built into the left big door!

And when those big doors are open… looking into the courtyard from the street

This apartment came up randomly when Jim searched AirBNB for apartments in Naples. He stipulates in his searches, washing machine, hair dryer and Wifi although for summer months, depending on the location, air conditioning might be included. The photos looked good on the website and the location was sort of central plus not grossly far from the waterfront and central station. Maybe the fact that one picture showed Mt Vesuvius blowing its lid back in 79 and another showed a piano had something to do with selecting this apartment.

Walk in the front door and there is Mt Vesuvius, blowing her top in 79 AD!

Living Room with piano. Jim played a little and insists the piano is in tune! Window on right looks out into the center courtyard.

Friday morning, we opted for caffè and a cornetto at a bar serving on this piazza. It seemed there was a math university recruiting there on the corner. Then I remembered back to ancient Italy when it seemed philosophers and mathematicians were the most respected men in the country. Okay, the coffee and croissant might have tasted a little better there with Italians of some intellectual acuity! However, while sitting there, we were entertained with a small, student-aged demonstration of the “Free Palestine” movement. Left the camera in my pocket to avoid drawing any attention!

Morning coffee here just before the little demonstration walkabout! This is actually the Piazza San Domenico Maggiore.

Church of Sant’Angelo a Nilo of Via Nilo. Nilo is the Nile and this area was home to many Egyptians. It is known for containing the Renaissance-style tomb of Cardinal Rainaldo Brancacci by Donatello and Michelozzo, one of the major sculptural works in the city.

Church of Santa Maria Maggiore della Pietrasanta. It was the first church in Naples dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

We mostly walked around the centro storico or historic center of Naples, where we are in fact staying. We refreshed our memories of the Spaccanapoli, a main artery through the middle of the center of Ancient Naples. Like many streets, even back in the States, overall this is a long street but with many different names. The shops are amazing and churches and museums abound. In fact, our apartment is half a block off one of the streets that comprise the Spaccanapoli (easy, fast access!)

Of course, walking about leads to having a little hunger so come one o’clock or so, we headed back to the apartment to seek out a close-by restaurant, La Locanda Gesù Vecchio, where could do pranzo. We haven’t quite figured out if the names translates to the “old inn of Jesus” or the “inn of the old Jesus.” Regardless, the food was good.

Jim had Girasoli alla Nerano which was a mix of zucchini, butter, provolone, pecorino, parmigiano, ricotta, olive oil and garlic.

I had *Pasta mista con patate e provola*: potato, celery, carrots, onions, tomatoes, smoked mozzarella, olive oil and grand padanno cheese.

We each ordered a salad, *Insalate Mista*, to finish off the meal. Little did we know…

Church of the Gesù Nuova or New Jesus. The church was named “New Jesus” simply to differentiate it from the first Jesuit church in the area.

Interior of the Church of Santa Chiara. There had to be ten of these magnificent churches within 1/4 mile of our apartment.

Side chapel in Santa Chiara dedicated to Saint Francis. The day we took the picture, Saturday, was my ‎⁨*onomastico* – the annual celebration of the saint after whom I am named – my patron saint – Francis of Assisi.

Still out walking, we came across this view of several palaces. It’s just cool to see the bright facades lined up along the main boulevard.

Did not find big, multi-block markets but there were plenty of fresh fruit and veggies available around town. Trucks like this or in small stores.

As the day comes to an end, we’ve racked up another 12,000 plus steps, our feet hurt and our legs are getting tired. As we’ve gotten older, we are a little more careful about how we walk, where we step, uneven steps, etc. As I looked down today, it dawned on me that the surfaces of these streets and sidewalks are really hard. Don’t know if the material is granite but it is for sure, hard. And when wet, slippery. The could most certainly be contributing to our getting tired earlier and earlier each day.

The “rock hard” pavements of our streets and sidewalks. Pavement probably is not accurate. Layed down and fitted together is more accurate!

I think this should get us through Saturday and believe it or not, the narrative on the Sunday trip to Palermo has been written. We just have to weave in the photos. Hopefully we can get that section of the blog posted before bedtime tonight. Now off to the store for a few things and then suppertime. Ciao, ciao.