Naples in January

From Florence, we took the train to Naples. I don't really know how to describe Naples politely. Basically, it was a dump. The buildings were falling apart, and even had netting to keep large chunks from falling on pedestrians below. We didn't see a single wall that wasn't covered in graffiti. Shattered glass was embedded between stones on the streets and sidewalks. It was just gross. I thought it was going to be romantic, maybe because of that song "That's Amore" by Dean Martin.

(In Napoli where love is king

When boy meets girl here's what they say)

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie

That's amore

When the world seems to shine like you've had too much wine

That's amore

A couple examples of what we saw as we walked around. This was a hotel. Any newlyweds want to honeymoon here? Or maybe a great family getaway?

And the typical graffiti and dumpsters. You can't see the shattered glass in the picture, but it's there too.

Sadly, this place was far from romantic. BUT, we did have some amazing experiences there. First there was the small limoncello factory. Limoncello is a traditional digestive served after meals here.
This place, called Limoné made their small batches with local lemons, and pealed them by hand. This is a view of their one-room factory, and batch process.

Janice and I became big fans. It was so tasty!

Other notable things that we don't have pictures of are the pizza and the wine. We learned the history behind the pizza in Naples. A long time ago, it used to be the food of the poor people. The the dough was made very thick in order to keep you satisfied longer. This is different than the pizza in northern Italy, which is thin. There was a pizza joint around the corner from where we stayed, and Richard says it was the best pizza he has ever had. And I would say it's definitely up there on my list too! We loved one of the green vegetables they served on our pizza, and found out it is a local leafy green called fiarelli. I was told it's only available near Naples, but I have a hunch I may be able to find it at my local market in Milan. As for the wine, well it's all good in Italy. But we particularly liked a couple different red wines from Sicily. So now we are continuing to look for more "Siciliane nero".

As for the sites around Naples, the big ones were the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Both ancient cities were where the wealthy escaped the heat of Rome and stayed near the water. And both were destroyed when Mount Vesuvius errupted in AD 79.

Here are Richard and Gabriel overlooking the ruins of Herculaneum. You can see Vesuvius in the background.

The kids were able to walk around and explore and touch things. They had fun playing hide and seek.

And here are Richard and Gabriel in Pompeii, which was massive compared to Herculaneum.

The kids just wanted to be in more pictures, so here they are. Aren't they adorable?

Husband and wife selfie time!

It was fun to see the stadium at Pompeii. It was a smaller version of the Colosseum in Rome. Very cool.

At Pompeii there was a display of some of the bodies that were found. When the volcanic ash, etc cooled over the bodies, it created a hard shell. These shells were later found and filled with plaster, which is what we see in this picture. Since the excavations started, archaeologists have discovered around 1150 bodies.

And here I am with Richard overlooking the ruins of Pompeii. We loved the history that came alive while visiting here! We recommend not staying in Naples though :)