Part VII: Naples

We were really grateful that the boat ride to Naples was easier, it made for a much better first day in Naples! Our hotel was really close to the train and subway station as well, so that was definitely a plus!!

On our first day there we walked down one of the most famous streets there called Spacanapoli! It runs right down the middle of Naples and is filled with tons of little shops selling all sorts of stuff! Since it was still Christmas season there were many shops that had a ton of Nativity sets! They really go all out for their nativity sets and they can get really big and intricate, it was awesome to look at all the pieces! We went to Piazza Dante which Jon remembered well from his mission and also went to a huge office store close by that had lots of nice art supplies, it was cool! Then Jon took me to the stairs of the death... and made me walk up them... The stairs of death lead up to the top of a hill in Naples, we could have taken the Funiculare, but Jon decided to make me walk up all 724 stairs, big stairs, to the top. It was really hard, but really fun too and we had all of the time in the world to do it. It was great!

The next day was January 6th, a holiday in Italy called Befana. It is really hard to travel on Holidays, a lot of things close, or close earlier then usual, and that stinks, but it really ended up being a great day!! We went to Sorrento where they make some amazingly beautiful music boxes. It's such a cute city, I really liked it! Then we went to Pompei! It was really cool because it's not a busy time so there weren't many people there. It was also dark and cloudy which made all the ruins look really creepy! Especially because they have plasters of some of the people that had died, in the position that they had died in, it was creepy... and interesting too. When we got back to Naples we went and saw the galleries, the opera house, and a few other piazzas. It was fun!

Our last day in Naples was one of my favorite days on our trip! We went to a town called Caserta where they have a palace. It was similar to Versailles, I believe it was built around the same time... I liked it SO much better than Versailles though! The inside of it was really beautiful but the outside was even better! There is a huge area of gardens in the back and down the center are a bunch of fountains and a big waterfall at the end!! It was a pretty far walk to get to the waterfall but it was so worth it! All of the fountains were amazing on the way and filled with beautiful statues!! The waterfall at the end was so amazing, man made, but way pretty! We walked down to a big pond and there was a gorgeous swan there! The whole day was so peaceful and beautiful. It felt like were walking in a painting! It was fantastic!! Absolutely stunning! After that we went to Jon's favorite pizza place in Naples! It was so delicious!!! The best pizza I've ever had!!

Naples is a really dirty, scary city, but we did some wonderfully fun things there. Our bag's wheels broke while we were there and ended up having to practically drag our bag on the ground to get it to Rome. We sure had some amazing pizza in Naples though!!! Yum!!