Bella Napoli

There something to be said for Naples. You arrive and it's dirty, loud, and absolutely crazy. Drivers make their own rules here and it's not surprising to see a family of four squeezed onto one scooter. Buildings look old and run-down, the streets don't seem to make any kind of sense, and at first you ask yourself, "What the heck is this town all about?" But it creeps up on you. Soon you find yourself partaking in the crazy driving and running stop signs like it's nothing. Which it isn't... here. You learn your way around and start seeing Naples for what it is. Loud. Busy. Delicious. Unique. Beautiful. Someone once told me, "It's amazing what your eyes don't see anymore, once your used to Naples." And I guess that's true. Because I love it.

This past Saturday we decided to dive head first into the craziness that is Naples, and went for a tour of downtown. Although the forecast said there was a chance for rain, it ended up being a beautiful day and an awesome time. We of course didn't see everything (because 1 day is just not enough time) but we did see some great highlights and, of course, ate delicious food.

We started our "tour" at the port and made our way by this castle, Castel Nuovo. We didn't tour the inside, however, because our guide for the day, Dave, Nate's boss here and friend, explained that a lot of castles in Italy are gutted and some have even bee converted to prisons. Looked good from the outside, though :)

We passed through the Galleria Umberto:

Then we made our way through the busy streets on our way up to St. Elmo's Castle. Just walking the streets, you have to love the markets and storefronts.  Have you ever seen chunks of cheese like this??

Naples is all about the seafood and it's easy to get some right off the boat:

And, ahhhh, the produce. I've never had fresher produce in my life. It all just tastes so good here. And this once tomato-hater, has done a complete 180, and has tomatoes nearly everyday. Wonder if it will stick when we get back to the states?

Our last stop before St. Elmo's was at this cool cameo jeweler. If you don't know, cameo jewelery is the vintage looking silhouettes you see on necklaces and such that are carved by hand out of conch shell. Pretty neat process. Before:

After:

After checking out the goods at the cameo shop we headed to St. Elmo. The view is really the reason to visit St. Elmo's. It really was beautiful up there, checking out the view of the town we've come to love:

This could have been a really good picture... could have been. Darn pacifier.

Nate and Dave checking out Vesuvius:

Looking over Spaccanapoli, the historic street splitting the picture basically cuts through the center of Old Napoli:

Dave liked to call this the "portal" into Old Naples:

Remember how I told you Naples is crazy? This is what I am talking about. People everywhere, cars and scooters driving through, now if only I could add a clip of sound and some smell-a-vision. Then you'd get it:

Of course we had to stop for some lunch, and although we didn't go to the most famous pizza place in Naples (see picture above, taken outside of restaurant), we still managed to have the best pizza we've had on the trip yet. How to describe the pizza here? Hmmm. Fresh ingredients. Light. Absolutely delicious. Yeah, that about sums it up:

After a little more walking we grabbed a cafe at a cafeterria. And, in line with our pizza, this was BY FAR the best decaf cappuccino I've had here. Ugh, we are so spoiled here. What am I going to do when we go back?

Our last stop was at Museo Capella Sansevero. It is home to one of the world's most famous sculptures, the Veiled Christ. It truly was amazing. No photography was allowed but I wanted to give you an idea of what the statue looks like. This only shows his head, but the whole thing was so life-like, I could have sworn I saw him breathing:

There were two other statues in the museum that were also amazing. One included an intricate net that is so well-done there is argument as to how the artist could have possibly done it.

The museum was also home to the "Anatomical Machines." The "Machines" are two human bodies, a male and a female, with their bones and blood vessels still intact. Still today, no one knows how or what was used to preserve their circulatory systems so perfectly. I, again, couldn't take pictures but here is a picture I found online of the woman. Sadly, the woman was pregnant at the time (the fetus has been stolen from the remains):

It's believed that Prince Sansevero himself (who Dave calls the "demonic prince") invented the concoction that was injected into the bodies. Here's the thing, for the circulatory system to run the injection throughout the body so thoroughly, it's believed that the two people must have been alive..... Creeeeepy, right?!

The Veiled Christ and Anatomical Machines were probably two of my favorite things I've seen in Italy. And they've been right here under my nose in Naples. Go figure.

We ended our tour and headed home because that night we were headed to the Napoli soccer match (post coming soon). But in all, I just have to say Napoli has won me over. The loud, dirty, delicious, beautiful place is definitely one of a kind. I think I'll always have a little place in my heart for Bella Napoli.