Day 4 naples

A slow start after a good sleep. Naples was a shocker initially , nothing like the Western European advanced city one would presume. Garbage all over, beggars , bad roads, traffic , noisy ....

Good reasons why most tourists avoid ......but Naples is Italy at its seductive best, the warmth of the people , the bustling street life, the noise and the humane feeling is second to none when compared to an European city.


Naples used to be a part of the kingdom of two Sicily and was ruled by German, French, Spanish, Norman rulers through its history and only through cunning was Naples captured by the Italian Risorgimento . One can still feel the distrust Neapolitans have for the northerners and its best exhibited during the football match between Napoli and the old lady juventus. Milanese and the northerners consider Naples to be shabby and less cultured whereas Naples was the biggest city of Italy in the 1860s.

We decided to explore the city in a more casual manner than the usual touristy museum landmark style and touched down on via tribunali one of the three arterial roads of ancient Naples along with vicaria  Vecchia and apostoli. The via tribunali houses the street hawkers, doll makers, cafes, pizza houses - one can say the soul of Neapolitan life. The first stop of the day was in a pizza restaurant and I must admit truly Naples is the home of the best pizzas.

We turned round the corner to visit the famed veiled Christ at museo Capella sansevero, it's a private exhibition holding probably one of the most magnificent artistic pieces of Christian Europe, one could be easily misled to lift the veil covering Christ and i would place it beside pieta at the Vatican. It also holds some more gems and this museum is not to be missed.


After the visual treat of the San severo, we walked on to another of Naples treasure trove , the Naples archeological museum which houses the artifacts and relics from the excavation done at Pompeii and Herculaneum . For someone who had been to Pompeii before I was waiting to see the original excavated items. The mosaics were simply breathtaking considering the effort and the attention to detail and the one of Alexander v darius caught my attention.

After immersing ourselves for a couple of hours in the rich treasures of Farnese gallery and the best of Naples we took a train to Via Toledo, the chic shopping street leading to the Neapolitan riviera.
The shopping street had the usual suspects from Gucci to Armani to Benetton and we skipped them all. We stopped to have a shot of cappuccino and sfogliatella which is a pastry native to the campania region.

Since it was late, we couldn't get into the San Carlo theatre , the oldest and grandest opera house in Europe , would love to get in there and watch a show once. Just beside it is the plebiscite square and the bibliotheca over looking the gorgeous bay of Naples. The walk along the boulevard of the bay of Naples is a serene experience with casual joggers, couples and tourists. Several castles are located along this stretch for obvious reasons during the medivel period.

We closed off the day with a dinner at one of the chic restaurants on the chiaia coast ........

Day 3

day 3 in Rome was a nice affair. Starting with catacombs of San Sebastián. We travelled outside the city walls to the appian way to reach the catacombs. It has been one of the highlights of the trip so far,. The catacombs were burial places just like modern day ones and Rome had several of them and these dates to 1st century ad.

Just like modern urban centres, real estate was expensive back then and people had a tough time finding space to bury their loved ones. In comparison to today's cities which have gone vertically upwards, the Roman towns went beneath to accommodate their sprawling megapolis needs. The Christian idea of burial than burning due to the faith in resurrection after judgement day is one retained by the abrahamical faiths. The catacombs had curators and coffin makers , interminably the coffin maker stamp was existent on all coffins - a precursor to the modern day sales tax.

Next on the list , st clement church which is built on the ancient order of Mithras. As Christianity became more accepted and also later the official religion, the pagan religions were trampled upon and one can see traces of ancient religions bring exterminated. Two levels of ancient churches and Mithrae.

Last stop in Rome before moving to Naples was the beautiful and majestic basilica of Lateran st. Giovanni . It has been the seat of the pope for a considerable period of time in history and also one of the pilgrim churches of Rome.

A beautiful cup of coffee and we are off to Naples, the bustling and sprightly southern city.

Roman holiday day 2

Day 2

After the tiring first day it's trips to Vatican and trastevere , our aching bodies needed some rest and we started the day at 11am.

The lan was to hit Ostia antica and the usual suspects of central storica of Rome including the pantheon and Navona.

The journey to Ostia antica took an hour and 15 minutes and the by the time we reached the small village we were hungry. Downing couple of pizzas took us an hour more than we anticipated. It was a new experience travel with a 11 month inquisitive baby.

Ostia used to be a sea port with the river Tiber flowing through it from Rome so it was used as a storage yard as well. The ruins and excavation is a sight for anyone interested in knowing how people loved 2000 yrs back. The baths are well preserved , hot water for the entire public, wow. Mosaic design for floors are so contemporary that it's awe inspiring . The Roman amphitheater is a engineering marvel with such acoustic accomplishment. The entire complex is supposed to be the biggest excavation site of Roman period. Our lives are merely a continuation of the past and it's absurd to think that time has stood still.

Going back to the city , we attempted to hit the beaten track of central historical district of Trevi, pantheon, piazza Navona , gothic church and campo d fiori . Since we started late we could visit only the Trevi and campo d fiori . We had coffee at Saint eustachio's supposedly the best coffee Rome had to offer. The cappuccino and tiramisu were divine to say the least.

Dinner was sumptuous calzone with ham n cheese.

Roman holiday

day 1

Tired after the long flight from chennai to Rome.

We saw the imposing Flavian amphitheatre or the more common name colosseum first up

It was interesting to see why it was built and the origins of the name coliseum

Leaving Constantine arch, we entered the palatine hill and the Roman forum. The once bustling city space of roma is all to see from basilicas , senate house, temples to deified emperors , markets.... It's a glorious sight ....the Roman columns are just colossal in size

We took a long walk along the Roman and imperial forum viewing the Trajan column up to piazza Venezia ... With beautiful view of the Risorgimento and Italian unification monument of vittorio Emmanuel 2 while waiting for the bus to take us to St. Peter square.

Lo behold the holiest place in the western world, St. Peter basilica...... The adornments and embellishments, the holy door and the baroqueness are stunning.

Walking along the chilly w.ind, we reach trastevere , the Roman city side of working class. The Santa Maria church built on 23 Roman columns and the apse featuring a glittering Christ.

Dinner was a sumptuous Roman affair with meat broth, lentil soup and rabbit in vinegar sauce.