"Napoli" a Naples Travel Page by Jim35

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View from the Hostel

Napoli - base camp

The ride from Rome to Naples took about 2 hours and and arrived on schedule. it seems trains from Rome to Naples go almost every hour, so one doesn't have to plan the trip too far ahead of time.
Since my plan was to see the Archeological Museum then head to Sorrento to sleep, out when the last train was to Sorrento (2am) and then wanted to see if I could find a way to book a hotel in Sorrento in advance so as not to worry.
But unfortunately, I made the mistake of going into a place right there in the train station that had a sign for hotels. The man there convinced me to stay in Naples instead, was very helpful. He found a hotel for me and even got me on the right bus to get there...

However, it turned out that the hotel was actually a youth hostel and I was expected to pay the rate of a private room. (I worked it out with the hostel eventually, and the hostel itself was actually pretty good for the new price, but I don't think I would use a hotel booking service a a train station ever again!)

At the hostel I met some people who told me that the museum was only open until 2pm. So, thinking the Museum alreay closed, I went on a tour of Castle Nuovo.

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Farnese Bull

The 'Farnese Bull' from the Farnese collection. This sculpture shows Dirce being tied to the bull by Antiope's sons. <i>As a method of execution it seems pretty brutal.</i>

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Marble bust on column. It was one of an identical pair. A tribute to twins or really large book ends?

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Intricately carved sarcophagus

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"Now that you've seen the museum. You should go see Pompei" announced this statue. "Go out the door and take a right..."

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Cast;e Nuovo

Castle Nuovo is so named because it is the "new" castle, although I never found out which was the "old" castle. It was full of art, both religious and secular, and had a whole room full of paintings showing some battle that occured on the streets of Naples.

There was also an exhibit of photographs showing people of various cultures going about their daily lives in Naples. It was very interesting to see because it showed a side of Naples that tourists (and maybe many living in Naples) probably never see.

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Galleria Umberto I

I wandered around Napoli taking in the sites and sounds of the city and eating along the way, since the food in southern Italy is hard to resist.

Anyway, did a little window shopping at this 'mall' and then started to head back to the hostel where, after a bit of a rest, met a few people and went out for a great meal and a couple beers.

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Carraculla

Emperor Carraculla - 3rd century A.D. Apparently this guy was a total bastard. Killed his own brother to be Emperor. Looks scary, doesn't he?

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pompei

3D map of Pompei constructed to scale.

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Artemis or Isis

Artemis in alabaster... could also be Isis, and those 'breasts' could be breasts or they could be sacs of bull testicles i%That's what the sign said! I don't make this up.

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elaborate mosaic

Intricate mosaic work recovered from the House of the Faun in Pompei. It shows popular Hellenistic themes.

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Bronze bust of a woman from Herculaneum. The curls of hair were very intricate and seemed too delicate to survive all those years, but they did.