The trip to Naples with Luigi and Anna was one of the highlights of the entire trip!! While Guardia is calm and serene, Naples is an explosion of the senses!! A bustling port city full of sights, sounds, and delicious food!
Luigi knew the back way to get into everything and knows Naples (and it seemed like everyone in Naples!) like the back of his hand.
|
Anna & Luigi Orso
|
We started our day walking through the market in Naples and weaved our way through miles and miles of specialty shops, street vendors and little cafes and restaurants.
|
mmm the bread, the pie!
|
|
"Everything for the Baker"
|
|
Really interesting antique shop.. not sure if I went in I would ever be able to come out!
|
|
Every kind of seafood
|
|
It was a nice sunny day.. so laundry day in Naples
|
Next we went to the Via San Gregorio Armeno to the mercado del presepe. This is the Christmas market in Naples where they have beautiful hand crafted manger scenes. The region is famous for its very intricate and elaborate mangers.. far beyond what we have in our typical manger scenes .. the "cribs" include very detailed scenes of entire villages. I imagine you build your own a little at a time, adding a few pieces each year.
|
Anna & me in front of one of many beautiful presepes
|
|
One of the more elaborate presepes.
|
|
Entering Via San Gregorio
|
|
Luigi!! always adding a laugh!
|
|
The small start of our family presepe
|
After all that walking and shopping.. we were hungry and Luigi knew of this little place where we could eat the best pizza and the freshest seafood.. sooo good!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about that meal!!
|
The cook came out to show me how fresh the seafood was.. it was still jumping!!
|
|
And 45 minutes later .. Wallah!!!
|
|
and its Naples so you have to eat Napolean style pizza!!
At this point my phone died so sadly I have no more pictures but I can tell you all about it.. After pranzo, we headed over to the port side and ate a gelato while looking out into the Gulf of Napoli where you can see the Isle of Capri in the distance as well as the Amalfi Coast .. all the way to Salerno. It's a stunning view!
|
Next we went to the Castel dell Ovo, which is a 12th century fortress, surrounded by some of the nicest hotels in Naples as well as little shops and restaurants. It's really a lovely area to take a stroll and soak in the sites.
|
Stock photo of Castell dell Ovo |
..and this finished up our day in Naples.. we made a few stops on the way home because Luigi knows a place that has the best fruit, and another place that has the best cheese and so we made our way back to Guardia, everyone laughing and smiling about the memories we had made that day.
Thank you Luigi and Anna for a most wonderful day!!