May 25, 2023

May 25, 2023

We awoke early, checked out of our hotel and Ubered to the Malta airport. Check-in was a breeze. Our flight to Naples was only supposed to be an hour. After passing the island of Capri and Mt Vesuvius to begin our approach, we turned and headed back out to sea. After what seemed ages we circled around and again made our final approach into the Naples airport. Just as we were to land, the pilot made an abrupt nose-up at full throttle. Either a near-miss or the runway was still occupied. I can handle turbulence but emergency evasive maneuvers make me nervous. After circling around landward we made another approach and landed. Phew. On the plus side I got the grand aerial tour of Naples.

Back on Terra Firma, finally, we met our driver and he took us to our hotel in the heart of Naples, the old capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilys. Our room is not ready, so we dropped our bags and started walking to a pizzeria. We weren't really hungry, so we kept walking through the historic district. It is packed with tourists. Plus everywhere is covered in blue and white banners. Apparently Naples just won a soccer championship.

We continued on to the National Archeology Museum. We saw they had a cafeteria, so we had a bite to tide us over. Aimee picked a Focaccia con Mortadella. It was good, but I didn't have the heart to tell her this was the Italian version of a Bologna sandwich. It is what I ate every day as a kid!

This museum is famous for having the treasures collected from Pompeii. We start on the top floor with the many household items one would have in their home if you suddenly had to flee. This includes lamps for lighting, scissors and other personal hygiene products, and pots and pans for cooking and serving. Pompeii must have been upscale as many of the items are bronzeware as opposed to simple ceramic.

Many museums have collections of monumental Roman statues, but the uniqueness of Pompeii and this museum is the astounding collection of the Roman mundane. It is amazing how advanced the Romans were and how much like ourselves they were. They even had a metal folding table.

I liked the collection of glassware on display. There is a lot of it in many intricate and sometimes beautiful shapes. Glass would be one of those many skills lost in the post-Roman Dark Ages. I had to laugh a little when I saw some water glasses that looked exactly like ones I used as a child.

We next moved into Roman wall painting. When Pompeii was first excavated, the standard practice was to remove the painted walls and bring them to the King's museum here in Naples. It ranges from the simple decorative to elaborate scenes to personal portraits. Pompeii is one of the few places where this fragile art was preserved.

We quickly walked through a large section on Magna Graecia (Greater Greece). Besides Sicily the Greeks colonized much of the coastline of Southern Italy. Napoli, or Neopolis (New City) started life as a Greek city. We have already seen lots of Greek treasures, but this section has lots of wall paintings found in ancient nearby Greek tombs. They are centuries older than Pompeii.

What is also impressive about this Magna Graecia section is that the floor is all mosaic tile that was removed from Pompeii. You have to wear booties to peruse this exhibit.

The museum is preparing a special exhibit on the first floor. Disappointingly the most famous object, the Alexander Mosaic, has already been moved. Shockingly I watched as they took the famous Dancing Faun statue off its base and carried it away.

There is a rather large collection of erotic art. This used to be kept hidden away from public view. No longer. Sex was important to the Romans. Some of it is erotic but much of it is just plain odd, even hilarious. You will have to come to see it for yourself.

We finished on the first floor with the large sculptures found in Pompeii and the neighboring town of Herculaneum. While impressive, it is stuff we have seen at many other sites. The Romans decorated every public space with sculpture.

We walked back to the hotel through the historic district again. We passed a statue of the Nile River god. I have no idea why that is here. We also passed a street full of Presepi (Nativity Scene) vendors. Many are monumental and amazingly elaborate. They also seemed to have branched out to rustic scenes.

For dinner we went to a Pizzeria and had one with spicy Calabrian sausage. Delicious, but then again Naples is the birthplace of pizza. The waiter talked us into after dinner drinks of Limoncello. For variety I had a creamy Meloncello. It is made from Cantaloupe. We liked it so much we bought a bottle at a grocery store on the walk back.