Torrential in Naples

The weather forecast for today was very wet, and sure enough when we woke up in Naples the rain was battering down. We were not down-hearted though; after breakfast we put on our waterproof jackets for the first time on the holiday, and sallied forth through the port into Naples. This was only our second day ever in Naples so there was plenty that we hadn’t visited. We decided to start off with Castel Nuovo, the castle just across from the port. What a palaver it was to get tickets! It took ages for the staff to process us onto an English speaking tour. Luckily there was no queue at all at that point, I dread to think how long it would have taken in that case. The tour was just starting when we arrived, and it turned out to be very interesting indeed. Originally medieval, it was re-built by King Alphonso of Aragon in the 15th century after he conquered Naples. Our friendly guide had lots of good stories to tell us, although her English was a bit rudimentary - she referred to a skeleton which was in poor condition as “badly keep-èd” which phrase James and I used to insult each other for the rest of the day.

We then took a taxi to see the Underground Tunnels of Naples, as recommended by Mitchell and Gosia. They are fascinating; there are hundreds of miles of tunnels beneath the city, built and extended over the centuries by Greeks, Romans, and medieval Italians, and were used to extract stone to build the city, then as aqueducts, to invade, to flee the city, and even as bomb shelters in the 2nd World War. As a result Naples has a labyrinthine city beneath it. There are still underground pools, water channels, wells, and although there are wide parts there are also many very narrow tunnels, some of which we went along as part of the tour, they were only just passable. It’s just as well that neither of us is claustrophobic! 

We walked from there back to the ship and had not ce showers and a wee rest. We had dinner with Mitchell and Gosia in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant and then went along to our last Quiz Night, which we lost, although I did win a game of “this or that” and my prize was a small Celebrity Cruise-line notebook, which I shall treasure! Back at the cabin later we sadly packed our cases and left them outside our door for collection. It has been a really great holiday.