Welcome to Naples

 Today we left Rome and travelled to Naples where we are staying for eight nights. They say that you either love or hate Naples and it is described as 'edgy.' First impressions are amazing!

Let me tell you about travelling on trains in Italy. A couple of months ago I bought the tickets for today's trip on-line. I use the Italiarail web site which is user friendly and in English. The earlier you buy, the cheaper the ride. Once purchased and seats chosen you are issued with a six digit PIN. Arriving at the station you show or quote your PIN to enter the platform and once under way the conductor comes along and enters your number into his tablet. All done! Of course, you can show a digital version with a bar code but I wasn't sure that I could access it digitally.

In just on two hours we pulled into Napoli Centrale and walked 450 metres to our accommodation. We have a modern holiday rental unit within an old complex and directly above (and owned by) a pasticceria. The owners are fifth generation pastry cooks, their speciality is the Neapolitan pastry called a sfogliatella.

Breakfast is included; we can go downstairs and exchange a daily ticket for one drink of any sort and one pastry each. Kel thinks he has died and gone to heaven.

This is a sfogliatella, a crispy pastry with a sweet ricotta filling. It is a speciality of Naples, and also the name of our home for the next eight days.

We have a large outdoor terrace which overlooks a busy interesection. We won't need to go anywhere for Kel to be entertained. The antics of the car drivers, scooters, buses and trams, say nothing of firemen who urgently need a Granita (it is 32 again) are all keeping him enthralled. He is sure that the drivers do not need to pass a driving test.

In another direction the view is what I call quintessentially Neapolitan.

The noise in this vibrant city is unbelievable. At the intersection below our terrace there is constant tooting of horns, sirens, people noise and other things such as fireworks. The driving habits are a source of constant amazement and, as expected, crossing a street is a challenging business not unlike in Palermo in Sicily.

Sunday in Rome, Pigneto street art and the Trevi Fountain

 This morning we went to a sung Mass at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and were treated to wonderful music and choir work. We always go to Santa Maria Maggiore within the first two days of arriving in Rome. We have some routines; this is one, and at the end of today we did another. We threw our coins in the Trevi Fountain.

 

The Pigneto neighbourhood in Rome is noted for its street art so we ventured forth on the bus to check it out. We didn't quite find all that I was expecting to see but we did see lots of street art, both by talented and known artists and also tags of lesser quality.

Some street art honouring Pier Paolo Pasolini, a central figure in the social history of this neighbourhood.

An artist that caught my attention was Carlos Atoche. There were a number of his works spread about the town, these are some.

Some other interesting pieces.

'Intersection' by Jacopo Ceccarelli.

I was disappointed  not to see any Alice Pasquini work as this is her home turf. It was there, we just didn't find it. Alice has work in Melbourne, she did the large wall on the Italian Immigration Museum, off Lygon street in Carlton.

Later in the evening we went to the Trevi Fountain to toss our coins to guarantee our return to Rome.

The crowd was reasonable for this time of year, mainly young people and families. We are convinced that we are the oldest non-Italians visiting Rome!

By 8.30 pm we had returned to our terrace for pizza and cool drinks (well, almost cool)

and to further enjoy the perfect weather. 32 again today.

Coppede neighbourhood in Rome

 After a great night's sleep and an Italian breakfast, we set off for the Coppede neighbourhood. It was quite a long but interesting walk to Coppede, named after Gino Coppede, an architect, sculptor and decorator, who between 1913 and 1927 designed about forty houses in this area. He was an exponent of Art Nouveau and the houses in this area are noted for their whimsical style.

One usually enters the area through a magnificent arch with an intricate outdoor  chandelier however this was covered in scaffolding for restoration.

The centre of Coppede is the Fontana delle Rane or frog fountain in Piazza Mincio. All around are the amazingly playful, intricately decorative and impressive palazzi (palaces or large houses). They have names such as the Spider Palace and the Fairy House.

These photos are of the entrance to the building in photo two above.

This is called the Spider House because of the large spider above the front door.

Known as the Fairy House, this is the most spectacular palazzi we saw. Every portion of this huge place has amazing design elements and detailed decoration.

Other places were being restored and many had fun or fabulous features to them.

There were about a dozen couples visiting this very little know part of Rome. It is a shame others miss it, but it was delightful to wander this magical area without bustling crowds.

After 3.5 hours of walking we returned home to enjoy La Pausa (siesta) on our terrace. 31 degrees at 5 pm and we are loving it.

Infine! Siamo qui in Roma

Infine! Siamo qui in Roma. At last! We are here in Rome.

After 32 hours travel, door to door, I don't have much energy to write nor many photos to post. Enough to say that we have arrived safely and are delighted to be back in Italy.

We flew with Qatar Airlines to Doha. It was amazingly dry and monotone. Image one is at the airport, image two the only bit of greenery I saw and image three the suburban part of Doha.

Have you ever seen windows that increase and decrease their polarising effect? On the Dreamliner the windows could be altered by merely pushing a sensor pad. Amazing!

The Suez Canal

Thirty hours of continuous mask wearing sure made the ears sore.

And then we were flying over southern Italy. The country is dry as they have been experiencing hot weather and no rain.

We always stay at the same hotel in Rome and have done so since 1996. It is a small, traditional style, family run hotel called the Rimini. We book our rooms by number and were delighted to find updating has included this trompe l'oeil.

What a joy to be back in Italy. Already we are enjoying the hot weather, gelato, the sound of church bells and the whole atmosphere of this vibrant city. Tomorrow we go out and explore, sure that we will find new things to admire ... we always do.