Highlights of 3 Days in Naples

Breakfast on our first morning in Naples

When we first got to Naples, we were a bit taken aback by the traffic and seeming craziness of the city. Maybe it was because we had just come from Florence which, by comparison, is quite small. But also there were no street lights for pedestrians and cars didn't seem to stop at crossings unless you actively stepped out into the middle of traffic. It made me so nervous that honestly I was a bit worried to walk around like we had been doing in other cities over the last 5 weeks!

Enjoying Fried Pizza

Walking 25 minutes to get to our Street Food tour that first evening was definitely an adventure!

On our first full day in the city, we decided to get an all day public transportation pass to reduce the walking between destinations. Lucky for us, Metrò Dell’Arte made it fun to explore the underground metro system as there was different decor in each of the stations. Toledo, pictured above, was by far my favourite.

One of the first things I noticed in Naples that was different to Florence or Venice (the cities we had previously been to in Italy) was this character, Pulcinella, who seemed to be everywhere from souvenirs to statues.

Turns out he's been a popular character in Neopolitan puppetry since the 1600's, and it seems like he's not going anywhere any time soon!

There were several English tours available at the Naples Underground throughout the day, so we decided to take one as our main activity of the day.

It was quite interesting going through the small passageways and seeing remnants of the three main uses for the underground (excavation, water storage, and a bunker during the war). 

I think the kids probably enjoyed the dark tunnel path the most. 

I was most impressed by the plant experiment they had going on underground, which proved how certain plants could survive up to 9 months without being watered because of the humidity levels.

After the tour, we took the metro to see a few more of the stations' artwork then had a short detour above ground for a walk by the Castel Nuovo...

...and the Fountain of Neptune.

Poppies in Pompeii

The following day we ventured to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius which all three kids chose to write about in their blog posts, so I'll skip that here.

"Wallet Pizza" in Naples

The kids and Zaf were keen to stay in the hotel for our last day in Naples to rest up before we headed to Rome, so I decided to go out on my own for some lunch and an afternoon walking tour of the city. Some of my favourite sites were:

Piazza del Plebiscito on the Basilica side

Palazzo Reale

Castel Sant'Elmo

Galleria Umberto I

I especially loved the Galleria's gorgeous window roof... 

,,,and beautiful mosaic floors. 

We also saw the street art dedicated to the soccer player Maradona in the Spanish Quarter. 

It was my first time going on a walking tour by myself and it was quite a different experience than going with the kids. So far we'd been on over 10 tours as a family and we've found that each guide has their own style, which we tend to discuss afterwards so we can learn from things we've appreciated and not appreciated. I find it sometimes funny what makes the guides "favourites" or "not favourites" for the kids, which are often things that haven't even crossed my mind.

San Carolo Theatre

During this tour, I learned one VERY important lesson. When booking a tour, make sure that there are not multiple language options listed for THE SAME TIME. For this particular tour, there were three language options (Italian, Spanish, and English) all at 3pm. I don't know what I was expecting when I booked it but basically the guide had to say everything three times at each stop, so the information shared was very basic and I didn't get a whole lot out of the tour compared to other tours we've been on. I was very glad the kids didn't come with me, in the end. (Later I checked our future tours to make sure the experience isn't repeated!)

View of Mount Vesuvius 

After my walking tour I met up with the rest of the family at a park near the bay, where they had come for the boys to do some yo yo-ing.

Cora enjoyed a ride at the nearby amusement park, then Zaf took the younger kids home to get ready for bed and Zorion came out with me for an evening stroll.

We found a piece of art to bring home, with a dreamy view of Mount Vesuvius and two little Pulcinellas which reminded me of my two playful sons.

And last, we enjoyed the sunset at Castel dell'Ovo.

Although we had plenty to do for our three days in Naples, Naples itself wasn't my favourite city to be honest. However our day trip to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius was a highlight of our time in Europe that I won't ever forget. Seeing the ancient city I've heard about since I was a child and hiking up to the crater of the volcano was very special, and I'm so glad we had a few days in Naples to make it happen.