Naples, Italy - Day 48

What Jeff didn’t tell you yesterday was that when we reboarded the ship, the cruise line had given us a complimentary upgrade to a suite twice the size of our previous cabin. The cabin feels enormous and the views from the front-facing deck are stupendous.

Today we had decided not to take a stroll through the streets of Sorrento since we were now docked in Naples. Sorrento was only an hour away and in all of our times being in the port of Sorrento, we had never had time to make it up the cliffs and actually see the city since other destinations got our attention. But we had never been to Naples either so we decided to spend the day walking the streets here.

Our ship was docked right against the Castel Nuovo so we started there. The building looks like your typical castle and was built around 1279ad. The ceiling of the Barons Hall is quite impressive. The roof of the castle allows a great view of the National Archeological Museum that sits on top of a hill overlooking all of Naples (it was closed today.)









We wandered up the street passing through the Galleria Umberto I built around 1884 as part of an urban renewal plan. The arcade’s iron and glass roof is still awe-inspiring today.




We then headed towards Via Chiaia, Naples famous pedestrian-only shopping street. We however got distracted by the Palazzo Reale. Our guidebook had said the Royal Apartments were closed on Mondays, but we thought we saw people going in, so we wandered over and to our surprise, they were open. The palace was started in 1600 but wasn’t completed until 1843. The entrance hall is one of the most incredible opulent things we’ve ever seen. We spent a few hours going through each of the thirty or so royal rooms they have restored. While it is evident that more money should be allocated for the continuing preservation of this building, what we saw was pretty incredible. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside.

Our feet were tired and since the ship was so close, we headed back to enjoy our humongous new stateroom.

Next up Taormina, Sicily including breakfast with Phil and Annemarie!