Our adventures in Italy continued this weekend. After our quick stop in Rome, Lisa and I caught an early morning train to the town of Aversa, just outside of Naples. Our host for the weekend, Nino, picked us up. He welcomed us into his home with open arms, offering to take us around and help us out any way he could. Once we were at his home, we met his 12 year old son Pasquale.
Our first stop with Nino and Pasquale was the Royal Palace of Casterta, built in the 1700s. Picture this: as we are walking towards the palace, Nino mentioned a Pavarotti song and asked Lisa if she knew it. She wasn't sure, so he immediately started playing it on his phone. So we are walking towards this magnificent palace, with the sounds of Pavarotti surrounding us! What an experience.
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| Tall doors! |
The palace was amazing. It was complete with all the rooms still intact. Marble was everywhere we could see, from carved statues to steps, columns, floors, and even the walls. High ceilings, massive doors, chandeliers...all the things you expect to find, except all the king's horses and men. We toured the castle while Pasquale and his dad played football(soccer) on the grounds surrounding the palace. The palace also has an English and Italian garden. Interestingly, while we were there, they were setting up for the Pope's visit the following day. "Pappa Francesco" as they call him, was apparently following us after we left his home on Thursday.
After viewing the palace, we met back up with Nino and Pasquale and headed to the English Gardens on the grounds, but a good 4 kilometers from the castle. Only a small portion of the garden was open to the public, due to vandalization. The garden is filled with gifts of plants to the king from all over the world. Some very unusual plants and trees that are now very mature. One silly fact we found inside the palace was that the king had made his artist paint pictures of the English gardens just so he didn't have to walk all the way to see them. See even kings are lazy!
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| Walking back toward the palace from the gardens. The palace is 4 kilometers down the road straight ahead |
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A very old tree from Algeria that was given to the king
Nino then took us up a very windy road to see the town of Casertavecchia (Old Caserta). It is a medieval town in the hills over looking Naples. All the buildings seemedancient...well, it was founded in 861 AD! The view from the town was spectacular to say the least. |
Now until this point I had not been in an automobile in Italy. I wasn't missing it either! This was totally different experience! Europeans seem to have no rules to the road. Park any which way you want, drive on the wrong side of the road, oh stop signs... What are those? It appears to be a free-for-all here! If someone is too slow, just pass wherever. And try not to hit the pedestrians.
Saturday began with Nino making us breakfast. A true homemade breakfast! Everything was from scratch. Fresh-squeezed orange juice from local oranges. Ricotta cheese from the local area. Fresh
bread, the best tomatoes I've ever had, and I'm not one for tomatoes! Plus, it is cheap...Nino said tomatoes equate to about 40 cents a pound. Everything is fresh, and there is no such thing as high fructose corn syrup!
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| Fresh squeezed orange juice and amazing ricotta with some honey |
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| Frisella, a Neopolitan dish of bread toasted with oil, tomatoes, and mozzarella |
After stuffing ourselves at the breakfast table, we caught the train to Naples. Nino, a travel agent, had given ups an enormous list of things to see. First on the list was an old castle on the coast, one of several in Naples. This was complete with cannons and thick walls for defense. An interesting thing Lisa noticed was some of the cannons were pointed towards shore...not sure why. We saw a couple bridal parties being photographed at the castle. You can't do that too many places in the States!
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| At the medieval castle, Napoli in the background |
We strolled up into the city as some rain drops appeared from the sky. Our next stop was the opera house, the oldest continually run in Europe and connected to the kings' quarters directly through a secret passage way. The king had his own box in the back of the theatre. All the personal boxes that lined the theatre (180 of them), have a mirror that faces the king's box. That way everyone knew when the king arrived. The opera house is an amazing sight! Originally done in blue, the fabrics are now red. We cut the tour a few minute short. We had another to get to!
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| The king's box |
We wanted to see the Bourbon tunnel, built originally for King Ferdinand of the Bourbon family. (The same king just mentioned in the previous paragraph). He wanted a direct route between the palace (attached to the theatre), for easy escape and for his men to reach him if under attack. The tunnel was attached to the pre-existing tunnels deep underground that were used to house sisterns for Naples's water supply. While the Bourbon part of the tunnel was never used for the king because he died before it was finished, the tunnels in their entirety became one of the primary air raid shelters during WW II. Some families lived in there even after the was was over because they had no homes to go to. Napoli was devastated from bombs. It was pretty cool to hear our guide mention that one of the children who been down there during air raids had carved his name on a wall and they actually tracked him down a few years ago, still living in Naples as an old man. He recalled that as a kid, he enjoyed going in the tunnels because it was the only time he could play with other kids, because it was just too dangerous up on the streets. We had an excellent tour guide and both of us thought it was one of the most unique tours we both had ever been on. So many things had been dumped in the tunnel over the years, including many old cars from the police impound lot, including an old Chevy and a Plymouth. It was neat to see how the tunnel was used over the centuries.
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| Imagine hundreds of Neapolitans fleeing down these narrow steps when the air raid alarms began sounding |
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| Abandoned old cars in the tunnel |
Following the tour, we went to the the historic district where we saw many old churches and yes we made a gelato stop while we waited for dinner (the restaurant didn't open until 7). We had pizza at Gino's, a recommendation of Nino's and a place Mayor Bill De Blasio of NYC visited just a few days earlier. Check it out:
The verdict: we both agreed that never before had we had pizza that tasted so flavorful and fresh!
SoG: 115
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