While you won't be there long enough to need one of the Campania Artecards, the website is useful as you can click on the various sites and it gives the transport options to reach them along with hours, etc.

is this it?

http://www.campaniartecard.it/site.cfm?id=18#

you're right, ky, the site is very useful as the card would be [not necessarily for me] if you could buy it on line.

All of the students will get in free as they are EC citizens aged between 5 & 17.

BTW, I've been assuming that your guidebook(s) would mention the outstanding Caravaggios in Naples, but perhaps I was mistaken, and since I'm not sure that anyone else has mentioned them.... I doubt that you would have time for the Capodimonte, but you might be able to make it to the Pio Monte della Misericordia for his The Seven Acts of Mercy, if you have any interest in doing so.

Gadzooks! Here she is, dashing off to Sorrento - while those of us on the Australian board are wondering if she ever got out of the toilet in Port Douglas?!

I guess she must have.....

hi margo - here, I think, is the explanation for my still being stuck in PD - I've been planning this AND coping with our weather and work as well.

but when I get back.....

kja - thank you for the pointer towards the Carravaggios [or should that be Carravaggii?] in Naples. I have more or less crossed the Capodimonte off my list but I'm just adding The pio Monte to it. [however, I just looked at the website and it is only open from 9-14 hours - so I think that it will be shut before we get there. However thank you for the thought].

These are the sites in Naples. Scroll down to the pictures and mouse over to see the name of each site. If one interests you, click it. You will get the info for that site (map, hours, cost, etc.) and if you scroll down to the bottom of that page, the transport to get there.

http://www.campaniartecard.it/arteca...m#.Uv98HPldXMo

You can also just click the list of names.

Thanks, ky.

the site appears to be the same as the one above, but thanks for the reminder!

for me the priority is going to be the archeological museum, followed by San Severo and the san Chiara cloister, and the spaccanapoli generally.

and i'm going to e-mail this thread to myself so that I can remind myself of all your good advice!

Dear All,

It turned out that the half day that we had was really only enough to see the National Museum; we missed out on the rest of the excellent places that you recommended, though we did manage a walk along Spaccanapoli in the gathering gloom, which was very atmospheric, if not to say spooky, especially the via San Gregorio Armeno, where we were able to admire the many, many shops displaying presepi and figures to put in them.

Which of course gives me a good reason to go back to Naples and spend a few days there.

if you want to see what we got up to in Naples and elsewhere in our week in Campania, here's my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ento-style.cfm

Hi Ann,

Glad you enjoyed your short visit.

((I))

Ira, in truth we approached Naples with a degree of trepidation; I had my memories of it about 40 years ago which were re-inforced by everyone we talked to, even our italian teacher who studied there for 3 years. Only our grammar teacher at the language school in Sorrento showed a real enthusiasm for her home town.

but when we got there, the main impression [apart from the chaos and the lack of rules applying to traffic] was of friendliness. The lady who pointed us in the direction of the museum when she saw us standing outside the metro station with our maps, the assistant in the museum bookshop who recommended a sweet little tea shop to us on Piazza Bellini, the shop owner who gallantly escorted us to the train station when we couldn't work out how to walk there from where we were, keeping us dry with his umbrella on the way. It may be dodgy, dirty and dangerous [there was a murder on the day we were there, we learn later] the driving may be undisciplined [we were almost run over outside the station after our knight in shining armour had departed] but it is also fun, feisty and friendly.

I'll certainly be going back.

annhig. We too only have a short time in Naples (24 hours). Hope we can make the best of it.

Sher - IMO you should be able to do most if not all of what we had set ourselves to do in 1/2 a day, ie the NAM, San Sevano, Santa Ciara [the Veiled Christ] and Spaccanapoli.

The NAM is open 9-7 Wed to Mon [ie closed Tuesdays] and IMO should be your No 1 site to see. 2 hours ++. Then Santa Chiara is open mornings til 12.30 and again from 4.30 to 6.30pm, so could be seen on your first night there, depending on your time of arrival. [the cloisters are open 9.30 - 5.30 though - it's all very confusing].

Otherwise the streets of the area around Spaccanapoli are very atmospheric around dusk, especially Via San Gregorio Armeno, but there are a number of churches and other buildings along the route which would warrant exploring - we didn't feel confident about doing this in the dark.

we never got as far as the Galleria Umberto or the Palzzo Reale, but the more studious ones of the students who we with us enjoyed it - the others just wanted to go to the shops!

It's worth checking all these times before you go and also getting a good map - we somehow came across one of the historical centre with the transport links shown that is supposed to cost €2, but I'm sure we didn't pay for it.

have a great trip. Where else are you going?

The Veiled Christ is at San Severo. Santa Chiara is known for its majolica cloister.

thank, kja - i thought when I was writing it that i might have got them the wrong way round!