@marigross - thanks for understanding but no, that made me log into wordpress and then didn't work. Looks like just stellasspoon.com works fine. I have a wordpress blog too, and I either post the main URL, or the URL of the post I'm referencing.

@27again - alas, I've been at home all year dealing with assorted health problems. Still there. Am progressing veeery slowly with the Uzbekistan TR from last year, still have South Korea and Japan after that!

I might opt for Capri on the way south and then take the ferry to Sicily. There is a ferry from Rome, but only to Palermo, while from Naples you can go to Catania or Trapani as well, plus the ferry port should be more central. Then fly to Rome after Sicily.

27 again, going to Capri from Naples is easy with the ferries. But it is a budget crusher! A daytrip could be a good option.

Janetd5, a kindred spirit! The Spreadsheet is everything.

Having now been to Naples I will say that I would be perfectly fine with going solo. The only thing which would have given me pause would be the way google maps directed us to go to that first restaurant. 'But that could have been avoided sticking to the main streets.

If I'm honest, I would have turned around, not because I <i>felt</i> unsafe, but because the way we went was narrow and solitary. It would not have been a smart choice to proceed by myself.

You have to pay attention, just as in any big city.

<b>Day 2: Saturday, April 30th

<i>A (Very Long) Walk Around Old Napoli</i></b>


I will start with a disclaimer: I know that this kind of ‘walkabout’ is not for everyone. I tend to plan ‘aggressive’ sightseeing schedules and this day certainly met that criteria. I adore visiting churches and the only thing I love even more are cloisters. I subscribe to the ‘leave no cloister unseen’ travel philosophy. The Spreadsheet (obviously) reflects these preferences.

Having said that, our day started out by seeking out a place to have breakfast as we had opted out of having it at the hotel. There were plenty of coffee bars around so we just walked into the first one. ‘Un cappuccino, un caffé e one of those pastries in the window that I can never remember the name of per piacere’. A Sfogliatelle of course.

I neglected to take a picture but you can google this shell-shaped typical sweet that is made of pastry dough (mille feuille) filled with cream. It makes for a very messy and rich snack or Italian-style breakfast.

I do not have a very big sweet tooth so the one I had was almost too heavy for me and I did not even finish it (and there is also the fact that I try to save as many calories as I can for wine). I know, sacrilege! I’m supposed to wax poetically about this quintessential Neapolitan pastry, but it is what it is. The texture, with a slightly crunchy bite, was very satisfying. I thought I would give it another try but never really got around to it.

The day had been loosely planned around a combination of Rick Steves’ ‘A Slice of Neapolitan Pizza’ walk and the Michelin Green Guide suggested itinerary. Mr Steves suggests three hours for this walk. Maybe he just refers to the actual walking part at warp speed, but it took us the entire day and we did not even cover anything south of Piazza Caritá.

Our first stop was at the Gesú Nuovo church. This 15th century palazzo of the Sanseverinos was sold to the Jesuits and transformed into a church. The façade is probably one of the most unusual church exteriors. It looks so modern it could be the work of Gaudí, Aldo Rossi or Louis Khan. Utterly unexpected. The interior is classic Neapolitan Baroque.

The interior is completely baroque. Somewhat separate from the main church there is a small museum combined with a large chapel dedicated to St. Giuseppe Moscati, a biochemistry teacher at the University of Naples and head physician at a local hospital who was canonized in 1987. The walls are covered with ex votos. There is a small chapel inside the church where his remains are located. He seems to be very popular with the Neapolitans and there was a short but constant queue to touch his statue’s hand.

Two things I noticed right away in this church and they both remained true throughout our road trip of southern Italy...

<b><i>To continue reading:</i></b> https://wordpress.com/post/stellasspoon.com/1838

Keywords for the search function: Gesú Nuovo, Church and Convent of Santa Chiara, Church and Convent of San Gregorio Armenio, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Cattedrale di San Gennaro, Sansevero Chapel

@marigross - I did the RS walk too, and it took me a long time because of all the very worthwhile stops.

@27again - Capri doesn't have to be a budget buster if you are willing to sleep in somewhat spartan conditions. I stayed here:

http://www.latoscahotel.com/

I have an old south Italy TR on Fodors or for Capri with photos see: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...ivating-capri/

This might work better as the link for Day 2:

https://stellasspoon.com/2017/06/05/...gh-old-napoli/

just found this marigross, and fortunately your links do work for me, though I've not had time to read them yet.

Great start though - I've only been to Naples for 2 half days, about 40 years apart, but it strikes me as a place where everything is slightly off kilter - like the past, they do things differently there.

I'll be back for more soon.

27again: I spent a week driving trough Sicily on my own. I got pinched, grabbed and chased a lot (once by a man who was easily in his late 80s!) and twice men tried to get into the car

OReilly, the one time I got butt-pinched in Italy was 19 years ago in the town of Pompeii during the evening 'passagiata' and it was by an elderly man. DH was walking about 10 steps behind me. He thought it was hilarious. Me? Not so much at the time.

OReilly - you are clearly a lot more attractive, and probably a lot younger, than I am, lol. No difficulties of that kind, and I have done several trips to Italy on my own, including part of my time in Sicily. Some older guy did show some interest one time, but I had no trouble freezing him off.

<b>Day 3: Sunday, April 30th

<i>Up and Down (and Down and Up) Old Napoli </i></b>


Technically today’s agenda was not as aggressive (ambitious?) as yesterday’s, but there was a big caveat: a lot of terrain needed to be covered as almost everything we (I) wanted to see was far apart. A lot of thought (read potential overthinking) had gone into setting things up in The Spreadsheet.

Though it was not the #1 To Do for the day (normally the first thing I tackle), we started by taking a taxi up to the Catacombe di San Gennaro. Visits are only allowed by guided tour and opening hours are reduced on Sunday to mornings only.

English tours depart every hour on the half hour and on this particular mid-morning Sunday in late April, the tours were packed. I’m not sure which is the limit on the amount of people allowed, but it might be a good idea to pre-book higher in the season. The French tour had a big group as well and there were even more people on the Italian tour.

The opening hours were the reason we started the day there, otherwise I would have gone first to the Capodimonte Museum with the taxi and then walked down to the Catacombs.

This was only our second experience with the underground cemeteries, a few weeks before we had been to the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome – highly recommended!- and from what I had read, the Catacombe di San Gennaro would be very different. And they were...

<i><b>To Continue Reading:</i></b>
https://stellasspoon.com/2017/06/06/...up-old-napoli/

thursday ... I am blond and blue-eyed and apparently that is all that counts. It was January and they had not seen a blond since September

Thank you for coming back and finishing this report @marigross!! I am re-reading your other topics on your stellasspoon.com blog. Once again I love the way you write. I do await that novel!! I don't write but I paint and cook and many,many of my paintings of our markets from our travels nothing better....
question, did you create your own spreadsheet or use a template ? I like your format much better than most I have seen. I am obsessed with starting this for my own troops. Not sure DH will be pleased !!

Hi Heart!!! Thank you.

I just started an Excel spreadsheet eons ago. Over the years it has gotten the way I like it. I have no problem sharing it but I have not written instructions to go along with it.

you could market it! I would love it if you shared. Not an excel expert but I am sure I can figure it out.....
Kim

<b>Day 4: Monday, 1st of April

<i>Uncompromising Capri</b></i>

There is just something about Mediterranean Blue. A sense of depth and wisdom so very different from the colors of my native Caribbean. Their intense sapphire and lapis lazuli contrasting against our sparkling turquoise and topaz.

Until the moment we headed out to take the ferry from Naples to Capri we had only seen the sea in the distance. It beckoned. We were ready to answer its call.

We had inquired about transportation to the dock in Naples at the La Terrazza di Napoli B&B reception but had not really made arrangements, so we were rather surprised when we found a taxi driver waiting for us in the courtyard when came back from getting our coffees to check out. Allrightythen…

The driver spoke a ‘tourist-proof’ Italian, slow and clear enough that we could converse perfectly with our Spanish/English/Pidgin Italian mix. Maybe the running commentary was intended to distract us from the eyebrow-raising, breath-quickening driving required to navigate the narrow, maze-like streets of the Centro Storico and the madness of the traffic around the harbor. But it was very enjoyable, we made it in one piece and the price was not far from the €20 we expected on the 1st of May ‘festivo’ day.

I must say that level of confusion outside the ferry terminal and the ticket offices was not, by far, the worse I have seen. Matter of fact, the transport and purchasing of the tickets went so smoothly that we made it to the 10:35am ferry instead of the later one we had targeted.

Since we had barely made it into the boat, we had to sit inside for the ride. The hydrofoil was so smooth you could hardly feel the rolling waves. There was ‘official’ drink service, souvenir bag sellers, trinket peddlers and several tour sales people trying to capture their clients before disembarking.

To see these professional sellers hawking their tours is fascinating. First, they all speak at least 4 different languages, and very well. Then they come up with maps and pictures, and talk so pretty! Offering to buy the return boat tickets for a small additional fee so that the potential customers did not have to worry about a thing. I’ll give it them, they filled about 6 different tour buses and that was only within my hearing distance.

The one thing I noticed was that no one, not a single one, mentioned the Blue Grotto. But I still did not make the connection….


<b><i>To Continue Reading: </b></i>

http://stellasspoon.com/2017/06/07/u...omising-capri/

oh marigross, how you bring back memories of Capri to me, but it was the Capri of 40 years ago, when DH & I visited spent a week in Sorrento [even before he was my DH, hope my mum's not reading this!]. Like you we were there in May, and we did a day trip to Capri. So far as I remember, there were no crowds at all.

[i do however remember throwing up in the harbour when we had landed, so upset was my stomach by the very short ferry ride].

Despite that I think that we did a tour of the Blue Grotto, but that is a very vague recollection. I do remember a lot of walking and a pizza.

The views are indeed wonderful [terrific photos BTW] but I think that our days of walking up and down those hills are probably over.

Enjoying this marigross.

I've been a bit intellectually handicapped since my accident in April, and although I keep looking for your spreadsheet, I can't find it. Is it linked here? Is there a picture? Am I irretrievably dense? Help please!

No Tuscan, you are good! Hope you are feeling better and back home.

The Spreadsheet got a photo in the Rome Report and since then my hidden OCD travel-planning methods got revealed to the world.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...bstory_index=0

Great writing!!!!