The birthplace of pizza

On our last day in Italy we took the fast train from Rome to Naples for the day. With no real agenda, when we got out of the train station we decided to walk towards the water and spend the time along the waterfront. We passed through the “real” Naples that most tourists don’t see. A lot of old run down buildings but with so much personality!

We also saw a some cool historic buildings as we walked along the waterfront. The first building is the Palazzo dell Immacolatella, built in the 1740’s. The 2nd building is the Castel Nuovo, built in 1279.

Up on a hill we could see Castel Sant’Elmo, a medieval fortress built in 1275.

The view along the waterfront. We saw several cruise ships in port but we didn’t see any big “cruise ship” crowds where we were.

A new bird for me was the yellow legged gull which is similar but larger to our lesser black backed gulls and smaller than the greater black backed gull.

Looking at Mount Vesuvius that erupted in 79AD.

We were more than an hour’s walk from the train station and in a local area when we found a pizza place. I think we were the only tourists there and the waiter barely spoke English but we managed. I’m not sure why my pizza looks so much larger in the picture but they were the same size. They both were great but we could barely eat a little more than half. I at least ate all of the middle part.

We spent some time roaming around the Piazza del Plebiscito, the largest square in Naples. It was built in the first half of the 19th century out of volcanic rock from Mount Vesuvius.

Our last stop before heading back to the train station late that afternoon was to get our last gelato of the trip. So good and I now miss our daily gelato treats. We never saw any big crowds here and it was nice to hang out with the locals.

On our way home after 2 weeks in Italy.

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Some iconic sights of Italy

Brett and I recently spent 2 weeks in Italy for the first time.  We spent a week in Rome with one day in Naples and a week on a tour through Tuscany. We were traveling light with only a small carry-on and backpack each and I didn’t bring any of my camera equipment so all of my shots are with my phone. These are all just highlights of the iconic sights that we saw. The lines to get in the Colosseum were wrapped around the building. People were waiting hours to get in and that was with a ticket or tour so we didn’t go inside.

The Pantheon in Rome.

The Trevi Fountain. The crowds in Rome and Florence were insane and we were there during the supposed “shoulder-season” (which doesn’t exist here anymore). People told me to get to the fountain early to avoid the crowds but the only time it’s only lightly crowded was between 3am and 5am.

Florence from outside the walls.

The Duomo church in Florence.

The Cathedral of Pisa (next to the Leaning Tower) was completed in 1092.

The iconic Leaning Tower.

One of the 3 villages in the Cinque Terre that we visited. I think this was my favorite day. It was beautiful!

Mount Vesuvius (seen from the waterfront in Naples) that erupted on Pompeii in 79AD.

Not so iconic but this is Monticatini Terme where our hotel was during our stay in Tuscany. It’s near Florence and centrally located to many of the best Tuscan cities. We fell in love with this small town. The crowds were not there, the people were so nice and it was quiet and charming.

I’ll go into more details later when I get through my 1300+ pictures I took.

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