The birthplace of pizza

On January 19, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation4 Comments

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.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Some iconic sights of Italy

On October 15, 2025October 31, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation14 Comments

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.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

On July 25, 2019July 26, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Vacation6 Comments

This was our first trip to this park, just outside of Naples,Florida. It has trails and boardwalks that goes through a swamp in central Florida. I was hoping there would be more birds here since it was the end of April and spring migration was still going on but the boardwalk was pretty quiet.

One cool thing about the park was all of the old trees which kept the boardwalk shaded.

It wouldn’t be a swamp with alligators but it was fun seeing the otter near the boardwalk.

Views from the boardwalk taken with my phone.

After the park, Brett and I left Naples behind and headed home to Tampa. I wanted to take some pictures of the Sunshine Skyway bridge as we drove over but the love bugs were so bad that our windshield was covered in them. The funny thing is that our car wasn’t nearly as bad as other cars and vans that had come from much farther south. Of course, Brett washed the car as soon as we got home.

Serendipity is Sweet

Boring vacation pictures

On July 11, 2019June 21, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation6 Comments

View of the beach from the Naples pier before sunset.

Shots above are from the Naples beach at the hotel we stayed at. All private condos on both sides of our hotel so the beach was pretty quiet.

View from our room. Watching the sun come up in the morning and then the storms roll in during the afternoon before dinner. We didn’t splurge for a beach view since we live in Tampa and spend a fair amount of time on the beach. If you are coming from up north, I highly recommend getting the beach view anywhere you stay if possible. We stayed at the Edgewater Beach Resort which was nice and quiet while we were there.

Our view eating lunch at the Tin City marina.

Back at our hotel after dinner. One night the storms came in so no sunset.

The last night we were there, a huge fire had been burning close by and covered the sunset in smoke.

SkyWatch Friday

Beautiful flowers in Naples

On July 9, 2019July 9, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

Lots of pretty flowers at the Naples Botanical Gardens.

Lots of little critters too.

Shots of the gardens during our long weekend in Naples for a staycation in late May.

The one picture I took at the Naples Zoo above. A statue of a turtle in the ocean made out of recycled plastic which was cool. I didn’t love the zoo. It was a few minutes from our hotel so we stopped in before lunch. I felt like you couldn’t see the animals very well based on how they had the exhibits set up. You had to wait in line to board a small boat to cruise around a small pond to see the primates. You couldn’t just walk around and view them. It was too hot to wait so we left. We are spoiled living so close the Tampa zoo which is soooo much better.

“A three hour tour!”

On July 8, 2019July 9, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Vacation5 Comments

While we were in Naples we took a boat ride around the bay and out to a spoil island. We passed the big boats and big houses near the marina.

It was a beautiful day out and there was not much traffic on the water.

We saw so many dolphins along the way. They were coming right up to the boat. The bottom two shots I took with my phone.

A lot of the channel markers had osprey nests on them. Most of the babies were grown up and yelled as we went by.

We cruised for almost an hour to a spoil island where there was no one else on the beach. Just us and a few other people that were on the boat. We walked around for close to an hour looking for shells.

Not many birds on the beach but far away we saw an osprey had caught a fish and had landed on the beach with it before taking off again.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup Our World Tuesday Graphic

Bursting with color.

On July 1, 2019June 14, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants, Vacation2 Comments

Blooming things at the Naples Botanical Gardens.

Little critters.

In the butterfly house, we got to see some butterflies emerging before they had started flying.

Zooming in across the street from the gardens, it looked like someone was clearing a field.Probably another subdivision going up.

We spent a hot morning walking around the Naples Botanical Gardens during our trip in late April. So many bright colors.

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Enjoying a sunset with hundreds of other people.

On June 20, 2019June 7, 2019 By dinajohnstonIn Vacation3 Comments

In late April, Brett and I decided to head down to Naples for a couple of days. We had not been to this part of Florida before and always passed the signs to get off when we’re driving over to Fort Lauderdale to visit his family. It’s only a little over 2 hours away so it was nice to throw a bag in the car and be on vacation so quickly. Naples is very different from the beach area in Tampa bay. Much more quiet and secluded. Except for our first night there, we decided to go to the public pier after dinner to see the sunset and since it was a Sunday night, so did everyone else. I’m glad we went since it was cloudy the remaining nights we were there.

SkyWatch Friday