Neapolitan bricks

I don't think you can come to Naples and not do some washing to hang from the balcony, so that's what I did first thing.

Then I walked to Santa Chiara monastery (begun in 1310) mainly to see the pretty 1742 majolica columns and tiles in the cloister (extra 1). Watching a video of its history stopped me being quite so superficial. On 4 August 1943, British and American planes bombed this monastery, killing 70 people and causing immense destruction. The film footage from the time is devastating and shocking. Restoration work was completed in 1953.

Having seen the footage of smoke and rubble, I was astonished in the library to be able to look at some exquisite parchment survivors. What appealed to me most were huge 16th- and 17th-century leather-bound books of plainchant music with Latin words. I hadn't thought about it before but of course they had to be huge - it would have been far too much work to make one copy for every monk, and these books had room for at least ten to gather round. In contrast was a bible with minuscule writing. The bombs from the video hanging over my head made me wonder which war will destroy these and when.

My mood was lifted greatly to get a message from Firstborn to say he and A had arrived in Palermo. We start to converge!

Next stop: the sea to eat my picnic lunch. On the way I gazed at Castel Nuovo, suddenly found I was walking through the Galleria Umberto I (similar to the Galleria in Milan of the same name but, hey, if you've done something stupendous once, why not do it again?), wasn't desperately upset to find I'd missed the last tour of the day around San Carlo theatre, and was entranced by the brick sentry boxes outside the Royal Palace. When I finally found some shade I was very pleased to sit down and eat my lunch with Vesuvius and the Gulf of America Naples as my backdrop.

For understandable reasons, I was expecting Castel dell'Ovo to be egg-shaped. Very far from it - not a curve in sight. Its name comes from a medieval legend that said that the Roman poet Virgil, believed then to be a sorcerer, put a magical egg into the foundations to support the fortifications. The egg - along with his bones - remains there and if it breaks a series of disastrous events for Naples will ensue.

Before leaving tomorrow, I wanted a view of the city so I caught the Funiculare Centrale up to Castel Sant'Elmo. More walking, more climbing but absolutely worth it. The view across to Vesuvius was sharp and I heard a cycle tour guide tell his charges that it was this clear only about three times a year. I think that's an underestimate, but I gather that it is quite often hazy or shrouded in mist. Capri was also clear but the closest I got to that was to make myself a caprese salad when I got back to base, once I'd very carefully brought in the washing, making sure I dropped neither it nor the pegs onto the street. A skill I hadn't previously appreciated.


15km / 10 miles