After two days of intense walking and tons of activities, we decided to sleep a little later on Sunday. Spent some time with God after waking up since we couldn’t find a church to go to; it was Sunday after all. As usual, we headed downstairs for breakfast – our last in Grand Hotel Oriente since we were going to check out from here and move down the road to a cheaper hotel, Hotel Executive (rooms here cost S$240 a night, compared to S$117 down the road).
We gobbled down our breakfast and proceeded to bid our farewell to the hotel, paying €2 for a bottle of sparkling water we took from the fridge (they don’t serve complimentary bottled water here). Dragging our luggage down the street was
more difficult than I thought with the cobbled stones on the pavement and the tiled roads! By the time we reached the next hotel, my arm had almost gone numb. But we couldn’t check in till after 12 noon, we were told, as the rooms weren’t ready yet.
So off to the market we went again. As we walked around, we realised that everything around us was closed. We thought it was a morning thing but later found out it was a Sunday thing. Even the McDonald’s next to our hotel was closed! It was like a ghost town.
According to the guidebook, La Pignasseca was the only market that was open on Sunday so we headed back there again. This time round (probably because it was quite late) more stalls were open. We relished the sight and smells of more live seafood, fresh flowers and delectable confectionery and pastries. There were more fake handbags on sale too – guess all the peddlers were eager to cash in on the weekend crowd. We walked along and found a fruit stall, so we bought ourselves a pear and some strawberries since our diet consisted of nothing but junk in the past few days. Gobbling down the sweet strawberries, we reached the end of La Pignasecca without coming across anything else that caught our fancy.
With everything else closed and nothing much else to do, we decided to do the customary tourist thing and see the city via the Napoli City Sightseeing bus (similar to our Hippo Tours, where all the ang mohs would hop on to see Chinatown, Esplanade and other such touristy places) . We took a walk towards Castel Nuovo where the bus terminus was. We sauntered around Castel Nuovo a bit and snapped some pics, since it was one of the many legendary, must-see sights in Naples. Never in my life have I come up close and personal with so many castles within such a short span of time (this was the second one after Castel Sant Angelo in Rome the day before).
The bus that we wanted to take, the route that travels along the bay of Naples, came by but it was too full to get on. I suppose we were not the only ones who wanted to see the postcard picturesque view of Naples with Mt Vesuvius in the background. After a few no-goes with the next few buses (credit card machine not working, too many people, among other reasons we couldn’t fathom because of the guides’ atrocious English), we were starting to get impatient so we just hopped on the next bus (the historic route) that came along.
We got off at Piazza Dante, after passing by some sections of the ‘old Naples’ with the chapels and medieval buildings, which is supposedly some intellectual corner with all the old bookshops (probably an equivalent of our old Bras Basah) and Speakers’ Corner-esque activities at night. We got on to another bus (the artistic route), which brought us past the Museo Archelogico (an archeological museum with artefacts excavated from Pompei and Herculaneum), the Sant Gennaro chapel (with the catacombs underneath, yikes!), the MADRE art gallery (some hip-and-happening contemporary art place) and the Museo e Bosco di Capodimonte (their national museum?). We got off the bus near Hotel Executive as it was past 12 noon so it was time to check in.
Our new hotel had a classic, rustic charm to it. It gave a homelier, cosier feel compared to the hotel we were in the past few nights. At S$117 a night, it was also relatively smaller than the previous S$240 a night room. But who cares, we only needed a place to lay our head and shower. After checking in (our luggage had been brought up to the room once it was ready) and going up to our room, we asked the guy at the recep for a recommendation for lunch. We were famished! He pointed us towards Ciro’s, a tratorria along Via Medina, a street perpendicular to where we were and just a 5 mins walk from the hotel. Along the way, we gave a quick call home to Vel who was at my parents’ since it was Deepavali back in Singapore.
The lunch, as expected, was fabulous. We realised that it was a norm to have pizza as an appetiser before the meal. Knowing that the pizza was too much for either of us to finish, we ordered one to share. The shocker of shockers was our main course of spaghetti. When we asked for a recommendation, the head waiter told us of their ‘special of the day’, with tomatoes from Vesuvio and something which we couldn’t figure out ‘fresh from the sea’ (we thought it was clams or something). It turned out to be lobster. Penny couldn’t stop laughing when she my face as I thought to myself, ‘Jia lat, kena ketok liao’. Praise the Lord the bill only came up to about €50, considered a reasonable amount for a decent meal.
We left Ciro’s feeling absolutely delighted with our lunch and headed back to the front of Castel Nuovo to wait for the Bay of Naples City Sightseeing bus. Surprisingly, it was quite empty now, perhaps because it was already rather late in the afternoon (it was about 3:30PM by the time we boarded the bus). We found a good seat on the upper deck and couldn’t wait for the bus to move off.
It plied along Via Parthenope by the sea, passing by Villa Communale along the way, before we hit Via Posillipo where the swanky residences are. From the top deck, we could see boardwalks extended from people’s houses and there were actually people sunbathing in the 20˚C weather! Insane!! It was windy as hell and it didn’t help that in our haste to fill our stomachs I had forgotten to bring my sweater with me! The bus came to a stop at a point that provided that typical tourist postcard shot – a full view of the Bay of Naples with Mt Vesuvius in the background. The bus moved along after everyone had their fill of snapping. On the way back, the bus plied along the sea again, passing Castel Dell’Ovo along the way and finally coming to a halt at the front of Castel Nuovo.
We gobbled down our breakfast and proceeded to bid our farewell to the hotel, paying €2 for a bottle of sparkling water we took from the fridge (they don’t serve complimentary bottled water here). Dragging our luggage down the street was
more difficult than I thought with the cobbled stones on the pavement and the tiled roads! By the time we reached the next hotel, my arm had almost gone numb. But we couldn’t check in till after 12 noon, we were told, as the rooms weren’t ready yet.So off to the market we went again. As we walked around, we realised that everything around us was closed. We thought it was a morning thing but later found out it was a Sunday thing. Even the McDonald’s next to our hotel was closed! It was like a ghost town.
According to the guidebook, La Pignasseca was the only market that was open on Sunday so we headed back there again. This time round (probably because it was quite late) more stalls were open. We relished the sight and smells of more live seafood, fresh flowers and delectable confectionery and pastries. There were more fake handbags on sale too – guess all the peddlers were eager to cash in on the weekend crowd. We walked along and found a fruit stall, so we bought ourselves a pear and some strawberries since our diet consisted of nothing but junk in the past few days. Gobbling down the sweet strawberries, we reached the end of La Pignasecca without coming across anything else that caught our fancy.
With everything else closed and nothing much else to do, we decided to do the customary tourist thing and see the city via the Napoli City Sightseeing bus (similar to our Hippo Tours, where all the ang mohs would hop on to see Chinatown, Esplanade and other such touristy places) . We took a walk towards Castel Nuovo where the bus terminus was. We sauntered around Castel Nuovo a bit and snapped some pics, since it was one of the many legendary, must-see sights in Naples. Never in my life have I come up close and personal with so many castles within such a short span of time (this was the second one after Castel Sant Angelo in Rome the day before).
The bus that we wanted to take, the route that travels along the bay of Naples, came by but it was too full to get on. I suppose we were not the only ones who wanted to see the postcard picturesque view of Naples with Mt Vesuvius in the background. After a few no-goes with the next few buses (credit card machine not working, too many people, among other reasons we couldn’t fathom because of the guides’ atrocious English), we were starting to get impatient so we just hopped on the next bus (the historic route) that came along.
We got off at Piazza Dante, after passing by some sections of the ‘old Naples’ with the chapels and medieval buildings, which is supposedly some intellectual corner with all the old bookshops (probably an equivalent of our old Bras Basah) and Speakers’ Corner-esque activities at night. We got on to another bus (the artistic route), which brought us past the Museo Archelogico (an archeological museum with artefacts excavated from Pompei and Herculaneum), the Sant Gennaro chapel (with the catacombs underneath, yikes!), the MADRE art gallery (some hip-and-happening contemporary art place) and the Museo e Bosco di Capodimonte (their national museum?). We got off the bus near Hotel Executive as it was past 12 noon so it was time to check in.
Our new hotel had a classic, rustic charm to it. It gave a homelier, cosier feel compared to the hotel we were in the past few nights. At S$117 a night, it was also relatively smaller than the previous S$240 a night room. But who cares, we only needed a place to lay our head and shower. After checking in (our luggage had been brought up to the room once it was ready) and going up to our room, we asked the guy at the recep for a recommendation for lunch. We were famished! He pointed us towards Ciro’s, a tratorria along Via Medina, a street perpendicular to where we were and just a 5 mins walk from the hotel. Along the way, we gave a quick call home to Vel who was at my parents’ since it was Deepavali back in Singapore.
The lunch, as expected, was fabulous. We realised that it was a norm to have pizza as an appetiser before the meal. Knowing that the pizza was too much for either of us to finish, we ordered one to share. The shocker of shockers was our main course of spaghetti. When we asked for a recommendation, the head waiter told us of their ‘special of the day’, with tomatoes from Vesuvio and something which we couldn’t figure out ‘fresh from the sea’ (we thought it was clams or something). It turned out to be lobster. Penny couldn’t stop laughing when she my face as I thought to myself, ‘Jia lat, kena ketok liao’. Praise the Lord the bill only came up to about €50, considered a reasonable amount for a decent meal.
We left Ciro’s feeling absolutely delighted with our lunch and headed back to the front of Castel Nuovo to wait for the Bay of Naples City Sightseeing bus. Surprisingly, it was quite empty now, perhaps because it was already rather late in the afternoon (it was about 3:30PM by the time we boarded the bus). We found a good seat on the upper deck and couldn’t wait for the bus to move off.
It plied along Via Parthenope by the sea, passing by Villa Communale along the way, before we hit Via Posillipo where the swanky residences are. From the top deck, we could see boardwalks extended from people’s houses and there were actually people sunbathing in the 20˚C weather! Insane!! It was windy as hell and it didn’t help that in our haste to fill our stomachs I had forgotten to bring my sweater with me! The bus came to a stop at a point that provided that typical tourist postcard shot – a full view of the Bay of Naples with Mt Vesuvius in the background. The bus moved along after everyone had their fill of snapping. On the way back, the bus plied along the sea again, passing Castel Dell’Ovo along the way and finally coming to a halt at the front of Castel Nuovo.
We took a walk back to Piazza Plebiscito, where the concert was a few nights back, since it was nearby - we wanted to take a look at it during the day. We hung around and snapped some photos and made our way into the Royal Palace. To our surprise, the ineterior had actually been converted into a museum.
Arty farty sculptures aplenty, we walked further in and ventured into the museum which housed displays of items and artefacts that were used in previous productions staged at Teatro San Carlo, the oldest theatre in Italy. We milled around a bit, being our usual nonsense self and trying to make sense of the arty stuff.
Though we failed, we tried to sneak into the Teatro San Carlo for a peek. Unfortunately, it was under renovation and the fursthest we went was the stairs at the entrance. As we made our way back, we strolled pass Galleria Umberto just to gawk at the intricate architecture. This was another old, colonial building refurbished to house high-end designer boutiques today. With nothing else to do, we made our way back to the hotel to get some rest before coming out again to hunt for our dinner.We set out at about 6:30PM and decided to hit the streets again. We were not very hungry as the pizza and lobster spaghetti we had for lunch was still very much in our stomachs. Since we were quite tired with restaurant food, we walked down
Corso Umberto in search of a small café or pizzeria to junk on some nonsense. Unfortunately, everything was closed as we trudged along although it was only 7PM. We finally decided to call it quits when we walked two-thirds of the looong Corso Umberto and reached Piazza Nicola Amore. As we circled the square, we noticed lights coming from a small shop selling cigarettes and titbits (kinda like a mamak stall). Delighted to see that something was open, we walked in and bought ourselves some titbits to bring back to the hotel.
We munched on our crackers and Tronky and washed it down with Coke as we vegetated in front of the TV. What a way to spend a Sunday evening when you’re halfway round the world. Penny was quite tired so she slept early. Me, I spent the rest of the night watching Back to the Future II in Italian. It didn’t matter thatIdon't speak Italian as I’d seen this movie umpteen times and knew the dialogue at the back of my hand.As I went to sleep, I noticed that the clock on the TV read 20:32 while it was already 9:30PM on my watch. Strange…
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