The Purple Penguin

So Joe, having heard me say ‘this is a reproduction, the original is in the museum in Naples’ many many many times while walking around Pompeii, said we had to go to The National Archaeological Museum of Naples. So he worked out the route which went from the main Pompeii rail station to the train station close to the museum (not the metro station at the museum but it was a short walk away – Napoli Piazza Cavour). We got up a bit later and had a coffee and pastry at the cafe at the station before getting on the train to Naples. Short walk to the museum – there was a rather large crowd outside, but when we got to the door there wasn’t anyone queuing to enter. There were school groups, but like at Pompeii we could avoid those.

We mainly concentrated on the Roman bits and pieces but it was a traditional museum with things just put in according to type with a brief label. So while interesting, it lacked context. Still nice to see the originals of things, though the Mosaic from the House of the Faun (Alexander or Issus) was being restored so not really visiable – could just see it through a window.

We also went through the secret rooms (where all the phalluses from Pompeii are) and the Magna Graecia collection. I expected getting into the Magna Graecia would be difficult with a queue, but we walked up the guard said ‘do you want to go in?’ we said ‘yes’ and she said ‘put on shoe covers!’ and we were in. Quiet season is definitely quiet.

The bookshop was difficult to find – it’s rather tucked away and we’re used to them being right by the entrance/exit. But we found it; however, the good guide book is only in Italian which was disappointing. Joe said he figured I could just use translate to read it but didn’t say because it was a larger heavier book and he didn’t want to carry it. So we got the smaller English language book. I then realised we hadn’t seen the frescos so off we headed to look for those.

It was a bit less walking – four hours instead of six – but our feet were tired. We had a late lunch/early supper in Naples at La Campagnola which was good food. Joe got gnocchi which was lovely and smoky, and I got a pizza. Now all the pizzas I’d seen had been one person pizza, not too small but doable. This one was definitely a two or three person pizza! It really overhung the plate. Joe helped me with the pizza by using the crust as the bread for his gnocchi (the crust was so good!) I still had to leave some. The train back was very crowded (quiet season does not extend to non-tourist stuff).

We then walked to the supermarket to pick up lunch stuff for tomorrow as we’re off to Ecrolano. I like supermarkets in other countries as it’s interesting to see what is available – different and the same as at home.