This morning, I nearly required defibrillation. An explanation: onboard I’ve met 93 year old Harry, an American who fought in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge. Delightful chap from San Francisco. At breakfast, his partner mentioned that, yesterday in Rome, Harry bought a sweater. “Oh,” I said, “that’s nice. Get a good price?” “Yes, fourteen hundred Euros.”
We’ve now arrived in Naples and I’m still recovering. The ship has docked at the handsome Stazione Marittima. This is my third or fourth time here, but the first I’ve realized the terminal is a product of Fascism, completed in 1936.
From Veendam’s stern, a splendid view of Vesuvius across the bay.
At the bow I can see the Castel Nuovo, parts dating to the 13th Century and my destination for the morning. Aside from considerable antiquity …
… the castle’s a City of Naples museum with busts of local worthies …
… and two floors of paintings. This ‘Adoration of the Magi’ by Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans seems fairly standard until you bend down and examine the bottom righthand corner.
As well as the artist’s signature and painting’s date, 1707, is a dwarf, presumably brought along by the Magi to present gifts. However, the castle’s pride and joy are …
… 15th Century bronze doors, one with an embedded cannon ball. This was apparently not the result of an attack on the castle, but on a vessel in which the doors were being shipped. The cannon ball’s effects may have been less than the fourteen hundred Euro sweater on me.
I take a recuperative stroll …
Happy Neapolitan.
Pensive Neapolitan.
Thoughtful Neapolitan (and paintings not to my taste).
Click on a very odd sign.
Back to Veendam, temporary home of a sweater more expensive than my entire wardrobe.
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The Civitavecchia links in my previous post also include information on Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum.
