The Spanish Quarter, Naples
Not another baroque church! I longed for a plain room with no decorations at this point. Interestingly, it turned out the church, a private chapel of a prince, held secret messages through Masonic symbols in the statuary. The Counterreformation was cracking down on intellectual inquiry. The prince and his followers were keeping it alive, hidden among Church icons.
Next we went to the archeological museum of treasures from Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Bourbons discovered the sites and took sculptures, frescoes, mosaics and silver for their palaces. Later the sites were excavated. Common objects, such as tools, very modern in appearance and function, were added to the collection. We were impressed with how much the Romans knew 2000 years ago and wondered what else they knew that never came down to us.
Later we went off in search of the real, modern Naples, the one with the bad reputation for crime and filth. We got lost and found ourselves in the so-called Spanish Quarter, a hodge-podge of narrow streets, hanging laundry, tiny shops and crazy motorcycles. It was so atmospheric and fun that we didn’t mind that we never got where we were going.
In the evening we had another feast, the farewell dinner of the tour. Great trip and great group of people.