NAPLES- chaos of the most entertaining kind! La Vida Dolci- the life of desserts!

I don't have too many pictures to start out with Naples, simply because there is too much here, and most photos can't capture it.  Unlike Rome and Florence, Naples is not filled with monuments, rather this is an exciting working city.  There is the port with fisherman, so tons of fish restaurants.  They were a great power, so the architecture is incredible.  This city is really something!  It is loud, dirty, crowded...... and interesting!  Just walking the streets, everything is old and re-purposed.  There are tons of shops but few big stores we are used to- seems every family owns a store!  Tons of restaurants, with some great looking food.  And loud!  Not so many cars, but lots of motor bikes and Vespas!  Everyone walking in the street while the bikes honk their way thru!  It is like chaos that works!  

But this is what I love: usually the police stand around in groups of 5 or 10 all smoking, talking. looking at cell phones.  Traffic laws seem more like a suggestion- not even a recommendation:-)  People just cross the street and cars come to a halt.  Yesterday, the police were actually controlling traffic, and stopped the pedestrians so the cars and bikes could clear thru.   This woman started to walk across anyway, and the police said to wait- she stated arguing with the police about why she couldn't cross!!!  He argued back, and she stayed!  I loved it!  If that was the US, the cop would have pulled his gun, had her restrained and charged her with a terrorist plot and the ever-present "disobeying a police officer"!  But it seems to work- the trains are actually on time, very few cars have dents in them, and there are no bodies on the streets!

The archeological museum is incredible as it contains so much of the art from Pompeii and Herculaneum.  There are also catacombs!  But wandering the city and eating the strange foods are the best!

 The ever-present Vesuvius!

 The castle in the port.  This dates from about (I think) the 1300's.  As a castle/fort, it was tasked with defending the city.  Now, it is filled with shops and restaurants, defending the economy:-).  We ate an excellent, if not pricey, dinner here.  It was well worth the Euro's!

The catacombs!  They date from the 300's (yes- they are 1700 years old!).  There are still frescoes here!  And the restoration/excavation of the catacombs continues.

Rich eating our new favorite food!  These are fried zuchinni flowers.  I kid you not, they are delicious!  Sometimes they are filled with mozzarela!  Delicious!

These are the most delicious desserts: named "Baba's".  They drench them in rum when you buy them!  Rum Baba's!  Who knew!