Naples in October - Day 2

On Monday we decide to have a quieter day, plus we need to do some shopping so in the morning we go towards the historical centre for a walk, 

but soon go into the first church we encounter which is Chiesa di Gesù Nuovo. The church is a triumph of overstated baroque, more overwhelming than inspiring although we do stand and stare for a while especially at the two carved wood lipsanoteche in a side altar - carefully catalogued reliques of saints lined up 5x7 on two facing walls. 

The next church we go into is San Domenico Maggiore. 

This is less overpowering and has some fine frescoes by Pietro Cavallini, especially beautiful are the Maddalena penitente, the Crucifixion and the Noli me tangere. There's also a fine painting of Virgin of the milk in the next chapel.

The morning is passing quickly so we go to the market in Via Pignasecca and buy some fruit, especially "loti" which aren't sold up north. It's Monday so there's no fish, but there is tripe, cooked and ready to eat and since we like it and rarely eat it, that solves our lunch. It's good and not at all chewy.

We've booked our free afternoon visit to Castel dell'Ovo for three p.m. so we leave the apartment shortly before two because it's quite a long walk down to the sea. On the way we see some of the landmarks of Naples - Piazza Plebiscito in particular. There are lots of people around.

Our visit to the castle is disappointingly quick. Most of it is reserved for paid guided visits not for our free visit, so we just get to see a small corner and the view.

After, we continue along the seafront, but it's noisy with the several lanes of busy traffic, hardly a relaxing walk. We finally see some benches outside the Villa Comunale and sit a while then continue on down to the short pedestrian area of the seafront and then back through the Villa Comunale - quiet and pleasant, the Chiaia area of designer boutiques where there's a splendid fountain of lions 

and finally Via Toledo towards home. We pause at Leopoldo Infante for a Sfogliatella and a small Pastiera and get 'home' fit to drop!