We planned our trip to Naples some time ago, and Ian decided to join us for a visit. And then Jan’s brother Pete made a last minute decision to come as well. It’s turned into a bit of a family reunion, which is nice. We had a busy time last week, and Pete was recovering from jet lag, so we didn’t really have much of an agenda for the day. Pete suggested the journey should be the destination and that seemed fine to us. So we set out to explore the old city, starting with the Spanish quarter.

Take a closer look at the previous picture. At the end of the street you can see the corner of a castle, high on the hill. Pete thought the view would be great from up there and suggested we should try to find a path up. Jan looked up, and said “why not”?

You will not be surprised to hear that our search quickly led us to stairs. Many more stairs and steep paths followed this, but it didn’t take long before we had an unobstructed view of Mt Vesuvius.

But there was still a long way to go to the top.

Along the path we saw a number of fruit trees, growing in random bits of soil and patios.

At some point we started wondering if this hadn’t been such a good idea, but we kept climbing. There was still a long way to go.

But as hoped, the view kept getting better. We stopped to enjoy it, and to take more pictures.

And then, finally, we were at the top. We briefly considered going into the castle, but there was a fee, and we’ve already seen so many castles and churches. Besides, it was getting close to lunch. We decided to walk down the other side of the hill. Of course, the meant more stairs. So many more… Fortunately, they were mostly going downhill now.

This next picture is interesting because you can see how the soft stone is eroding faster than the mortar between the stones.

And along the way, more fruit trees.

At some point we ended up off the Google-approved path but the road was going down, so we pressed on. After all, the point of the day was to explore. At one point, we found ourselves on a very narrow street with a series of seven or eight tight switchbacks taking us down the side of the hill. Several had houses built into the hill, and cars parked along the road. We watched a car navigate the road, having to make a “five-point-turn” to get around the bend, rather than the more typical “three-point-turn” we think of. And that was with a small car.

I have no idea what this building is, but I liked the look of it so I took a picture. I know that will surprise those of you who know me…

When we got to the bottom, we looked up and realized we had essentially been walking down the outside of a massive retaining wall. Then we walked around the corner and discovered there was an elevator we could have taken down to the bottom. Suddenly we realized why we had ended up off the google-approved path.

Here’s another view showing you where we had just been.

By now we were getting hungry so we grabbed lunch at an outdoor cafe and then took a walk along the sea. You might think we’d had enough walking by this time, but I guess you would be wrong.

Then it was back to our hotel for a rest, but of course, that involved more walking, and more old buildings.

After a shower and a short rest, we headed for dinner at a lovely vegan restaurant near our hotel. But, by “near” I mean almost two kilometers. We walked, of course.

The day involved more walking than half of us are used to, and far more hills than we ever see at home. But everyone was in good humor for the day. As Jan pointed out, I also could have titled this post “whine not”.