Naples

The monastery of Santa Chiara in the old town.

Today I got up early to get Gabriella, Leonie and Rubina from the airport. The first part takes 10 minutes, and the last km takes 15 minutes, with buses, trams, cars and pedestrians all trying to get in and out of Place Garibaldi. This time, we don't get lost walking.

The craziness of the place is rubbing off.

Closed in shopping centre

Lunch was anchovies done rollmop style with vinegary red onions, and creamy fennel sauce, really amazing. The restaurants have a lot of competition, and have been great. We stopped at an old nunnery where they care for kids. You follow another street that's about a car and a half wide, go through an arch, then arrive in a big courtyard. Entering the church, we're at choir level. Every piece of wood is hand sculpted, the roof painted, and the grill incredibly ornate. The nuns would normally go in for life, and never appear again. It's a large island in the middle of the street chaos outside. The roof above slopes down so the old ones can lie down on it, and attend mass.

Piazza Plebiscito

Ollie and Leonie at our place.

Santa Chiara monastery is similar but bigger. Lemon and orange trees drop their fruit on the grass. Each path is lined with tiled columns. Each scrap of wall is coloured with frescoes, or more tiles. The library has 500 year old hand written colour books, some of which are starting to decay on the spine. There's some ancient baths being unearthed in one of the gardens.

Rubina and Louis walk the streets.