Day 36 - Naples Catacombs and Castle
Today was an underground day, mostly. One of the reasons for coming here was to see the historic underbelly of Naples - the Catacombs.
The Catacombs were not developed because of any persecution or clandestine alternative, they simply were developed because back in history it was not hygienic to bury people near a populated areas so they had to be buried outside the city walls. The rich didn’t want to be buried and forgotten so they paid to be buried in these catacombs after being dried out (yes, gruesome I know particularly as they were put in the recesses until all the blood and other liquids had drained out of the body before being entombed. Mostly the Benedictine Monks did this (nice way to earn some cash) and to expediate the process would squash the body (removing the head first). By squashing the body they could get a couple of people in the same recess - economical. Families of the notability and the mega rich would pay for an alcove where they could all be squashed and fittied one on top of the other for eternity - or so they thought; as it happens, as the city grew they had to move the bodies out of the Catacombs (no bodies to see now) to a burial site quite far out of the city - so they never stayed together anyway! The really big cheeses got to have their skulls mounted in the walls as pictures with odd skeletal bodies.
After leaving the San Gennaro Catacombs via the back door - through the Naples Hospital and past the mortuary (appropriate) I did feel slightly uncomfortable and quickened my pace - it was very, very seedy down some streets until I hit the main road.
The afternoon was spent in the Castle at the port which was a total waste of 6 euros - rubbish the building is all about the outside and not worth paying to go in. After this disappointment I wandered around the streets down this end of Naples - oh what a lovely area. Note for future: book accomodation around the Municipo / Toledo / Chiaia areas.
Lovely area around the Piazza Plebicito and the little streets with the best shopping areas leading up to Toledo. However, there’s always a down side, the heavens opened whilst I was here and most of the streets are on slopes so the rain just runs down in rivers. I got soaked so decided to sit the deluge out in a little street restaurant that had a tv and watched the Belgium game and had an early dinner with a glass of wine or two.
Got back in time to find a bar near the B&B showing the England game so settled down with some English and Aussie people to watch the game and have a glass of wine with some snacks - perfect.
The Catacombs were not developed because of any persecution or clandestine alternative, they simply were developed because back in history it was not hygienic to bury people near a populated areas so they had to be buried outside the city walls. The rich didn’t want to be buried and forgotten so they paid to be buried in these catacombs after being dried out (yes, gruesome I know particularly as they were put in the recesses until all the blood and other liquids had drained out of the body before being entombed. Mostly the Benedictine Monks did this (nice way to earn some cash) and to expediate the process would squash the body (removing the head first). By squashing the body they could get a couple of people in the same recess - economical. Families of the notability and the mega rich would pay for an alcove where they could all be squashed and fittied one on top of the other for eternity - or so they thought; as it happens, as the city grew they had to move the bodies out of the Catacombs (no bodies to see now) to a burial site quite far out of the city - so they never stayed together anyway! The really big cheeses got to have their skulls mounted in the walls as pictures with odd skeletal bodies.
After leaving the San Gennaro Catacombs via the back door - through the Naples Hospital and past the mortuary (appropriate) I did feel slightly uncomfortable and quickened my pace - it was very, very seedy down some streets until I hit the main road.
The afternoon was spent in the Castle at the port which was a total waste of 6 euros - rubbish the building is all about the outside and not worth paying to go in. After this disappointment I wandered around the streets down this end of Naples - oh what a lovely area. Note for future: book accomodation around the Municipo / Toledo / Chiaia areas.
Lovely area around the Piazza Plebicito and the little streets with the best shopping areas leading up to Toledo. However, there’s always a down side, the heavens opened whilst I was here and most of the streets are on slopes so the rain just runs down in rivers. I got soaked so decided to sit the deluge out in a little street restaurant that had a tv and watched the Belgium game and had an early dinner with a glass of wine or two.
Got back in time to find a bar near the B&B showing the England game so settled down with some English and Aussie people to watch the game and have a glass of wine with some snacks - perfect.
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