For preservation, all most of the "good stuff" from Pompeii and Herculaeum was moved to the Naples National Museum. Which means, no trip to Pomepii and Herculaeum is complete with out visiting the National Museum. Luckily for me my hostel was literally right around the corner, so one morning I headed over. There were about ten tour buses outside, so I waited in line and eventually got in-
These are some is a mosaics from the two sites-
It was pretty cool, kind of small but packed full of stuff. I went thru in about 3 hours. Oh, and the National Museum is also home to the "curiosities room"... which is somewhat scandalous for a museum and is kind of hidden away in a corner on a half floor. You have to be over 16 (or with a parent to get in)-- it is all the murals and statues that were taken from brothels in Pompeii/Herculaeum. Scandalous! And very graphic. No, I did not take pictures (although a lot of people did).
Then I walked (and it was a LONG walk) ...but I figured I should walk as much as possible since all I had been eating was amazing pizza and gelato for days ... to Castle dell'Ovo, which sits right on the bay of Naples-
It is called the "Egg Castle" since according to legend when it was being built a monk put an egg in the fortifications to keep it strong. Yeah, I didn't really get the legend maybe something is lost in the translation? Although this spot has been home to a few castles, this castle has been here since the 15th century, so maybe the good luck egg worked. And has quite a view (which I suppose is why it was a good place for a castle!)-
View over the side. Yikes-
And the best part was it was free! I could have sat up there all day, it was so beautiful. But I didn't as I still had a palace to see. And also it's super lonely to sit in super romantic spots all alone... so depressing!! Sometimes most of the time in Italy I felt like it was all couples on their honeymoon.... and me! :)
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