We are staying in an apartment on the fourth floor of a dilapidated building. Although the building is worn and shedding plaster, the apartment itself is well maintained. There are wide steps leading up to our floor.
On my way up the steps I noticed this shrine outside one of the other apartments in the building.
When we first arrived we ate a late lunch of bread, cheese and tomato left by the prevoius guests, seasoned with olive oil and vinegar which we found in the kitchen. It was a delicious lunch sitting on the open air terrace with a view to Vesuvius.
Every now and then we heard shouting and cheering and we soon realised that there was a football game going on somewhere. After lunch we went for a walk through the town's historic centre and saw groups of people watching the game on televisions set up in shops and piazzas. Very much a community event. The game was between Napoli and Roma and, judging by the cheering that we heard at about 5pm, Napoli were the victors! There were impromtu games of football occurring in the streets afterwards.
Later in the evening we went on a tour through tunnels 40 metres beneath Napoli's historic centre. The tunnels were first excavated by the Greeks who used the tufa stone to build the city above. The excavations then became cisterns for storing the town's water supply. The Romans extended the tunnels and cisterns. More recently, during WW II, the larger spaces were used as air raid shelters.
This part of the excavation lies beneath a church. In medieval times it was used by the monastics as a wine cellar. It also provided a retreat for monks and nuns who needed time alone. Many miracles are associated with this church including a number of virgin births.
As we walked through the historic centre we found the back lanes were almost empty, but the main streets, set up with outside stalls, were very busy. These streets were still very narrow and it was amazing that pedestrians and motor scooters and the occasional car all seemed to interweave harmoniously.
A lot of the stalls were selling 'ingredients' for elaborate nativity scenes - a reminder that Christmas is just around the corner.
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