Friday, March 15, 2013

Travel: Museo Archeologico Nazionale and other disasters

This museum is for those interested in or who've previously visited Pompeii and Herculaneum (Ercolano). It houses mosaics, frescoes, sculpture, a "secret chamber" of ancient erotica, and other choice artifacts removed from both sites. Additionally, the museum boasts wonderful, yet small and unrelated collections of gems and cameos, Greek and Roman sculptures, and ancient Egyptian artifacts.

It is important to note that the museum and its collections are small, security (physical and property) is lax, and entrance fees are grossly inflated for non-EU nationals.

After our museum visit, we trekked to Antica Pizzeria Da Michele for some of its famous margherita pizza. (On our walk we encountered Christmas Alley, which we'll revisit later). The line outside the restaurant was considerable, but we waited only 20 minutes for our number to be called. Five minutes after that we had our meal. But we didn't like it. The crust was soggy and the cheese poured off. The flavor was fine, but the texture and consistency were not. Another disappointment for us.

Thankfully, Napoli Centrale is roughly a half-mile from the restaurant, and an easy walk. Our luck didn't last, however. We missed the bus in Aversa and took a 3.5-mile taxi ride that cost 20 Euros, an outrageous ripoff.

We then drove to Vulcano Buono mall and learned that online shopping is our best option for clothing and shoe purchases. On the plus side, we did buy some new wines and produce to try.

Time at museum: 1.5 hours

Total cost: 65 Euros (entrance fees, transportation, and lunch)

No comments:

Post a Comment