In case it isn't obvious: I'm the one that does the majority of our travel planning. I'm usually the one that finds the venues, books the tickets, figures out how to get where we want to go, etc. Most of the time, I think I do a pretty good job of it, too. But even I make dumb mistakes every now and then.
I was looking forward to a visit to the Cimitero delle Fontanelle - one of several ossuaries in Napoli. This one is interesting as it is mainly a collection of skulls located inside a cave. Creepy fun! Looking at Google Maps, I determined that we would take the metro out to Materdei station and from there, it would be a "mostly flat" 9-minute walk.
Sometimes, Google Maps lies. Or else it has a strange definition of "flat." In any event, we did have to go down several steep flights of stairs to get down to Via Fontanelle where the Cimitero is located - which meant of course that we would have to climb back up later.
We navigated our way down the steps and up the street - a mix of dirty garages, seedy-looking little shops, and residential flats - only to be greeted by this:
Yup - it was closed, as per the sign on the gate. Somehow, I'd missed that when I looked up the opening hours online (I did check back later and sure enough, the site is listed as "temporarily closed" due to some ongoing renovations). Needless to say, I was super annoyed with myself. It did make me feel slightly better to see that I wasn't the only one who missed it: there was what appeared to be a tour group standing around in the street scratching their heads in puzzlement as well.
So, disappointed, we hiked back up the street - and climbed up all those steps, ugh - and returned to the station. Resting on a nearby bench, we caught our respective breaths and thought about what to do with our now wide-open day. Paolo suggested revisiting the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli - otherwise known as MANN. Although we previously visited this museum back in 2018, in that hot, sweaty, leg-aching moment, I just didn't have the energy to look for anything new-to-us to do. So we got ourselves back on the metro and rode out to Museo station - which has an exit right next to the museum.
Interior courtyard of the MANN
My man Claudius ❤
…and found some new exhibits and collections we hadn't seen on our first visit. There was a Gladiators exhibit this time around, which was interesting - and included skeletons of (probable) gladiators from what is now York, England. So I got to see some skulls after all!
Gladiator who likely got his head cut off in the arena in York
Ancient arena games-themed art
They also had an exhibit related to contemporary toys and games...it was a bit strange to see those items interspersed among the more classical collections:
Perhaps a modern artistic take on amphorae? The purple one on the right looked a bit like Grimace
Paolo particularly wanted to see the Magna Grecia collection, which I think we might have missed last time we visited:
The flooring throughout this exhibit area is part of the collection - we had to wear these special booties while in this part of the museum
Detail from the artwork on the vase above
I don't know why, but I like this amusing little guy.
So - a day that started out as something of a disappointment ended up being pretty great after all. We concluded our day with an excellent meal; we were excited to find that there was a well-rated Japanese restaurant about a three minute walk from our hotel. I'd definitely recommend Koi if you're in Napoli and in the mood for something other than pizza:
And so ended our visit to Napoli; we spent half the next day on trains heading home (well worth it too, as I would never, never want to bring a car into Napoli - I do not have a death wish). We were once again stopped by polizie at the train station for an ID check:
This time, they spent quite a few minutes scrutinizing our documents. One of the officers gave me a funny look and asked me (I think) to confirm that I am, in fact, Italian as he was scanning my Italian passport. "Sì, sì."
Hard to believe that two weeks from now, we'll be back in the US.