In defence of Naples!

Eddie may already have (obviously unsuccessfully) tried to defend Naples to Harry. It is one of the highlights of Europe! The area around the train station is less than attractive and that around the archeological museum not exciting. Sadly the trip to Pompeii is even worse (makes Pompeii all the better though). But the upside is that those things scare most tourists away from the place... If you WERE to be stuck in Naples again today, you could, within a 500m radius:
1. walk down via dei Tribunali, the decumanus maior (yes, I'm taking risks moving out of English in current company) of ancient Neopolis. It remains the heart of what is now a noisy chaotic city of 3m. Are there any other cities where a good square mile of the original narrow Roman grid pattern is still in use?
2. visit the magnificent Duomo and go down to the remains of the Greek and Roman buildings on the same site, and back up at ground level see the oldest baptistry in Western Europe.
3. See Caravaggio's Seven Acts of Mercy, in a building where you'll be the only tourists (try that in Florence).
4. Go to Chiesa e Scavi di San Lorenzo Maggiore built in the 13 century and wander underground to see the excavations of the original Graeco-Roman city with roads lined with shops.
5. See Sanmartino's extraordinary sculptural depiction of Christ covered by a veil at Cappella Sansevero.
You could then look at some of the rest of the place, or just  have another pizza in the middle of the mad city that invented it.

Enough of a rant. Masters, you are doing a wonderful job leading these clever men! All please keep up the evocative blogs. (Hopefully this doesn't appear twice - I think my first attempt disappeared into the ether.)

Richard Scoular