Pbenjay's Blog

Thursday morning the alarms went off and we were out the door to meet Tina ( our friend from Molise/Campobasso), who was kind enough to join us on our trip to Caserta, but also to drive.

Tina is gracious, generous and the kind of Italian mother you’ve heard about….She has two sons who she loves dearly and within two minutes in her company, Joel became a prince.  If he wasn’t finished with his coffee, we would wait, because this was to be a free fun day with no rules!  You know that was music to his ears after 3 days with me, who was trying to get him up early to eat breakfast before noon!

We got in the car to go and Joel thought he should go back in the bar to get water.  Not necessary – Tina has bottles of frozen water packed, along with lunch for a picnic on the grounds of the Royal Palace.

Finally I was making the trip to Caserta to see The Royal Palace, the House of the Kings of Naples. Up until today, I thought the king was in Naples because Naples was the capital of Italy at that time. WRONG!  There was no unified country known as Italy, there was a kingdom that bordered just south around  Rome then looped northeast to what  might now be Abruzzo or Molise and included the entire southern peninsula and at times the Island of Sicily.

It was a warm sunny day and surprisingly there were no crowds at the Palace. We were so lucky.  Hot as it was outside, it was nice and cool inside and walking on marble floors within marble walls makes for a pleasant temperature on a hot day.

First picture of the day taken by Tina

I can’t believe you want me to walk up all those stairs!

Joel and Tina on ONE of the magnificent marble staircases

Did you know?  That this palace was designed in the style and fashion of Versailles? That it is the LARGEST royal palace in all of Europe?  Bigger than Buckingham Palace and bigger than Versailles and it has this magnificent garden planted in the shape of a violin.  I tried to get a good image of the garden which surrounds the Palace but was unable. Here is a photo taken as we traveled up the neck of the violin.

Angels adorn the neck of the violin and fish swim in the water.

And inside the grandeur continues to excess…

It might be a little much for our apartment.

For such an important king, such a small throne,

The King Of Naples throne

If you were not Michaelangelo, no one knows who painted al these magnificent ceilings.

Every Ceiling was a Masterpiece

All that glitters is not gold BUT IT IS MARBLE underneath!

All That Glitters…

And what could be better than a picnic on the Royal grounds?

Tina, A Wood Nymph

Joel hardly enjoyed his pizza.

Chowing Down a Slice.