We went ashore about 9.00. It was strange to be back in a place where we had been 3 weeks before. While other passengers were trying to cram in Capri, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, we were going to take the hop on hop off bus. It cost $22.00 each but it was cheaper than the tours. The bus was waiting at the entrance to the docks so we didn't even have to find it. There was a blue route and a red route. We decided to do the red route first, which was through the town. We knew very little about Naples ,except it was the poor relation of Italy's northern cities. Sophia Loren came from here and pizza was invented here. And we know from first hand experience - Naples has the worst drivers in the world.  I found the buildings wonderful All colours from pastel pinks to deep reds, a lot of yellow. I guess you would call them Renaissance - square with little iron balconies. The streets were narrow and yes the very narrow side streets had washing hanging everywhere. There were many large buildings of note and churches squashed in amongst houses. Palaces and forts could be seen scattered around. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, being established by the Greeks in the 9th century BC.

But the traffic - its chicken, death wish, race you, 10 points for the nun, all rolled into one.

We didn't get off at any of the stops as we didn't recognize any of the names. Back at the beginning we swapped to the blue route and drove north along the coast. This was certainly a different side of the city. Units, palaces, hotels tumbled down the slopes only stopping at the sheer cliffs. Tree lined streets with little cafes, very livable. It was now after noon, so we asked the bus attendant about shopping. She pointed to an area over there, so that's where we went - over there. We stumbled upon Galleria Umberto, a place I had heard of. It is a shopping arcade about 4 stories high with a glass roof and dome. I don't know what it was built for but it's quite spectacular. Unfortunately there aren't many tenants these days. We walked through here and came to a main street full of shops and department stores. The first real shopping street we had seen since Palermo. So we window shopped. Edie bought a pair of boots for €20.00 . There were a lot of " outlet " stores, but it was mostly crummy stuff. We went back to the buses about 3.30, but because I was too slow at the traffic lights, we just missed a bus, and the next one was not for 40 minutes. Edie was able to get on WiFi for a few minutes, only to discover that her sister had passed away at 4.00 this morning, so we went back to the ship. A sad way to finish the day. We finished off our packing, had a light dinner and went to bed early.