Our last full day in Naples was spent seeing some of the sights of Naples itself. Our first thought was to go somewhere that had a panoramic view of the city. This is what led us to the Castel Sant' Elmo, a 16th Century castle on top of the Vomero hill to the west of central Naples.

Not being too interested in actually climbing the hill ourselves, we went in search of the Funicolare Montesanto, a cable car that would take us to the top of the hill (for free, as our ArteCards were still in effect). After wandering around some not-very-well-marked side streets for awhile, we found the funicular station and made the ascent.



From the station at the top of the hill, it didn't take too much searching to find the castle, as it's very big, but there was a wall surrounding it which we had to follow for a little while (to the left and around a corner) before we found the way in.

At the ticket office (in a small building separate from the castle), they should have charged us half price because of our ArteCards, but instead they let us in for free – we weren't sure why, but we weren't going to argue. Then they pointed us to an elevator that would take us to the top of the castle.

There wasn't a great deal to be seen in the Castel Sant' Elmo itself. The castle actually dates back to the 14th Century, but was reconfigured into its current six-pointed-star shape in the 16th Century. It has been used both as a fortification and as a prison over the centuries. On the top were some fairly nondescript buildings and a startlingly ugly antenna of some sort.

In places along the walls there were tapered holes which would have been easy to shoot out from, but not so easy to shoot into from the outside.

But from the walls of the castle, there were magnificent views of Naples in all directions.







After having enjoyed the view enough, we retraced our steps back to the elevator. Our next destination wasn't far - a next-door monastery had captured our attention, and we headed in that direction. Toward the Certosa di San Martino.