Sun Princess Part 7: Naples, Italy

We had an amazing food tour in a very warm Naples. Definitely be prepared for the heat if you come during the summer. It was 34° today. Hats, sunscreen, water and dry fit clothing are a must. We met our guide Ciro at 11 AM at one of the main town squares. It was about a 30 minute walk from the cruise terminal.

 Our tour started at Leopoldo which is a pastry shop most famous for taralli. 

This is a salty snack made from leftover pizza dough, pork lard and almonds. 

 Quite tasty. Our next stop was at the fish market where we had a cone of fried fish including anchovies, salmon, whitefish, shrimp and calamari along with fried balls of dough. 

 So tasty! Next up was traditional pizza from Naples. We had two types. Margarita (sauce, cheese and basil)and Marinara (sauce, Basil and oregano - no cheese). They fold it so you can really walk and eat. And it keeps it warm. 

Next was pasta where we had a Genovese Rigatoni. This is a tomato-less sauce with beef and onions. It was so delicious, very much like braised short ribs. 

 We also had the Manfredi Ragu and Ricotta. 

 This was my favorite. Freshly made al dente pasta with a delicious sauce made with ricotta. It reminded me of a great lasagna. Did you know the difference between a Ragu and a Bolognese? Ragu is more famous in Naples and has larger pieces of meat (usually beef) that are braised for a long time. A Bolognese uses ground meat. Our last stop was at another location of Leopoldo for some dessert. Fiocco de Neve is a famous dessert in Naples. It's a brioche bun filled with flavored ricotta - in my case it had traditional orange zest. 

 Angie had a pistachio canolli, a treat more famous in Messina and Sicily. 

 We also stopped into a church we passed along the way. We didn't kneel down and pray and it wasn't California Dreaming! But a very cool looking church from the outside. And so beautiful inside. 

On the way back to the shop Angie spotted a craft beer sign down an alley!! 

 A couple of beers sounded refreshing. They had a very good hazy IPA and a sour that I liked. 

We got back on the ship and we headed to the cabin. I went to Guest Services to get some smaller change for my larger Euros. I had a $200 Euro bill that would be hard to use in the ports next week. We like to tip the tour guides using local currency.  

We have a sea day on Friday and then will be in Barcelona on Saturday. This is turnaround day where many guests will be disembarking the ship since their cruise will be over. We plan to stay onboard and check out some areas that should be less crowded - at least in the morning. Such as the pools which have just been jammed with people. Then Sunday is another sea day. So we'll have three days in a row to (mostly) relax before we get to Gibraltar on Monday.