Reggia di Caserta…

…is the reason for our stay in Caserta

* the largest palace erected in Europe during the 18th century

* in 1997 designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site

* the largest former Royal residence in the World 

* over 2 million cubic metres in volume

* covers an area of 47,000 square metres 

* floor space of 138,000 square metres 

* observers noted that due to its combination of completeness and stateliness Reggia di Caserta surpasses all other European Royal residences

The Royal Palace of Caserta constructed by the House of Bourbon is a very imposing structure 

and it’s style is based on the palace at Versailles, though having now been to both it is superior to Versailles in that internally it is understated while the garden is inferior in so far as there is a lack of colourful plantings.

The main staircase is simply stunning 

The walk from the palace to the end of the Parc Reale is in excess of 2kms (we turned around after covering that distance as it was a blazingly hot day - 36 degrees - and there was a stretch still to be done, including what looked like an uphill slog to the end).

Where we turned around, the end is at the top of the path into the bush

After returning to the apartment to cool down we later in the afternoon went back into town to have a look at what it had to offer, which turned out to be nothing! If it didn’t have the Royal Palace it would indeed have nothing.

The trip back to the apartment is a story unto itself which we might tell the grandkids one day but in short a journey of no more than 5kms saw us travel at least 18kms following the GPS and I swear we didn’t make any mistakes in following the instructions!

Tomorrow we take the train to Naples which will allow us to have a full day there to look around.

Kms driven to date 5167

Kms walked to date 651.0

Spent on Diesel €340.53

Highest price paid to date for diesel €1.84/L Matera

Lowest price paid to date for diesel €1.479/L Freiburg

Spent on tolls €92.80