Just 54 kms N.E. of the centre of Paris lies the ancient town of Meaux. The journey from Paris Gare de l’Est (Line P) is around 25-40 mins, depending on what train you take. You can use your Navigo Pass to get there by train as it’s within Zone 5, making it the perfect destination for a delightful day’s excursion. These days, Meaux (pronounced ‘mo’) is mostly famous for its beautiful Brie cheese and mustard—although not necessarily together!
By the time we reached the western end of the Bay of Naples, we thought we couldn’t be surprised any longer at the extraordinary sights of the region. When we reached the archaeological site of ancient Cumae, then the stunning former Royal Palace at Caserta, its delightful medieval village, a massive aqueduct and yet another huge Roman amphitheatre, it just proved we still had more treasures to discover.
Naples is such a great base for exploring the area close by, as well as the city itself. The tragedy is that much of the public realm of the city is in terrible condition, poorly maintained and a great deal of senseless vandalism. The city could easily rival some of the great cities to its north, as it has countless beautiful baroque buildings, former palaces, fine churches and pleasant piazzas. Some of the gems include the Naples Galleria, which rivals those of Milan and Rome, Piazza Dante and the San Carlos Opera House.
As we discovered on our recent trip to the western side of the Bay of Naples, the area is full of surprises. Every day we discovered ancient sites that have little or no information about them readily available. Many of these were very large, and all fascinating. Most were well presented, and certainly rewarding for those wanting to see ancient Roman archaeological sites other than Pompeii and Herculaneum. Popular with Italians and other Europeans for its beaches, accommodation is reasonably plentiful and, needless to say, good trattoriae and ristorantes are everywhere.
We had long been curious about the Bay of Naples area to the west of Naples. Although knowing the region’s ancient history, we had no idea whether there was anything to see nowadays. Whether there were any significant archaeological sites, or was it going to turn out to be just a pile of old stones in the corner of a paddock, covered in straggly weeds. We had visited Pompeii numerous times over the years, as well as having explored Herculaneum, and with relatively limited time we decided not to re-visit those, but to explore what else there is to see by way of remains of the ancient world. What we discovered were some of the largest, most fascinating archaeological sites in Italy, and although all are “ruins”, they’re well looked-after and presented, and generally very accessible. The area we set out to explore is collectively known as the Phlegraean Fields, location of probably the most overlooked ancient sites in the entire country.
