Naples

Today we are having an easy day on the ship – no tours. Yesterday we had a wonderful day at Naples, Sorrento, Isle of Capri and Pompeii. We took a jetboat for a 50 minutes ride from Naples to the Marina Grande on Capri, a port with colourful old fishermen’s homes. We then rode the funicular up the rocky hill to La Pizzetta. Capri is really beautiful with spectacular scenery. We visited the gardens of Augustus, with views of the Marina Piccola and the famous offshore rocks of Faraglioni. They had the typical postcard streets with columns with vines around them, restaurants, cliff face and ocean views. We had plenty of time wandering the streets and shopping.


We then took the jetboat for a 20 minute ride to Sorrento. It had similar scenery overlooking the Bay of Naples. We had a typical Italian lunch at a family restaurant , once again with plenty of wine and food. We then visited a wood working factory where they did intricate lacquered designs for furniture, bowls etc. I bought a musical jewellery box and a couple of cut out Christmas decorations. We also visited a cameo factory then more free time for shopping.

A bus trip of about 40 minutes took us to Pompeiie, a Roman resort buried by volcanic ash. As the area was covered and destroyed by ash and not lava there is quite of lot of excavation that has been able to be done. We had a guided walking tour of the city’s houses, baths, villas, theatres and wrestling grounds. Plaster casts mark the position of the fallen, who were swiftly overcome by the volcanic ash. The plaster cast of some bodies are also displayed along with recovered artifacts. We also visited a large house with frescoes and mosaic inlaid floors.

We then returned to Naples and the ship. It was a lovely relaxing day after the last few days of crowds, cues, pushing and shoving and rude people.

Tomorrow is Mykonos