Day 7 - Naples, Coast of Amalfi, and Pompeii

We woke up today to a beautiful view of Naples, Italy.  The sailing has been smooth and quiet. It is amazing how one does not even know that they are aboard a ship.

Harbor of Napoli (Naples)

We ate breakfast early and departed the ship for our excursion.  We met our fellow tour participants at 8 AM – Jack, Bobbie, Barry, and Karen. We met Genarro, our driver, who was supposed to be English speaking.  From the beginning it was apparent that his English was limited. We did not start out on the right foot because when he pointed out an old fort and I began with my usual question, “ What year it was is built?” Not good. That was beyond his English vocabulary.  He simply repeated the name of the fort several times, each time followed by “yes?”  Genarro was very friendly and tried hard to answer our questions and understand our plan for the day, but his Italian accent was very heavy and communication was limited.  He was, however, a good driver – more on that later.

We travelled from Naples, the third largest city and second largest port in Italy, down along the absolutely beautiful Amalfi coast.  My words cannot describe, and even the pictures will not do justice to, it’s beauty! The day started out hazy, then became sunny, and finally ended with a thunderstorm.  Genarro said that this was a typical day in Naples.

At our first stop we had a view of Mt. Vesuvius, which is the only active volcano Italy.

Mt. Vesuvius

We then continued on through another town until we arrived at Sorrento, one of the larger towns on the coast.

Sorrento

On we continued to another stunningly picturesque town – Positano, a small (pop. 4,000) beautiful town on the side of a cliff.  Here we stopped, shopped, (yes, something, I like to do - trying to find the right thing for everyone), and had a gelati (Of course we had gelati.  We are still in Italy.)  Sophia Loren has a cliff-side mansion here which she can not use because she is unable to return to Italy due to tax evasion – so it’s available.

Street in Positano

scooters

Positano

Looking back on Positano

Hillside of Positano

We continued south to the town of Amalfi.  The road along the coast to Amalfi is narrow, very curvy and treacherous, filled with traffic of all kinds – cars, vans, turcks, large tour buses, and of course…scooters with crazy drivers, winding in and out of traffic!  You never knew what would be coming around the next curve, or on which side of the road it would be.  [ I (Jeff) was riding in the front with Genarro, which was awesome.  I would like to come back to Italy and drive on this road.  Deb says no way! ]  Genarro, although not good in English, was a great driver, maneuvering along this road effortlessly and calmly – he has been doing this for 22 years. 

In Amalfi, we turned and headed for Pompeii.  In and around Amalfi are countless lemon groves, trees filled with some of the largest lemons we have ever seen!  This entire region is known for its limoncello liquor.

On the way to Pompeii we came across a young goat herder alongside the road. Unfortunately the camera was on a wrong setting so we do not have any pictures. He had large black and white goats with long ears, some with cowbells. One with a very large, 12-inch bronze cowbell (I guess they were goat bells)! Perhaps he was the lead goat. Also there were two white goat-shepherd dogs. I assume they were goatherds rather then shepherds since these were herding goats. They were very attentive to keep the goats from the road, but they themselves were reprimanded by their master for going into the road.

When we arrived at our destination of Pompeii, we toured this vast ancient sight for 2 ½ hours, which was not nearly enough time for all there was to see. This city of 20,000 was unexpectedly covered with volcanic ashes and soot on June 24, 79 AD, when the volcano that formed Mount Vesuvius unexpectedly erupted.  Apparently, it was not know to the inhabitants that this nearby mountain was actually a volcano. The city was covered with more than 21 feet of volcanic material which fell from the sky.  Interestingly, no lava flow reached Pompeii, but did cover nearby Herculaneum. The city was forgotten and lay covered with dense vegetation until 1738 when someone was digging a well in 1738, and found the first remains of the city.  Extensive excavation revealed a remarkably well-preserved Roman city, exactly as it had looked in 79 AD.

Pompeii road

The Roman roads within the city are dotted with tiny white stones that reflected the moonlight to help light the path at night. You can actually see the chariot grooves in the stones that had been in place for more than 500 years before the eruption. They placed stepping-stones to cross the streets, which allowed for water to be channeled down the street when there were heavy rains. There were houses, some very large with bedrooms, elaborate courtyards, and gardens within the house.  The streets were lined with gardens, shops, a bakery, brothel, men and women’s public baths with separate facilities for men and women, and a huge theater. The Gran Teatro was built in the 2^nd century BC and held 5000 people. This building held various events from drama to gladiatorial contests.

Houses

Bakery

courtyard in a large home 

Theater

The Foro (the large town square) was surrounded by the temples to the Roman gods – the temples of Apollo, Jupiter, and Vespasian – along with public buildings, food markets, and the basilica (government offices).

Temple of Jupiter

Pompeii forum

Life in this city existed from 500 BC until 79 AD.  What amazed us was the level of preservation of this town – the structures, the artifacts that told of life in the city at this time: a snapshot in time of the lives of these people – people living in community, working, and worshipping – no different than our world today.

Seeing the evidence of the their worship of Roman gods reminded me of what Paul and the apostles encountered as they went out from Jerusalem with the message of the Good News. They entered towns where there was no temple to the true God. Was there any synagogue in this city? Paul probably never visited this city. But there were many Christians who resided in the city of Rome as we know from Paul’s letter to the Romans, so perhaps the message of the crucified, risen Jesus Christ had come to this city prior to it’s destruction.

We then drove back to Naples in time to get on board the ship and get dressed for formal night in the main dining room.  We enjoyed our day with our new-found friends from New York and Bluffton, SC (it's a small world).  The entertainment in the theater was the Captain’s welcome aboard toast, where we were introduced to the Captain and crew. The Captain is Dimitrios Kafetzis from Athens, Greece, a very entertaining, humorous 39 years plus 24 months old man (as he told it).  The entertainment was a compilation of musical numbers from Broadway shows. Not Jeff’s favorite, but I enjoyed most of the songs.

We are back to retiring after midnight…we are getting too old for this.

Buona Notte.