Good to travel !... I envy you for travelling so much... I've done some myself, I go with you wherever you go and leave myself in the places where the time forgets me! Do like your comments and some of the replies!... I'm a Tour Guide from Lebanon, and would like to change my career or to do that kind of discovering, my biggest interest is to live in travelling and go back in history, where the civilisations and man were ONE...Any advice how to start OR is there a recruiting agency to apply to??? Don't leave your heart in Matera, otherwise Grace will search for another one!
Ottoman House with coastline This is not an ottoman house. Built during the ottoman occupation, yes. But the architecture is mount-lebanese proper. The style was imported from Venice, Italy, from the years Fakhredin spent in exile in Italy. When he returned home he brought with him Venitian influence, which mixed to building style found in Mount-Lebanon gave us this particular architecture that you don't find anywhere else.
Regards
Mike
Nutella Sorry, I have no clue where you could buy the huge Nutella Jar. The jar was at our hostel called Hostel of the Sun in Napoli. Maybe if you stay there or stop by, they would probably be more than happy to tell you where you could get one. Enjoy your travels!
Largest Nutella Jar Can you please tell me where can I get this largest Nutella Jar? I will be going to Europe next week and I really need to buy this huge Nutella Jar. Need your help please......
pompeii guide Hi Honeymooner, Congrats on your new marriage! Grace and I wondered around on our own, but the information desk at Pompeii does provide you with a free map and booklet describing the significant sites within Pompeii, which was helpful and informative for us. They also have audio guides available for purchases. There will be several tour guides for hire right outside the entrance to Pompeii. Haggle hard! So plenty of options at Pompeii. No tour guide is needed for Mt. Vesuvius. Our driver, mostly drove, but was able to provide some background about the mountain and the surrounding community while driving up the mountain. The only difficulty was that he didn't speak much English, but we were able to understand. Hope this helps!
pompeii guide Thanks for the information! It was exactly what I was looking for. My new husband and I are going to be in Naples for 12 hours on a cruise stop and we want to see Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius in one day. Did you and Grace hire a guide at Pompeii or did you just wander around on your own? Are there guides available for hire at Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius? Are the van drivers at the train station for Mount Vesuvius guides as well or do they just drive you to the top? Thanks for all of your helpful information!
Great Advice Yes I definitely found your blog helpful and entertaining! I loved the part about Grace's broken flip-flop! I once broke my brother's flip-flops and we had to share mine on a three mile unplanned hike, in the dark, in Hawaii. He was not happy with me. Lava rocks are sharp. Your logistic descriptions are great! Sounds like good advice to do Pompeii 1st and see if we have time to climb Mt Vesuvius later. We are going to try to take every port with a flexible attitude. It will be hard sometimes since this is our 1st trip to Europe and we want to see so much. Rome is our 1st stop and we have too many things on or list for sure. The research has been a lot of fun and I am certainly learning a lot Thanks again for your great advice!
Traveling Advice for Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii Thank you for reading my blog and I'm happy to know that someone finds it helpful. I've have been debating on adding a travel logistics section to each post to help people out with their planning, but have been lazy in doing so.
I believe you can fit both Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii in 10 hours, but you might be cutting it extremely close. Therefore, I would do Pompeii first and then see if I had time after to visit Mt. Vesuvius. I have included directions for both. Safe travels!
1. From the port of Naples you would have to take the R2 bus to get to Piazza Garibaldi. There is a ticket machine next to the bus stop where you need change to purchase a ticket (1.10 euros)
2. Once you get to the piazza you'll have to walk across the entire piazza to get to the Central (train) Station.
3. Follow the signs for Circumvesuviana trains once inside the station.
4. Purchase your tickets after you follow the signs about ~6.00 euros round trip.
5. Take the train to Pompeii-Scavi-Villa dei Misteri train station, which takes 40 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Coming out of the train station, take the road to your right and flow the wall to the main entrance of Pompeii. Ticket for the site costs about 11.00 euros.
7. Take the train heading back to Naples
8. Get off at the Ercolano-Scavi (Mt. Vesuvius) train station.
9. Option 1: There were several guys on the steps of the train station soliciting a ride to Mt. Vesuvius. We ended up taking them because we were unsure of where we were going. I think the company is called Vesuvio Express and they run minibuses to the summit car park. It costs 10 euros for the ride and 6.50 euros for the entrance to Mt. Vesuvius, a total of 16.50 euros. This trip takes a total of about 1.5 to 2 hours.
Option 2: There are only two other buses running at 8:25am and 12:45pm and returning at 1:55pm and 4:30pm. They depart from Via Panoramica (about 50m from the train station) and it will cost you ~8.00 euros for a 90 minute roundtrip. This doesn’t include the entrance fee of 6.50 euros.
* I think you would be better off choosing option 1 because of time.
10. Get back on the train to Naples, taking the R2 bus from the other side of the piazza and get off at the place to you caught the bus. Walk back to the Port.
Thank you Thank you for bringing this to my attention. And thanks for sharing the link to Çatalhöyük; I would love to visit Turkey and I would definitely want to explore this place as well. I forgot to add the term "continuously inhabited" instead of just inhabited to my title. Thanks for reading!
Convinced This is exactly what my husband and I would love to see in Naples! Our problem is we arrive on a ship and will only have 10 hours there. Do you think that is enough time to negotiate the public transportation(trains or buses) to Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius from the port? Thank you for sharing your pictures and 1st hand experience in Naples.
Çatalhöyük http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catal_huyuk
"existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC."
"It is the largest and best preserved Neolithic site found to date."
**********
Maybe you could use .... "Byblos: One of the oldest cities in the middle east"
swine flu fear When we were in Cairo this weekend visiting the Citadel, people who saw us began to cover their mouthes and noses with their hands and move away from us. There is definitely a huge fear over swine flu here.
Israeli Stamp Hey Rob,
Just so you know, you can ask the Israelis to not stamp your passport. They will oblige you. This was a common Passport Snafu at the U.S. Consulate. We had to check with Israeli authorities to see if a person entered/exited their country because they don't stamp if you ask.
Awesome! Hey Rob - what awesome experiences you are having! Thanks for the pictures and especially your insights. Looking forward to the next installment.
not at all I noticed that we took the SAME picture. Sure I can link to your blog, because mine is horrible and I haven't updated since March! Send me the link
Isabelle Nahal
non-member comment
Good to travel !...
I envy you for travelling so much... I've done some myself, I go with you wherever you go and leave myself in the places where the time forgets me! Do like your comments and some of the replies!... I'm a Tour Guide from Lebanon, and would like to change my career or to do that kind of discovering, my biggest interest is to live in travelling and go back in history, where the civilisations and man were ONE...Any advice how to start OR is there a recruiting agency to apply to??? Don't leave your heart in Matera, otherwise Grace will search for another one!