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Published: June 30th 2009
Cruisin’ in the Mediterranean Day 2.
Tonight, I blog from deck 11, near the top of the ship as we sail out of Napoli (Naples). I wish I had my camera with me now as I can see the whole city spread out before me. Actually, only a video camera would do this view justice … a wonderful view. But then, I have so many great pics from this trip. It’s hard to believe I’ve been away from home and on vacation for a week already, but there is still another spectacular week to go.
Today was a day that will be with me forever. When I was a university student, many of my elective courses were of Roman art & architecture. Today, I got to touch ancient frescos, roman columns, and stepped inside their villas & temples. There is so much to tell you about and so much I am sure I will forget to say. But this day was magical as we walked through this ancient world of Pompeii. It was a coastal shipping city of 22000 when Vesuvius erupted. For 3 days it rained ash & the ground shook with earthquakes before it finally spewed. Most
of the people had left but kept their slaves behind to protect their treasures. Most of them died by suffocation as over 30 feet of ash fell on the city. We saw only one section of the city, it would take an entire day to walk through all of it. It is far bigger than what I had imagined.
Mount Vesuvius is still active and the only active volcano in Europe. We could actually see where the last eruption in the 1940s changed the countryside as the trees were a lighter shade of green. If the wind had gone in a different direction in 79 AD, Pompeii would have survived and Naples might have been destroyed by the ash instead. I felt more mortal there, you know you are nothing in history. The timing of my group in Pompeii was cool too. We arrived as a dark cloud wrapped around the top of Vesuvius. As we prepared to go walking into Pompeii, lightening strikes over the volcano. The thunder is ominous and just added to the atmosphere. It does shower and that was a good thing, it had been 28 degrees & humid. The shower just helps it from
being too warm while walking around all day.
Along the countryside on the ride up to Pompeii, we saw lemon, olive & walnut trees. Lemons are so massive here… not big, massive! They are the size of melons. I will add a pic to show you how crazy big they get. The country here is warm & lush. Lemon cello is sold everywhere, liquor made from the lemons. It’s used as a drink after a meal, I like the one made with cream.
Sorrento & Capri are the getaways for the jet set… warm, beautiful & peaceful. To get to Capri we took a jet-foil from Naples which took about 50 minutes. The winding tiny roads up the hill here and in Sorrento make me glad I don’t have to drive. We took a trolley up to the top of Capri where the most expensive hotels & shops are located. Capri is where a number of Caesars vacationed and the home of Augustus’public garden. There was a perfumery there too which I stopped in to smell the special scents of the island. I caved to the smell of the one of the local flowers, it’s coming home with
me…
Sorrento has the cliffs hanging just above the water. It was said that sirens attempted to lure Ulysses onto the rocks. I could picture them as I looked at those cliffs and alcoves above the water. Wonder what they would sound like… And I have to say I had a piece of fresh lemon cake while in Sorrento with coffee, both were amazingly good. Here we also learn how furniture is inlaid with other pieces of wood. On the way back to the ship from Pompeii which was actually our last stop of the day, we visit a cameo factory to see how elaborate their work is on pieces of seashell.
A very long day, and tomorrow will be just as long. Sorry the pics aren't loading right. I will try again another day to get them posted. And thannks again to everyone I've heard from. It almost seems like you're with me 😊 I am too tired to make my 9pm seating for supper in the dining room, I munched on sushi and roasted veggies when I arrived back on the ship that will do as I still need to prepare for tomorrow’s adventure … Imperial
Rome for me!! Squeee!
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Yvette
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Glad you are having so much fun.Thanks for giving so much information.That will help you remember more of all you saw,because you are going to forget a lot,too bad hein.We are having more rain, pretty miserable,can hardly go outside. you are lucky to have the nice weather,that make your trip even better.