Italia 2010 - Napoli - Land of 'O Sole Mio'

Italia - I have always loved this country... the language.. expressive people and of course the gelate(sp?) so it was great to set foot on Italian soil again...of all the stops on this trip Naples was the only one of the Italian cities I had not been to...third largest in Italy with a population of over 1.5 million and home to great tenor Caruso.

Of course we couldn't escape the camera as we stepped off the boat!

...but by far the biggest draw for me was the chance to go and visit Pompeii buried by the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.. amazing how some dates remain with you from primary school... guess us teachers do have a part to play after all!!  This time we decided not to take any of the organised excursions  mainly due to the fact that as some of them can last up to 10 hours it might not be a good idea with the small guys... Therefore we asked lots of questions, hired a taxi who brought the 5 of us, waited for us for 2 hours and then drove us back to Naples...it was perfect and was plenty of time for us to see all..

Pompeii was amazing and another plus was if you were under 18 and an EU citizen there was no admission charge..

This entire town ws buried and numerous excavations have meant that it is now the best preserved specimen of an ancient Roman town in existence...

This pool inside the house indicated that this was the main entrance and vestibule...

These little titbits of information I gleaned from this very learned lady who was guide for a group of english speaking tourists.... Being the cheapskate.. job-sharer that I am I hovered on the fringes of this group from time to time and was able to make sense of some of the sights.. and sites of course! around me! Declan and Darrelle were suitably embarassed and pretended they did not know me... I told them that years ago, as an impoverished backpacker in Europe myself and a friend had become very interested in listening to a guide in Florence and were learning lots until Michele, a real culture vulture, drew attention to us by asking a questions and had us promptly evicted 'You are not part of this group...Go!'So, Darrelle, being her father's daughter  made sure to stay far away from me!!

Not so Elena, who was interested in learning all about the fountains which were a feature on many streets...

In the background Mt. Vesuvius,...has erupted over 50 times, the most famous being the 79AD eruption which killed over 2,000 people and covered the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii.... the most recent eruption was in 1944... Elena was concerned that we might be there for the next eruption.... Of course the Icelandic volcano still features in her conscious memory!!

Today was hot! hot!hot! ... and nowhere to shelter from the sun's rays so after 2 hours we were well ready to head back to the taxi..

The kids interest was renewed when we finally stumbled upon the following:

Perfectly preserved bodies of victims have been found here. A dog was also found here. Declan has a photo of the dog on his phone... Alex was very taken by it as he thought of poor Jacko at home!!  Drinking chalices, stoneworks, eyeshields, and heating stoves are also on display.. Almost everything found has been preserved in good condition.

Checking things out...

Alex heading off in search of the dog!

A little bit of civilisation in the middle of all this ancient civilisation...possibly essential like an oasis in a desert but personally I thought it looked very inappropriate and took from the appeal of this ancient site... wish they had found another way of factoring in these necessary services!!

When we arrived back at the ship the 'young ones' had reached their daily quota in the culture stakes and were happy and anxious to stay aboard... Darrelle went in search of some new friends and Elena and Alex decided to partake in the kids program... What a great service ... they will even look after the little ones while parents participate in any of the land excursions...

As we're in Italy is it appropriate to say 'Carpe Diem'  (Latin, I think Dad is it for 'Seize the day????').. Anyway Declan and I decided to 'seize the opportunity' and head back out to see more of Naples... what better way than a 'Hop On. Hop Off' city tour....the photos do not do justice to the view as hot and sunny as the morning was the afternoon became increasingly cloudy, cool with threatening showers..nevertheless it was interesting and scenic. However I ended up with many photos but forget what they are!!!! Must have been still a bit brain dead from missing the night's sleep when we flew out.!!!

Think this is the Isle of Capri to the right which is supposed to be beautiful and where many toured to today by hydrofoil and jetfoil... Was glad we did not go there when we heard how many people were green and got sick on the way out and back... think I will stick to the larger boats... do not do the motion sickness thing very well in recent years....gives me flashbacks of the ferry to Aran Islands, Clare Island and more..  Forgot to mention that the sea was very rough the first night and on getting up from the dinner table I remarked to myself... as I tried to walk out of the dining room...'God but that wine must have been very strong and I only had a glass and a half!!!!'  Then I noticed everyone was walking in a similiar fashion to me as they tried to keep upright... things register slowly but I do get there in the end!!!:)

Forum Baths in Pompeii..

This was a memorable day...when I started the post I thought it would be all photos as I seemed to have forgotten all the 'guided commentary' we heard throughout the day but some of it must have stuck.... and maybe when I read back over it sometime it will be a nice reminder of a very pleasant day...

****Just remembered something else I learned... Naples is the home of the pizza so you should order pizza if visitiing this city as they have the best and the further north you go you should change your order to pasta....