Naples, Amalfi Coast and Pompeii

Naples, Amalfi Coast and Pompeii

Woke this morning to the sunrise over Mt. Vesuvius! A beautiful sight and a beautiful day beckoning.

 First REALLY early start (7.15) for our 9 hr day excursion. Didn’t see much of Naples, but we drove to the port of Sorrento and then onto a boat which took us for 30-40 mins along the Amalfi Coast to the town of Amalfi. Amazing scenery. Lots of sheer cliffs and mountains with houses attached to it, little fishing village towns stuck between two high  mountain.

there is this seriously windy road going all along the cliff faces, with brickwalls underneath as support. I was fascinated about the road, very narrow, with trucks and buses going round these sharp tight corners.

We had about an hour in Amalfi before returning. Walked up this little  narrow road which seemed to be the only way from the coast to the hills beyond or the houses up on the cliff. Lemons are the thing of the area (terraces of lemon trees) and they sell Limoncelli (lemon drink with alcohol) as their staple drink. We stopped at a little patisseriere?? and sat down outside overlooking the square and watching everyone.

 Murray this is for you - some cyclists leaving their bikes propped up to have a coffee. Hope they didn't bike on that crazy road on the cliffs/1

Amazing lemon pastry cone - loved it.

After going back to Sorrento by boat (would have loved to have travelled the road - like 40 mins of the Manawatu gorge down to the sea instead of the river), we headed by bus to a medieval castle for lunch. This castle was up high on a hill looking out over the town and sea. We had to take a lift up inside the hill to get there!

After that Pompeii. First thougths were ... it is in the middle of a busy city - traffic roaring past on all sides.  Also it is on hills - I had visions that it was flat. Dave felt it was  very impressive. Well orgainsed with signs and headsets for each important part. We had a good guide who had a wide knowledge of what happened and what was there to see. There was a painful American who kept quiestioning what was real from the time of the eruption and what had been added since then. Interestingly quite a bit has been added for safety or for keeping the effect going.

It wasn't too bad crowd wise or heat wise. I would like to be there when there are no cruise ships in as nearly every excursion offered from our ship included Pompeii, and there were other big cruise ships in as well. We were there about 2hrs. Saw houses, streets, (with big boulders in the middle as stepping stones across the road over the sewrage(. The houses had a rain collection from the roof to a shallow pond in the floor, then down to a well underneath the house. Quite clever.

I didn't realise that it was actuially a port city. The eruption and eathquakes pushed the water right out.

We saw a brothel with pictures on the walls so sailors could come in and point to the picture of what they wanted to the girl involved ( a bit like pick your own!) That was because sailors were from all over and the girls couldn't understand their language.

I also didn't realise how close Mt Vesuvius was - 7 miles away.