Hello from Civitavecchia Italy
Drafted: Wednesday afternoon – May 25, 2016 (sixth post of this travelogue)
Uploaded: Friday afternoon – May, 27, 2016
As you can see from the dates above, I did not get the post finished and this is the first time I have had to get back to finalize the draft.
Our ship is docked at the port of Civitavecchia Italy link.
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Well, we have some catching up to do. Sunday 5/22 we boarded our ship – the Norwegian Epic link. We were on this ship the first year it sailed (2010) for a destination wedding of our niece Shawna and her husband Bryan. That cruise was to the Caribbean. The Epic is among the largest cruise ships link. It has a passenger capacity of over 4,000 people and a crew of 1700. It is over 1000 feet long.
Monday we were at sea and it was pretty relaxed. Stampin’ Up! had a general meeting, but that was the only scheduled activity.
Yesterday (Tuesday) we docked in Naples Italy (see map below) link and took a wonderful bus trip
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The bus took us around Naples link. Quoting from the Wiki site:
Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC
Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II.
We then drove perhaps 50 miles south down the Amalfi coast. The road itself was spectacular. In places the narrow twisting road was hanging off the wall of a cliff several hundred feet about the sea. The bus was a full size bus that was probably 35 feet long. To make many of the turns, it had to swing well into the other lane. At one point our bus and an opposing bus got into a very tight area and our driver had to move the outside mirror out of the way so that we could pass. Cars and motor scooters were darting everywhere and the motor scooters often passed the cars with very little room to spare. We were in the front passenger seat and I was sure glad that I was not the driver. I have attached a picture to give you some idea of the beautiful, and at the same time, scary ride
At the end of our drive down the Amalfi coast we approached a beautiful town that was built into the hillside: Positano (see picture). We turned around (no small feat) on a turnout in the road before we went into the town. Positano is a very expensive tourist destination. Our guide said that some rooms go for over 1000 Euro.
We then drove back north to Sorrento. In Sorrento we toured a large shop that specialized inlaid wood. The shop gave us a short demonstration of the intricate work involved (see photo of some of their work).
For lunch went to a restaurant and had a very traditional Italian lunch of pizza, wine and desert. The pizza was marvelous and was quite a bit different from our pizza. For one thing, the area is a large producer of “real” mozzarella cheese (and we got the good stuff). Also the tomato sauce (and parts of tomatoes) were very fresh (see photo)
Our last stop was the ruins of Pompeii. From what I can tell, the town is spelled Pompei and the ruins are spelled Pompeii link. The following is quoted in part from Wiki:
Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, and was conquered and became a Roman colony in 80 BC after it joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the Roman Republic. By the time of its destruction, 160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port.
Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year.
The ruins are stunning. I have attached a few pictures, but they simply don’t do justice to the site. Walking in the ruins is very difficult. The roads were made with very large stones – most were well over 1 foot in diameter as shown in one of the photos. There was a lot of walking – Pat’s Fitbit registered over 8000 steps (my battery was dead). In addition the walking had a fair altitude gain.
Pompeii with Naples in background
Pompeii ruins — note large cobble stone road
Our Tour Guide
Our tour bus had to park away from the boarding area by perhaps a fourth of a mile and by the time we got back to the ship we looked like we should be in the rehab ward {grin}.
That is all for this post.