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Friday sept 27
Waking up in Naples Italy, so beautiful pinched myself again. We were up early for breakfast and headed off the ship by 7:30am. A 9 hour day trip lays ahead of us. Today we see Capri, Sorrento, then Pompeii. Doesn't sound like a lot but it was probably the hardest day I've ever had. It was a lot of walking over some very unstable cobble stone streets. Then there is the heat, oh my the heat. Thank goodness for the cool breezes up top the mountain. But we will get to that in a bit. We started the tour with an hour long boat ride to Capri. Myself I am fine on boats and Mark, no problem. But others were not so lucky. The motion of the boat sent many running to the washroom to get rid of their breakfast. Fortunately for us we r seasoned sailors. We arrive in Capri, which is so gorgeous with its lush greenery and enormous volcano. Our trip takes us up to the top of the city by cable car. Slowly it climbed upward through the tunnel and when it came out the other end the view was breath taking!! Beautiful blue sea at the foot of the mountain and rock cliffs reaching from the sea to the the sky. Truly beautiful. Our tour walks us through the tiny streets of Capri to a hidden garden. Augustine's garden was its name and it is nestled in amongst lush trees housing beautiful flower and status. A little further up the path opens up to a look out over the ocean and the pier below. a site to behold. After taking it all in and snapping off a few hundred pictures we made our way back to the square at the top and boarded the trolley car to head back down the mountain. Be board the hydro boat once again and head to Sorrent. After a short, very hot, very packed bus ride we are let off in the middle of the city to enjoy a lunch of local cuisine. Cannelloni, chicken, potatoes, ice cream. Food was good but being crammed into the back of a restaurant with not A/C left Mark a little cranky and me just wanting to get out of there. Once we finished eating we were free to roam around and shop. We made some purchases of hand crafted items then joined the tour for a bus ride to our final destination of the day. The bus ride was about an hour and we climbed up the mountain on tiny bending roads only to be exposed to once again beautiful scenery over looking the sea and small mountainside towns. The streets were lined with olive and lemon trees and you see the fruit almost ready for picking. The great volcano off in the distance was now visible to the top as the clouds cleared in the late afternoon. We arrived in Pompeii and our tour was a walk through the ruins of Pompeii. It was buried beneath volcanic rock and ash centuries ago and then was excavated by archeologists and has been preserved. It was once again a very surreal moment walking the ash laden cobblestone streets and through its theaters thinking of the people that lived and worked in this lost city. Seeing the plaster casts of victims of the eruption was nothing I have ever experienced. I was in awe as the tour guid explained how they retrieved these bodies from their volcanic graves. The Archeologists discovered areas beneath the volcanic that we're hollow in the form of a human with some bones still remain. Rather then trying to dig them out they drilled a whole into the rock, filled it with plaster which filled the human shaped void. Then when the plaster hardened the could take it out and would find it to be a human shape complete with any bones that had not yet disintegrated. These bodies are displayed in glass cases. One is of a woman who was pregnant and you can tell by the way she laced on her stomach she was trying to shield her unborn child and her head from injury. Walking the streets of Pompeii looking at the grooves carved into the stone you can almost hear the chariots that made them. Water was abundant to all the people of the city. This is visible by the number of public fountains positioned at every cross road in the city. Our guide said that everyone was free to fill containers of any type with as much water they could carry. It was there for the taking. That goes for food as we'll. since every house was also a business food was easily available for purchase. After we finished walking through the ruins of Pompeii it was time to head back to the ship. After all it was formal night!! Time to dress up and go hob knobbing. Unable to post pictures at this time but will try on FB when we get to Greece. Tomorrow we arrive in Malta. Time to see what's going on around the ship. Ciao for now!!!
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Wendy now I want to go!!!