Days 8-9 Naples and At Sea

As I write this I am sitting on the veranda outside our room, on our first full day at sea.  We have been going non-stop since we arrived in Venice a week ago, so this is our first day of rest and we are taking advantage of it.  We slept until 10:00AM and made it to breakfast only a half hour before they switched to the lunch menu.  But before I describe today, let me tell you about yesterday.

As you may have noticed, my blog entry for Saturday and Sunday in Rome didn't get posted until Tuesday night. The system was down Monday night when we got on board.  Since we were on a tour all day yesterday I couldn't try again until last night.  Hopefully it will be better for the rest of the trip.

Amalfi Coast

Yesterday we were crazy enough to go on a 10 hour tour.  We were already exhausted from the last week, so we started out falling asleep on the bus.  That didn't last long though.  Our guide Antonio was wonderful and between him and the roads we traveled, we kept awake.  The first half of our tour was a bus ride along the Amalfi coast.  This is a general term to describe the coastline between Naples and Salerno.  This is a beautiful rugged coastline, with houses and terraced orchards built into the hillsides.  We passed an island formerly owned by Rudolf Nuryev, Sofia Loeren's villa, and hotels cattering to the rich and famous, in addition to many wonderful villages.  However, the most amazing thing is the road itself.  Image a full size tour bus navigating a narrow, winding cliffside road with just barely enough room for 2 cars to pass.  For the entire length of the road, it didn't go more than 100 ft without a curve, and many stretches were no longer than the bus.  Every time we met a truck or another bus we had to stop so one could navigate the curve at a time.  At several points there were "traffic contrallers", people with stop signs and radios to let traffic flow one way and then the other  There were no traffic lights.   We sat in the front of the bus and got some video of the drive.  At some points we passed other vehicles with less than an inch clearance.  Our guide said that bus drivers coming from other areas will hire a local driver experienced with this road to take their bus through rather than chance it themselves.  Of course, our driver received a great round of applause at the end to show our appreciation for his expertice.

Villas Along Amalfi Coast

Along the way we made 4 stops.  The first was for photos.   The second was to see a demonstraiton of how they make decorative wooden inlays.   The third was a shopping stop in the village of Amalfi, and the fourth was for lunch in a small town just south of Salerno.

Pompei Gladiator Training Field

After lunch we continued to Salerno where we turned inland to the expressway and headed to Pompei.  What had taken about 4 hours driving along the coast now took a about 45 minutes to go a little more than half way back on the expressway.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon touring the reconstructed section of the ruins of Pompei.  This is an amazing archeological site, definitely worth the trip if you ever hve the opportunity.  It is much larger than we thought it would be.  Our guide said we saw about a third of what has been uncovered and described the large area that is know to contain more but has not yet been excavaed.   The unique thing about this former city of about 20,000 is that the lava from the volcano Vesuvius did not flow over the city to burn it like it did other villages.  Instead, the inhabitants died of suffocation from the gases and volcanic dust that lasted 3 days after the eruption and eventually buried the city.  As a result, people, animals, houses, and objects were not destroyed, only quickly buried.  A horrible way to die.  Buildings were only toppled by later eathquakes.  That makes Pompei one of the richest archeological sites in the world.

Zeus' Temple, Pompei

It was another half hour ride back to our ship, and then a quick process to get back onboard.  We made it back to our rooms with a half hour left to get ready for dinner.  We went to our new table for 6 and a third couple, from San Diego, joined us.  Service was very slow, but I think someone was missing and the assistant waiter was covering more tables than normal.   The 3 tables covered by our waiter were the last to get dessert and we were never offered coffee.  We'll see if it gets better tonight. 

Today we are taking it easy.   WIth a late breakfast we'll probably just go for an ice cream this afternoon (there's a Ben & Jerry's on board) and then I might go to Bingo.  Tonight is the first formal night and I'm looking forward to seeing how Royal Caribbean handes that.  We are noticing small differences between this line and Celebrity.  Even though they are sister companies, I think they have different target markets.  Some of the amenities we are used to on Celebrity are not available here, while ther appear to be more activities for younger people.   I hate to admit it, but even though I am still a kid at heart and mind, the body just can't do what it used to.