2022-07-30: Naples

We woke up at 5:30am this morning which was gross. This is the earliest of the tours we’ve had on the cruise. The ship was just arriving in Naples as we got ourselves ready. After our regular routine of getting dressed and having breakfast in the Windjammer, we headed to the Royal Theatre to check in for our tour. Before long, we were on our way off the ship. We had booked a tour to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Positano for the day. It was an all day tour. It was a small group tour though, which was nice, because Positano is a small place and the road to get there doesn’t fit the big busses. There were only 12 of us on the tour which was great. We boarded the bus and were off.

Our first stop was Positano which was the farthest destination on our tour. It was about a 90 minute drive to the town. Our tour guide provided commentary on the areas we drove through along the way. We drove through a few tunnels on our way across the local mountain range to the Amalfi Coast which is South of Naples. Positano is a small town with a population of approximately 3000 people. It’s very pretty on a steep hillside that reaches the ocean. The area is well known for growing olives and lemons. This is where Limoncello is produced. They have different varieties of lemons and some of them are huge! We had about 45 minutes to explore the town before we had to return to the bus to continue the tour.

We boarded the bus and backtracked along the coast to the town of Sorrento. It was about a 40 minute drive from Positano to Sorrento. Sorrento is about five times the size of Positano with a population of approximately 15,000 people. We were guided into a local shop to see a wood inlaying demonstration. The shop was quite large and had amazing beautiful pieces, but they were well outside our price range. Then we had about an hour of free time to roam the town. We wandered the main pedestrian street off the main square while checking out some of the stores. We took a side street into the older area of Sorrento. We found a spot that overlooks the coast and could see beaches and restaurants along the ocean. It is a very pretty place. We made our way back to our meeting spot outside the wood inlaying shop and then our guide lead us to a restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed an Italian lunch consisting of gnocchi in tomato sauce as a starter followed by chicken cutlet with some potatoes and beans. We had a piece of cake for dessert. After lunch we returned to the bus and headed to Pompeii.

After about another 30 minutes on the bus, we arrived at Pompeii. We thought we’d be visiting Pompeii first thing this morning, but our guide told us that visiting Pompeii in the afternoon is actually better. The other tours to Pompeii will all be there in the morning and Pompeii gets hot in the morning. Usually in the afternoon, you get a sea breeze blowing through the ruins which makes it much more comfortable in the heat. Pompeii wasn’t too busy at all when we arrived which was very nice. We walked through the entrance and started exploring the ruins. It really is a big place that they have uncovered. They believe they have about 75% of the city excavated at this point. The excavations started in the 1700s. We started by viewing a Gladiator’s gym area, then continued on to one of the smaller theatres next to it. The main theatre is still in use today so it is not accessible unfortunately. We then explored the streets of the city. Our guide pointed out shops and homes. We walked through the residence of one of the important residents. The house was quite large and had some beautiful mosaics and decorations still. We could see the ovens in some of the baking shops and warming pots in some of the restaurants. There are also crosswalks in the roads as the roads were used for flushing dirty water that no one wants to walk in. There are raised stones crossing the streets at regular intervals where people could cross without walking on the street. The stones had gaps where the chariot wheels could cross. You could still see the grooves that were cut in the street stones from the chariot wheels. It was really neat to see. We continued on to one of the food markets where people could buy meat. They can tell what was sold at the market via a fresco painted in one corner that is still visible. Then we entered the main forum, or main square of the city. It was a massive square. It had a clothing market on one side of it and an old basilica on the other side. There were big columns standing at various points around the square. We walked through the basilica and towards the exit of the city.

Once we exited the city, we went through the Pompeii Antiquarium which is a small museum just outside the exit with several artifacts they have recovered from the city such as jewelry, tools, decorations, and pottery. While excavating they found cavities in the ash where bodies used to be and have since decomposed. They figured they could pump some plaster into the cavities and then excavate them to see some of the details such as how the bodies were positioned and you can make out some of the facial features via this method. They have some of these plaster casts on display both in the city and in the museum. Once we explored the museum, we walked back to the parking lot where we had about 15 minutes of free time to explore the shops in the area. The boys both found a souvenir at the shops. We returned to the bus and headed back to the ship.

Getting back on the ship was an adventure. They have some shops set up inside the terminal building that we had to walk by in a bit of a maze. We entered the terminal and went up the stairs to where the shops were, and walked down the length of the building to another set of stairs down to ground level. Then we had to exit the building and walk through the exterior to another set of doors which took us to the ship. I assume the local authorities require us to walk along the stores as a condition of docking there. It was a little annoying as it wasn’t clearly marked and no one was sure we were going the right way when we went down the stairs and back outside the building. Anyway, we made it back onboard with about 45 minutes to spare before the ship left.

We returned to the room and unloaded our stuff after the tour. Michael was disappointed that he missed out on the Skypad the day before, so Darrell took him up to the Skypad to see if Michael could have one last ride before the ship go too busy with everyone returning. There was no line so Michael was able to do a VR jump with only a couple of minutes of waiting. He really enjoyed it. It was our last day on the cruise, so we returned to the room, pulled out the suitcases and started to pack up our gear. By the time we finished our initial packing, it was time to head for dinner. We headed down to the main dining room for our final dinner. Michael wasn’t feeling too hungry. We think he might have gotten too much sun and heat during the afternoon and might be a bit dehydrated or have mild heat stroke. We watched the ship pull out of port while eating. After having a bit of water and getting some food in his system, he was starting to feel better. Darrell and Patrick had fish and chips, Amanda had a turkey pot pie, and Michael had a burger for dinner. We all had a molten chocolate cake (that wasn’t molten) for dessert except for Michael who had a crème brûlée.

After dinner, we headed to Two70. Michael wanted to finish the game we found in the app yesterday. We helped him find the remaining two masks. One of the masks was on the stage. There was a jazz group playing on one section of the stage so he gingerly walked over to the mask and scanned it with the phone quickly and then ran off the stage. It took us a few minutes to find the final mask. It was on the second floor beside the library. Huh. We didn’t know until now there was a library there. Michael was able to finish the game which him very happy.

We our way to the shops to get a couple of last minute souvenirs. We had a photo package as well so had to pick the photos we wanted to bring home with us at the photo shop. Gold Art Duo was performing in the Royal Theatre again this evening. Amanda and Michael were disappointed they missed the show the other night so we went to see the show again this evening. Amanda and Michael really enjoyed it. Darrell and Patrick enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as good the second time which is to be expected. Once the show as finished, we returned to the room to finish our packing. Our suitcases had to be outside the room, ready to be offloaded by 10:00pm. We finished packing up, got our suitcases out, and called it a night. It’ll be another early-ish morning tomorrow as we have to be off the ship by 8:30am.