Naples, Italy

Friday, October 18, 2013

Naples, Italy

Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii. 

 

Today is our last day on the ship and it’s going to be a fairly long day.  We have our tour to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii today.

We got up and down to breakfast early and down to the theater which was the meeting point for our trip.  We got a notice last night that Naples was going to have a transit strike but that it would not affect our excursion.  When we got down to the theater our trip number wasn’t being called, then the excursion staff let us know that because of the strike we needed to wait to be sure that Pompeii was going to open.  We were very glad when we were told that indeed Pompeii was open.

We got on the bus and headed up to Mt. Vesuvius.  It was interesting learning about Mt. Vesuvius and its explosion during 79 AD and before it blew up it was 3 times the size the mountain is now.  It is 4000 feet high now and it was about 12,000 feet high then.  It was an eruption like Mount St. Helens where it blew its top completely off.  When our bus arrived we got out and started our climb to the top which was about 1000 feet.  It was a difficult walk because it was steep and a couple of us have a cold and that made it much more difficult but when we got to the top it was breathtaking.  We were able to walk around much of the top and look into the crater.  There is smoke coming out at several spots on the mountain and we were told that it is not gas but steam coming out.  The view was beautiful and the mountain was very interesting.  We had to hurry back down the mountain because our time was up and we were expected on the bus. 

 

 

Our next stop was Pompeii.  We arrived and started our tour which was amazing right from the start.  The city was huge and the work they accomplished building their city was amazing.  When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD it buried the ton in 20 feet of pumice and ash.  It took only 150 seconds (2 ½  minutes) for the gas and ash cloud to reach Pompeii.   When they died and were covered with ash and basically frozen in time.  It was discovered in the 16^th century and excavation began in 1748.  Many buildings survived as well as domestic items were preserved in the mud.  Their homes had beautiful mosaic tile entryways and decorated walls.  We toured several areas and saw many interesting things but only saw a small portion of the entire city.  We were tired as we headed back to the ship, it was a long and tiring day but very, very interesting. 

Our entrance into Pompeii

A couple of the many columns that were discovered.

Jim getting ready to enter another area.

More columns

 

 

Some of the many household items found.

 

A picture of Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.

 

More parts of Pompeii

Once on the ship we needed to get packed and our luggage outside our door by 11:00 pm.  It was hard to get everything back into the suitcases.  We purchased a few things but nothing big but it was impossible to get it all back in.  I’ll have to work on that before we head home.

We had dinner in the dining room with our favorite staff members.   We were sad to leave but anxious to get to Rome. 

Good Bye Celebrity Silhouette!