Day 19 - Wednesday, 11/27/24 - Naples
With a scheduled arrival of 10am into Naples, Italy, we took the opportunity to sleep in until 7:30am. After breakfast, I went up to the Crow's Nest to watch the final hour of the sail into the Naples harbor and nestle up against the cruise ship terminal pier. Once the ship was berthed and the mooring lines attached and the ship was cleared, our little group of 8 was among the first off of the ship. In this port, the gangway was set up on deck 2 instead of A deck, and it connected with the upper level of the cruise terminal. Inside the terminal were a large number of shops, but most were not open, We took the escalator down to the street level and exited the port gate and found our driver for the day, Ciro or Mister Taxi.
Evie, the leader of our group had found him after reviewing internet and Facebook posts indicating a very positive experience with him. Our group of 8 filled every seat in the white van and we were soon off headed for Sorrento about an hour away. After the first 1/2 hour on the "freeway", we exited onto a secondary road that went midway up the hillside above the Bay of Naples. It was a very twisty road with a couple of tunnels. Ciro also turned out to be a singer in a local Boy Band and he sang to us throughout the trip.
Arriving in Sorrento, we were turned loose to tour on our own. Christmas decorations were in full display and Angela and I elected to find the main church (Basilica Saint Antonine) about a block away from the drop off point. The striking feature of this church was the large collection of fresco paintings. The altar was also quite ornate and there was a "peek a boo" opening in front of the altar looking down to the next floor where yet another altar was on display.
Leaving this first church, we went back to our starting point and strolled down a narrow pedestrian only street taking in the sights and the smells of the leather goods. We purchased some lemon and orange soft candies which turned out to be quite good as well as some lemon concentrate. We then found another church which was not open, but it led us to yet another shopping street where I found a luggage strap to replace the one that was lost on our flight to Florida. Angela also found a lemonchella sorbet which was quite good. We strolled this street back to the drop off point and spotted church #3 which we visited as well.
Ciro picked us up and we decided that we wanted to have pizza in Pompeii before our tour started. So he made a reservation for us at iMatti and dropped us off there where we enjoyed a very excellent pizza. Ours was a ham and salami and mushrooms and cheese and cost €13. We also enjoyed some sweet potato fries that were the best I've ever tasted. Ciro then dropped us off at the entrance to Pompeii where our guide, Luca, met us and escorted us on what turned out to a speed walking tour of a small portion of the historic city which was obliterated in the first century CE by volcanic ash from Mt. Vesuvius which is quite close. We were last in Pompeii about 10 years ago and I could remember some of what we saw but there are definitely some changes. Particularly, the bodies are not clustered like they were, but are spread among the ruins. There were a few new areas and there still remain areas that remain un-excavated. It'll be interesting to compare my pictures from our previous trip. It also seemed that we didn't see as many of the artistic work as we previously saw. If we were to visit Pompeii again, I'd plan to spend the entire day there and do it on our own with an audio guide and a map. There's also a PBS special documentary about the new findings that we'll check out once we get home.
We ended our visit just after 4pm and were back in the van by 4:20pm and back at the ship around 5. Ciro purchased some Sicilian treats for us and gave them to us as we reached our drop off point in front of the cruise terminal. On our way to the ship, I checked out the ATM machine in the terminal, but it wouldn't accept my card. As we were scanning back on the ship I noted about a dozen construction workers scanning off the ship. There has been ongoing construction throughout out voyage but it's not been intrusive.
Back on board, we dropped off our gear in our room and I went up to the Crow's Nest to watch the sail away and download pictures from my big camera. Angela later joined me. The Captain gave his departure speech noting the Second Officer would be in charge of the departure as he was for the arrival this morning and would back the ship away from the berth and then rotate the ship 180 clockwise before heading out to sea towards Sicily where once again we are projected to arrive at 10am.
Following a nice prime rib LIDO dinner (I'm really enjoying the LIDO prime rib), we attended Jason Patterson's final comedy show at 7:30. He's pretty funny and conducted the show with the house lights up. The showroom was about 75% full. Afterwards, I listened to the Classical trio in the Explorer's Lounge. They're quite good and refreshing to listen to.
I ended my evening up in the LIDO writing this blog entry sipping on mint tea and enjoying a few cookies. Meanwhile there was a costume party up in the Crow's Nest. It'll be nice to sleep in again tomorrow because of our late arrival. As I finish writing this, the LIDO staff is beginning the Thanksgiving decorations as tomorrow is Thursday and Thanksgiving Day in the USA.
Comments
Post a Comment