Sunday, 3 July 2011 - Sorrento, Italy
Sorrento is one of the most beautiful towns in the world--when seen from the little harbor at the South end of the spectacular Bay of Naples. It also has one of the most touristy main streets in all of Italy when seen up close. We opted instead to take the all day "back to back tours" of Herculaneum and Pompeii. I had been to Pompeii before but very much wanted to see the more recently excavated ruins of the more residential seaside city that folks from Pompeii fled to escape the Year 79 eruption of Vesuvius. As Pliny reported, it didn't work out well for them. Neither did it for Pliny, but that's another story.
Herculaneum is buried under the modern southern Naples suburb of Ercolano. The guide books say that "nobody knew the fabled city of Herculaneum was under Ercolano. Yeah, right! The real problem is that the archeologists have to wait until someone sells their house in the modern town to be able to dig a hole to look for murals or mosaics from the ancient town. Nevertheless, the unearthed area is most interesting with houses, complete with ornate garden sculptures, some small shops, and reasonably preserved art. Even some petrified and preserved original wood remains. Also, it's much less crowded by hordes of tourists taking pictures of themselves. The tour guide for both cities was very good with what she knew, made up nice explanations of what she didn't, and stayed exactly on schedule. She even spoke a bit of English. Great tour, really.
I pointed out the culprit volcano to all the folks at Pompeii, but Vesuvius wasn't angry as was Etna the day before. It just sat there but looked menacing with the huge city of Naples so close. The Italians seen not to mind, just like for the filthy train with opaque windows were to take the next day from the port of Civitavecchia to Rome as I will report. Pompeii (and Heculaneum) are "most see" ruins--along with Petra, Ephasis, the Pyramids, and some of the older folks on the last cruise. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) We walked a lot, had a nice lunch at the quaint gourmet cafes at the entrance of Pompeii--not--but enjoyed ourselves tremendously. Actually, lunch "on your own" is so preferable to the two hour "lunch at a luxury hotel" and cuts down on the amount of food as well as the cost.
We came back to the ship and watch Vesuvius from our cabin's window before having fantastic "cook yourself" rib eye steaks which are served partially done on a very hot slab of rock. You finish the food yourself outside by the pool with the able assistance of the staff. Very nice as the Australian Group and The Peterson's were elsewhere that evening.
*Flash: the captain just announced that due to high winds (90 kph relative straight on as we were heading West) and a high swell (which I didn't see) we would not be anchoring in Corsica but were to proceed due South to nearby Sardina instead. Shortly after the announcement, I saw the French flag replaced by the Italian one beneath the ever present Waldo flag. We have now transited the Straights of Bonifacio and oddly enough are heading back out to sea in an Eastward direction. There is now no relative wind, but the general heading is towards mainland Italy, and we are going a blistering (for Silver Wind) speed of 19 knots. Will report.
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