Never fear, we have not fallen overboard! After our day in Mykonos, we had our last 'at sea' day. Luckily the timing was perfect as I finally succumbed to the cold Al brought to the ship. So I spent most of the day alternating between napping and reading. I'm not proud...I've been finishing the Hunger Games series. Don't judge me! Since it was our second formal night we decided to eat at the Italian specialty restaurant which gave us a great view as we passed between Italy and Sicily as the sun was setting. Pretty cool.
Yesterday we hired a private driver and guide so we could visit Pompeii and the Amalfi coast. We met our guide Gaetano at the gates of pompeii. He was very dapper with his white pants, checked shirt, scarf and coat with the collar turned up. The minute Renate and Pat got out of the van he was all compliments and flirtation. He was an excellent guide and we had the chance to go in some areas that others can't see. I was surprised by how green the scenery was. For some reason I pictured it more barren and desolate. Instead the hillsides are lush and green surrounding the site. We entered from the sea gate which used to sit very close to the shore. Of course after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius the shoreline moved. What was interesting was to see how the rooms and walls have been preserved. The people here were not victims of lava flow. Instead they were overcome by fumes and mountains of ash. Many suffocated actually. The other thing that I was surprised to learn is that the plaster casts that we all associate with Pompeii were actually cast in the 1800s. We saw a couple of them when we were there, and they are pretty haunting because you can see people's expressions as they were recorded in ash. We also had the chance to understand how the roads were built, how the plumbing was created and even how the brothels worked. We saw the walls which had images of various sexual activities you could request by number. We could see items 1-10, and the next 10 had disintegrated over time so we'll never know what #20 was, but you could bet it would be surprising given what we saw in the first 10!
After Pompeii we left Gaetano and his undying love for Renate and headed out to the Amalfi coast with our driver Daniel. We tried to go to Sorrento, but it was just way too crowded with traffic. At the first opportunity we ditched the traffic and continued down the coast to Positano. The coast reminded me quite a bit of driving 1 in Northern California with sheer cliffs that drop to the sea. Daniel said the main road is the 'wow' road which it was. Every turn we made gave us a new incredible view. Then up to lunch was the 'mama mia' road because it was barely more than a single lane with blind turns every few yards and a sheer drop on one side. At one point we had to back down the hill to let a bus pass us. It was worth the white knuckles though when we reached lunch. We had a commanding view of the coastline, and enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal with food direct from the garden. After lunch we decided to head back to the ship since we didn't have much time to visit any of the towns.
Al and I had wanted to sample some of the local specialty- pizza margherita but it just hadn't worked out timing-wise. As we got closer to Naples though we figured we couldn't miss out, so we dropped the moms at the ship and Daniel took us to a very popular local place where we waited outside for about 30 minutes just to get a table. When we did, it was very simple. They only make 2 kinds of pizzas, all the same size with differing levels of cheeses. Within 10 minutes we had our pizza and were practically done. It was soooo worth it. The crust was thin but still chewy, and while simple it was very flavorful.
Finally we headed back to the ship and decided to sample one of the princess special activities- Movies Under the Stars. They have a giant screen above one of the pool areas and the area around it with multiple levels like balconies. So you sit in deck chairs with blankies and watch movies under the stars. All through the movies they bring you popcorn, ice cream, warm cookies and milk... You really can't beat it.
After a late speedy dinner it was off to bed to rest up for Livorno. This is the jumping off point for Pisa and Florence. Al, Jen and the moms headed to Florence and Mark and I headed out to Cinque Terre on one of the princess excursions. I had been there before but Mark had not, so he was really looking forward to it. We started in the second town, Manarola and then hiked the Lover's Path to Riomaggiore enjoying the scenery. From there we caught a private boat to head north to the furthest town so we could view them all from the sea. It was fun for Mark to get the lay of the land, and I enjoyed seeing just how far Brad, Stacey and I hiked last time we were here. We were given a couple of hours to explore Monterroso al Mar and have lunch. From there we took the train to Vernazza which was most damaged in the recent flooding. They just recently reopened for tourism. Even so, there were quite a few shops that weren't even close to being ready to open, with earth movers all over the place still trying to clear away debris. It was sad to see so much devastation in such a beautiful city. I remember last time I was here strolling through the shops and enjoying gelato in places that don't exist anymore.
After a bit it was back to the train station to board the local to La Spezia. Unfortunately there were a lot of tourists and the train was packed to the rim. I didn't even have the space to turn and give the man behind me the evil eye every time he coughed on me. Yuck. One man in our section was also pick pocketed in the crowd. So as you can imagine everyone was in a dither after that! Anyway back to the bus and then we headed back to the ship. Mark, Al and I braved movies under the stars again and headed to bed after midnight. Tomorrow is our last big day, Roma!
Ciao!
Linda
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