Had the wake-up call set for 6:45 AM. Once we were up, showered, and dressed, we headed for the breakfast buffet and had oatmeal. There is so much to choose from at the buffet, it’s kinda overwhelming.
We headed out to meet our driver for the private tour today. I had gone through Cruise Critic a month or so before the cruise and asked to be included in this eight person tour as it sounded like you got the most bang for your buck. It covered a lot of ground in one day. We were the first to arrive and meet the driver, Roberto, a nice Italian man who spent time in England. He had a pleasant accent. The others arrived shortly and we were so pleased to see our British friends from the Kusadashi tour were also in the group – Maria, Marian, Jean, and Paul. The other couple was Larry and Gail from New Jersey.
We climbed into the Mercedes Benz van and headed off to Herculaneum. The drive was very fascinating as the drivers in Italy are crazy and fun. Roberto said the person who is the most aggressive is the one who is allowed to go first. We didn’t have a guide for Herculaneum, but when we got our tickets (saved two Euro by buying the Herculaneum and Pompeii ticket together – total twenty Euro each), a tour guide approached us and said he would guide us through for five Euro each. We all said yes as we wanted to get the most out of the experience. The tour guide’s name was Luciano, and he was all Italian and very hard to understand at times. He had books that showed what it would have looked like back in the day. Herculaneum was a resort on the sea. It is very small (compared to Pompeii) but the people were so far ahead of their time in their building and water systems. Quite fascinating. We saw the bones of the people who were buried in the mud, the houses that have been excavated so far, and many interesting things. At the end, Luciano wanted more money and said he told us fifty Euro total, not forty. We all felt it was a rip off but ended up paying the extra money.
Roberto picked us up outside the gates of Herculaneum and we headed for Mount Vesuvius. He said he wasn’t sure if we could get up because of the snow. Apparently the same snow we had in Istanbul had been here. The drive up was very lovely but the roads were very curvy and narrow. Roberto said the height was about nine thousand feet. He was surprised the road was open because the snow and ice was quite thick. He said the walk to the top would take about an hour and a half. When we got to the to the entrance/fee area and saw how icy and cold it was, we all decided not to climb it (plus it saved us ten Euro each).
Next stop was Pompeii, but before we went in we had lunch at a nice little restaurant across the street from the entrance. Michael and I split a Margarita pizza and a broccoli calzone. They call it broccoli but we call it spinach. Excellent, especially the dough which was thin and fresh.
After lunch we met our guide, Sasha. Sasha was a very handsome Italian man who has spent time in New York City. He spoke excellent English and was fun through the entire tour.
The tour took us deep into Pompeii where we saw the bodies of people and the body of the dog. The dog looked to be in agony, as well as the people who were trying to cover their faces from the poisonous gases. We saw brothels, kitchens, bath houses, wine bars, and just about everything during the tour. It was so informative and wonderful (and sad). Sasha said 25,500 people lived in Pompeii but they’ve only found about 5,000 bodies – so they think the others were able to flee. He said Mount Vesuvius was rocking and rolling for three days and three nights before it exploded and the ash covered the city. The ones that stayed were killed by the poisonous gasses, and the rain of super heated ash and stone. The city itself is huge, over four square miles. So glad we got to experience it and learn all about it.
After we left Pompeii, we decided we wanted to see a little bit of Naples. Roberto drove us around a little bit but the traffic was horrible (scary too). The roads were bumpy. He showed us a little bit before we headed back to the ship. We’ve decided when we come back to Naples in just over a week, we want to go to the museum in Naples and see the artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum. We also want to see the street where they make nativity scenes.
We got back to the ship and right before we got on, there were a bunch of the crew dancing and singing a welcome for us. We got to see Jesus (from the morning buffet and Alizar restaurant staff), and Wesley (from the activities staff). Quite fun. Once on board we relaxed for a little bit and then went upstairs to the Alizar for dinner. Michael wanted to live dangerously and have prime rib, with a baked potato and vegetables. I had the potato gnocchi. For dessert we both had the chocolate chip cookie sandwich. Very tasty.
Michael and I debated on whether or not we wanted to go to the show. When we got back to our room and took our shoes off, that was it, we were done for the night. We were both in bed by 8:00 PM. That was our day. Hope yours was great!