Italy: Pompeii and Vesuvius

The third day took us to Naples. There are a lot of choices of things to do around Naples. It is the 3rd largest city in Italy and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. There are about 3 million people living in the metropolitan area. On cruises they offer lots of shore excursions and they are super expensive. Instead of signing up for any of those, we just did some homework, used the public transportation and made our own excursions. This day we had booked a local tour to see Pompeii and Vesuvius. I had no idea how big Pompeii was. It's amazing to think that a whole city was wiped out and preserved at the same time. Surprisingly after being completed covered in ash and almost 2000 years have passed, there's still paint on walls in a few of the houses.

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of pieces of pottery such as vases and bowls have been found in the excavations, as well as carts and many other things. The only historical evidence of the explosion exists because it was seen from a distance and written about in a letter by Pliny the Younger to his uncle. Pompeii was established in the 6th century BC and it was a well advanced society with running water. In a matter of hours it was covered in 6 m of ash. It was so well preserved because the dense ash kept air out.

 

 

 

The views from Pompeii are breathtaking. On one side you can see Mount Vesuvius and on the other you can see the Apennines mountain range.

Mount Vesuvius is in the back. We are soon to be on the top of it!

 

Those are the Apennines

 

They drove carts through the streets. These are crossing rocks. The sidewalks are raised higher than usual. The cart wheels go through the channels and pedestrians can walk across the top to stay out of muck and water, and to not get run over.

One of the first amphitheaters was in Pompeii. They have started to have events there again recently.

 

 

We had another pizza lunch in an ally outside this day and the break was welcome. It was almost hot enough for even me to need AC, almost, but not quite.

 

After a well needed break, we climbed, well walked, to the top of Mount Vesuvius. There is a car park some 1000 m up or so, then it's a pretty steep incline two miles to the top.

 

It's still an active volcano. There's no lava to see, but it vents gas. The last eruption was in the early 40's during WWII. These foundation posts are part of a cable car that used to take you to the top. The cable car did not survive the last eruption.

 

 

 

 

The view is often hazy from the top they say. I agree it was hazy the day we were there, but I thought it was fantastic. My Italian friend says it is truly something spectacular on a clear day. You can see the city of Naples to the right and the island of Capri to the left. The Almafi coast is on around the southern coast from here. I'd like to come back to see it some day.

 

 

That climb finished off our time in Italy and was the last stop on the cruise. The whole next day was a cruising day as we headed back to Barcelona. We made the most of the sun and the relaxation to recover from our super activity filled days. Our next adventure was ahead of us in Spain.

 

 

 

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Italy: Rome

The second day in Italy took us to the port town of Civitavechia, an hour train from Rome. We were on a mission to get to the coliseum early in order to not have to wait hours to get in. We succeeded!

 

After a walk around the coliseum and the forum we grabbed some pizza in a ally just outside the coliseum. We both agreed it was some of the best pizza we had ever eaten!

 

 

We had a nice long walk through the city after lunch. August seems to be high tourist season in Rome. We avoided the crowds as best we could, and found some cool side streets in the process.

When I was in high school I visited Rome. I have a very specific memory of the Spanish Steps in my head. They looked a bit different when I saw them this time. Sure, that's been 25ish years ago and memories fade, but I also remember it being surrounded by designer stores and that part had not changed. I remember thinking how fancy everything was, and even though I've seen all these stores in many places, many times since, I was still a bit giddy to again feel what it felt like then to window shop the fancy stores.

 

 

There was a train stop near St. Peter's Basilica so we made this our last stop.

 

 

 

We saw the usual sites, the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Spanish steps, the Vatican, the Circus Maximus. We ate pizza and gelato. It was hot and sunny and I couldn't have been happier! Rome did not disappoint.

 

 

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Italy: La Spezia and Pisa

We had three days in Italy and they were awesome! We loved every minute. I will most definitely vacation in Italy again. The first day we woke up in La Spezia, a port town with access to both Florence and Pisa. It is a beautiful, cozy town built into the side of the Alps. The buildings are full of character. We were giddy to see that there really are a ton of mopeds in Italy. The streets were clean. The people were happy. It was a little piece of heaven.

 

 

Since we only had limited time, we decided to go to Pisa and save Florence for another trip. We bought train tickets for an early departure. When we got to the train station it was chaos. It turned out for the best. We got tickets for an hour and a half later and walked back into town to look around.

 

 

The last two days had been a bit chilly and finally this was a day that had promise. It was sunny and suppose to be 84 degrees. We found an open air market and decided to buy some picnic supplies for when we got to Pisa.

These focaccia were to die for, we ate 4 of them

 

Olives!

 

Ham and cheese, that he so kindly portioned and wrapped for travel

We saw the biggest lemons I've ever seen and they were growing on huge lemon trees throughout the city.

 

After the picnic was complete, we hopped the train and headed to Pisa. In the anti-Sweden way all the Southern Europeans sat in the shade and in the Swedish way we sat in the sun.

 

 

After a perfect afternoon, we made our way through the city, back to the train station. The train ride between Pisa and LaSpezia has beautiful scenery. Turns out they mine granite there. Hopefully not much longer so the beautiful mountains don't go away.

 

The weather was amazing and we enjoyed our slow walk from the train station back to the port. Finally we had gotten the sun and warmth we had been waiting for!

 

 

 

 

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