Cruising the Med Naples Italy – 5/29/07

Today we visit Naples Italy
Arrive: 7:30 am
Depart: 7:30 pm

Here are a couple facts (from the DCL website):
Naples is considered the birthplace of Pizza. The city’s other best known dishes include Sartu di riso (molded rice with savory garnishes) and Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans.)

Our Excursion: The Amalfi Coast Drive and the Ruins of Pompeii, a 9 hour tour!

We begin with a 2 hour drive along the coast in our ai c onditioned motor coach. After approximately 1 hour, we stopped at a wood working store that specializes in wood inlays. We had a brief lesson in how that is done and got a chance to use the restrooms!

Back on the bus for another hour….. this time we saw more and more of the beautiful Amalfi coast line. Just Magnificant! No words to describe. The roads were thisnarrow and many hair pin turns. Some folks did experience motion sickness, so do be prepared!!! It does mention this is the excursion description.

We encountered tons of traffic delays that unfortunately shortened our time at the various stops. Our tour guide, Gino, was outstanding!!!! He is an archiologist by trade and was extremely knowledgeable and funny!

Upon reaching either the village of Amalfi we had about 45 one hour to explore on our own. We used the time to visit the Cathedral of Amalfi. Built in the middle ages 839-1135AD. The crypt of St. Andrew is located here. This church, unlike the ones we visited in Palermo, had candles that could be lit. It was here I was able to honor my mother’s memory and light a candle for her – Linda joined me in a very special moment.

From here we went to a hotel for lunch. It was kinda strange at first, we weren’t sure if the buffet offered was appetizers or the main lunch. Each table had a bottle of water and bottle of wine. Very nice. The buffet consisted of salad, escarole (like Swiss Chard/spinach), pizza (no cheese LOL), small fried dough balls, fresh mozzarella (awesome), tomato salad, rolls and proscuito. Like I said, no one seemed quite sure if that was the appetizer or main entrÃ©e. Why no one asked, I have no idea LOL. So, I made a sandwich from the mozzarella and proscuito. It was quite good. Also, I asked for a bottle of red wine that was also quite good!

Soon the servers were clearing our plates and then we realized more food was to come. Each person received a plate with small penne pasta with red sauce and a most delicious spinach cannelloni.. I don’t think I have had one taste this good in many many years! For dessert – cake – hazelnuts or something..whatever it was tasty! Was also my splurge meal for the day!!!!

Back onboard the bus, we travel an hour to the ancient city of Pompeii which was buried by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. I was getting very concerned at this point because the rain, once again started this time it was very grey and starting to come down. Our guide told us that if the rain got much harder our trip to Pompei would be cancelled. I was heartbroken, as this was one of my “must sees” for the whole trip. Fortunately, when we arrived it was only drizzle and off we went. Again, because of traffic problems, our one hour became 45 minutes and then the rain really started to come down. So we had Pompeei in the rain for 40 minutes, which was much better than no Pompeii at all! I would like to revist Pompeii sometime. Spend a solid day or half day with the audio tour. Gino was awesome with his explanations… we also had small headsets so that he talked to us thru them, which helped a great deal too!

Pompeii was lost for 1,600 years until it was accidentally discovered in 1748. At the time of the eruption, the town could have had some 20,000 inhabitants, and was located in an area in which Romans had their holiday villas.

Our Pompeii Slide Show

Deb and Linda – Life — IT Too Short!

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