We woke to the news that the swell left over from the previous storm was still significant enough to compromise the safety of tendering so once again our port was changed from (what I imagine was) picturesque Sorrento to big bustling Naples.
Our excursion today was to Pompeii, the easiest one of our excursions to choose as we were both pretty keen to see and we had paid the small surcharge to part of a ‘small group’ tour which turned out to be a wise choice. Our group of 13 managed to cover a lot more ground than the bus loads who were constantly waiting for the stragglers to catch up.
We had a very knowledgeable guide and the weather cooperated just long enough, threatening clouds were building on the horizon but held off until the afternoon.
Our guide explained how archaeologists have made plaster casts of those people who died during the eruption by injecting resin into cavities left in the ash by decomposed bodies and the detail is remarkable. This is still a working site and new rooms and buildings are being excavated and displayed on a regular basis. Of particular interest were the brothels that had contained detailed erotic paintings, most of which have been removed to museums now and were for many years only open to male visitors!
As we would say many times on this trip, whilst the weather was somewhat unpredictable coming to Europe this early in the year had major crowd benefits… I can only imagine what Pompeii and many other sites we were yet to visit would be like in ‘high’ season.
Having gotten our fill of Pompeii it was on to the bus and past Mt Vesuvius (still grumbling) and back to the extremely busy port of Naples. Russell has another cooking class this afternoon so I decided to walk into Naples. And walk I did… ended up catching the metro funicular and then walking a couple of kilometres to the Castel Sant’ Elmo, one of Naples seven castles which afforded stunning views out to the bay of Naples.
So we didn’t get to see Sorrento but still visited Pompeii and Naples itself was interesting, I was happy to board the ship just before the heavens opened!