NAPLES ITALY

THURSDAY 28^th JUNE 2012.

After sailing through the Tyrrhenian Sea along the west coast of Italy, in milk pond conditions. we reached the Sea Port and City of Naples on a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies.

Impressions of Naples is that it is an extremely large and spread out city, however appears to be a grimy, unkept and drab looking city. Notwithstanding that, we had two separate land excursions arranged. Marilyn was booked for an all day tour of Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, whilst I was to visit Mt Vesuvius and the volcanic ruins and excavations of Pompeii.

Mt Vesuvius is about 4,000 feet high and approx 20km from Naples and we bussed from the ship to the 3,000 foot level then hiked the remainder of the way. It was a steep climb, but well worth the effort. The crater was awesome and the views spectacular. No activity was evident and although the volcano is still regarded as active no serious eruptions have occurred since 1944.

Pompeii is about 16km from Mt Vesuvius and its amazing to think it was wiped out in 79BC by a volcanic eruption of Mt Vesuvius and completely buried in 8metres of volcanic ash and lava. They have done extensive excavation of the old city, which gives you a good understanding of what happened and  how the people lived in ancient roman times. Spent a good two hours on the site with a guide which was well worth it.

Marilyn spent the full day visiting Sorrento, Positano, and the Amalfi Coast. The day was perfect for this tour with spectacular scenery and breathtaking views of the countryside and coast. A three course lunch was included at a beautiful hotel overlooking the coast at Positano which made the day. Plenty of shopping was had at Sorrento and Amalfi including the sample and purchase of Creme Di Limone, the local Lemon Chello licquer. She enjoyed herself so much another visit would have to be on the Bucket List.

Tomorrow its Rome, and hope we keep on being blessed with another day like today.