Naples & Pompeii, Italy
We were supposed to tender into Sorrento, but the weather was too rough, so we moved a little up north to Naples, where we could dock. Our sister ship, the Wind, was in port with us as well. My desire to see Pompeii was much stronger than my desire to meet up with their cast (we all rehearsed together). They understood because we only come here once and they have been here several times.
Kash, Kris, and I headed into the city of Naples – another place I've heard about – sang about. We decided to get some lunch before heading on the train to Pompeii about a half hour away. We were looking for a particular place – Pizza da Michele – which is supposed to have the best pizza in Italy. After wondering the streets and asking random people in broken Italian for directions, we finally found it. This was the pizza parlor that was used in the film “Eat, Pray, Love” (there were a couple of pics of Julia Roberts and the cast). It was a very nice little place that only served 2 kinds of pizza: Margarita (cheese pizza) and one with just sauce and garlic (no cheese!). You know which one I got! It was truly THE BEST PIZZA!! We all ate the whole pie (we each got our own). So good!! I was so stuffed :)
We left Pizza da Michele, found the train station, and headed to Pompeii. It was easy buying our train tickets, and the trains are just like the subways/trains in other cities I have visited (more like NY in regards to age, not as new as Japan). It was interesting going through all the different neighborhoods – they have graffiti, slums, clothes drying on the clothesline...
After a ½ hour, we arrived at Pompeii. We avoided the independent tour guides soliciting themselves (because I read you can do just fine with a guidebook). In retrospect, I wish I had purchased an audio guide instead of just the guidebook, because it was challenging sometimes to figure out where we were. Pompeii is a huge city - about 63 hectares – most of it uncovered. We stood in line to get our tickets and it felt like I was at an amusement park! Lol Walking into the city was so cool! It was amazing to be standing somewhere that I had read about, and even more amazing to be standing somewhere that existed in the 7th century, BC!! I won't bore you with the details of our walk, but it was an incredible experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity to go.
On our way back to Naples, we ended up getting off the train one stop too early. We couldn't find our way back to our original station and ended up having to power walk (and then jog) back to ship to get on board in time! Definitely one of my favorite days!!
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