Napoli, Italy

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

I’m starting to feel a little closer to home now. I’m in Europe, and most exciting to me, I’m in Italy!

Where am I?

I’m enjoying the Bay of Napoli. We’re moored near that red pin in the map, and my travels took me all the way around the bay to Sorrento which is that purple pin in the map. Of special note, that’s Mt. Vesuvius to the southeast of Naples (Napoli), about half way to Sorrento.

What did I see, first thing this morning?

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It’s always fun to wake up in the morning and step outside to see what was not there the night before.

What’s been happening?

This is only my second time to Italy, and the last time I visited it was my trip to Venice. I came away from that visit with many, many warm memories. Was it Italy that captured my heart, or was it the wonderful people who traveled with me who made it so? I don’t know. Do you (Robin, Marilyn, Elease, Joe)?

So, today, I wanted to see more of Italy to see if I merely had a “crush” on Italy, or a full-blown love affair. My plan was to explore two very different areas around Napoli: Sorrento and Pompeii.

Napoli, itself, struck me as a very industrial and commercial town. Positioned on a beautiful bay, Napoli is a natural harbor and has been a trading post for more than two thousand years. I can’t see everything on a one day stopover, so I chose to explore outside of Napoli, itself.

My first stop was Sorrento. (Please refer to the map above.) As I mentioned, I’d never been there before but I knew of the place owing to my years of accordion studies. (Look up the song “Return to Sorrento.”)

The drive from Napoli to Sorrento was magnificent! We drove along the main highway (A3, see map above) for much of the drive and what I could see from that highway was not too stunning. But then, we started to ascend into the mountains that separate the greater Napoli area from the Sorrento coast, and that’s where the view started to become eye candy.

Our tour through Sorrento was amazing. It is largely a tourist town with little shops and antique stores. One of the main shopping areas was this gorgeous little alleyway with no automobile traffic; only pedestrians were allowed. There, I found a mixture of high-end shops selling goods from well known Italian (and other) designers, restaurants, antique shops, pubs, and general stores. In total, a little bit of everything was offered to those willing to take the time to shop around.

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Along the way I found this cute little English pub with a boisterously outgoing owner that was half the fun of the visit to this cool little place. (A good IPA was the other half of the fun.) As an example of the proprietor’s sense of humor, this cocktail menu was posted quite prominently outside his establishment.

Our tour included a stop at a place that made fine woodworks with hand-crafted wood inlays. We were shown the process for making this stuff and it is incredibly time consuming. They made everything from chess boards and music boxes to tables and other furniture. Here’s an example of a hand-made inlaid gaming table with multiple games. Price? Well, the prices start at about US$6,500.

After a morning of shopping (and a pint of IPA) we were treated to lunch at a very nice little restaurant tucked away down a narrow alley where you’d think nobody would ever find it. And if you thought that, you’d be wrong as the place was packed. We were served some stuffed garden hose (locally known as cannelloni) that was filled with a tasty ricotta mixture. That was followed by ensalata caprese, and that was followed by some delicious chicken piccata and veggies. All of this was accompanied by an ample amount of Italian wine. It was more than a meal and I did skip dinner tonight.

We left Sorrento and headed back in the direction of Napoli, but our destination was Pompeii. If you look on the map above, Pompeii lies just east of Torre Annunziata, not far off of the main road.

My fascination with Pompeii stems from learning about the place in school. I was always impressed with the fact that archeologists had found people just as they were when they died, and that they had died very suddenly in a rain of ashes.

First and foremost, the ruins at Pompeii are a shining example of life in the days of the Roman empire, at the time that Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash in 79AD. Here’s what it looks like today.

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The ruins of Pompeii are amazing enough, but I really wanted to see those people, frozen in time and positioned as they died. I know, it’s a bit macabre, but that’s what caught my attention as a child when I was first learning about this amazing place. So, here’s what I saw on our tour.

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What I didn’t know before I visited this place is how these images of the dead were made. When the bodies were discovered, they were wrapped in the ashes. Inside the wrapping were the bones of the dead. The skin and organs had all disintegrated leaving a hollow where the complete body had been. One of the archeologists suggested pouring plaster inside of one of the hollows. When this was done and the ash was removed, there was a nearly perfect cast of the body that once filled the void and through that cast we can see what happened to that person (or animal.) The plaster cast accurately takes us back to 79AD and shows us the victims at the moment they died.

On a slightly lighter topic, there are some other “important” remains to be viewed. The following photos shows an ancient grain mill where wheat could be ground between two heavy volcanic stones. The ground wheat would be made into bread dough and cooked in a brick oven. That brick oven from 79AD looks just like the brick ovens used today to make pizza in its classic form. Some things never (and shouldn’t) change.

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Also interesting was to have discovered that there were ancient roman soldiers, still walking around.

I have so many more photos of Pompeii! But I can’t leave this post before showing you what kind of gifts were available at the tourist market in Pompeii. I understand, from talking with the vendors, that these items represented “good luck” in the days of ancient Pompeii. Sure, if they say so.

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So, that was my day in Napoli in a nutshell. I still have more stories to tell, but I can’t fit it all in a single post, so you’ll have to wait for my return if you’d like to hear more about my experiences in this wonderful part of the world.

I do have one small regret. I’m sorry that I missed a chance to visit the Amalfi Coast, but now I have something saved for my next visit! And as for that love affair with Italy, I’m sure now that it’s not just a flirtation. I really love this place!

Anything else?

But, of course!

As the Amsterdam left Napoli, some of the ship’s crew had prepared another night of entertainment in the Sea View bar. This was much like the prior performance except this time the singers and the musicians were even more practiced and professional. There was a big turnout for the event that lasted about an hour and a half. It’s always fun to watch these eager young people perform for our benefit, and we let them know how much we enjoyed it! I was sorry to hear that tonight was their “farewell” performance.

So, what’s coming up?

Another day at sea, and then Barcelona!

G’night!