Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, 7/16/13

This was the last port of call on our itinerary. I was concerned we were making the kids walk more than they wanted, so yesterday we asked them if they wanted to do a different excursion. Daniel definitely wanted to go up Mt. Vesuvius and Clare didn't want to have to wake up earlier in order to do a different one. So, we kept to our previous plans.

This was one of the two excursions we did with the ship. I seriously don't know if I'll ever book another excursion with the ship. We were all pretty annoyed with one thing or another by the end of the tour. The main thing that ticked me off was that we had signed on to climb to the top of Mt. Vesuvius and do a tour of Pompeii, but we had to go to a cameo factory first (in the description of the excursion, it said we would go to a cameo factory "if time permits.") Grrr. They only want to sell you something. It's like going to the rug and ceramic shops in Turkey, but worse. The only thing that saved this annoyance was that it only lasted 25 minutes. For the kids, they were annoyed by the guide. She wasn't very easy to understand ("Firsta, we will goa toa the cameo factoria. Thena, we will climba Mt. Vesuviusa." LOL!) Daniel was also frustrated with the size of our group - at least 40 people. We had gotten a little spoiled by tours with it just being our family or a group of no more than 17. As for Tom, I don't think there was too much that annoyed him - perhaps the cameo factory and the heat. Once again, it was very hot.

The drive up to the trailhead to climb up Mt. Vesuvius was definitely interesting - narrow winding roads in a huge chartered bus is always fun - NOT! I couldn't look a couple of times. Once we got to the top, I was surprised by how cool it was. There was a nice breeze, too. The trail is wide, but very dusty and steep in places. It was probably a mile to the top - not difficult at all. Daniel practically sprinted at first. Tom and I eventually caught up with him. At the top, once Clare finally caught up with us, she let us know how unhappy she was that we didn't walk with her. :) The views were amazing. We could see the sea, Naples and Pompeii. The volcano is dormant at the moment, but they say it could blow anytime. The guide told us that it wouldn't be a small explosion either. Pretty scary to think with all those people living so close. I thought it was cool we could say we had climbed this infamous mountain.

Daniel is always in front.  :)

Views of Naples from the trail.

Clare is always in the back. 

The crater of Mt. Vesuvius.

Our Mt. Vesuvius guide.

Looking towards Pompeii.  Very hazy.

Don't be a barbarian!  Love this!

Going down is always so much more fun than going up!

We went to Pompeii next. When we got to the ruins, the guide told us we would have 20 minutes to have a snack ("We will hava twenty minutesa to have a snacka.") Talk about stuffing down a few slices of pizza - it was almost disgusting. The pizza was definitely good, but not as good as Rome (Tom's still dreaming of that gorgonzola and sausage pizza.)

The tour of Pompeii was a good overview. The guide showed us the most important parts - the agora, the forum, the plasters of the dead people, the brothel, the gladiator quarters, the theaters, etc. I thought the stepping stones and high sidewalks (to avoid the rubbish and sewage) was very interesting to see. You can also see where the chariots made grooves into the rocks in the road. Kind of like the Oregon Trail.  (I apologize if I don't put captions on all of the pictures.  I honestly can't remember everything!)

The entrance to Pompeii.

The Basilica.

The Temple of Jupiter.

The Forum - that's Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Plaster cast  of one victim.

Many of the artifacts found here.

Another plaster cast.

Public toilets. 

Colorful walls in the public baths. 

Public baths.

Skylight in the public bathhouse. 

Neptune's face carved in the wall of the bath. 

A very large fountain in the steam room of the baths. 

A restaurant with containers to keep the food hot or wine cool - perhaps the first fast food restaurant? 

More of the restaurant.

The courtyard in one of the homes. 

The painted walls in one of the rooms of the home. 

Charriot ruts in the stone street. 

See the raised stones and raised sidewalk?  It was this way so the people wouldn't have to step in the garbage and sewage.

Yes, that's Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

Oh my, it's hot!

The brothel is that way (can you tell what this is???) 

Sign at the brothel - explaining only 10 people at once inside.

Pictures on the walls of what can happen in the brothel.  Hmm...

Another brothel picture.

We're HOT!  (Daniel, not so much.) 

The amphitheater. 

The Palaestra where the gladiators trained. 

The gladiator's quarters.

After the tour, a little gelato, and a taste of limoncello, we went back to the ship. Tom and Daniel went on board while Clare and I took the free shuttle to Salerno to find a cafe with free WiFi. (This is what Clare loves most of all. I figure it's the least I can do after "dragging" her all over Europe. ;-)) We had some amazing coffee and split a chocolate croissant. Oh. My. Goodness. Yum! We got in a good hour of WiFi bliss before going back to the ship.

It was a good day. Tom felt Pompeii was one of the best preserved ruins we had seen yet. I just like being able to say I've been there. Mt. Vesuvius was a highlight for both of us.

Tomorrow we will be at sea, then we'll be flying home. Oh, to sleep in my own bed without children waking me up at 1 a.m. ;-)

Daniel tried to imitate the snail our stateroom attendant folded for us.  :)