Mediterranean cruise and European adventure - Day 10 - Naples

Naples

This was another big day of sightseeing! Earlier I mentioned that Emmaline had been corresponding with a girl her same age from our cruise meet group. For our excursion today we would be sharing a private excursion with her and her family. We actually did something similar in Alaska, which is how we met Heather and her wonderful family. It worked great to share the cost of a private excursion, but still keep it small and do what we wanted to do.

For Naples, I couldn’t choose between Pompeii and Herculaneum so I set out to find an excursion that would do both. We ended up booking with a company called Pompeiin for a private tour of both with a licensed guide (they’re very strict about tour guides in Italy) and a wine tasting lunch.

After breakfast in Cabanas, we disembarked with the Bush family at 8:30 and met up with our driver to start the morning at Herculaneum. Our guide met us there and took us in just as they opened at 9, which was great because there were hardly any other visitors. Herculaneum is an incredibly preserved site, though it’s not as large and grand as Pompeii. Whereas Pompeii was covered with ash and debris from the top down, Herculaneum was filled in with mud and volcanic sludge that flowed in from the bottom up. As a result, there was no weight bearing down on all the buildings, in addition, this preserved many organic structures like a boat, roofs, beds and more. The preservation at the site is astounding. You can go into the houses that still have roofs and second stories and it really gives a sense of how the people there lived day to day.





Herculaneum was a seaside town for the wealthy and there are some incredible mansions there with elaborate frescos and mosaics. We went into a number of houses and saw the boat houses where piles of skeletons were found as people flocked there trying to flee the eruption. We were all in absolute awe.






We left Herculaneum at 11:15 and made the 15 minute journey to Pompeii where we explored with our guide. While the preservation at Pompeii isn’t as good as at Herculaneum, it’s impressive for it’s vast size. Pompeii itself was a bigger city, but also there is more of it unearthed. Herculaneum is, regrettably buried under a large portion of the modern city and therefore, cannot be excavated further at this time. Pompeii on the other hand has been largely unearthed and it’s enormous. We were there for two hours and only saw a fraction of the city. If we didn’t have the guide I’m certain we would have gotten lost.





I will say that I think we spent overlong at Pompeii. It was very very hot and after awhile, we largely saw the same type of thing repeatedly and I think we all got a little burned out. Our guide, however, was fabulous. She was so enthusiastic about all things Roman and had vast knowledge about the subject. At 1:30, tired, hot and hungry, we left Pompeii for lunch and wine tasting at Bosco de Medici Winery.

Lunch got off to a bit of a shakey start as it wasn’t clear how the menu worked or what we would be eating or drinking or what the girls were going to have. There wasn’t a menu so we weren’t sure what was going on. It ended up that we had several courses with wines to taste with them. After we cooled off and started to eat, we enjoyed the meal and Roger enjoyed the wines there, even buying a bottle to take home.



After lunch, we went for a tour of some of the vineyards on site (the rest are on the slopes of Vesuvius). It’s a beautiful site and we enjoyed the walk around the grounds where they also grow lemons and tomatoes. Our time there ended and we climbed into the van for the return to the ship at around 4:30.

Once onboard, we started packing up since we would be leaving in the morning. It was hard to believe we were already at the last day on board! This cruise definitely felt like it went faster than any before. While we packed, Emmaline found some other activities, attending some games in Promenade Lounge and meeting Mickey in the atrium. At 6:00 we went for our final dinner aboard the ship, back in Lumiere’s again.



After dinner, Emmaline left to go pursue some activities around the ship. She said she went to “Who Wants to Be a Mouseketeer” and then attended “Disney Dreams” in the Walt Disney Theatre. Again, Roger and I weren’t interested having seen it multiple times. (Emmaline can watch the same thing over and over again and enjoy it every time - more power to her!) While she was at the show, we finished packing and then Roger went for a walk on deck 4 while I worked on my trip report, paid off our bill at Guest Services and returned Emmaline’s bracelet for the kid’s club. Eventually we all returned to the room for bed, since we had to wake up somewhat early to disembark on time.

Click here for Day 11.