Naples

We arrived to heavy clouds and threats of rain.  We managed to avoid most of it, touring Pompeii in the morning and Sorrento in the afternoon.

 

chariot tracks in the stones

one of the victims

The guide took us through only a small part of the Pompeii ruins, but enough to get a good sense of what had been covered by ash in the 74 AD eruption of Vesuvius.  We got to see some of the plaster casts of bodies found near one of the large squares.  (They used injected plaster to fill in the gap created as the bodies decayed… this enabled them to get a cast of the actual faces and to preserve the skeletons.)  Of the 20,000 killed in the eruption, there were about 150 of these intact remains found.

We ventured down the coast to Sorrento, stopping at a farmhouse above town that produces limoncello and mozzarella.  We got a demo of the braided cheese that the area is famous for, and a chance to sample the liquor after a farmhouse lunch.  Maria, the cheesemaker, we were told spoke no English, but when she finished the braid she turned it towards us, smiled and said, “Cheese!”

We got some time to explore Sorrento, but our visit matched the time when the shops were closed, so not much to do.  We stopped in at The English Bar and ordered a pint of Guinness.  While waiting for it, Scott noticed a framed picture of an aircraft carrier on the wall.  It turned out to be the Enterprise, but what was really fun was that the letter next to it was signed by its then CO, Captain Mike Malone – one of our old buddies from Alameda.  Small world!

The ship was delayed leaving Naples.  The Italian inspectors showed up late and stayed later… from the Master’s description “they like to talk and talk and talk!”  Instead of 7 p.m., the ship left at 2 a.m.  Our suite is above one of the capstans for line handling, so we heard it.