Day 11 (Naples, Italy)

Our final stop was Naples, Italy. Yes, the same name as the city in Florida, but much much different. Naples, which is 158 nautical miles away from Santorini, is an old city. It is the third largest city of Italy after Milan and Rome. It was the largest kingdom as far as land goes back in the days and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

We were greeted into Naples by rain and water. Not only that, we booked a tour and they were an hour late picking us up. Eventually we made our way to the old town of Pompeii. It, too, contained an old civilization that was destroyed over time. In this case, Pompeii was buried in ash and pumice from the eruption of the nearby volcano (Mount Versuvius) back in 79 AD. Today, much of the city has been excavated and much of the city is still in decent shape. Although it was a wet visit, we were still able to see quite a bit.

Old time pedestrian walkway

Check out how good the fresco painting still looks!

When the volcano erupted, almost the entire population died. Some died because they were buried in lava, others because of the gas released by the volcano. The following picture is a little disturbing, but kind of cool at the same time. A couple years back, when archaeologist were digging in the old city, they found human remains. As an attempt to understand the situation back then, they poured plaster into the empty space in the magma left by where the body use to be. After they broke the magma, the shape of the figure and details (like a belt) remained.

The skull is real, but the rest of the body is plaster

More of the city:

This was ingenius! This was one of the public baths of Pompeii. The picture below features the sauna. It was a wet sauna, so when the water accumilates, it would drip from the ceiling. To prevent this problem, they made a dome shaped ceiling so the water would follow the slope and drip against the walls instead of falling down straightwards. Genius!

Old houses of Pompeii

The theatre

Where the gladiators practiced

After leaving Pompeii, we decided to explore some of Naples on our own. However, we did not stay out too long. Naples is known for pickpockets. Supposedly they can take the watch off your hand without you even noticing!

By the dock

Old fortress

The Galleria Umberto

Pretty!

As the ship sailed away, the skies began to clear up. Luckily too because we were able to see the volcano more clearly. This is an active volcano, meaning it can erupt at any time. I've never seen one before so it was kind of cool. They skies were still a little blurry, but you get the picture.

Mount Vesuvius

Our last night for dinner we went a little later (that's why my pictures didn't come out too good =P)

Sauteed Fishcakes

Honey-glazed Kobe Beef Style Meatloaf

Rum Cake with a Cinnamon Ice-cream

Oh.....and this wasn't from that night, but I forgot to post it earlier. The Hot Glass Show preformed a couple of times at night and they promised us that they would turn off the lights. It was pretty interesting to watch as the light given off by the heat of the glass was being manipulated and shaped. Definitely cool.

Jamie and Matt blowing glass in the dark

Well.........that's the end of our trip. We returned to Rome and debarked the next day. The trip home was definitely much smoother than the trip over. However, somethings don't change. It was stil gray and raining in Rome.

We had a wonderful time on our honeymoon. It is definitely a memory we will hold onto dearly. Everyone on the cruise was wonderful and we were able to see and experience a lot of new things. Until next time!