Our 1st stop was one we were really looking forward too. When researching beforehand there was just so much that I wanted to see and do out of this stop. If only we had more time. I had gone ahead and booked Mariano, a local Italian that privately took us to some of the places we wanted to see. He was amazing, knowledgeable, and could talk your ear off with all the random tidbits of info about this region of Italy.
The tour we did actually didn't stay in Naples at all. We did get this 1 picture actually showing Naples itself-- it is the birthplace of Pizza so we had to get a picture.
Out of the port we met with Mariano and loaded into his mercedes 8 seater van. He started off to Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast. The drive it self was beautiful. He let us stop along the drive to get some great shots of the coast.
The roads were small and windy (I am glad he was driving and not me). The homes and buildings were built right up along the mountainside. The definitely utilized their real estate. This drive claims to be one of the most beautiful coastal drives in the world. I couldn't agree more. It was awesome.
At the bottom we were able to get out and explore the little town of Sorrento/Positano.... It was a cute little beach touristy town filled with little shops and most importantly amazing views of the hillside. We had to touch the water and had fun taking pics.
After a hour or 2 of exploring we hopped back in the van and headed up the Amalfi Coast for more spectacular views.
We continued our tour and had lunch at the best little restaurant up in the middle of nowhere. Mariano made sure to tell us not to tell too many people about this place because he wanted to keep it a secret. It was the perfect, authentic lunch spot.
Best cheesecake ever!! So light and refreshing.
After lunch we had Mariano take us to Pompeii to see the sites and history there. We could have spent easily an entire day here but instead had to cram it all in a couple of hours with a tour so we could get back to your ship.
The ancient city of Pompeii was mostly destroyed and buried under 13 to 20 ft of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Objects buried beneath Pompeii were well-preserved for almost two thousand years. The lack of air and moisture let objects remain underground with little to no deterioration. Once excavated, the site provided a wealth of source material and evidence for analysis, giving detail into the lives of the Pompeiians. To be able to see this all in person was unreal. It opened up my eyes to how innovative these people were way back in early AD. They had whole towns, communities, businesses, everything that a functioning city needs.
Some of the saddest things to see were the remnants bodies and how you could see how they had been buried alive by this ash.
We took a picture of this 'modern day Cafe' built right into the ruins of old Pompeii. We were more disgusted by it but it was sure busy so people didn't seem to mind that the old ruins had been modernized.
This was a bakery (or kitchen of some sort)
They even used plumbing systems all threw the city.
In the background you can see Mt. Vesuvius in it's modern day form. If we had more time it would have been fun to hike up to the top.
We loved this area and had a great day exploring the Naples area, Amalfi Coast, and Pompeii! Now back to the ship.
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