Mediterranean - 9 - May 21 Napoli, Pompeii and volcanoes

Napoli is the oldest city in Italy. Its been a surprising and fulfilling 24 hrs.  Last night the captain surprised us by sailing by an active volcano, the crew prepared a seafood buffet extravaganza, this morning another impressive spread at breakfast, and then the biggest archaeological site in the world, Pompeii.

Stromboli is the island with Mt. Stromboli taking up most of the space.  Unbelievably about 500 people live on the island. The active volcano is known for its frequent ongoing tremors.

Bouillabaisse, fish stew, was prepared, cooked and served by the chef in the rear  of the ship (Aquivit Bar), along with a complete selection of breads.  The World Cafe also had a greater than normal selection of seafood dishes, while the Restaurant served lobster thermador.  It was quite a competition between the two main dinner  options. 

The captain held the ship in one spot for 20-30 minutes.  I went on deck, in the rain to take this photo.

You can see just how close we came to Mt. Stromboli, the tiny un-named island to the left of the blue line, i.e. the ship's path.  It was out of the way, so we were especially glad to have seen the volcano.  Timing was perfect too, between 7:30 - 8:30 pm.  We were at dinner. 

Geez, another lovely (breakfast) buffet at the Aquivit Bar.  A beautiful display of fruits, yogurt/granola parfaits, and donuts. 

The streak was broken today, there were four other cruise ships in port two very large ships: Celebrity, Norwegian Epic, Aida was smaller, etc. All docking in close quarters at the port of Napoli, the oldest city in Italy. It was crowded, and docks were shared with ferry spaces. The Epic looks like a hotel with over 4,000 passengers.

Today was the long anticipated Pompeii.  It was chaotic, not the normal Viking good organization.  We docked in port later than planned about 30 minutes.  That threw off the tight timing of excursion departures.  All week long our instruction had been to arrive NO more than 5 minutes early to the dock for your excursion.  Well this morning maybe a dozen bus loads of passengers tried to disembark all at once which of course slowed everything down.  I guess everyone was as excited as me to be here.

We were prepared for Pompeii, thanks to a fun and very interesting talk from guest lecturer Dr. Craig Pilant the night before.  

Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79AD over multiple days first pumice stones were sent thousands of feet in the air.  They fell like rain, covering the city of Pompeii  The second stage of the eruption occurred about 17 hours  later when a pyroclastic flow (hot mix of rock, gas and ash) poured from the volcano for 17 hrs. An estimated 5,000 people from Pompeii lost their lives.

Mt Vesuvius.

The walk into Pompeii.

The most unusual display at Pompeii are the body castings.  When the volcano erupted many people died from inhaling the volcanic dust as they tried to run away.  Their bodies were covered in 14-17 feet of ash and pumice. During excavation of the city pockets of air were found along with human remains (bones). Excavator Guiseppe Fiorelli and his team decided to pour plaster into the voids.  This created a cast of vicitms (along with their bones) showing their size and position at time of death. 

Some homes of the wealthy were open for touring. Mosaic floors in the bedrooms and common room served the decorative purpose of area rugs, only easier to clean. There was water collection at the center of the house, water was stored conveniently accessible as any wood structures were always at risk of fire.

Our tour guide, Roseanna, used her hands and arms every time she spoke, very Italian like.  She is native to Napoli and used to be a history teacher and before that an archeologist - at Pompeii. Best guide yet.

Some of the stone and brick supports were decorative.

Water station

The bakery, with tis own oven!  Thiry ovens have been unearthed so far.

Here are food serving stations, along a common area lined with little shops, including a laundry! They used human urine to clean clothes.

The brothel building, top (2nd) level is recreated, lower portion is original. The overhang was deliberate to provide shade.

Inside the brothel...

Stone bed in the brothel, easy to clean, and not too comfortable to hurry things along.  They probably used a thin mattress. 

Yes dear sis, I have gotten much use out of the this navy tech shirt.  Its great for travel. I think you gave it to me for my birthday last year.

Most interesting outfit of the day! I didn't bring anything close to this.

A little souvenir shopping in the tents just outside the Pompeii area.

There must be a big soccer team in Napoli, these blue and shite streamers were strung across streets in town.

Tomorrow is our stop in Rome. We have a long (included) excursion as the port is 2 hours away from Rome.  So excursion is 2 hr bus ride in, 4.5 hours at the colosseum and anything else within walking distance that we can find, and 2 hrs back.  The day is also transition the beginning and end of a cruise for many passengers. And we've been given a new room, so it'll be moving day for us.  Hope its a promotion!