Day 7 & 8 - At Sea & Port of Naples

DAY 7:  At Sea

Just a relaxing day at sea…took it easy, put our feet up, enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the sun glint off the sea like diamonds. 

It was our first formal night for dinner and enjoyed sharing it with our friends Lynne & Jim from Ocala. 

Then headed to the casino where we both donated again.   Oh well.    We enjoyed it anyway.

DAY 8 – Naples

Friday we ported in Naples and woke to a great view of Mt. Vesuvius surrounded by grey skies and the threat of rain.  

We had an independent tour scheduled with a great tour company…Rome In Limo.  I had arranged a tour for 15 people to go to Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano.  Our two drivers were waiting for us as we got off the ship and off we went to Pompeii.  What an amazing place!  To think that Pompeii was founded in 79 B.C. and was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius in 89 A.D. just boggles the mind.  

It was a resort for the people in the area and archeologists began uncovering it in the 1700’s.  We think we invented ways to do things, but the ingenuity of the Greeks/Romans was before its time.  They had systems for moving the water throughout Pompeii using lead pipes, they even had fast food!!  We were glad we got there early as there weren’t many people.  Then just as we were ready to leave, thunder roared and the skies opened up.  We got soaked!!!

Dripping and disgruntled over the weather, we got back in to our vans and headed to Sorrento.  Unfortunately, without the sun, the drive to Sorrento is not as beautiful as it should be, but we certainly enjoyed our driver Antonio’s narrative about this area of Italy.  It is filled with olive and lemon tree groves…the main produce of the area.  We arrived in Sorrento and was given an hour on our own to wander, so we checked out the beautiful ceramic ware, and sampled lemoncello…Yum!  

As we were heading back to our tour van, we noticed an ambulance at the square where we were going to meet.  One of the wives came to the tour van crying…her husband had fallen down a flight of stairs and it was obvious that his leg was broken.  They were taking him to the hospital.  Their friends who were also on the tour with us, stayed with them, while the rest of our tour moved on to lunch.  We were all distraught over the incident and worried about what would happen with him.  We ate a lite lunch and one of the drivers returned to say that the husband had a compound fracture and would need to be operated on.  The wife was returning to the ship to pack up all their belongings and would be getting off the ship to stay with her husband.  It was so sad.   We did learn later that they operated on him immediately and he will be in the hospital in Sorrento for at least 5-7 days.  Unfortunately, they did not have trip insurance and they will most likely have to pay for all the medical bills, her hotel and airline trip home themselves.  

With heavy hearts the rest of our tour moved on to Positano.  By that time the weather was beginning to clear and the drive there was magnificent.  Positano is the first city on the Amalfi Coast.   It is a resort town with lots of hotels, restaurants and very upscale shops. Positano is lovely, but very hilly and we were all very cautious about where we were walking…we didn’t want any more accidents.  We visited a beautiful church there…The Church of the Assumption which is just above the sea.  We only stayed about 40 minutes but enjoyed a delicious gelato before we left.  And luckily, the sun came out and the ride back was beautiful.

Our driver took us through part of Naples as we returned.  Oh, my, God…what crazy drivers!!  Cars, buses, truck, motorbikes…all trying to disprove the law of physics and take up the same space at the same time!!!   You couldn’t pay me enough to drive in Italy!!!

We arrived back at the ship emotionally and physically exhausted.  Showered, did another load of laundry, went up to the deck for a burger for dinner and then crashed.  Our thoughts and prayers tonight are with our friends and we pray all goes well for them.