Petrified People and Pooch, Plus a Pretty Promenade (Day 53 - GToE)

The main piazza with
views of Mount Vesuvius

Do you like my alliteration?

Today marks my last day in Italy. I'm discounting tomorrow's travel to Rome and the airport because it's just travel. I will be sad to say "Ciao" to this lovely country filled with its warm, friendly people. It's been a blast spending time here and connecting to my Italian heritage. 

Today was yet another glorious weather day. Bright blue skies and mild temperatures. I started the day traveling from Naples to the ancient Roman town of Pompeii. Pompeii was founded in the sixth or seventh century B.C., but was destroyed in 79 A.D. with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius starting on 23 November and lasting two days. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 13 to 20 feet of ash and pumice in the eruption and killed approximately 11,000 citizens. The site is an interesting place to visit because it is fairly well preserved. (Apparently the less famous town of Herculaneum is even better preserved.) Archaeologists have identified many of the ruins and their purposes. Within the town of Pompeii, there were two amphitheatres, a gymnasium, a complex water system, 30 brothels, hundreds of stores and much, much more. The brothels include frescoes of the various acts that can be purchased within the brothel and is marked with a phallic-like symbol over the door. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids between the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed one to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died. These bodies are on display in the site, including a dog. My tour group spent about 2 hours touring the ruins, but easily we could have tripled that time and still not seen the entire site. 

After switching tour groups (because my tour group was heading back to Naples), I traveled with the new group to Sorrento with the eventual plan to travel the Amalfi Coast. After spending a portion of today in Sorrento, it's easy to see why so many tourists bypass Naples and head straight for Sorrento. It is a beautiful town with the most amazing views. Founded in 600 B.C., Sorrento is a popular tourist destination and has a population of approximately 16,000. The town overlooks the Bay of Naples and has views of Capri Island and Mount Vesuvius. Additionally, the town is famous for the production of lemoncello, a digestif made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water and sugar - and is incredibly yummy. 

After stopping along the way to take photos of the amazing views, the tour stopped for some lunch at a restaurant called "Donna Sophia", which is dedicated to the actress Sophia Loren. There are photos of Sophia all over the restaurant and she has actually dined there a couple of times. The food was amazing. One of the best stuffed cannelloni I've ever had! (That's quite a statement coming from an Italian.) 

After lunch, the tour bus was supposed to travel along the Amalfi Coast which according to what I've heard is one of the prettiest places in Italy. Sadly, the road was closed due repair work from a previous landslide and we could not go. Instead we got some free time to tour a little bit of Sorrento. I was a little disappointed but what can you do. On our way back to Naples, we were serenaded with Torna a Sorriento (Come Back to Sorrento) by our excellent bus driver/tour guide, Riccardo - a favorite song of mine! It was a lovely, lovely day.

When I got back to Naples, I walked back through town to my hostel as my farewell to Naples. Tomorrow, I take a train to Rome's Termini station, then another train to Rome's airport, and finally, a plane to Istanbul. Tomorrow will most likely be a lost travel day but perhaps when I get to Istanbul I can find something to do which will be notable enough to write about. Until tomorrow... 

Day 53 photos can be found on my GToE photo site!

Sunset over the Bay of Naples