Where to Next?: Nov 7 – Naples, Italy

sunrise on Mount Vesuvius

Weather – 22º, sunny, then torrential, then

Herculaneum

sunny

Steps – 11,882

Today was another case of ‘I’m glad we’ve done the main attraction here’ - in Naples it is Pompeii. Pompeii is a must see, but we’ve seen it.

Today we saw the excavation site at the ancient Greek/Roman city of Herculaneum - similar to Pompeii it was buried as a result of Mount Vesuvius’ AD 79 eruption.

Different from Pompeii, much of the Herculaneum had been deserted 7 years before the eruption due to destruction from an earthquake and tsunami. There were slaves and workers who stayed after the earthquake who were buried.

Herculaneum

frescos

The visit lasted about an hour as we followed Costa, the guide, and learned about and saw how rich people lived in the first century – Herculaneum was a town of rich folk who lived overlooking the sea. We saw preserved frescos, mosaics, the baths, stores, houses etc.

Only a fraction of the site has been uncovered, and work is on going to uncover more – maybe we will comeback some day - Herculaneum isn’t as arduous as Pompeii, it is smaller than I remember Pompeii being, but the terrain is as challenging.

We had a bit of time to kill after the tour, so we sat for a beer and a giant limoncello – the guy just kept pouring and pouring the limoncello. It was actually limoncello cream…very tasty. I’ve made this before and I’m inspired to do it

more colourful frescos

again.

frescos

After the tour we headed into town, just a 10 min walk from the ship, for a pizza. There are tons and tons of places to choose from. We finally settled on a place on a steep, narrow street (5-ish meters wide), lined with restaurants, where there were guys ‘yes, pleasing’.

‘Yes, please’ is what we call restaurant and bar staff who want you more than you want them. It started on our first time in Istanbul where that’s literally what everybody says to you to get you into their establishments.

Herculaneum street

This street was nothing but ‘pizza-pasta’ places, no other shops or businesses…all ‘pizza-pasta’ - perfect. Each place looked separate, but it seemed like the food all came from the same place.

the baths

Pizza (€10), wine (€16), bruschetta (€6), and rain! Oh, the rain…it was torrential. Torrential rain, on a steep street is a recipe for a river – and a river it was. We had to elevate our feet so as to not have them submerged – I should have taken a video. I took photos that the rain can kind of be seen. Luckily, we were under an awning, so we didn’t get wet. We sat outside of course, and the day as great for it - until the rain came. Even with the rain it was fun – an adventure to not get wet and watch everyone else try to not get wet.

floor mosaic

At the beginning, food stopped being brought out, but eventually, the rain went on for long enough that the food had to be brought out…under umbrellas. Pretty funny…food delivery under umbrellas.

food sellers - each contained different

The food was delicious. I consider myself a bit of a European pizza connoisseur, and this stuff was top tier! As it should be…Naples pizza!

And as quickly as the rain started, it ended. Perfect time for us to walk back to the ship.

I really liked the vibe of Naples - gritty, unassuming. I could see us spending a week or so here pre or post cruise. Lots of cultural things to do and food to eat.