When in Rome

You are absolutely correct!!! Many places are not accessible for handicapped people or even people with trouble walking. I will say that Rome is better than Naples for cobblestones on the road and sidewalks, but it would definitely be a challenge. And even if you are not impeded in anyway, you still need to keep your wits about you as it would be very easy to fall. 

I was off to the train station early (but not too early). In a place that I don’t know, I do like to be in the right place well in advance of when I need to be there. I checked the board at the train station and yes, while the track isn’t announced yet — there is my train. 

Arrivals and departures at Naples train station

I think I got the hang of how the train schedule works. My first time, years ago, I was a bit “frantic” not knowing that the platform doesn’t show up until the train is there. Or at least close to the time. I managed to find a seat in the train station and read my ebook while I waited. 

Again, I took the first class train - it seems calmer, and is more comfortable. But I will say something — it appears that the people that are the least capable of carrying luggage are the ones that have tons of luggage. An older couple got on the train with two big suitcases, a smaller suitcase, a tote bag and a grocery tote bag. And they fussed on where to put the stuff until someone helped them put it up on the luggage rack. Then they struggled to get it off the train. I have no idea what they were all carrying (they spoke English), but it was way too much for them to deal with. 

As the train left the station, I got a picture of Mount Vesuvius. That is clouds at the top, not steam. 

Mount Vesuvius

We actually got free snacks on this train even though it was only slightly more than one hour to Rome. We were supposed to get snacks on the long ride from Sicily to Naples, but that never materialized. That’s why I carry snacks with me at all times. 

No need to use Google Maps to know where you were, as it was very clearly indicated on the screen in the car. One other thing they kept referring to on that screen was SAFTY, including beware of pick pockets. That is the first time I have seen any reference to that while here. 

You can watch the train move on the screen

This was our train - a much newer or at least a different style than the previous one. At the maximum and for most of the way, the speed was 299 KPH. You have to love the high speed train. It would be fun one year to buy a pass and visit as many cities by train as you could!!! 

The high speed train

I got off the train and spotted the colour coded garbage system in the train station. There are so many shops in this train station which is open at both ends. It’s huge and one thing I noticed immediately that the air felt fresher and the city is litter free. 

The color coded garbage bins

And now the fun part — finding a hotel. I started walking on one street and OH MY —- there are hotels everywhere. I guess I didn’t load the picture, but there are multiple hotels in the same building. One hotel on each floor. I don’t know how they work that out, but it was interesting. 

I randomly picked one that looked nice (I have good qualifications - None, other than it looks nice) and went in. There were two couples ahead of me, so I sat and waited to see if there was room. I’m not in a rush and it was early - around 1 PM. 

Yes —- they had a room, but not in this building. The hotel has several floors in another building down the street a ways and closer to the train station. I’m OK with that. 

I was given a very good explanation and a map of where everything is here in Rome as well as a caution about pick pockets!!! I guess it must be a thing here, but I have my body bag which I wear under my shirt and I just look a bit chunkier around the middle, but I’m good to go. We discussed getting to the airport on my last day and they will pack me a brown bag for breakfast and book a taxi for me. Seriously? It doesn’t get any better than that. The price? 140 Euro per night which is a very good price for a hotel. OH - plus city tax of 7 Euro. 

I have been so fortunate with all my hotel choices and let’s face it — they are here to cater to us.

You would not be able to do that with a group and I certainly would never do that with DH. The hotel is modern and clean, but it would take forever to find a place that suited him. Hence solo travel is the way to go. And the rooms are not big — the bed barely fits in the room so not much room for two but perfect for one. 

And there is the teeny elevator with the stairs wrapping around it. So common in Europe. Breakfast is in the main building which is a two-minute walk down the street. Who cares!!! Just got back from breakfast - it’s not even two minutes and YES — I take the stairs. 

The tiny elevator and the stairs

There is another hotel on the 1st floor of this building and my hotel is on the 2nd and third. Everything is operated by a key card and I would never have found my way without the guy from the hotel. Three locked doors to get into my room. 

One curiosity is the lobby of this building. It’s HUGE with this giant mirror in it. That’s a LOT of wasted real estate. It’s big enough, they could practically fit another room there. And it’s the only place you’ll find a full length mirror. But then — who cares what you look like on vacation?

A giant mirror in the lobby

My bug bite is calming down, but still itchy and I discovered another one on my butt cheek when I got to the hotel. The darn welts are huge but then my body doesn’t like bug bites and goes into panic mode!!! But that’s all I found so I’m good. 

There are TONS of motorcycles and scooters in this city and you’ll find rows and rows of them parked along the streets. I think this is the street that my hotel is located on. 

Parking for motorcycles

I decided to just wander around yesterday afternoon and do an Adventure Lab, which I managed to find all the steps. Some of them were very tricky, but it was fun. And it brought me to a street with a couple of small restaurants on it. I was going to go back to a “more popular” place, but then I decided I was on vacation and I always remember Neil, my Tour du Canada buddy, who said, if you are in a small town (or anywhere) don’t be afraid to try different places to eat. I checked the menu and saw they had this amazing salad with tuna and I was in. Thanks, Neil!!!!

This is. My favourite salad and I had it frequently when walking the Camino. You add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste!!!!

My favourite salad

Then I was off to explore some more and I found an Earth cache (geocaching) in a basilica nearby, so I went there. Yep —- visiting a city by geocaching. I do NOT need to go to all the most popular places — I’d rather visit places where there are no lines and no ticket fee. It’s all new to me, so why not? 

This is the Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore. As is typical of any basilica (cathedral or church), they are HUGE. I spent quite a a bit of time in this one and I will say that my church visiting for this trip is done! Granted, you will see different styles of gold on ceilings and statues and perhaps different stained glass, but one is enough for me. 

Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore

This is the ceiling in one part of the basilica. Amazing how much “wealth” is used to decorate these places. It’s almost obscene for a house of God. But I’m not going to go down that road. 

One of the ceilings inside the Basilica 

What I found weird was the HUGE sign by Samsung on the front of the building. I think it was advertising some event. I bet they get a lot of money for that to be there. 

It was an interesting visit and WAIT —- I discovered something that NO ONE (or not many would care about in this huge building. 

Can you guess? Of course you can’t, but look at this sign buried way in the back. Note the third point!!!!!

I recognize that symbol

If you are a pilgrim and walking to Santiago, Spain, you can get a pilgrim stamp for your passport!!!! The Camino has many routes across Europe and many stopping points and I spotted one of them buried in the back of the church. I haven’t seen any signs on walls or the road, but there is a Camino route here. Not the most famous part (that I know of). That was way more exciting than seeing more paintings and gold crucifixes!! OH —- I’m such a basic person!!

Then I looked at the map and saw a park. I’ve missed forest bathing and I needed a break so I headed to the park. Oh my —- the trees are pretty sparse and the grass was just weeds. But it was a break from the hard city scape and I meandered through it. I was going to stop and sit on a bench, but then I spotted something amongst the trees in front of me. NO WAY!!!!

A forest bathing break 

Yes - I had walked to the Colosseum!!!!! How cool is that? So I continued walking to it. What a fascinating building. 

The Colosseum

I stopped and read the signs on the outside of the building and there are 80 arches (entrances) on the bottom level. Two were reserved for the Emperor and the Authorities, while two more were reserved for the protagonists of the performances. The public went in the numbered entrances (76) with assigned seating. Can you believe? You could still see the arch numbers along the back of the amphitheatre, while on the other side, they are long gone as well as some of the fancy stone work. 

I got to see and learn a lot about the building without even paying to go in. They were still letting people in when I was there, but I was tired and I can just imagine myself falling from the top seating. I’ll wait and I may end up going today or I may not. I’ll see how it goes. 

An unexpected find

What a stunning building

Here’s a photo of the arches on the back of the Colesseum. See how the ridges of stone are still there and if you look close, you can see the Roman Numerals over the arches. 

The arches on the back of the Colosseum

And on the front side, most of that decorative detail and definitely the numbers are gone. 

The arches on the front side

By this time, it was getting late, so I wandered back to the hotel. I wore my sandals rather than running shoes which I won’t do again today. My feet were tired. But that’s OK — you are supposed to be tired on your vacation. 

I spotted this table close to the train station where they were selling souvenirs (JUNK) for 1 euro per piece. Good grief —- how much of that will end up in the landfill. It was just a table with junk with Rome on the pieces. 

One Euro junk souvenirs

But there are some neat shops along the way and I may even have to purchase something. It’s time to up my game from wearing bicycle themed T-shirts all the time. OH — and I spotted a shop where you could have a leather bag made. I’ve seen several neat items of clothing, but didn’t try anything on. Since I have two days to decide - I’ll see how it goes. Clothes shopping is not my thing, but these looked fun.

And here’s the open air train station. It’s huge and open at both ends. I did not mention that Rome is MUCH more civilized than Naples. The air is fresher, the streets are not littered and getting across the street is NOT nearly as dangerous. There are lights, which most people respect and the traffic is much calmer. I like this city!! But it has pick pockets — you can’t have everything!!!

The train station

Here is the tiny hall to my hotel room. Imagine if you had a lot of luggage. How would you get it to the room and then where the heck would you put it once you got it in the room. And once you open it - it would explode!!!! And here’s another reason for not having a lot of luggage. Let’s suppose that you make a mistake and you tell your hired car the wrong address for pickup. And that wee mistake makes you late for the airport. If you have to check luggage, they close that window 60 minutes before the flight. If you only have carry-on? You don’t need to worry about that. I will ONLY travel with checked bags in Canada for work. Never for pleasure, unless there are special circumstances. By the way —— the late check in thing did happen once to me on my way to Spain one year. It was NOT my fault and after begging, they let me on the plane!

The narrow hallway outside my door

When I got back to the hotel, I spotted a little sidewalk cafe very near the hotel door. So I stopped there for dinner. It was AMAZING!!!!!! And I splurged and had a beer as well. 

The pasta was AMAZING!!!! Simple but amazing

It was an amazing day. Again — one of the huge benefits of solo travel is that you are always happy. There is no one to worry about if you want to visit the Basilica or not, or do they want to wait while you research the information needed to do a geocache, or want to shop for clothes or anything else. If you are tired, you can rest, if you want to forest bath, you can do so. Yes —- it can be lonely since you have no one to talk to, but if you are comfortable with yourself, that isn’t an issue either. And if you choose to stop and read your book along the way? You can do that. No waiting for the bathroom. There are no ends to the joy of solo travel. 

The other thing I like is the spontaneity of traveling alone or with another very flexible person, who travels light. If you decide you don’t want to stay in that city, then you get a train and move along. Nothing is booked so you are not married to that town. Just don’t travel in high season and you should be just fine. I love this way of travel, but I’m dismayed at how much extra crap I brought that I don’t need. But I’ll get over that!!!! And my bags are pretty light, so it isn’t an issue. But I sure wish I had my backpack instead of dragging a suitcase along the sidewalk. 

It makes it super handy now that everything uses the same charge plug - thank you Europe for making Apple see the way!! My USB-C charge cord works like a charm. I had to charge my Fitbit once which takes its own charge cord, but I only have one plug. I have a fast charge cord which is short and a slow charge one that is LONG. Both were well used on this trip. 

I see it’s time to get the day started — and I still have to edit the post, but I’m going to find breakfast first. I get back to the hotel in the evening and I’m tired, but then I can’t sleep so I’m up half the night. Then sleep in in the morning. NO idea why that is happening. But I’m not worried. I have ZERO expectations of the day and if I get to see things I do, and if I don’t? I don’t really care — just being here is enough for me. I see there is a whole pile of stuff around the Colosseum that I didn’t see yesterday, so I may head there first. 

I only have one thing that I really want to experience and I need a ticket for that, so I must book that today for tomorrow. 

On that note, I’m out of here. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!!

My 1000th geocache!!!!

And another wonderful day of solo travel. I wasn’t too ambitious, but I managed to fill the day. I had three goals - visit the Archeological Museum, get that elusive geocache, and eat the most famous Napoli pizza in Italy! Mission accomplished!! Here’s what happened. 

I must admit that thanks to Google, it’s easy to get around almost any place in the world. It’s hard to believe how much mapping and resources went into creating Google Maps. The one thing about Google Maps is there should be a setting to avoid hills!! I swear I would walk up one slope and then go right back down the other side. Now why is that? Maybe when you’re walking, it takes the shortest distance. I don’t know, but it’s all good. 

Narrow streets in Naples

And the streets are just crazy. Some are narrow, some are wide. Some are long, some are short. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to them. Sometimes there is a sidewalk and sometimes there isn’t. And that path may have a rickety railing right on the edge of a drop off. One thing I love is that it’s every man for himself here. Europe doesn’t have much to do with safety precautions meaning they assume you have common sense. It’s very refreshing from being in NA where the slightest thing is blocked off!  

A sketchy looking railing

Let’s just say that one must be 1000 percent attentive at all times. The surface you are walking on is not for the faint of heart since it’s not always smooth, and there are holes, gaps, uneven surfaces to contend with. 

As a careful pedestrian back home who NEVER crosses in the middle of the street? Well, you can throw that concept out the window here. No one crosses at the corner, HECK—- I think I only seen one traffic light to help pedestrians across the street and that was at the train station. The streets are a zoo and literally, you scour for the slightest break in the traffic, then step out confidently and pray a lot that everyone will see you and stop or in the case of motorcycles/scooters that they will weave around you. It’s total chaos!!!!

I will confess that I suck at walking with Google Maps and so many times, I get going in the incorrect orientation. My brain just doesn’t get it, but I find where I’m going - it just may take longer than originally planned. 

I had not pre-bought tickets to the National Archaeological Museum, so I had to wait about 10 minutes before I could get in. But no big deal. The building is huge and we did not get a map. I was specifically looking for stuff related to Pompeii, which I found or overheard someone say it was on the second floor. 

The exhibits consist of many items that were found as Pompeii was excavated. It was totally fascinating and I definitely want to read more about it when I get home. I managed to find a small book in the bookstore to read more. 

Of course, anything organic (people, wood, textile, etc) were completely gone, but the things made from metal or stone were fine. There were loads of mosaics and look at the scale. Can you imagine working this small?

Tiny mosaics

The most fascinating thing was the model of the entire town. It had been replicated on a scale of 1 CM to 1 M and was absolutely breathtaking and that’s where you got a really good idea of the city and how big the ruins are. 

The model of Pompeii

This 3-D model has been explicated EXACTLY as the town was found. If the walls were missing in town, they are missing on the model. If the walls were painted, they are painted on the model. You can see some of the paint in the picture below. 

Detail of the Pompeii model

WOW —- I could have looked at that model for hours. In the foreground is one of the temples and can you see that larger square behind with the circle in the middle? We were there. That is a market and the circle was a large platform where fish were cleaned for market. Can you just imagine the smell?? 

More of the scale model

Our guide said a very interesting thing (he was 30) that the people of today would not last more than one day in Pompeii. Well, during that era. With the smells and the lack of services, most of the people from today would just die. I agree with him. Even back home, living in the country with few amenities would throw people off and if they didn’t have access to the internet, they would die. Well, I would die traveling if I didn’t have the internet. OK — maybe I wouldn’t die but it would take me a long time to get anything done! 

There was also a map of the city on the wall, but not in quite as much detail and I believe those two large sections are still covered in ash. Wow!!!! Those are probably more houses? But who knows. I wish I had seen that map before going to Pompeii, but it’s a reason to go back another time. In the middle on the right-hand side, you can just see the curvature of the large amphitheater, which held 20,000 people or something like that. The Colosseum in Rome holds 50,000. About 1/3 is left to be excavated and will likely ever be excavated. 

A wall map showing how much is still to be excavate

Many painted walls (fresco) have been removed from Pompeii and were in the Museum, but so many were damaged and then reassembled. What a job that must have been to reconstruct. 

This is the ceiling on the second floor of the Museum. It was a large room with paintings on the walls. 

The ceiling inside the Archeological Museum

The only negative about the day was the number of school groups. Good grief —- they are loud in that echoing place. I totally get that children should be exposed to museums, but I swear they were in and out in minutes, rather than learning anything. Maybe they need to be given a scavenger hunt or something to keep them engaged. 

And let’s not forget about the bookstore. I almost missed it. I had walked out of the Museum and then remembered I wanted to look at the books, so I went back only to discover a group of young children in the bookstore. They were ravaging the children’s area, but many of them had money to buy a souvenir. 

Since the maps were few and far between, it was very challenging to find the toilet. Yes — the toilet, not the washroom or the rest room. Call it as you need it! I think there were only two in the entire place, one in the basement and the second on the third floor up many stairs, or you could take the slow elevator. And of course, there was one door that doesn’t shut properly which is OK if you are two, but alone? I waited to get one with a door that closed. 

It was a fascinating visit but after several hours, your brain just shuts down, so I left. 

The very noisy children in the bookstore

Oh shoot —- Google only shows me the first part of my pictures for yesterday, so I’m going to have to email them to myself. I’m going for breakfast and will finish later. I have the time advantage on my side this morning. 

And I’m back —— the free breakfast with the hotel room is amazing and I fuel up for the day!! However, I also needed to be sure to eat the most famous Napoli pizza. M had forwarded me the link to the restaurant and I took her word. Let’s say that finding the place was a bit challenging but was in the same area where I was. 

As I approached the restaurant on a odd little side street, I see the street teeming with people 

The line-ups outside the pizza restaurant

This is where you need to stand back a bit and observe what is happening and how the system works. You have a take away line beside the building and that line never stopped. The rest in the middle are either waiting for their take away or waiting for a table. At first, I got in the take away line, but then I wanted to be able to sit down and eat in comfort and there are NOT any public places to sit. So I got in the restaurant line. They were currently serving number 34 and I was number 48. But it went rather quickly. 

However once inside, the wait was LONG. The good news is that there were many Italians in the line so you knew the pizza was going to be good. When I asked M where she found this place, it was from a BOOK!!! Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. OH MY GOD — it was a movie. Now I have to watch that movie. The pizza is in the movie trailer!!!!

Julia Roberts is in the movie so you know it’s going to be good. Thanks M!!!!!

Pizzeria da Michele

They must have had to remake more dough or something because we all waited a long time for the pizza to arrive at our tables. The menu is short —- FOUR options. The actual pizza was so huge that it was falling off my plate. But remember, the crust is whisper thin. The lady at my table and the two beside me (we all arrived at the same time), they devoured their pizza and left immediately. I ate almost all except a bit of the crust. YES —- it was amazing and I’m so glad that I got to experience that. Thanks again M for showing me the way!!!

My world famous Napoli pizza

Before the pizza place, I found the geocache outside the Museum. It’s always fun to be reaching down to feel underneath planters or along fences in very public places. So when I couldn’t find it quickly, the thought breezed through my head to cheat and just log it without actually putting my hand on it. But then I went to the front of the planter which was along the street. This side was elevated so it was easy to peek underneath and there the darn thing was. 

The geocache

I took a picture of it so no one could accuse me of cheating!!! LOL. Only I would be know I had cheated. 

And thank goodness I did NOT because this was my 1000th find!!!!!  Yeah me!!!! 1000 geocaches in the many yeas I’ve been geocaching is small, but it was a milestone nevertheless  and to say I found it in Naples is pretty darn cool. 

My 1000th find!!!!

And there is that elusive virtual badge that I so desperately wanted. If I get any other geocaches, they are bonus, I got what I wanted. 

My virtual geocaching souvenir

I know it sounds like a totally juvenile thing to do, but seriously? I have discovered many places that I would never have gotten to otherwise. And it’s a virtual souvenir — so you don’t have to find a place for it when you get home. 

By this time, it was getting late and I wanted to get back to the hotel. I spotted this adorable little outfit on the way. 

How cute is this?

Here’s a picture of the streets and sidewalk. You must pay attention. I will confess that while I was searching for another geocache and not paying attention, I ran smack into a woman. No one fell and thankfully it was on the sidewalk and not on the street in the path of a motorcycle!! I was a bit embarrassed, but what can you do??? Pay more attention — that’s what!!!!

The rough pavement

I will spare you the photos of the garbage that lies everywhere on these streets. It’s insane and there seems to be homeless people living in the area as well. Just an observation, not a criticism. And of course, there are armed guards, mostly around the train station. Last night as I passed the train station, I noticed a very heavy police presence. It looked like multiple disciplines but lots of police. 

I guess then that it should have been no surprise when I passed this shop. One display was for scissors, along with swords, knives, and hand guns. 

Scissor display along with knives and swords

The other side had semi-automatic guns. 

Semi-automatic guns

It is a crazy city and so casual. But I’ve found that in the US as well. I remember visiting Missouri Star Company in September for their 9th birthday bash. There was a market on the Saturday, and you could buy a gun from a street vendor. WOW!!!!! I definitely live a sheltered life! And at a quilt store I visited in Iowa, you paid for your fabric purchases in the MASSIVE gun shop next door. 

Crap - I got a bug bite last night on my neck. Thankfully I have Afterbite with me, but even with that it’s itchy!!

Today is a transition day. It’s the final one until I need to catch my plane in a couple of days. 

OH —- I am just finishing a book about the Grand Canyon, called A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko. OH MY —— if you want to know anything about the canyon, this is the book to read. It starts off quite frustrating, but the message at the end is amazing and something that we need to take away for every natural site in the world. Communities and the world are too quick to exploit our natural resources, just so they can make money and we as tourists can just decimate the place. A very interesting read. 

Have an amazing day!!!

Ciao!!!!

PS — In case you are wondering, I haven’t even considered looking for a quilting store or even a fabric store. Like I need more!!!!! 

The light at the end of the tunnel

I had a chuckle when I read the comments about finding a hotel room. I have had to search sometimes! I remember being in Kingston, Ontario and shocked to discover that there were no rooms. Turns out there was a hockey tournament! I found something, just not at the hotel I would typically book. I’ve always found something - just not always my first choice. And we won’t mention the sketchy Airbnb I had to stay at one time. 

Speaking of hotel rooms, it was only when I was out and about yesterday that I realized that I needed this hotel for THREE nights, not two as I booked when I arrived. I got that fixed last night and at the same good rate! 

Yesterday was an other interesting day - of course it was — there’s a story behind everything you do. You just have to recognize it as a story. 

When I arrived in Naples, I sat at dinner in the train station (more on that later) and found a tour As I had mentioned it wasn’t only finding a tour, but it was finding one that had a pick-up point close to me. I ended up settling on a half-day tour to Pompeii which was what I wanted. It left at 9 AM in the area just by the train station, although I thought the pick-up area was 2 KM away — so that was even better. 

Not that long after, I received a telephone call asking if I wanted to add Sorrento to my itinerary for free, but we would start at 9:40 AM at the same pick up spot. Sure — why not?

I scouted out the pick-up spot which was exactly where the elusive geocache was. I know where it’s supposed to be, but I didn’t find it. I might try again today or I’ll try a different one. Oh my —- there are loads of buses and people all waiting to get their tour for the day. I didn’t even know what company I had booked with. 

I sent a text and was told that the guide would call me. It was hilarious — no idea what kind of vehicle would pick me up, no idea the size of the tour, no idea the tour company. Just the time and the location — what more do you need? TRUST yourself. Maybe I would be a one tourist in a car! Then I overheard two ladies chatting about their tour and that they would be picked up at 9:40 for Pompeii. AHA — I bet we are on the same tour and when I asked them, YES — we were on the same tour. 

Promptly at 9:40 a white bus pulls up. This was smaller than the coach we had on Sicily and I think five of us boarded the bus. There were people already on the bus, so it had stopped at other stops. We were the last to pick up and we were off. 

I have to tell you what happened with the tour. The two ladies who got picked with me were from Amsterdam and at lunch I asked them how long ago they had booked their tour. Months!!!! Their tour initially was Pompeii, lunch and then Vesuvius. However, the day before, the Vesuvius part was canceled. When they asked the tour guide at lunch, he said something about the roads being unsafe and therefore the mountain was closed. So the tour company substituted the afternoon with a trip to Sorrento. 

I just happened to fit into this tour and so I got lunch and Sorrento added in for free. There were also a few people from a cruise ship on our tour. 

I will say that this bus driver was NOT as skilled as the one on Sicily. It looks as big, but it was not. 

Our tour bus for the day

I will be honest that I don’t have a huge knowledge of history, but I knew that the city of Pompeii had been destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius. The date was October 24th, 79 AD. The city was in the process of rebuilding from a major earthquake in 62 AD. Of the 20,000 inhabitants in the area, approximately 4 - 6 thousand died, but the city was completely buried in ash and other volcanic debris. The people mostly died from the toxic gases or the heat shock of 500 degrees. 

The weight of the ash on the roofs of the buildings eventually caused the roofs to cave in. It was discovered in 1599 and in 1748, they began to excavate the site. Why? Money of course, as there was a lot of jewelry, coins, etc buried.

We had a wonderful and enthusiastic tour guide which made the whole day a lot of fun. And we were able to visit at least one of everything in the city. I took loads of pictures, here are some of the them. He spoke very fluent English, French, and Italian. 

This was a square where the gladiators practised I believe. It’s just outside the larger of two relatively small amphitheaters. The larger one was used for comedy and tragedy plays. A smaller amphitheater was used for music and poetry. 

 

A square outside the amphitheater

The larger of the two amphitheaters (5000 seating capacity) used for the plays. 

The larger of the two small amphitheaters

Do you know what these stones are for? Imagine a city that is built on a hill without a sewage system and you can now guess what potentially went between those rocks!!! I believe it was mostly urine you would potentially find in the drainage roads. I never did get where the rest goes. 

Stepping stones across the streets

Some of the fresco is still in pretty decent shape inside some of the buildings. I believe this was a house and there are holes in the wall to pass things from one room to another. That just seems pretty silly — why not go out the door and into the next room? The walls were very thick. 

Inside a house in Pompeii

What stunned me is that it was a city. I know — that sounds so silly, but the streets are there, the buildings are there (almost all of the upper floors are gone), but it looked just like an abandoned city. And to think that it was covered in 4 - 6 meters of ash. Can you imagine sifting through all that to find people, artifacts and then to clean it up? What a Herculean task!!!! Actually, they did not find people as they had been carbonized, but they found cavities in the ash where people perished and have made casts of some of them. You could tell they died a horrible death. 

On the streets of Pompeii

But they were very creative and this is one of the baths. I believe this was the cold bath for the men. There were tepid and hot bath areas as well. It was all very well thought out and all were beautifully decorated, although with exposure to the elements and the ash, some of the stuff didn’t hold up. The fresco was painted on after a 2 inch layer of “concrete” was applied to the stone walls. 

Inside the cold bath

We visited one of 35 brothels!!!! Imagine that! Apparently it wasn’t only for the residents as many people travelled through Pompeii and the brothels were for the travellers as well. What was hilarious were the frescos in the building. Since many people didn’t speak the same language, you entered the building and pointed at one of the pictures to show what you wanted!!!! Oh MY!!!!  I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable as the beds were made of stone. I took a picture, but didn’t include it here. 

The menu (in fresco) inside one of many brothels

Any idea what this is? That’s a scale. There are half orbs carved in the replica shown below and when you bought something in the market area, it was weighed and you paid accordingly. 

A replica of a scale

We walked past temples and the market area and well, as the guide mentioned, we visited one of everything - houses, amphitheatres, stores, bordellos, etc. It was a pretty fascinating place to visit and I’m glad I took the time to go there. I believe our tour was two hours after we got organizes our earpieces and visited the jewelry shop where the clean toilets were! 

Then we had lunch which consisted of spaghetti and pizza. That pizza was so amazing and it was only tomato sauce and cheese. Pizza back home will never be the same. Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about pizza. Most people equate pizza as coming from Italy and that’s not true. Naples was a separate region and are the originators of pizza. With the unification of Italy in 1861, it became part of Italy. 

Pizza and spaghetti for lunch

Then we were back on the bus and on our way to Sorrento, which is a beautiful city on the Italian coast. There is a massive fracture in the middle of the city and this is an old flour mill. That’s a long way down. 

The fracture in Sorrento

So much beautiful stuff to buy and I spotted this gorgeous sunflower ceramic, but I didn’t buy it. I’m too old to buy souvenirs. And while I spotted many magnets, I didn’t get any. However, I spotted a thimble, so I picked that up. 

Beautiful ceramics

This is overlooking the harbour, which is a LONG ways down. 

The harbour is a LONG way down

Lots of magnets to choose from

I needed to use the washroom and decided while I waited for the pickup time I would have a snack and got to be entertained by a puppet show across the street. This restaurant was sort of in the middle of the street and I wasn’t sure they had a toilet. Yep —- it was downstairs where the kitchen was. I tell you —- these cities are crazy!!!!! 

The puppet show

WAIT — I forgot to tell you why we went to Sorrento. First, it’s a beautiful place, but it’s known for it’s Lemoncello. I’d never had it before, but we went to a store and got a taste of three different kinds as well as some small cookies and sweets they make. YES — Lemons is a big deal here and you see them growing on all the trees, as well as oranges. EVERYTHING screams lemons — clothing, tea towels, Christmas ornaments and so on. It’s totally crazy!!!!

I did purchase a small leather LEMON pouch which I thought would be a great reminder of the trip and I can put sewing supplies in it. It was 15 Euro, so it fit my budget. 

I got a chuckle out of some of the people on our tour. TWO people were wearing orange, so it was easy enough to keep track of them. I never feared of losing them. 

Follow the two ladies in orange

You can see the oranges on these trees. It was hard to get a picture from the moving bus!

Oranges on the trees

Has anyone ever driven down the coast from Naples to Sorrento? Let’s say it’s a wild ride! There is a very twisty road right on the edge of the cliff. The bus driver made a wrong turn and we had to turn around. Our Sicily bus driver would have taken that in stride, but this guy had to engage the help of someone to get him turned around. Of course, the crazy traffic doesn’t help. 

The road to Sorrento

And did I tell you about the motorcycles? Let’s say you are on a two-lane highway. Cars and buses (no trucks - it’s rare to spot a truck in this area, so goods must be shipped via boat? Or on the old inland road) are in their respective lanes and there is ZERO passing because there are always many cars coming and going. BUT the motorcycles — they make every road into a four lane road because they ride just inside the center line going both ways. It’s totally crazy!!!!

The motorcycles make their own rules

Speaking of which, there are around 6 -7 cars for every 10 people. Meaning that almost every adult has a car. Let’s just say that the congestion is insane. 

On this road from Naples to Sorrento, there are THREE tunnels, th longest being the Santa Maria de Pozzano tunnel which is just over 5 KM long. OH my —- it was slow on the way down to get through that tunnel, but it took almost 50 minutes to come through on the way back. It was insane and for some reason, I don’t think the bus driver had the AC on, so we saw the temperature rise from 22 degrees to 27 degrees. I think that was the outside temperature, but it made the bus hot. 

The entrance to the 5 KM tunnel

Near the end, he turned on the AC. Like I said, he wasn’t the best bus driver around. But that’s OK. Once we were out of the tunnel (no particular reason for the slowdown), we breezed through the other tunnels. But then on the highway, we got stuck in more traffic from a multi-vehicle accident. I have no idea why there are not more accidents. They drive like maniacs here and I saw scratches on many cars. 

Let me say that I was very happy to spot the light at the end of that tunnel. 5 KM is a long way to be stuck under a mountain. There are “escape” doors along the sides. Where do they lead? Don’t you just want to stop and go through one to see what’s on the other side? I’m sure if the door opens that many alarm bells go off, so probably not a good idea to try that! 

As we drove along, the sun slowly sank and this was sunset as we approached Naples. 

Sunset approaching Naples

So I got very lucky. We were the last group to be picked up and we were the FIRST group to be dropped off. Where is the justice in that? I didn’t care about justice, I just wanted off the bus since it was now after 8 PM and we were supposed to be back by 6:30 at the latest. It wasn’t the bus driver, nor the tour guide’s fault — just a victim of the traffic. 

While I feel safe here, the area around the train station isn’t spotted with cute little cafes, so I grabbed some pasta while zipping through the train station and ate in my room. DH said I should try to find somewhere other than the train station to find food. And he’s right. I plan on stopping somewhere else - at least this afternoon. 

WOWSER!!!! What a jam-packed day and it was amazing considering that I booked it the day before. It couldn’t have worked out better. I was going to try to get to Vesuvius today, but I don’t really feel like it, so I’m going to hit the town and check out some museums. I found three that look very interesting and since I don’t have to coordinate with anyone but myself, it should be fun. And I will attempt to get that elusive geocache. I must get one before I leave!!!!

On that note, I’m out of here to grab something to eat and then I’ll walk over to the first museum. It’s Monday, so I wonder if it’ll be busier around town? Probably the same. 

It’s not high tourist season and we didn’t really have to wait for anything, but it was pretty busy everywhere we went. I can’t imagine coming in high tourist season. The weather is beautiful, so I’m glad I am here now. 

M and Dillon made it safely home and DH made it to Spain where he is playing golf with his buddies for a few days. And I have my next train ticket booked. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!