May 26 Sorrento Italy

Our last stop on the cruise was Sorrento, We've been here several times before, visiting Pompeii and Capri on previous stops.  So for this time we picked the half day excursion to Herculaneum, another ancient site that fell victim to Vesuvius in 79AD, just not as famously.

Herculaneum was buried in volcanic ash but in a way that preserved roofs and upper floors.  Herculaneum was also a wealthier town than Pompeii.

Sorrento is a tender port, and here Nautica had to unload her own lifeboats to serve as tenders.  The sea was particularly calm, for which I gave thanks.

 There's a big cliff leading up to the town.  And it's an old Italian city, so the roads are twisty and narrow.  When we exited the tender we loaded into 15-passenger buses that took us a couple of miles up the hill and through the city to a bus parking lot.  There we transferred onto the standard 40-passenger motor coach for the 1:15 drive to Herulaneum.  There were only about 25 people in our group.

 Nautica waiting patiently for our return.  The other ship in port today is Windstar.

 Herculaneum is an excavated hole in the ground where the city is.  The surrounding area is 30 meters higher thanks to all of the volcanic ash.  Some restoration has occurred, but the city was remarkably well preserved.

 The grassy strip below is the original shoreline.  The arched rooms are boat houses where people were waiting for evacuation when the eruption occurred.

55 skeletons have been found in the boat house area, where the people were killed by the intense heat (>500 C) that swept over the city.

 A medium sized city of large homes

 Wall frescoes remain intact with original color

 As well as statues

 Like most Roman cities, there was a fresh water infrastructure.  Here's one of the public fountains for water.

 Tile floors intact

 Our return to the ship included a stop at a shop selling something, but we immediately headed for the shuttle bus down to the pier and onto the tender.

 Fortunately we didn't have to climb those steps.

And that's it for this trip.  On May 27 we arrived in Rome (actually Civitavecchia) where we had a hire car pick us up (SunTransfers.com, recommended by our travel agent, picked us up at the Mumbai airport as well as here.  Good service, no complaints.) and take us to the airport. Air Iberia flew us back to Miami via Madrid.  Their business class was not as nice as British Airways on the way out, but certainly adequate.  

Back home in Boca we packed up our belongings, loaded up the minivan and drove to North Carolina.  That's my excuse for being late in posting these last entries.  

Next up: September-October driving trip to the southwest, including the Albuquerque Balloon Festival.

May 25 Palermo, Sicily

We've never been to Palermo before.  Our previous visits to Sicily have been to Taormina and Messina near mainland Italy.  Prior to this, Palermo had just been the punchline in the funniest sequence in the movie Patton, "Patton has just taken Palermo."

Our research, and the information distributed by the ship, seemed to indicate that petty crime might be a problem in Palermo.  So we left the big honking cameras in the room and took only our small point-and-shoot, which did just fine.  And, although we stuck to the busy areas, we never felt like there was a danger.  We stayed on the big streets, and the pedestrian malls that replaced them.

Viewed from the dock, the city is full of churches.

 This port was a DIY, with us walking through the city.  Our round-trip to the farthest thing of interest was about 5 miles.  Well within our capabilities when walking, stopping to take pictures and look at things, and then moving along.  

This was a typical parking effort.  Several cars are parked in.  I can see why motor bikes are so popular.

 The following pictures are of the city's Cathedral, Piazza di Cattedrale.

 We didn't have to walk the whole way, but we did.

 You never know what you're going to see along the street.  She's actually checking her phone (what else?) after a picture taking session on the steps of the Piazza Pretoria.

 A very interesting street corner, Quattro Canti (Four Corners) where Corso Vittorio Emanuele intersects with Via Maqueda.  Each corner depicts one of the four seasons, along with the patron saint of that season, and one of the four Spanish Hapsburg kings.

 Teatro Massimo

A very tiring but scenic walk through Sicily.