Naples

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Private Driver to Southern Italy: 500 euros
Lunch overlooking the Med. Sea from atop a cliff: 150 euros
Private tour Guide of Pompeii: 100 euros
Having a plan: Priceless!!!

Today we visited the port of Naples, Italy. This was the port that I personally was most looking forward to. Months ago as I was researching and learning about the different stops on our cruise I learned that Naples was the gateway to some of the most beautiful parts of Italy. Naples is a HUGE city but it is close to the most beautiful southern coastal towns in Italy. The cruise line offers all sorts of pre-arranged tours where you and about 50 other people drive in a motor coach to your destination and follow a tour guide who holds up a Mickey Mouse paddle so you can see them. Anyway, we choose to do our own thing so we could spend more time at the places that interested us and really learn about the places we were visiting. I found a private driver who would take me, Jarrett, Blake, Jennifer, and Nicholas (My bil, sil, and nephew) on a wonderful tour. Grammy and Grampy didn’t want to join in because they have all ready seen this part of Italy before. They stayed and got the kids to breakfast and the kids club then they went into Naples and explored. They also got wonderful couples massage today as a gift from all of us as a small token of appreciation for this amazing trip.


At 8am we met Carmine, our driver, out in front of our ship. (Now from this part on you must read in your best Italian accent) He was driving a very nice Mercedes Van. Carmine is a 26 year old Italian Man, need I say more????? The part of Naples we saw was very dirty and crowded but don’t worry we didn’t stay long, he drove us south toward Mt. Vesuvius. Mt. Vesuvius is a beautiful volcano that erupted in 79 AD and destroyed the famous town of Pompeii.

As Carmine drove us around he talked all about his country and his life in Italy. Very interesting! As we got further out of Naples the scenery got more and more beautiful. He stopped along side the road to let us take pictures. Unfortunately there was terrible haze because of the heat but the views were breathtaking none the less. By the way they drive crazy here too. Scooters weave in and out of traffic and the roads are very narrow. (Another reason I am glad we were not on a motor coach) People here are never in a hurry like in the states except when they are driving.

I could listen to an Italian Man speak all day long, their accents are captivating. Each time we would stop somewhere he would open the door for us, “Senora, let me help you.” (Accents people, accents) “Grazie, Grazie” “Let me take your picture, senora.” Ok, enough, I know.

We are heading toward a town called, Sorrento. It is town on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. It is surrounded by olive trees and lemon trees and the most colorful flowers and bushes I have ever laid eyes on. OH MY GOSH, it is the most gorgeous place I have ever seen. No words can even remotely describe its beauty. Famous artists and writers live here because it so inspiring. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Italy this would be a must see place, you would not be disappointed. Carmine, took us to a place to shop. I bought some olive oil that was made in Sorrento. Currently, I have the Wal-Mart brand in my pantry. I have a feeling the stuff I bought will be better. Jennifer and I also got matching Italian leather purses. We shopped on this long narrow alley way where the people worked in their stores on the ground level and then lived above them. There was laundry hanging out on their terraces above and they all had beautiful iron balconies with the big oil lanterns (Lisa, like those ones we saw in Rosemary Beach last summer). There was a fish shop, fruit stands, clothing stores, cute little cafes, oil paintings etc. I found a beautiful oil painting that I wanted to get but it was 1200 euros. Way too expensive. We tried limoncello here, a lemon liquor. The lemons here are the size of basketballs. No lie!

After a while there, we headed through the mountains on windy roads to reach the Almafi coast. It is a breathtaking drive along the narrow coastal highway. When you look out the window you stare straight down into the med. Sea. We had a great time talking to Carmine about his country, I learned so much today. I really couldn’t believe that I was in this beautiful place. I just tried to soak every inch of it in. After driving along the Almafi Coast we ended up in Postinano, another gorgeous coastal town. George Clooney and Brad Pit hang out here. Part of the movie, “Under the Tuscan Sun” was filmed here. After shopping and paying $1 to use the potty Carmine took us up a road called “The Mamma Mia Road” to an authentic restaurant. He told us what Mamma cooks is what we will eat. As we were driving to the restaurant we saw a “touristo” who shouldn’t have been driving on this crazy street, she got too close to the side of the cliff and knocked off her Mercedes mirror. We were cracking up.

At lunch we had like a 20 course meal. There was so much food; Mamma must have been busy all morning. The homemade pasta was yummy. The dad grew all their own vegetables that are used at the restaurant. They even brought us home made wine. Our table looked over the entire town of Postinano and the Med. Sea. It was again, breathtaking. The atmosphere was worth every penny of the 125 euros lunch cost. They don’t tell you prices before hand, luckily they take MasterCard. At the end the meal they bring you more limoncello. Blake bought two bottles to take back to Texas. He wants to start a new trend. Ok, I just turned on the TV and low and behold what is playing, “Under the Tuscan Sun” and it is showing the part that was filmed where I just was today. Too cool! They even just showed limoncello.

Back to Blake, he was so excited about his limoncello purchase but he forgot to put in the van. He realized this partially down the hill and he told Carmine that he would run up the hill to get it. Carmine was saying, “No, No.” But Blake was already out the door and running back up the steep Mamma Mia road. As he did that we managed to block all the other cars behind us because there was no place for us to go. He about caused an international crisis.

We were on our way to visit Pompeii next. Carmine called ahead and hired a very good guide for us. (100euros, not cheap but well worth it!!) His name was Sasha, and we would have been lost there without him. Pompeii is HUGE, HOT and Dusty. A little background, when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD the lava ran out to sea but the volcanic ash, and pumice, and sulfuric acid blew toward the town of Pompeii. It was buried under 25 feet of ash and pumice stone therefore preserving most of the town. In the 1800’s some archeologists started digging it out, they still are not done. How was your history lesson for today, class?

The first thing he did was take us to the “Pee Pee Rooms” I thought that was a funny thing to call bathrooms. He was able to take us away from all of the large groups and tell us about everything we saw. We learned so much from him. His dad has been a guide there for 45 years so he has learned from the best. His love for Pompeii was evident in the way he talked about the people and times there. He totally made history come alive and made this town real to me.


We spent 2 hours walking around Pompeii and now it was time to get back to the ship. First thing in the morning, Jarrett had mentioned to Carmine that we really wanted to try Pizza in Naples since it is the birthplace of Pizza but we knew at this point we did not have time to do that. We were a little bummed even though we were still full from the never ending lunch. Low and behold, when Carmine opened the door for us there were two boxes of piping hot Napoleon Pizza as a gift to us. What a great guy! This was just the icing on the cake for us. Needless to say, Carmine got a huge tip. He made this a wonderful day for all of us.

The kids had a great time in the kids club and Nathan even won 2 prizes during a Disney trivia game. We were all tired so after dinner and hanging out on deck watching the sun set I brought the kids back to the room and Jarrett went to see a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean #3. We miss you all, well kind of. Ha, ha!!

Tomorrow: Olbia, Sardinia