Welcome to Napoli! 9-27-17

I was awake before the alarm went off and looked out to see us coming into Naples with Mt. Vesuvius in the background .  I snapped a few photos and woke the girls up to welcome them to Italy!  We were all ready, fed and off the ship by 7:15 AM and soon found Fabrizio.  We pile into the van and Keith gets the front seat with Fabrizio.  He is trying to learn all of our names to go with the faces.  He says the other tours will be doing Pompeii first and it will be crowded so we will do the Amalfi Coast first and Pompeii on the way back up to Naples.  The kids are fascinated with him talking with his hands the whole time he is driving when we reach the first toll area.  As we approach he puts his hand up to the windshield and snaps his fingers and the toll arm raises!  Then as we exit he does it again and the arm goes down.  We all had a great laugh but the kids loved it…it was only the beginning of the love for Fabrizio over the next couple days. 

Fabrizio teaching Christopholo Italian

 

There is no way to capture in picture the beauty that you see along that coast.  I was trying to take photos through the van window when he said to wait because we would stop soon and have a “Japanese moment”.  He does tours for many different nationalities and also has a bus.  He said he doesn’t speak Japanese but they love to take photos and their response is always “awwwwwww”.   I can’t even begin to tell you how gorgeous the  drive along the cliffs was but Keith I know couldn’t  because he is afraid of heights.  We stopped at several overlooks where he explained to us the islands we were seeing and who owned them.  As we get close to Positano, we stop at this cute little lemonade cart/truck.  This entire area is known for its lemons and olives and they are sold fresh everywhere along the road and in the little villages.  Fabrizio got us all a frozen lemonade that was one of the best things we have ever had in a frozen treat…yum!  The lemons here are not as tart as ours and they smell so good.

 

 

We head on to Positano and by now the sun has washed the haze away and it has gotten quite warm.  Fabrizio explains where we should go to walk through the town and to the beach (we are parked at the top of the hill in a garage/carpark) and we start down the hill.  Going down these steep hills concerns me only because I will need to come back up!  Its winding narrow shop lined and trellis covered streets are like every picture I have ever seen of this area…just breathtaking.  We got to the bottom area where there was a beautiful church.  Teresa and the others went down the steps to the beach area and Lindsay and I explored the beautiful church.  By the time we came out of the church and the others met us on the plaza, the bus tours had arrived and we started back up the hill.  I made it and we headed off to Sorrento to explore and to have lunch.

Really Mom?

Black volcanic sand

 

 

Sorrento is a beautiful city and I had been here with Debbie eleven years ago but we didn’t really explore any of the city but got the hydrofoil to Capri instead.  Fabrizio directed us to Tasso to eat lunch and it was a great first eating experience in Italy.  We had caprese salads and different kinds of pizza and all were delish.  After lunch we walked around Sorrento to see the sights and then through the narrow shopping streets.  It was packed with people but such fun.  We all shopped and purchased a few things, Chris and Teresa got gelato and we started back to meet Fabrizio.  Our next stop is Pompeii.  Fabrizio has us a guide there and we get our tickets and start in.  This is the one place that Chris really wanted to go and he was bored after the first half hour.  I have to admit that by this point in the day we were all tired and it was hot and we had walked a lot so it was hard to pay attention.  We were almost at the end of the tour when Lindsay fell…the footing there is very uneven and the lighting was poor.  She was ok thank heavens but we were all ready to head back to Fabrizio and back to the ship.

 

Pompeii

 

 

Once back on the ship we had dinner, then Lindsay, Teresa and I went to the show “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”.  Keith and the twins weren’t interested and did their own thing.  The show was enjoyable but a bit long, but definitely not for everyone.  There were warnings everywhere that it may be offensive to some groups and they made an announcement in the theater before it started.    I went to bed after and the kids met up with their friends at the teen club and came in late.

Day 3 of the cruise is in the books!