Day 8 & 9, Thursday June 17 and Friday June 18, 2011

For this part of the cruise, our ship docked in Naples, and we chose to do Amalfi drive and Pompei for our day's activities. The tour description said; "take a relaxing two-hour drive along the Amalfi Coast". As long as you did not look down out your window, or watch the street, it was a relaxing drive. The streets were very narrow with most parts only passable by one vehicle at a time. Our bus driver would honk every time approaching a curve in the street. There were many curves in the street. Literally, we were going back and forth down the side of the mountain. It was beautiful!



Once we arrived in Amalfi, which lies in the gulf of a deep ravine, we were able to spend some time sight seeing and enjoying the shops. Below is a picture of the cathedral in Amalfi.


After another short drive we enjoyed lunch and then on our way again to Pompeii. Wade had ready up about the Pompeii ruins and it's history. Pompeii ruins were destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and was lost for 1700 years before it's accidental discovery in 1749. Pompeii is also known for it's Cameo's. We were able to watch a gentleman actually carving one by hand. How someone can put that much detail in something so small is amazing.

Gladiators Quarters
They were treated like slaves.

Mount Vesuvius

Friday, June 17 was a day at sea. It was so nice to have a day to just relax and do nothing if we wanted. It had been walk, walk, walk, since our trip had started so to sit out in the sun and read and relax was very enjoyable.