Naples- Cruise part 3

The second stop on our cruise was Naples. Jon, the one in our group who served his mission in Italy, told us that Naples is considered the dirty and crime-ridden city of the country, so we didn't plan to spend much time there. The first thing we did was catch a train down to Pompeii.

I went to Pompeii on my last trip to Italy in High School, and I loved it both times! It is just an amazing thing to see. Everywhere else you go to see ancient sites, you have to learn how each government changed the building as they conquered the last group. But with Pompeii, you get to actually see how it looked in 79AD.

I took a million pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them. This is our tour guide, and I highly recommend hiring a guide if you ever do go there. I was glad we didn't purchase the Excursion from the ship, because buying the train ticket and hiring the guide when we got there worked out perfectly. But if you don't get a guide, you have no idea what you are looking at.

This is the part that is the most creepy to me. Basically, when they were doing the excavations they noticed air pockets with bones inside, so they would fill in the spaces with concrete before digging them out. What they found were the last moments of people's lives. Most of them died from the poisonous gas before the ash covered them up, so they most often have their hands over their mouths. Just amazing.

After Pompeii, we caught the train back to Naples. It was just in time, too. Pompeii wasn't crowded when we got there as they opened, but by the time we left at noon it was getting jammed. Since Naples is the birthplace of pizza, we figured we had to try some here.

And boy, did we. We each ordered one, since we all wanted different kinds, but they were huge!

Notice that mine, in the lower right, has an egg on it. Runny yolk and all! I figured if you are going to try something, you might as well go for it. And my verdict is to never put an egg on my pizza again. I have to admit that I preferred American pizza, as well. The thin crust had a lot of burned edges from the cool ovens they have, and the sauces were a bit greasy for my taste. But still worth the experience.

After lunch, we mostly just wandered around shopping until we got back on the boat. But it was a great day!