Pompeii and Capri

Happy 4th of July from Naples, Italy—the sketchiest place on Earth! Seriously, the port area is scary. We wandered up and down the street just outside the port in search of a restaurant or something, but everything around the port is shut down or really dirty. Sooooo we decided to stay on the ship. Anyway, here’s what we did for the last 2 days!

Yesterday Steven and I had an SAS trip to Pompeii. I have to write a paper on Pompeii for my Anthropology class, so I had to go on one of the trips to Pompeii (like I wasn’t going to anyway?). They have actually excavated the majority of the town, and the first stories of most of the buildings are still intact. We saw Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background. Our tour guide showed us many little details that we would have missed, like how a certain male reproductive organ is a symbol of good luck and is therefore carved on the doorways of many buildings. Yep! This symbol is also carved on the streets to show the direction to the brothels, of which there are several. There are also 3 dogs that live in Pompeii, apparently people just left them there. We saw all 3! Two of them were playing with each other in what was once the square, and one was sleeping in the sun in the public bath. I miss my puppy!!!!! There are dogs everywhere! Our trip also included a little tour of a cameo factory. Cameos are drawings carved into pieces of seashells. We got to watch an artist work on a cameo, they said it takes about 3 days to make one! We then went down into the store, where we found that the cameos cost several hundred dollars. There was a lot of jewelry made out of lava stone and real coral. Unfortunately we only had about 20 minutes of free time, not enough for significant perusal.

We grabbed lunch on the ship and decided to check out the area around the port. Most places were closed. We went to a tabbacheria (no idea if that is spelled right) because they sell stamps. We somehow communicated to the woman who spoke no English that we each wanted 6 stamps. It was fun! Since we couldn’t find anything to do and we were told to stay off the side streets, we thought it best to just stay on the ship the rest of the day. We have a Global Studies midterm in a couple of days anyway!

This morning we were up bright and early to go to Capri! We had bought ferry tickets the night before for the 0730 ferry, and we grabbed a window seat for the 80-minute ride over. People in Italy do not believe in lines—they believe in mobs. Seriously, every door is like a cattle chute! Once we finally got off the ferry in Capri, we joined another mob hovered around the ticket booth for the tour around the island. We got our tickets and joined yet another mob to get on a motorboat (the boat holds about 25 people). The guide/captain drove us all around the island, making stops and telling us about some of the different places. We first saw the coral grotto, which has a band of bright orange coral growing on the rocks just underneath the level of the water. We peered into the white grotto, which apparently had a stalactite shaped like the Virgin Mary (we couldn’t see it). He drove us precariously into the green grotto, almost knocking some girls’ heads on the roof of the cave, and we saw some very pretty bright green water. The final major stop was the blue grotto, La Grotta Azzurra, which was absolutely amazing. I think my mom might cringe at what we did to see this cave, though. =) So there are all these motorboats floating around the entrance to this cave, and rowboats come up beside the motorboats for people to get on. Only 3 or 4 people can get on a rowboat, so it takes some time for everyone to get a turn. When it was our turn, I made the leap over the side of our boat to the rowboat and somehow got inside without my usual klutziness. Then the driver of the rowboat took us over to the ticket booth boat, very interesting. We waited in a short line to go in, and then it was our turn! Quickly, our driver told us to lay flat on our backs…and he meant it!! The entrance to the cave is very narrow, and we had to lay completely flat to fit through it. Once we were inside, though, the cave was huge! The water was so amazingly blue. The rower sang to us in Italian and explained why the water was lit up like that. He said that sunlight hits the water outside the cave and then reflects into the cave, giving the water a natural luminescence. We were only in there for a couple of minutes before we had to squeeze out of the cave again. It was so worth it!

When the boat brought us back, we were starving, so we went to one of the many pizzerias along the water. We each ate THE BEST pizzas ever. Mine had mozzarella with ham and mushrooms while Steven’s had mozzarella and salami. Yummy! We then ordered a sundae type thing with 2 spoons, but I guess the waiter heard wrong and brought us 2 desserts. Oh well! It was such a good meal! After lunch, we headed off to the “beach.” Now, when I think of beaches, I think of hot sand and cool water, relaxing, and people-watching (not to be confused, of course, with creeping). This beach was a pebble beach, and the pebbles were not only scorching hot but also really really hard and painful to walk on! We finally made it to a semi-open spot and laid our blankets down. Steven went in the water first while I watched our bags, and he said the water was freezing and the rocks were slippery with moss. I made my way to the water and immediately decided that I needed to go in with my flip flops—walking on those pebbles is just too painful! The water felt so nice and cool after laying in the hot sun, but he wasn’t kidding about how slippery it was! A tiny wave hit me just as I stepped on a slippery rock, and I slipped and my shoes came off. Steven had fun watching me flail in the water trying to find a less slippery spot. I painfully made my way back to our spot and decided to just get a little sun for the rest of our time there. No more pebbles for me! Oh, and definitely the best part of the beach was the lovely display of what I like to call “people wearing bikinis who should not be wearing bikinis.” You can also replace “bikinis” with “speedos” and get a similar effect. Oh yes.

Steven needed to get some more cash, so we hiked about a mile up a hill to the center of town (there was a funicular that went up there but we didn’t feel like paying for it). We definitely worked off that lunch! I don’t think I’ve ever sweated more in my life, and yes, you really did need to know that. We finally reached the top and saw the most beautiful view of the port (I forgot to take a picture…darn!) and found our ATM. There was also a store selling limoncello in all kinds of bottles, and I got a little bottle in the shape of a cello! So cool! Mission accomplished, we walked back down, which is a much, much nicer walk than the one up. We shopped around for a bit and then stopped at another little restaurant for dinner. I got seafood risotto, which, for 15 euro I got a heaping plate of delicious risotto, about 8 mussels, 3 clams, 10 pieces of cuttlefish, and 2 shrimp. I got one bum mussel, but the rest was delicious! I like Capri! We walked around a bit more since we still had an hour to kill before our ferry left, so we got gelato again, this time coffee and cookie mixed. Yay! On the ferry back, we sipped limoncello and reminisced about the enjoyable day. =)

Right now I’m watching Vicky Christina Barcelona on one of the movie channels and writing postcards. Tomorrow morning is a hike up Mt. Vesuvius! Apparently they drive us up to 1000 meters and we just hike the 200-some meters to the crater. I’m quite excited…the view should be amazing!

There has been talk that we may not be docking in Athens, but I don’t think they have made any final decisions yet. Apparently the port authority is on strike now, and there is a big general strike planned for the day we arrive. I haven’t had access to news for the past 3 weeks, but I’m assuming there are still riots or at least some form of political unrest. I’ve heard that they’re looking into other places for us to dock or we may stay longer in Croatia. I know our safety is the most important, but I was really looking forward to Greece! Bummer!