Pompeii – Be Back Whenever

11/14 The rest of the trip!

The overnight ferry from Palermo went pretty well. Lots of people use the ferry with their dogs and we met quite a few dogs as we wandered the halls. We headed to Pompeii via train to Naples from the port.

Pompeii is a HUGE site. We highly recommend NOT visiting Pompeii in the summer. Even though the temps were only in the 70’s, the humidity was high and there’s not much shade. According to our B&B owner, at least 2 people die every year from heart attacks. Mark and I are pretty sure more people than that break or sprain an ankle on the site.

All of the devastation was caused by Mount Vesuvius exploding. Only about 2000 people died from the heat and ash that buried the city. Excavations keep lots of archaeologists busy!

The forum where everyone gathered. This is the most visited part of Pompeii and walking around here is pretty easy. Mt. Vesuvius is in the background

A city street. You can see why walking is quite interesting!

The frescos are amazing. You find them in a variety of houses just wandering around.

Mount Vesuvius in the background framed by one city gate.

After Pompeii, we headed off to Capri right at the end of the season (ends on 10/31). Many shops and a few hotels were already closed, not to reopen to around Easter. Restaurants and bars also close for the winter and workers head off for 3-4 months of holiday. Several waiters and owners told us they work 12-14 hours every day from Easter until the end of October and are more than ready for a break.

Closed for the season. Capri is full of high end shops which we did not patronize!

80% of visitors to Capri are day trippers and we can believe that! Cruise ship tour groups and “regular” tour groups crowded the center of Capri every day; when evening came, we pretty much had the island to ourselves.

On Halloween, the local kids went trick or treating to the local businesses. This King Charles spaniel helped greet the children.

The streets are VERY narrow in Capri. Special trucks pick up garbage, deliver goods. This one is a medical ambulance.

St. Michele Church in Anacapri with a tile floor painted with the story of Adam and Eve. It’s now a museum and not a church. You can see the walkway around the floor to walk around the floor.

We think the apple tree in Adam and Eve became a lemon tree in this floor. Lemons are all over Capri!

Rome was our last city. How do you get to Rome from Capri?? Not easily, if you’re not with a tour group.

Walk from your hotel to the funicular in Capri to get to the port.
Buy a ticket and take the ferry to Sorrento (about 30 Minutes).
Walk or take the elevator (1 euro) UP from the port of Sorrento to the main town. Best 1 euro you can spend!
Walk to the train station, dodging tour groups.
Take the local train to Naples – think 24 stops and 50 minutes, standing the whole way unless you luck out and find a seat.
Take the highspeed train to Rome and figure out how to get to where you’re staying once you’re in Rome. We opted for a taxi to our AirBnB.

We arrived in Rome on November 1, All Saints Day, and a holiday in many countries. Rome was packed with people for the weekend but calmed down come Monday.

Sunday, we went to St. Peter’s to visit the church and ended up seeing Pope Francis giving his blessing – in Italian!

One of the many churches we saw. We met an Italian TV personality in Palermo (She does shows about important houses in Italy.) and she told us to stop in any church when we see it open. You never know when it will open again! So many churches are plain and boring on the outside but when you walk in – WOW!

To get home, we flew from Rome to Frankfurt, spent the night, and took the direct United flight to Denver with the crazy lady sitting directly in front of Mark. Other than punching the call button ALL the time, ignoring her lap baby and 5-year old, and yelling at the flight attendants, she was your normal passenger. Denver’s finest met her when she got off the plane and United supervisors were everywhere! Mark told the flight attendants to call him if they need any backup for her behavior!