Over the past few weeks Kevin has been doing so much work that we new he couldn't hold out much longer...he needed a serious vacation! So, when the Naylor's told us they were going to Sorrento and Pompeii to celebrate their son Ray-Ray's 7th birthday we jumped at the chance to join them. We had a three day weekend, so it was easy to hope a cheap flight down to Naples. From Naples we took the train to Sorrento were we stayed in a great hotel. From Sorrento we took day trips to the Island of Capri and to Pompeii. From our hotel we walked down to the port Saturday morning to catch a boat out to Capri for the day. It was only about a 5 minute walk, but there were some great views from the rocky cliffs out over the port. Here is the view on the way down.
We had about 40 minutes until our boat left, so we had time to wonder around the port and check it out...and play with our new camera! Here is a shot of a boat that was tethered out out in the port. You can see how high the cliffs were where the main town of Sorrento is situated. There were these cool umbrella trees that Kevin really liked, so he got one in this picture:)
There was a small beach near the port and this was one of the old buildings there. It's amazing how things in Italy look old and cool when anywhere else they would just look junky. I'm sure in the summer this place is packed with people, but we were the only ones on the beach, and the boats were all pulled up onto the beach.
This is the other side of the port. We will be taking the boat out this way to get to Capri. It was about a 30 minute boat ride out to the island.
This is not the boat we took out to Capri, but I just liked the way the shadows fell across the ropes, and the colors...I don't know, I just liked it and I think it turned out pretty cool.
When we got to Capri we took a tiny little orange bus up a crazy windy road to the town of Capri. From there we hiked up to the west side of the island. This is a view from that walk. On this side of the island is a natural stone archway and some ancient ruins called Villa Jovis.
There are lemon and orange trees literally everywhere in Sorrento and also on Capri. It makes the area smell amazing, so I took some photos of the lemons growing over the wall of a Villa along the route up to the ruins.
This is the path out to the arch. There are houses all along this route, and the people can't drive cars up there are all. There were tons of locals with their little pull carts of grocceries walking up hill...and we wonder why Americans are overweight!
We made it to the arch, and it was awesome. It was so huge it was hard to capture in a photograph. When you look over the rail it's about 800 feet down to the ocean which is bright blue and amazing!
After a day of hiking we took the boat back to Sorrento for dinner with friends. This is the coast of Capri from the boat. Our friends the Naylor's (and their kids) and the Hudson's (and their kids) all made the trip down. They took a later flight, so we meet up when they got there Saturday night.
After dinner we all walked back to the hotel so the kids could watch a movie/sleep and the adults could sit out on the porch and drink some local wine! Corby's son Gavin and Janna's daughter Olivia have a budding romance. They would not be separated the entire trip, it was so cute! We will be using these photos as blackmail for them later in life I'm sure:)
The next morning we all got up and took the train over to Pompeii. Ray-Ray (who is turning 7 and is probably the smartest kid I know) wanted to see the ruined city before they leave Italy in a few months. Gavin and Olivia did some coloring on the train on the way there.
When Mt Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD it totally covered the ancient city of Pompeii. From the time it erupted the people of Pompeii only had about 10 minutes before their entire city was covered in volcanic ash. As a result it killed 2,000 people, most of them were preserved in the ash exactly how they died. Some were hiding under things, or just laying down covering their heads from the falling ash. When they found the city 1600-ish years later they found voids in the ash. The people's bodies had decomposed leaving a mold of themselves in the ash. The excavators filled these voids with plaster and got exact molds of what the people of the ancient city looked like. Well, Ray-Ray knew this story (he's mega smart like I said) so Kevin told the boys that anytime though out the day when he said "Pompeii Pose" they had to freeze and strike a pose like one of the casts of the corpses. Yes, it's a little morbid, but it was a fun game. Here they are in their Pompeii pose before we went through the main gate. Olivia isn't too sure about this game:)
Inside the walls of the city there are huge areas. Some are residential, there are restaurants, bakeries, government buildings etc. This was the main city square where they would have done government business and had markets. That is Mt Vesuvius in the background. If you can see the two peaks (on the right and left) with the crater in the middle, then draw a triangle up from those two points. That is how large the mountain was prior to the eruption. It just shows how huge the eruption was and how much earth was moved and covered Pompeii.
Here's me and Gavin:) He was my buddy this day. He's sitting on top of one of the broken columns that surround the main piazza.
This is one of the ancient bakeries in Pompeii. They had huge stone funnel things (we're sitting in front of one) that they would put the whole wheat into. There would have been long wooded poles coming out from the stone and they would turn in to grind the wheat into flower. They would then make bread and bake it in the ovens (to the left of the photo).
This is in the courtyard of the largest house in Pompeii. The house took up a whole city block and had 40 rooms!
The people of Pompeii did some amazing things! They new that sanitation was important, so they would clean the streets when they got dirty. They had running water in the homes and businesses (with lead pipes and everything). So, when the streets got dirty they would flood them with sea water and wash away the nastiness. Well, while the streets were flooded they thought of making these stepping stones so you could still cross the street without getting wet! Olivia is showing us how it's done. They were also a standard distance apart so that all the chariots in the city could be able to drive through them without a problem...these people were crazy smart!
Most people did not cook in their homes. They went for ancient take out! This is one of the old fast food places. You can see the round areas were they would put the pots of food, and it even had a place underneath that would have a fire to keep it all warm. People would just walk up, order what they wanted and take it with them!
Just another shot in the main piazza.
We were in Pompeii all day, there is so much to see! Eventually we all took the train back to Sorrento...here is a look at the entire group. We were kind of a circus, but we had such a great time!! It was so fun to go with this group of amazing people!
We got back to Sorrento in time for a nice evening gelato and stroll. We stopped at a hotel on the coast that had a great balcony to take some photos at sunset.
The next morning we only had half a day. We had to get back to Naples and catch our flight, so we decided to stay in Sorrento and explore the town. We had stayed there the past two nights, but had left all day to see other sites. So, we walked back down to the port area, and just took the road that went up the coast. It's a great city! There was a rain shower while we were in a cafe, so we got this great shot of some of the lemons after the rain.
It was a great trip and a much needed vacation for Kevin!
