It was an action packed day. I'm starting to feel like I'm going to need a vacation when I get home! The activities are almost non-stop, so one has to be on the ball. We've got our nightly routine down to a science now, bringing out the items that we need and packing the things we don't for the next morning. It's an easier day when we are not required to have our bags out the next morning. Today was not like that - but tomorrow will be (thankfully).
We left Assisi with the destination of Pompeii on the agenda. I took a final picture of Assisi as we were leaving. The towns look so inviting with their buildings clustered together on the hillside.
A 2.5 hour drive led us to a short 30 minute pit stop to: use the facilities, grab a snack and stretch ones legs. In the last few places we’ve stopped, the services are quite busy. There are multiple tours and even the locals on their summer holidays at these rest stops. In Italy we were told that no-one respects “the queue”, so we were supposed to get our elbows up and get through the crowd if we want to get served. It’s good training for hockey season, that is for sure.
Back on the bus, we had another couple hours to go before arriving in Pompeii. Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft.) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
It is believed that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, and was conquered and became a Roman colony in 80 BC after it joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the Roman Republic. By the time of its destruction, 160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheater, gymnasium, and a port. The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a Roman city. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed one to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died. Walking through here was truly amazing.
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| Courtyard for the training of the gladiators |
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| A street in Pompeii |
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| The Amphitheater in Pompeii |
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| Grove worn in the rocks from the carts. 4.8 ft - which is where we get the train track width |
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| This was probably a bakery given the oven |
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| Plaster cast of a person killed in the volcanic eruption |
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| Roman Column |
After the walking tour of the streets of Pompeii, we hopped back on the bus and headed for Sorrento, which was just about an hour’s drive. Before we got to Sorrento, we stopped at a scenic location and took a couple of pictures of the beautiful Italian Rivera.
The streets of Sorrento are unbelievably narrow. There were numerous times when we had to stop the bus to let another bus take the corner or vice-versa. Once we were at the hotel, we had about an hour and a half before we were off to this evening’s optional offering – a dinner at a traditional/working Italian farm. Laureen and I went for a walk to find a pharmacy and get a little something to help her sleep with this cold. Mine has subsided (for the most part), but hers is in full force. We got back just in time to jump on the bus for the local farm evening.
The place was quite something as it is about 4 acres on the side of a hill. Everything is terraced, making working the property that much more challenging. We first got to see where the press the olives for virgin olive oil and had the process described to us. It’s a lot of work to get that oil!
From there, we went to a Mozzarella making demonstration which has been passed down from generation to generation. I can’t describe the full process – but it actually involves curds & weigh (sp?) like the old nursery rhyme.
Then 4 people were chosen out of the audience to help with a pizza making demonstration. Say, Diane, Alf and I were chosen. I somehow drew the “short” straw statue apron, if you know what I mean.
After that we walked a short distance up the hill to an eating area where they served us dinner. I can’t describe to you how good the food we had was. Everything was freshly grown on site or made on site by hand. Fresh tomatoes and their home made mozzarella; fresh olives, a baked spaghetti square, steamed zucchini and some cold cut meat were all the appetizer. A large slice of pizza was then brought out (not the one we made earlier, but ones the professionals made). A lemon cake for desert with a lemon cello to wash it all down after (it’s apparently good for digestion as well). Of course there is always wine on the table, made from grapes grown on the property. The food was simply indescribably good. We left just as the sun was going down and I captured an image of it.
If I remembered what we were doing tomorrow, I’d tell you – but the truth is I can’t recall and I’m so tired I can hardly finish writing this. I gotta get some sleep.
Curt & Laureen in Sorrento, Italy.
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