Ciao da Napoli!

After a very early morning and a quick flight, we've arrived in Naples for a few days, before working our way up the coast to La Spezia. Although we're staying in Naples, it's really only a hub for us to get where we want to go. Today, it was Pompeii, tomorrow, it's the island of Capri. 

We arrived in Naples around 9:30 and took the most intense cab ride either of us have ever experienced. Strangely enough, I felt really safe as our driver weaved through traffic, narrowly dodging oncoming traffic with incredible precision. I figured he must do this all the time. I tried to convince Ashleigh of this as she was cutting off the circulation to my thigh. She said the dents in the side of the car and the cracks in the windshield had convinced her otherwise. Alas, we made it safely, and because check in wasn't until 11, we went around the corner to a local restaurant for a bite to eat. At this point, we had already been up for 6 hours, so we felt it was appropriate to have a beer and glass of wine with our meal. We shared some bruschetta, a caprese salad, and some grilled prawns. The view wasn't bad either, with Mount Vesuvius looming in the distance. Not a bad way to kick off our time in Italy.  

After our early lunch, we arrived at our home for the next two nights, thankful for air conditioning, as the temperatures were already creeping into the low 30s. A power nap helped us to recharge, and we set off for the ruins of Pompeii. A 15 minute walk, a 10 minute subway trip, and a 40 minute train later, and we had arrived. Fortunately, the entrance to the ruins is about 50 meters from the train station, so it was easy to find.

The original city of Pompeii, which dates back to the 7th or 8th century BC, was buried under several meters of ash when Vesuvius erupted in 80 AD. The city remained well preserved under the ash, which has provided archaeologists with a vast amount of information about the city and it's people. 

There was even a brothel that was well marked by the phallic shape above the door, letting the customers know where to find it. 

Bodies that were buried under the ash left a hollow space after they decayed. Archaeologists were able to pour plaster into these empty spaces to see their exact position when the ash fell. There was a small museum within the ancient amphitheatre that had 20 of these plaster molds. A little morbid, but pretty interesting. 

After we left the ruins, we walked a short distance and walked to a highly rated restaurant that we found on TripAdvisor. Unfortunately, when the ruins close for the day, so does virtually everything else in the city, so we ended up at a dive just down the street, where the TripAdvisor reviews weren't as kind. However, the pizza wasn't half bad, the prosecco was cold, and the price was right. We were the last ones in the restaurant, and they locked up right behind us on our way out, and it was barely past 8 pm.

Tomorrow, we plan on heading to the island of Capri for a boat tour to check out some of their sights like the blue grotto and the faraglioni, and likely stay out there for dinner. 

Buona notte!