on Saturday 29th June 2019, a group of 10 colleagues and I met in the foyer of the Ripa Riva Hotel at 5:45 am to catch the bus to Rome Termini. From there, the fast train reached speeds of 300 km/h taking us to Naples. From Naples the local, crowded Circumvesuviana train ringed around the amazing Vesuvius. happy chatter was interrupted when a gypsy father and son played songs for the entertainment of the tourists. They were very good and had everyone tapping their toes. A brief caio to my colleagues and I was off the train at Pompaii station, soon meeting a waving Suellen and Lolly. The rest of the group travelled on to spend the day in Sorrento.
We tackled Vesuvius in the morning, as it was another hot day. The bus stopped in a car park and we trudged up the steep gravelled pathway, with hundreds of others. The view from the top of the crater was well worth the effort. To the right, Naples and Sorrento to the left.
Pompeii is directly opposite the station and st the shuttle bus drop off so we promptly entered and enjoyed viewing the incredible archeological finds previously buried by ash from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD eruption. It was brilliant to see what the careful excavation has found and is still finding, particularly the plaster casts of the people undertaking their daily activities when they were covered by layers of ash and frozen in time. So many people stopped to talked to us and to ask why Lolly was in a bright green pusher. “Il sentiero e troppo caldo e brucia le zampe dei lecca lecca” the footpath is too hot and burns Lolly’s paws.
We had an eggplant parmigiana dinner at the restaurant opposite and Suellen drove us to Sorrento in her Hymer motor home. The red sun in the sunset was shining brightly over the Bay of Naples. Through many twists and turns and tight squeezes with other cars as we ascended the steep hills behind Sorrento, Suellen kindly drove me to the resort. That’s Amore, the conga, Sweet Caroline and many other hits of the 70’s welcomed us as we entered the opulent, marble clad reception area. A much anticipated shower revealed a large amount of black dust before a sound night’s sleep, in anticipation of another busy day.
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