A Day in Herculaneum and Pompeii

Pictures from Sorrento and Herculaneum above

 

The Silver Wind anchored off the Italian town of Sorrento early on Sunday, July 3^rd.  Michael and I had signed up for an all-day tour of the Roman ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii.  We saw little of Sorrento itself, just the view from the tour bus as we passed through on our way north.

 

Francesca, our tour guide, told us that Sorrento is actually several small communities strung along the cliff tops.  The residences all seem to have gardens in their back yards.  Olives and grapes are grown commercially in the area as well as in individual gardens.  My reaction to Sorrento, in fact to all of the part of southern Italy we saw that day, was that it all seemed very familiar.  This part of Italy resembles the Italian neighborhoods in the New York area where I grew up.  In fact the names of many of the small towns are names of families I knew when I was young.  These small towns haven't changed much in the past hundred years.  The Italian immigrants to the U. S. built homes similar to the ones they left behind.  Both the U.S. and Italy have modernized but the spirit of the old neighborhoods remains.  The big difference is that Sorrento is semi-tropical: palm trees and olive trees don't grow in the northeastern United States.

 

Sorrento is an hour or so south of Naples, a very large Italian city.  Sunday meant beach day and thousands were on the road headed south from Naples toward the coast and its narrow stony beaches below steep cliffs.  It was fortunate that we were headed north in the opposite direction.  Our bus kept going north past the autostrada exit for Pompeii.  The autostrada is a toll road equivalent to a U.S. interstate highway.  Francesca said that the crowds at Pompeii are greatest in the morning. Our small group would visit it in the afternoon.  We headed toward Herculaneum the less well-known city also destroyed by the A.D. 79 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.   Ash and lava preserved these two towns exactly as they were at the end of August A.D. 79.

 

We spent several hours at the Herculaneum excavation.  It is better preserved than Pompeii but covers a much smaller area.  Ash and cinders buried Pompeii while Herculaneum was covered first by a pyroclastic flow of superheated gas and mud followed later by lava. It was buried deeper and was harder to excavate.  Excavation has been limited by the fact that the modern town of Ercolano sits atop a good part of the site. A small wealthy community on the sea, which no longer reaches this far inland, Herculaneum shows how a segment of Roman society lived daily life.

 

After lunch we toured Pompeii, only a few miles south east.  Here the site is more open.  Excavation is more complete as Pompeii was buried in ash and cinder, which was much easier to remove.  Pompeii was more of a commercial center.  There were more storefronts, taverns, wine shops and markets.  It had a fine amphitheater and a school for gladiators.  Both Herculaneum and Pompeii had piped in water from aqueducts and public sanitation.  Unique to Pompeii were the plaster casts made of citizens and animals.  An Italian archeologist discovered that he could reconstruct the shapes of figures that had perished in the ash and cinders by pouring plaster into the airspaces he and others discovered in the debris.  The actual remains have turned to ash but the space the bodies had occupied remained as empty bubbles in the ash.  I took lots of pictures of mosaics, remnants of murals, pillars and statuary.

 

My main fear for both sites is that they are being loved to death. Excavations started in the late 1700's before modern archeology was invented.  Much was lost in a hunt for treasure and statuary before people appreciated the value of the site.  Modern archeology has revealed a great amount of detail about how the 1^st century Romans lived. These two places are a snapshot in time – August 28^th A.D. 79.  Tourists, including me, want to see it.  Unfortunately, people touch the remnants of two thousand year old murals and walk on the carefully pieced together mosaic floors.  I do not have high hopes that these wonderful things will last, especially as money for preservation efforts will be scarce for the foreseeable future.  I count myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to see these sites.

 

We sailed from Sorrento a little bit early.  Captain Michele Macarone Palmieri, a character if there ever was one, took the Silver Wind on a short tour of the Sorrento coast.  Passengers got a close up view of the cliffs form the water, the houses clinging to the rocks above, the stony beaches below and the switchback paths between the two.  He tooted the ship's horn as we turned toward Naples and the Tyrrhenian Sea (the name of the waters between Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and western Italy.) Rumor has it that he was bidding hello to his sister who lives in the north of Sorrento.  I think he may have just been showing some whimsy.  A man who wears a baseball cap with his full name on one side and "captain" on the other cannot be completely serious.

 

Night fell as we rounded the cape of Naples and city lights came on.  It was most beautiful. 

Taormina, Three Cities on a Mountain in Sicily

 

The day after leaving Dubrovnik was a sea day. The Silver Wind traveled from the Adriatic Sea across the sole of the boot of Italy then northwest towards Sicily.   I spent time with Michael and attended a cooking demonstration.  I caught up on my blog thru Corfu.  There is really too much to see and do on a sea day to spend a lot of time writing.  Come to think of it, there is even more to do at home so I am completing this travel journal rather slowly.

 We anchored in Naxos Bay off Taormina on Saturday, July 2nd.  As on all our prior stops, it was "chamber of commerce" weather.  Michael and I were not taking a tour but we managed to be in the first tender ashore supposedly reserved for tour participants.  We were on the first shuttle bus up the mountain to Taormina.

There are really three towns here.  Giardini Naxos is at sea level.  The tender landed there.  Giardini Naxos is a small community with many beaches and beach hotels.  Taormina is on the mountainside several hundred feet up.  Taormina can be reached by bus or car but only official vehicles and delivery vans are allowed in the semi walled part.  Hundreds of feet higher up is Castelmola, a small town clinging to the top of a nearby peak. It is accessible by a very windy road or hundreds of steep steps. Taormina is the main tourist attraction of the three.  It is an archetypal scenic Mediterranean village.

Really, the main tourist attraction for our Bay of Naxos stop was Mt. Etna.  Many of the people taking tours were on an all day trips partway up the slopes of Etna followed by a long lunch and an hour or so at Taormina.   It proved to be an exciting day for a trip to the volcano.  Etna is still active even though it only occasionally spurts ash and steam.  Lava flows, when they occur, are slow moving and do little damage.  We saw clouds of ash and steam coming from the mountain as we anchored.  Later, around noon, when we were at the fort at the top of Castelmola we heard an explosion and more clouds could be seen swirling around the volcano.  Later, when we heard from passengers who had made the visit to Etna, they reported that there hadn't been much to see – just clouds and the smell of ash.  Michael had visited Etna on his prior trip to Taormina and found the trip to the then-quiet mountain somewhat disappointing.  That is why we decided to spend our day visiting Taormina and Castelmola instead.  Mt. Etna was just entering a more active period while we visited the area.

Taormina is a pretty town.  It is also full of tourists.  We walked through the main streets and saw, along with the usual picturesque churches, stores selling pottery, fashion, tourist type gifts, wine and liquor.  Many small coffee and pastry shops lined the streets and small squares.  I gave in to the temptation of a large chocolate cannoli displayed in a small bakery.  Michael had a small pistachio cake.  They tasted wonderful. As we walked I saw a number of places selling tee shirts picturing Marlon Brando as the Godfather.  How can tourists be so silly as to fall for something so phony?

Taormina's main attraction is a Greek theater.  The ancient Greeks built an amphitheater on a hill overlooking the bay with views of the nearby mountains.  Much of it remains.  It is used today for musical and theater performances and even the occasional motion picture.  The day we visited, the present day operators were setting up for a rock performance.  Michael and I were able to climb around the ancient stones then sit in a shady place and watch the boats on the bay and the train station hundreds of feet below. We visited the bookshop perched at the highest point.  I decided not to buy a picture calendar of Taormina, as my pictures are at least as good as the ones in the calendar.

Leaving the theater, we wandered around the streets some more.  One of the more interesting sights was an unexpected find.  We visited a church built on the site of the Greek Odeon. An Odeon is a small theater where plays were performed and speeches and recitations were given.  A Christian church had been deliberately sited on top of the pagan ruin.  The surprise was behind the church.  We could see the stone seats and remnants of ancient stone walls of the Odeon.

Michael wanted to visit Castelmola at the very top of the mountain.  It was a worthy goal.  We started to walk uphill following the map we had with us.  The distance was about two miles.  Very quickly, we found that it was very steep and there was no shade. The temperature was above ninety degrees.  There was no sidewalk and we were dodging Italian drivers.  Have you heard? Italians drive very fast and swerve at the last second.  It was prudent to return to the square by the town gate and hire a taxi to take us to the uppermost town.

Michael "bargained" with the taxi driver and agreed to his initial asking price with a tour of Santa Maria del Rocca thrown in.  Santa Maria del Rocca is a church carved from rock at the top of another hill above Taormina.  It is most picturesque.  We arrived at Castelmola in comfort and spent half an hour exploring the old fort at the summit.  I took many pictures.  Santa Maria del Rocca had breathtaking views but the church itself was closed.  The ride up and down the very twisty roads was fun.  Passing other vehicles was sometimes challenging.  I think we got our money's worth.

Back in Taormina, we wandered around the square by the cathedral.   We happened upon a wedding in progress.  We were able to peek into the cathedral and see the couple getting a final blessing from the priest.  When he pronounced them man and wife, the whole congregation applauded.  I have never seen that before.

We sat down at an outdoor table at the tavern across the square and ordered beers.  We observed the post wedding festivities while we cooled off.  All the Sicilian men wore black suits and looked very serious.  Mafia clichés came to mind although there was no evidence that this was anything but an ordinary Saturday wedding.  Everyone congratulated the bride and groom.  The photographer took pictures.  The tiny ring bearer and flower girl looked adorable in their miniature formal outfits.  Groomsmen escorted Grandma to the tavern to use the restroom.  By the time we finished our beers, the florist was already removing the floral arrangements and village life returned to normal.  Scenes of real life and real people are what make visits to places like this memorable.

Michael and I returned to the Silver Wind tired but happy after a fun five hours ashore.

More Pictures from Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik, A World Heritage Site

 

At the other extreme from Hvar  was our visit to Dubrovnik, a world heritage site.  The picturesque walled city was worthy of our 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. stay.  Michael had visited Dubrovnik about six years ago.  He strongly recommended a hike around the top of the city walls.  We began early: again in the first tender ashore.  The walk took about two hours.  The last time Michael was there the walk around the city wall was free.  This time it cost the equivalent of about $15.00 apiece.  The attendant who sold us the tickets apologized and explained that the money was needed for restoration work.  Dubrovnik had been shelled heavily by the Serbs during the 1992-5 war.  The wall took heavy damage and most of the buildings inside lost their roofs.  Everything has been or is in the process of being rebuilt.We certainly could appreciate the reason for the cost of our tickets.

 

The walk was well worth the $15.  When Michael visited in the early 2000's, only half of the city wall was open to pedestrians.  Much of the rest had still been rubble.  The entire wall has now been restored.  Most of the buildings have new roofs.  Several church steeples are still covered with scaffolding but the city is delightful.  The views from the wall were impressive.  Both the sights in the city itself and the landscape surrounding it made excellent photo opportunities.  We saw a number of dogs, a poodle, a basset hound and a mutt for example, and we joked that these must all be Dalmatians as we were on the Dalmatian coast.

 

After completing a circuit of the wall, we walked the city streets.  It was getting hot and we kept to the narrow side streets, which were shadier.  We looked for potential lunch spots.  It was still early but nothing looked promising.  All those pizza places!  The more up-scale places, away from the main streets served very expensive sea food.

 

The citizens of Dubrovnik have erected a tram to the top of the nearby mountain.  It opened in 2010 so Michael had not taken it. I suggested a tram ride to get out of the increasing heat and as way to get a most scenic view of Dubrovnik.  We walked the few blocks uphill from the city to the tram station and ascended to the observation platform above.  This was a three level structure on the mountaintop  that had a "restaurant" whose menu consisted exclusively of wine, beer, cocktails and soft drinks.   We settled for Belgian made "Bavarian" beers and shared a small package of potato chips from the airline Michael had saved for weeks in his backpack.  Michael spotted Gabor, the Silver Wind's tour desk manager, and invited him to join us.  The three of us spent a pleasant half hour chatting and watching the clouds roll in and out, obscuring and revealing the view of the city.

 

We took a hike around the mountaintop, rode back down the mountain through the now obscuring clouds, went back to the pier and tendered back to the Silver Wind for lunch.

 

Later in the afternoon, we went back into Dubrovnik and took another walk.  We ended at a Franciscan monastery that claimed to have a continuously operating apothecary shop since 1317a.d.  We saw a modern pharmacy and further on a museum of mostly religious art that also housed cabinets, implements, bottles and jars from early times.  We took a pleasant walk in the cloister gardens and then returned to the ship for teatime and to watch the departure from Dubrovnik.

 

Dubrovnik wasn't Venice, but it was fascinating in its own way.  Both live on tourism and antiquities.  Dubrovnik is more like Colonial Williamsburg without the re enactors and more gift shops.  One can imagine the shopkeepers closing up at the end of the day and going home somewhere else.

 

We were on our way to another tourist town.  This time it was Taormina in Sicily.

Hvar, Introduction to Croatia

The Dalmatian Coast

 

Hvar

 

Wednesday mid morning we found the tiny island of Hvar, Croatia outside our cabin window.  True to form, we were on the first tender ashore.  Hvar City, which I had never heard of before researching this cruise, is the largest settlement on a small island off the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia.  Its harbor is minuscule.  Large cruise ships cannot dock.  It is a vacation spot mostly for Europeans boasting that it has 310 days of sunshine per year.  A great many Italians seeking a cheap vacation with a lot of partying visit here.

 

The place that is now Hvar City was settled in neolithic times and has been the site of a series of civilizations.  The Greeks settled on the other side of the island at what is now Stari Grad (Old City).  They named the island Pharos.  Hvar is the Croatian equivalent.  The island has been owned by the Venetians, as can be seen in the architecture, the Austrian Empire, Italy and was part of the Peoples Republic of Croatia in Communist Yugoslavia.  Today as part of independent Croatia, its main economic driver is tourism followed by raising lavender, olives and wine making . Hvar City was an important port through medieval times but fell out of favor in recent centuries.  It is having a revival of sorts as a tourism destination.

 

Hvar City's harbor was filled with small yachts and sport fishing boats.  The quay was lined with casual restaurants.  It was here that I first realized that all the ports in the Mediterranean feature pizza as the main tourist food.  All the eating places had essentially the same menus: beer, mojitos and pizza. Truly international! The locals maintain that Croatian pizza is the best. I'll never know.

 

Michael and I took in the sights: the city square, the cathedral, and the gift shops.  We noticed a fort above the city.  Our port briefing said it was built to defend against the Ottoman Turks.  Today it has been restored and can be rented, complete with catering service, for large events.  It was an easy but steep climb to the fortress.  The harbor and city views were breathtaking.  Admission to the fortress was in Croatian Kuna but the attendant cheerfully accepted Euros. There was a small exhibit of artifacts, mostly amphorae, recovered from an ancient Greek ship that had been found at the bottom of the harbor.

 

Our half-day visit to Hvar is an example of a relaxed outing where it's not important what one does.  The point is just to enjoy the experience.  Michael and I had a nice hike, took some pretty pictures and had some interesting conversations with both residents and other tourists.  We were back in time for a late lunch.  Later in the afternoon, we watched the departure from the top deck and enjoyed a cocktail on the deck at the rear of the Panorama Lounge.