Vesuvius/ Fire of fire/ Follow me now as I favor the ghost

​Monday

 

Another day, another excursion. This one I was genuinely excited about though because we were finally seeing the ruins of Pompeii! But first, we had other places to see. 

 

First, we visited a little city off the Amalfi coast called Positano. It was all stone and buildings jutting out of rock walls and cliffs and curvy roads on the sides of mountains. The views from just the drive there was absolutely gorgeous. 

 

Look up

Positano, nearly there!

The sea is literally their backyard

When we arrived, we were given some time to walk around and see the place as well as visit the beach down at the bottom of the road if we wanted. We didn't have enough time to actually enjoy the beach but it was there if you wanted to see it for a bit. 

 

The beach, Italian style

A need for a bathroom trip brought my mom and I, who as you can tell by now was kind of my travel buddy, to one of the most beautiful palazzo's I've ever seen (as if I've seen so many). It was called the Palazzo Murat and I would love to come back to Positano and just stay there for a week, reading, eating, buying trinkets at the surrounding stores, and swimming in the ocean. I'm actually putting that exact vacation description on my to-do list. I should probably learn some Italian.

 

Palazzo Murat aka my next vacation spot

 

It was here, in this tucked away place, that I finally purchased some gorgeous leather sandals. They didn't have the original color I wanted in my size but a color is better than no colors so I didn't complain. I also got a leather bracelet I haven't taken off since I bought it and an entire bag of limoncello hard candy which, for some reason, is SO good.

Our little stop in such an idyllic place soon came to an end and we headed on to the next. This time, we went to Sorrento which is in the bay of Naples. We stopped one a little side street and had some of the best caprese salad and authentic pizza of my entire life. Yes, yes, I know you've had a caprese salad and you think it's pretty alright. But you've never had a caprese salad in which the tomatoes are like king-size buffalo tomatoes except without the fear of them being injected or fertilized with anything and the mozzarella cheese so fresh and sliced so thick you don't know what to do with yourself. That's how the caprese salad was at this little restaurant. It's a terrible shame I can't remember the name of it. After the salad, we ordered lunch and of course, had pizza. I ordered one called Peperonata and it included olives, peppers and potatoes. 

 

Best  caprese salad of my entire life

Peperonata for you bae

Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, it was delicious.

After lunch, we had a little walk and I bought an Evian which is basically the European Dasani in my opinion. We stopped at a shop or two but didn't see anything we liked (this was about 12 of us as a group but scattered all along the same street). At the predetermined place we were to meet our taxis was a bridge. And this bridge just so happened to have a stunning view. Again, I don't know how the colors in Europe seem more vivid than anywhere else but that's what it looked like.

 

To the left

To the right. And there's no filter on this at all. Can you believe that?

A couple photos for posterity and we were off again to finally see Pompeii! On arrival we were split into 2 groups and given tour guides to show us around the ruins and tell us different historical facts about the place, etc. It was truly an interesting experience to see how advanced the Romans were and to learn that Pompeii was actually mostly a market town, not many people actually lived there. 

 

"All around me are familiar faces..."

An amphitheater still used for concerts today

Headless stature that survived the blast

Always be sure to look up. Ceiling detail in one of the bath houses used as meeting places for politicians, merchants, and common folk alike

 

We were of course shown the ruins and the size of the people entombed when Mount Vesuvius spontaneously erupted. They were so tiny, no more than 4' or 5' feet tall, due to the lead they used for water pipes. They had no idea the multiplicity of damaging side effects came from lead poisoning. 

 

Even at full-adulthood they were the size of children

We also learned about the red light district, such as where its name came from and how it operated when many people who came through the town spoke either different or other languages or were illiterate altogether. In short, stone penises were all over the walls and streets to show men where they could go for pleasure after a long journey on the stormy seas. 

Brothel menu

Brothel directions in case you get lost/confused/turned around/whatever the case may be

This Italian gentleman souvenir vendor outside of Pompeii asked me where I was from and said I had a beautiful face and I couldn't tell if it was just a scam to get me to buy something or not. Unfortunately for him it didn't work, the group was leaving me and calling my name so I didn't buy anything. 

 

Statue-esque

 

It looked like it was about to rain so our group hurried back to our taxis before it started pouring which, ironically enough, it soon did. As a result, my shots of Mount Vesuvius itself aren't very good, taken through a car window, but all the same, Sufjan Stevens' song about Vesuvius played on a loop in my head the entire time we drove by. It's linked if you'd like to take a listen. 

 

The entire time we were there I wondered what would happen if Vesi erupted right at that moment

We got back to the ship and hung around until dinner which was uneventful. After, The Crew and I spend the rest of the night wandering around and getting into all kinds of (just kidding there was absolutely none) trouble. 

 

xx