Great Morning! With a good breakfast and the sun shining overhead, Larry and I headed out for a trip to Sorrento, an hour and a half south of Naples. We walked through the most exclusive looking ship terminal of our trip. It was very clean and had some very exclusive looking shops, almost like a shopping mall. We walked out of the terminal across a large parking lot onto the streets of Naples. Larry purchased two tickets to ride the city tram down the street about a mile from the terminal where we found the city train station. Here we boarded train number 3.
While seated on the train we passed many apartment buildings, lemon orchards, and enjoyed a view of Mt. Vesuvius....the volcano that erupted 79AD sufficating thousands of residents of Pompeii. We had many stops along the way and the train became packed. Upon stopping at Pompeii, the train emptied. On we went riding through several dug out mountain tunnels...into the dark and then into the bright sunshine. We had a great conversation with a group of high school seniors who were on a field trip. Anyway, they were very entertaining and we enjoyed talking with them.
They seemed to enjoy practicing their English with us. We found out from them that English was an elective and most Italians do not take it.
Upon arriving in Sorrento, we walked down the main street to the city center. Very nice shops, sidewalk cafes, and beautiful flowers were all along the way. It was a very nice and clean place to visit.
We enjoyed walking through a shopping area with all kinds of shops on a very narrow little path. It was fun to look around at all the items that were for sale. We spotted huge lemons....larger than grapefruits with lots of lemon products, lemon soaps, lemon candles, lemon fabrics, .....
We continued on to a winding street and started down several steps till we reached a cove of boats and some very beautiful scenery along the Mediterranean. Pastel colored buildings with the old world look and gorgeous views of the Mediterranean. What a picture perfect moment!
Mt. Vesuvius in the background
This was the Italy that we had imagined seeing. It was very awesome and we enjoyed feasting our eyes on it every moment. Walking back up the mountain, we walked among some exclusive hotels and along the edge of a cliff that looked out to the sea.
It was enjoyable to watch the ferry boats come and go into the small harbor. We had a great picnic lunch in a park and enjoyed all the wonderful views of the seaside.
We found a different path coming back to the train. Larry exchanged some US dollars for Euros before we boarded the train at 2:00.
We enjoyed the scenery on the train ride back to Naples....groves of lemons and oranges, Mt Vesuvious, little towns of buildings with lots of laundry hanging from their apartment windows. Not making as many stops as before, we arrived back to Naples in an hour. We decided to walk back to the ship from the train station enjoying some time and conversations with the locals. Naples, birth place of pizza (known as the poor man's food) did not appear to be the clean little city that we had expected. Packed with lots of traffic, dirty cars, trash and animal... you had to watch where you stepped. We were happy to get back to our little piece of paradise....The Norwegian Jade.
In the evening after dinner we enjoyed the grand finale show called "Elements" with a magician, acrobats, and modern dancing. It incorporated fire, water, wind, and ice into each segment of the show. It was very entertaining with acrobats flipping over the heads of the audience and performers dancing in the aisles. The audience showed their appreciation with a standing ovation for such a entertaining show.
It has been a fabulous trip with so many great experiences. The first half of this cruise has been a wonderful trip and we are looking forward to the second half with new places to see and enjoy.
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