When we visited Naples in 2012, I wrote in my blog:
“Naples is the most densely populated—and supposedly one of the most corrupt—cities in Europe. The guidebooks post warnings, fellow travelers spin tales of woe and even the public address system at the station remind passengers to be cautious of pickpockets. So we imagined a derelict train station with crews of urban Napolitano pirates waiting to fleece the unwary as they left the train from Rome.”
Tricia had a complimentary ticket on the ship’s tour from Naples to Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii. They left at 8:00 AM and didn’t return until the 7:00 PM sailing. More time, she complained, was spent traveling on ferries and buses than actually visiting the sites—they were in Pompeii for less than two hours. Not much of a deal for $400!
Connie and I had already visited Pompeii twice and had spent a couple of days in Sorrento so we went ashore today mostly for the exercise—I didn’t even bring my camera! We poked around the Spaccanapoli district with our Spidey-sense turned on Medium as usual. After a few miles we returned to the ship and waited for Tricia to join us at dinner.
As we finished eating I looked out the window as the year’s first Super Moon rose over Mt. Vesuvius making for the best photos of the cruise.
Cruise ships put in at the busy commercial port of Livorno because it’s relatively close to popular sites, the key word being “relatively.” It is 26 km to Pisa, 42 km to Lucca and Florence is a whopping 100 klicks from Livorno. Even though “Constellation” remained overnight, we never left the ship, having spent three days in Pisa, two in Lucca and nearly a month in the wonderful city of Florence on previous visits to Italy. We did, however, take advantage of Tricia’s visit to a Florentine friend and use her complimentary internet package.
We’ll be in Civitavecchia, Rome’s port, tomorrow where the cruise ends. Then it’s a couple or three trains to Pompeii where we’ll spend two full days—our third visit to the ruins.
