After a quick trip on the train from Rome to Naples we were fortunate enough to meet up with our good friends from the past couple of assignments. They were kind enough to play tour guides and opened their house up to us. The boys may have been a little upset that we were staying with them and their wonderful kiddos...the kids that they miss dearly. They may have forgiven us a little when we were able to Face Time with them and also hooked them up with an instagram account to share photos and videos back and forth.
After relaxing at their rental home, we made our way to downtown Naples. Along the way they took us up the side of the mountain and took in the spectacular view.
We ended up getting a quick tour of the city center, the traffic there is pretty wild and we were glad we weren't the ones driving! After finding a parking garage with an attendant on duty, we walked along the Via Partenope taking in the sites and the sounds of the coastline. We eventually found ourselves at the restaurant Ostepazzo and quickly filled our stomachs with delicious Italian Seafood, Pizza, and wine.
The next day we loaded up and headed to Herculaneum, a smaller version of Pompeii, to tour the artifacts of a once bustling seaport.
Our friend had already visited Pompeii, but she was still impressed with the preservation of Herculaneum compared to Pompeii.
We were amazed at the colorful paintings and mosaics that were unearthed under the ash.
One of the interesting facts about this port were that many of the columns were not pure marble. It was actually marble thinly layered over concrete, making the impression to visitors that the city was more well off then what they really were. Herculaneum was a wealthier city then Pompeii, but was no Rome.
When Mount Vesuvius blew, Pompeii immediately was covered with ash, the reason why so many remains were uncovered during the dig. However, Herculaneum was not hit for several days...until the winds changed. 75% of the ancient city is still covered, where on city fell (or filled in with ash in this case) another grew. When they started the dig out of the ancient city they didn't find remains and were quite amazed to find that so many escaped the catastrophe through the boats housed in these chambers.
However, when they actually got to the boat chambers they found that some 300 were not so lucky, and that there wasn't enough boats to ferry all the people out of the oncoming doom.
Apartments now on the edge of the digging area look down on tragic history and up to the cause of so many deaths.
After traveling to Herculaneum we headed back towards the Navel Station and NATO Base they are stationed at to see what overseas military life is like. Even on base they have preserved some ancient artifacts, water wells, that Italy has protected from being demolished.
We had a great time visiting and getting a brief lesson on the life and culture of the Naples region. I am so glad to have gotten to see some wonderful friends, I hope that we can get the kids can forgive us for leaving them at home ;)
The next day we awoke early and boarded a plane in Naples that took us to our connecting flights in Milan and then to Amsterdam and before finally back across the pond to Minnesota.
So glad to be done wrapping up our trip, so many details I know have been left out and probably forgotten by now, but maybe now I will get to posting what we have been up to the past 4 months or so ;)
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