Monday 24th Naples / Herculaneum

Today is our last full day of the cruise.  We docked at Naples about 9:30.  It was interesting to see the pollution haze that spread out to sea & to smell the city before we got there - just like many big cities. 

So it was off to explore the place.  The ship gives you a small bulletin with a map about each port & we noted on the map that there was an archaeology museum shown.  So off we set.  Naples port is dirty, run down & pretty ordinary - like most ports - so we weren't judging the city by its port.

We had quite a walk to get there - but given all the walking we've been doing it was enjoyable rather than a chore.  

We're so glad we got to the museum.  It is an old former home of the Medici's & is super boring on the outside but like an ancient Greek or Roman villa it has internal gardens & amazing splendour inside.

Many of the mosaic floors, colourful friezes, artifacts and statues that have been unearthed at Pompeii and Herculaneum are in this museum.  It was mind blowing to see them all there.  In once case there are so many artifacts from one house in Herculaneum that it fills four rooms of the gallery.

We got back to the ship in time to freshen up and then take a 2pm tour to Herculaneum.  I remembered reading years ago that while everyone had heard of Pompeii Herculaneum, while smaller, is much better preserved and a better place to visit if you have to make a choice.  And people who had been to Pompeii and were with us at Herculaneum confirmed this.

We saw preserved houses with original wood still in them, a boat found on the short with petrified wood, ropes and leather, wooden screen doors standing between the entrance atrium and the entertaining space.  There is a shop there with amphorae still in their racks, a sign outside a wine merchant's shop - as a fresco on the wall listing prices and quality etc.  This whole site was just too amazing for words.  We could have stayed for another few hours to soak it all in & I'd like to go back - but sadly the ship sailed at 6 & we had to be on it.

So we sailed out of Naples for the short trip to Civitevechia and then a day of transiting from Rome to Venice - can't wait.