Naples, Italy

Monday May 26th 2014

Weather, still fine & sunny 27C

Our current location:

A nice relaxing morning at sea as we don't dock in Naples until around 1pm. The sea remains very calm (we forget we are actually on a ship most days), the skies blue & land is visible from our balcony most of the morning. In fact we never seem to be that far from land as even at night you can usually see lights somewhere.

We had a nice breakfast of bircher museli & fresh fruit with coffee. Already we have noticed some improvements in food quality on this ship so hoping it lasts. Also service seems a little more friendly & efficient. The Splendida has a more "Italian" feel with more Italian staff than the Fantasia. 

After breakfast we visited the tour desk to organise a tour for tomorrow in Messina, Sicily. We had pre-booked all the other tours we wanted, however couldn't find anything we really liked in Messina. Luckily they had just added a new tour "The Emperor's Wine Route"! Now doesn't that just sound perfect for us? It is a combination of culture & wine tasting, so what more could one want. We have booked so I will let you know when we return tomorrow afternoon how it went :)

Today we only have 5 hours ashore in in Naples & all the available tours (Capri, Rome, Sorrento & Pompei) we have seen on our last visit. So we plan to wait until the rush to disembark is over and just walk off & do some local exploration on foot. With a bit of luck we might find some WiFi as well.

I am typing this as I sit on our balcony (nicer, more comfortable furniture than the Fantasia) watching the little islands (see below) pass by. Life sure is tough :)

Will take some photos of Naples sail-in and might be able to upload this in Naples.

We actually arrived in Naples almost an hour earlier than scheduled, so plenty of time for photo taking (see photos above - not sure why they look a little grey as it is a beautiful clear day) before we went to to lunch. Had the same table as for breakfast with wonderful waiters & the food quality was excellent. I had a yummy salad,seafood soup, grilled cod & fresh fruit platter. Also, I had a couple (maybe it was 4) glasses of my new favourite wine they call Grillo. It is very similar to what we know as Pinot Gris, light and tasty :) Anyway Mike says it has the effect of making me speak Italian after a glass or 3.

Almost forgot - This is Mount Versuvius .... does that look like smoke coming from it's epicentre?

Now back in our cabin getting ready to head ashore.