Sorrento to Pompeii

After a choppy bumpy ride across the bay we arrived at the sheltered boat dock and saw our guide waiting for us as she was holding up a sign with the tour number on it.

This is Maria (in sunglasses). Photo taken later in the morning in Pompeii

Meanwhile let's look back to Sorrento

Once our group was assembled Maria led us off the dock to a parking lot nearby where there was a black Mercedes minibus which could hold about 16 people. I was on first and went to the back seat so I could shoot photographs and video through the window and have room for my camera bag next to me.

We had to climb steep winding roads to get up to the top of the cliff you saw in the photo. On the city streets of Sorrento we passed many outdoor cafes where the waiters were setting the tables for the day. I wished we had had time to visit one of them and enjoy some people-watching over a nice cappuccino but it was important that we head straight to Pompeii as Maria knew it would get crowded there later in the morning. She does tours to Pompeii up to 5 times a week so she knows how it is there.

Before we left Sorrento Maria was talking about Pompeii and one of the passengers cried out "We're going to Pompeii?? I'm on the wrong bus!" and sure enough she was. She had been given the wrong color on the ship. Maria called the appropriate driver of the lady's bus and arranged to meet him on a side street. He told Maria that he had two people on his bus that were also wearing the wrong colors so it was good that this was determined early and an exchange could be made before we got on the highway to Pompeii.

Here the bus is climbing up and away from Sorrento Bay with the Ocean Princess laying at anchor.

Driving through the new city of Pompeii

The highway leads us through the modern town called Pompeii and then we find an off-ramp that leads down to the ancient city. Here the bus let us off in a very busy area of tourist shops and cafes. The bus would find a place to park and we would have time to visit a bathroom or get a coffee. The latter was my plan, the former Carol's so I sat down at a cafe table in the shade and ordered a superb espresso (is there no bad coffee in Italy??). A cigarette and an espresso and I was a happy man and excited to imagine what was just ahead for us.

Here's some video of the day so far. This was Friday September 26th 2014 and our last port of call as the next morning we would dock in Civitavecchia and see Rome for the first time.

*The problem when shooting video through a window at speed is that the camera has to suddenly alter focus from long shots-such as the ship anchored in the Bay 2 miles away-to closeups when a tree suddenly appears outside of the window just 3 feet away. Also the narration by Maria gets chopped into pieces as I don't know when she is going to start and stop speaking.