Ercolano continued

We would be at the historic site for two hours walking up and down the straight streets, listening to our guide through headphones the better to understand what we were seeing.

Some of the larger buildings still had their frescoes visible after all this time. They must have looked very rich and vibrant back in 79 A.D.

This photo of another tour group arriving as ours was leaving will give you an idea of the scale of this building

A plaque explains what we have just seen

The kitchen of a fast food restaurant

This is the wide street that borders the new town of Ercolano (not seen, at left)

Bricks that were laid over 1900 years ago

Fast food kitchen for those too busy to sit down and have a meal

All the streets are straight, laid out in a grid

A horse trough

The interior of a pizzeria

Modern Ercolano looks down on the site

The colors have stood the test of time

We are going down some steep metal stairs to a lower area which would have been at sea level

Here are  the remains of people found huddled near the beach in boathouses

We move on

Back up the stairs

  Rich artwork

Bars on the windows-probably the town jail?

It's time to leave and return to the ship

We were blessed with good weather and a very passionate and well informed guide. After visiting the restrooms outside the site we were getting back on the bus. There was time to visit the little tourist shops or have a beer or an espresso. Gelato too!

The journey to the ship was quieter as the guide did not narrate and we were all left to sit and reflect and digest what we had just seen, looking back to 1900 years ago and the day that Herculaneum ceased to exist. It lay buried in ash until it's discovery 1748...

Here's a short video clip

Back at the docks in Salerno

Tour buses, some of which are used to shuttle passengers from the dock to the town of Salerno

It has been a tiring morning with so much walking in the hot sun, so we resist the urge to visit the town and return to the ship to relax before she sailed away.

To Herculaneum!

With the memories of our visit to Pompeii a year earlier firing our anticipation we set off on our tour bus for the drive up and away from Salerno Harbor.

We were within a 30 minute drive of the town but, as in many cruise excursions to interesting places there was a "shopping break" built-in. In this case it was a 45 minute stop at a Cameo shop where skilled artists create those tiny portraits or scenes on pieces of glass or shell. Fascinating but not something either of us would wear or buy as a gift. However these stops are good for one thing for the non-shopper-they always have restrooms!

So it was a minor diversion and soon we were back on the bus and drove only a couple of miles through the narrow streets until we were at the site of the ancient town of Herculeum. In Italian it is Ercolano so I'll refer to it as that from here on in. Although it was only a town of 4,000 or so people compared to 17,000 estimated to be in Pompeii when the volcano erupted there was still plenty of walking ahead.

Unlike Pompeii the whole town could be viewed from standing near the entrance. It is overlooked by the modern town of Ercolano.

  Vesuvius appears in the frame at extreme right

We cross over a metal ramp into the town streets and pass a garden with lemon trees.

The last time any of the buildings we would see were lived in was August 79 A.D. Most people had a chance to flee the first eruption but at least 300 skeletons were found when the town was first discovered in the 18th Century. A young lady from our ship visited in her wheelchair and had help getting up onto the ancient sidewalks.

The town had lain hidden for centuries under 50 feet of volcanic ash

Most of the structures still stand  although their roof caved in under the weight of ash

Our tour guide talks to us through wireless headsets as we walk along in the sun. I stay apart from our group to take photos and can still follow the commentary.

The town was a seaside resort back then. The sea has since moved far away. It would have been a fishing port and busy trading center for the catch of the day.

Houses from the modern town line the site border.

Structures built to last

Mosaics  survive intact

Layers of ash are braced by scaffolding poles while archaeologists work on the restoration

Once you cross over into the site there are no shops where you can buy drinks so take water with you.
The espresso and beer can wait until you are back outside. The same applies to toilets.

Narrow streets

1900 years old brickwork, strong as ever

Occasional signage highlights buildings of special interest 

Visitors without personal guides can rent headsets and be guided by narration

Tiles to channel water

To be continued....

Palermo sail away

Back on the ship after our tour of Palermo, Mondello beach and Mount Pellegrino we had nothing better to do than relax on our balcony with a cold drink and wait for Room Service to deliver our Afternoon Tea which we had booked earlier that morning.

And at 4.30 it arrived and was delivered out to our balcony

We sailed at 6 p.m with the city threatened by some dark clouds. Hopefully the rain would hold off until we cleared the harbor. I shot some video....

Tonight, Sunday would be a Formal Night where people dress for dinner and to have their photographs taken by the 10 or so photographers working onboard. We skipped the photographs and went straight to dinner in Da Vinci dining room.

A simple Caesar salad for me

Carol had a salad with walnuts

Tournedos of beef with an onion tart

And neither of us can resist a Norman Love dessert, found only on Princess ships

After a fine meal we were ready for a show. This one was called "I got the Music" a fast paced song and dance show with a live band kicking the music along. The show only lasts 35 minutes or so. As usual a very slick and professional show.

From the show it was time for bed as we would be arriving in Salerno, near Naples at 7 a.m. We hung out an order for a Room Service breakfast at 6.30 a.m and enjoyed deep sleeps before my alarm went off at 5.30

When I awoke we were approaching the harbor....

An industrial port with cargo ships and ferries unloading- just what I like!

It looked like we would have a nice sunny day to go ashore

Our tour bus would have to climb up from sea level to those bridges above to make our way to today's excursion-the ancient ruins of the city of Herculaneum, buried by the volcanic eruption from Vesuvius that also struck Pompeii. As we had visited Pompeii on last year's cruise on the Ocean Princess we were very excited to have Herculaneum to look forward to today.

Another cruise ship from the Costa line joins us in the harbor

We've had breakfast from Room Service, which of course wasn't up to the standards of Sabatini's but cold pancakes and bacon was better than nothing and we had something in our stomachs to fuel all the walking we would do once we entered the ruins. My camera batteries were all charged and ready for a day's work.

The journey to Herculaneum comes next...