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My VERY late review of our Eastern Mediterranean cruise onboard the Navigator!

Ireallyneedavacation
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Ireallyneedavacation

Ireallyneedavacation

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The next morning, we took the train to Naples. Now, I had read some really bad things about Naples, so instead of us trying to find the local train to Sorrento with our luggage and trying to be safe and "aware" of our surroundings at the same time, we hired the services of Sorrento First Choice. Our driver met us at the train station with a sign for us, so he was easily spotted. We found him, and he drug my luggage (Katie and Corrie were on their on!) to his van. We had arranged to go to Mt. Vesuvius for a climb, then to Pompeii, then on to Sorrento to our hotel. When we got to Mt. Vesuvius we were turned away because of one of the somewhat "regular" strikes they have in Italy. Mt. Vesuvius was closed!:( Our guide was hoping the strike would stop some time during the day, so he took us on to Pompeii. Now, we only got two hours in Pompeii....without a guide, this is no way long enough. GET A GUIDE! We ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, not knowing what we were looking at most of the time! It still was interesting!

 

The drive to Mt. Vesuvius....

 

Crazy Naples' traffic....I really don''t know how people drive here. It was complete chaos! No one staying in any kind of lane!! We were told more than once on this trip that traffic laws were just suggestions!

 

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Mt. Vesuvius as seen from the van window....

 

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This is Corrie's picture. She loves old people! This was actually when we were being turned back at Mt. Vesuvius. Our driver asked him what was going on....I think that is what he was asking, anyway!

 

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Ireallyneedavacation

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I only wish we would have had more time in Pompeii. It was eye opening and very sad to see the casts, and the positions the people were in trying to protect themselves.

 

If you go to Pompeii, as I said before, get a guide. Also, we were there in May, and it was very hot. If you go during warm or hot months, make sure you have water and find shade as often as possible!

 

The strike never ended that day, so no climbing Mt. Vesuvius.:( I guess I will just have to make another trip! This did, however, give us the afternoon to explore Sorrento a little more.

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I remembered that I forgot a story from Florence. We were getting ready for bed one night when we noticed one of our lamps was out, and we knew that it had been working. Katie and I started investigating and discovered it was unplugged. So, what would you do? Plug it in, right? DON'T! Katie did this. A bolt of fire shot from the outlet and the room went pitch black dark! We were so scared that all of the lights in the hotel were out. We slowly poked our heads out our room door, to light! Yay! It was only our room. So, what do we do now, or rather, what does Katie do now? Because, of course, it was her fault! Corrie and I made her get dressed and go down stairs alone to tell the guy at the front desk what had happened. He asked her if it was a lamp she brought from home? 'Yes, I knew the lighting would not be exactly what I wanted in Europe, so I proceeded to pack a LAMP and bring it across the ocean with me! No, it was your lamp." He had to come into the room to find the breaker. I pretended to be asleep. Hey, I was ready for bed and didn't want to put anything else on! So, now we joke to Katie that she tried to blow up our room in Florence. All joking aside, it was kind of scary. When the fire shot out of the outlight, I thought Katie had gotten electrocuted. I was relieved when I found out she was okay....that is when I put it all on her!

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Making our way to Sorrento...

 

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If you want to see Pompeii, Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento is a very central place to stay. We stayed at Hotel Palazzo Guardati, very near Piazza Tasso in the middle of town. We were within walking distance to any attraction you want to see in Sorrento. The hotel and our room were very nice, and we had plenty of space. Plus, the shower was WONDERFUL!

 

Our room...There was a small hall at the entrance. If you went straight down this hall, you would go into the bathroom. If you turned right, you would go into the room.

 

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For dinner we went to Pizzaria Da Franco. It is a very casual (so casual that they use paper plates!) place that I had read really good reviews about. It did not disappoint!

 

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What did we do after dinner??? LAUNDRY! This was an adventure. I had gotten my Rick Steves Sorrento book out to find the laudramat. We loaded up and headed that way, through the shopping area, across roads....we didn't think we were ever going to get there. But we did find it. After getting a short lesson on how to work the machines from a couple from England, we set in for the night!

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After we got everything washed, we were dryer hogs and took every one. When another lady came in to do her laundry, I felt so guilty that we took all of the machines, that I went and found the 24 hour laudromat for her. The one we were using closed at 10:00, and it was getting really close to 10:00. Hopefully, this will make up for me not mentioning the NYG hitting the car!

 

After laundry, we called it a night. The next day we were using Sorrento First Choice again to drive us down the Amalfi Coast to Positano, Amalfi & Ravello! We were then being dropped off at the train station to make our way to ROME!

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The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, checked out and met our driver outside with our luggage. We were then on our way down the Amalfi Coast. I have to say that pictures do not give justice to this area. It has to be one, if not the most, beautiful scenic drives in the world. But I don't recommend you driving it yourself. The roads are so narrow that they have mirrors at curves so that you can check the mirror to see if there is any oncoming traffic!

 

Scenic stops....

 

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The morning portion of the drive was a little foggy. There was a story behind these islands. All I remember is this is supposed to be a woman.

 

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Right before this stop, our driver told us about a man and his dog. This man would ride his vespa with his dog just sitting on the seat behind him. Who passed us but the man & his dog!

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