Apologies to those of you who have been stranded in Sicily for the last week. It was a long journey from Italy back to Canada over 2 days, and when I got in I was exhausted and there were a heap of jobs to do like unpacking and laundry. But here is my final entry for this trip.
Our final port of the cruise was Sorrento. We were docked here for 2 days. This is the captain's home port, so he anchored of Capri for breakfast on the first day and we had a smashing view of the island.
I'd been to Sorrento before (albeit 40 years ago) and I was looking forward to a nice gelato in one of the ice-cream shops and to doing a bit of shopping. Of course, last time I came here it was by car, not by ship. So I hadn't anticipted the fact that the town was a few hundred feet up some sheer cliffs from where the ship was docked. Fortunately, there was a shuttle minibus to take us up the tiny switchback road to the centre of town. But it was a nail biting ride over cobblestones and not for the faint of heart.
After a ride like that it was nice to sit down for a ice-cream treat and to just stroll the streets of this picturesque town.
Sorrento was a 2 day stop and on the 2nd day we were booked on an excursion to Pompeii. I'd thought the minibus up to town was bad, but this was an hour's journey on tiny roads up and down hills being surrounded by people on scooters who all seemed to have a death wish. I'd made the mistake of sitting at the front of the bus, so I got a bird's eye view of all the oncoming scooters. By the time we got to Pompeii I had no fingernails left.
I'd been to Pompeii 40 years ago as well. Back then it was a lot less developed and we spent practically the whole day there and strolled at our own pace. These days the site has been commercially developed and was absolutely heaving. I've just come across the phrase "over-touristed" and Pompeii was definitely that. You need to be fit to get around here, there are constant steps up and down and the limestone streets are uneven and slippery. That said, there are some amazing things to see, if you can manage it - but I'd advise you to go by yourself and take a full day over it rather than having a guide who is trying to get you around all the major points of interest in about 90 minutes and is therefore setting a frenetic pace.
After that it was back to the ship for an evening of packing followed by 2 days of travel. The ship docked at Civitavecchia on disembarkation day (which is the closest port to Rome). We had an hour's journey by car to Rome airport before flying to Heathrow. It was 6pm by the time I got into Heathrow and too late for any flights to Canada that day. So I stayed at the Hilton in Terminal 2 with a lovely view (just in case I forgot where I was) and flew back to Montreal the next day.
Watch this space in September for my Rail trip of Switzerland.
There's been a lot more excavation at Pompeii the past few years and we've recently watched a 3-part series about it. We're going in March, with a specialist company, so let's hope for the best. At least it should be off-peak.
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