We docked at 1200 and were ashore not long after. Caught a taxi to Pompeii. What a hair raising ride!! The cabbie just blatantly ignored 60 kph speed limit signs or at least I think that's what they read. We went past like a picket fence. He was doing 120 kph most of the way.
Anyway, we survived the trip and arrived at Pompeii long before the tour buses. There were four ships docked in Naples today so there were 'boat people' everywhere.
Walking the streets of the ruins was a surreal experience for me. It is a city frozen in time. There are casts of some of the inhabitants of the town on display unbelievably preserved by the blanket of ash that covered them for 1700 years. The eruption of Mt Vesuvius took place in 79 AD. You can only imagine the terror they felt at the time.
This visit was a highlight of the trip for me. It is unbelievable that the city of Naples is in a situation where it could suffer the same fate at any time - It is a city of 1.5 million people perched at the foot of Vesuvius closer than Pompeii is.
After another quick trip back to the ship, we took a leisurely stroll through the shopping district of the city before boarding at around 1700.
We set off at 1945 behind two of the other ships. MSC Splendida was here today - we formed a convoy all night to arrive together.
Our next destination is Malta (Valletta) - due to arrive at 1300 tomorrow, Tuesday.
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