The ship Captain - Captain Carl Smith put on a very special morning service for all the Australian and New Zealand passengers to remember the Anzacs. It was a very short service with trumpet played in place of bugle, I couldn't help thinking we were as close to where our boys arrived – Gallipoli as I will ever be, so it was really very moving.

We then continued our early start with a relaxed and smooth tender ride to Sorrento, only about 10 mins from the ship.

From the same port, we take a high speed hydrofoil to the famous Island of Capri, clear skies however there is a haze and that is from the still active Mt Vesuvius that we can see in the distance.

Tour groups are small, and have the guide and a crew member from the ship, so that if someone wants to stop to go to the toilet outside the allocated places, or are still finishing a transaction for a shop etc, the group can go ahead and they eventually catch up – great idea.

It’s true Capri is the gem island of the Bay of Naples and one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, arriving at the harbour we notice the tourists are few to what they would be in a couple of weeks.   The picturesque white washed homes and villas, on the hill facing us – greet us, we walk to the entrance of the funicular to take the rocky hillside to La Piazzetta.   Views breathtaking high on the hill.

We have time to visit the beautiful perfumed "Gardens of Augustus" and views of Marina Piccola and the other side - the Grotto Di Matromania.

A short visit to the island perfumery, Carthusia and a relaxed walk through the streets to window view the very expensive shops.

Back on the funicular, in my head, I am reminded of the song Funiculi, Funicula.

Our group is then ushered onto a ferry, that takes us to Naples.   We sit on the top deck, to view the Mountain of Vesuvius that gets closer as the last of the ferry cruise, comes to an end, ready for lunch.

Lunch is sooooo tasty – fresh spinach and ricotta cannelloni pasta and then a slice of Lemon Cake mmmm… delicious.

The day continues, we walk to the Cameo factory, where we learn how the ancient carving of shells is crafted.

Then it’s an afternoon of exploration; of the Pompeii ruins, the result of the Vesuvius eruption in AD79.   Pompeii was a Roman settlement, a prosperous place with more than 20,000 inhabitants.   Twenty feet of ashes and pumice stone rained down on Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted, hiding the city from human eyes for more than 1700 years.    I will try and put notes on photos taken of what we saw and learnt about, some of the Roman ideas were very advanced.

Before we leave the Pompeii area, it was time for a cool fresh lemon ice drink.   We also had a taste of the Limoncello, Meloncello and Lemon Cream Cello – lemon liqueurs produced by real lemon peels.

We return to Sorrento by coach a short way from Pompeii, and decide to stay to see the township, with a stop at the Fauno Bar by the square so we can have a hot drink and some Gelato, three scoops this time - to people watch a little and recharge our batteries for the last of the day.

A delightful walk along the narrow streets of Sorrento, where our senses were opened to the smells of all the lemon products, the colourful sights of ceramics and the friendly locals that were happy to have a chat.   Some time for a bit of shopping too.

Then the last of day, was a walk down stairs and stairs and stairs to reach the bottom of the cliffs where our tender was waiting to take us back to the Azamara Quest, we were not the last to return to the ship, as the ship was not leaving the port until 11pm that night but we did have to order room service for our dinner because we arrived after meals finished at 9.30pm.

What a day…………..a huge one but a memorable one!!