We were up early and off the boat by 8am. We met our driver but, for some reason, their van wasn't big enough for 16 so we had to wait while they exchanged it. Losing about 45 minutes, we headed out to visit Pompeii. Turns out it is located about a half hour away so we got there early enough and started our tour with a special Pompeii guide. Very interesting. The town has been under excavation for over 150 years and very well preserved because of the 20' of ash that covered the entire town over 2000 years ago during the eruption of Mt Vesuvius. We found out that there were two eruptions. The first one sent most of the 12,000 population fleeing for their lives. Some returned the next day and some never left. That day another, more powerful eruption occurred and killed 2000 people within hours. With no way to dig out all the ash, the city was abandoned.

Mom made it through Pompeii since there were few stairs and it was relatively flat. We returned to our little bus to explore the Amalfi Coast, the area along the rugged Italian coast just south of us. The road clings to the side of the cliffs as do the houses. Every twist and turn brought out oohs and aahs from everyone aboard the bus and our skillful driver navigated the narrow roadways with ease, despite the passing of vehicles that mathematically shouldn't be possible. The roads are narrow to begin with and then people park cars on the side so at times only one vehicle can fit and it becomes a one way road with others waiting their turn. Speaking of turns, some are so tight a large bus needs both lanes to make the turn. It's amazing how they even cut these roads into the cliffs.

We stopped for lunch at a cliff side establishment (aren't they all?) and we ordered ravioli with lemon. True Italian and delicious. We shared. The view was beautiful. Mom went up early to purchase a hand painted coffee cup. With the tour groups, they are sightseeing for the most part and, unlike Al's tours, don't stop regularly for shopping, bathroom, resting: stuff that Mom looks forward to. She grabbed that cup and it turned out she was the only one to get anything on that day. The bus windows are tinted and while it's quite a pleasant ride, picture taking through those windows flattens the contrast and takes the zip out of your pics so I don't bother. According to our itinerary, we were supposed to stop in the three towns on the coast but because of time constraints, we just rolled through them. I think the schedule might have been too aggressive for our port time and we were running later than expected.

So we rolled back to the ship with an hour to spare. We are not on a ship-sponsored tour so if we're not back in time, the ship will sail without us so it's important to allow time for possible problems. A quick dinner at the Lido buffet and we are done for the night. Mom had been fighting indigestion all day so she wasn't happy about going to Palermo tomorrow.