Day Sixteen. Salerno, Italy

We woke up early (6:30am) to find we were sailing into the port of Salerno. This is on the south western coast of Italy and has high cliffs all around the bay. We went up for a quick breakfast and watched the sunrise. A special moment for the two of us.

We had a tour booked to Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii which was going to take the better part of the day. We got off the ship just after 8am, got on the bus and were soon slowly climbing the winding roads to the top of the cliffs.

After about 1 hour we stopped off at a jewellery making shop (didn't buy anything) and soon we were winding our way up the Volcano. The driver was a pro, navigating the 60+ seat bus around the road which was a little over a single lane wide. I think he has done it once or twice before.

We got to the car park and had to climb the remaining 800m to the summit and crater edge. It was tough going for a couple who have enjoyed the fruits of free food and alcohol for the last 10 days but we managed to conquer the beast. The views of Napoli (Naples) as well as inside the crater were nothing short of amazing. We viewed steam coming out of the rocks but luckily no red stuff.

We spent about 1 hour up there and then walked back down to the car park. We had to wait for our bus with about 1000 other people but finally got back on. The tour guide said it was one of the busiest days of the year as there were at least 3 other big cruise ships in the Napoli harbour.

From here we went back down the mountain and into Pompeii.

It was surreal walking through the ruins with the shadow of Mt Vesuvius looking over us. We could only imagine what the locals must have felt in AD 79 when she blew her top and half the mountain rained down on top of them. We saw houses, streets, bakery's and even brothels in the ruins. We spent a couple of hours looking through Pompeii and are glad we have been there.

We then got back on the bus and headed back to the ship. We got back around 4pm, had a quick shower, and Steve and Larry went up to the Lawn deck for a couple of beers. The girls joined us later and we sat on the stern of the ship as we sailed out of Salerno at 6:30pm.

We then had a quick buffet dinner and got back to our rooms at 8pm.

Tomorrow is a big day with our tour of Rome. They didn't build it in a day but we are going to try and see the best of it in one!