Naples/Pompeii, Italy

Fantastic is all I can say about today...we were fortunate enough to be able to rent a mini van and a driver for five hours to take up to Pompeii and through a brief city tour of Naples...Pompeii was a resort village in the early first century that was smothered in molten, lava and ash from the neighbouring volcano that eventually buried the entire village...excavation began in the mid 1750’s and still continues today...it was fascinating to see the structures and the forums that were excavated and recreated to show how the village was arranged...today 45 hectares of the 66 have been excavated for people to walk through...one of the artefacts that have been uncovered include pottery pots, columns, statues, tombs and even people with their dogs...our day continued with breath taking views of the city of Naples, from high on the coastline...our driver Salvador was nice enough to frequently stop for us to take photos and tour around the points of interest...Naples is a very risk taking city...there are no rules of the road, literally a free for all...there are thousands of motor scooters that weave in and out of traffic, passing on both the left and the right, sometimes coming within inches of an oncoming vehicle...not something that we’re use to seeing!! Naples has a high rate of crime especially pick-pocketing. In 2004 there were over 150 Mafia related deaths, but apparently the crime rates are improving...The seas were very rough once the sun set...it felt like the table was swaying at dinner time...I had to sit right back in my chair and not stand for too long or else I would really feel the sway...not a comforting feeling in public!!! Tomorrow I am super excited to be going to Rome...we don’t know how we’re going to actually get to Rome as it’s about 2 hours away from the port, but that’s tomorrow’s worry...tonight’s worry is just trying to ignore the sway and the banging of the waves hitting the bottom of the boat.