Palermo and Naples (2 Days in 1)

First off, the internet on the ship sucks!!! The only good thing about bringing our own laptop is the ability to download the pictures from the camera to free up the memory card. Downloading pictures to the blog is impossible. The one pic from Barcelona did not post correctly, so everyone will have to wait until I get home to see pictures.

Anyway, Palermo was very nice. The port is very industrial. Lots of mechanical type stuff around and freighters, no other cruise ships in port. The city itself is right there. Our excursion was Mysterious Palermo and was in the afternoon. We left the ship around 1:30 and were back by 5:00. We saw many sites on the bus ride to Zisa Castle. That was our first stop. Our tour guide, Rita, was very informative and spoke very good english. After the castle we went to the Catacombs to see all the mummies. The dead were not really buried, but kind of hung from the wall where the families would come visit them. The last person "buried" in this way was a little 2 yr old girl, in 1920. She was preserved in a different manner than others and it was amazing how she looked. She had her hair and all her facial features. It was really facsinating.

Today was Naples. Again, our excursion was in the afternoon and I guess we were all so tired that we all slept until 11:00. Got everyone up and went and grabbed some lunch and were off. Our excursion today was a tour of Herculaneum. This is near Pompeii. Both cities were destroyed in 78 AD by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Where some people in Pompeii were able to escape, there were no survivors of Herculaneum. In 1768 the cities were discovered and were uncovered. We walked through the reamins of the city and it was so interesting how wall paintings and such were perserved after all those thousands of years covered in volcanic ash and mud. After the ruins we went to a cameo factory and saw how they made cameos. That was fun and of course then they try to get you to buy their stuff. Some very expensive stuff.

Tomorrow is Olbia. Again an afternoon excursion to Costa Smerelda (Emerald Coast) We are having a great time. I'll try to post again soon, only if the darn internet will cooperate. And sorry about the pictures.

Ciao