Pompeii: See It Before It's Gone

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and took some time out of their busy schedules to enjoy the time with their family and friends.  I know that the holidays are a crazy time for everyone, so I also took a bit of a break. But now I'm back at it!  There are so many great sales going on right now, so make sure to check that post out later tonight! 

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I love the Almalfi Coast.  It is seriously breathtaking.  Since we were on a cruise, I spent a lot of time just sitting and looking at the towns we were passing.

The cruise was originally supposed to stop in Capri.  However, due to unseasonably high and rough waves, Azamara decided to change the port to Sorrento for the rest of the summer.  

My family and I took one of Azamara's excursions to Pompeii, which is about an hour bus ride away.  First off, I wasn't really looking forward to the bus ride.  I know it isn't that long, but being in a bus did not sound very fun.  Thankfully, the trip was very scenic.  We drove along the ocean side, so we had a great view of the water and the colorful towns. 

Pompeii was nothing like I thought it was going to be.  When I thought of Pompeii, I thought of how Mount Vesuvius covered the town in volcanic ash, destroying the town and killing thousands of people. I know that this happened almost 2000 years ago, but for some reason I thought things wouldn't look as "uncovered" as they did.  However, there are still parts of Pompeii that are still being excavated.  

It is an interesting part of history that people should see.  There are casts of bodies from 79 AD: lovers, pregnant women, children, men and women and even some animals.  The thousands of people died in an instant from the eruption.  

Walking down the "streets" of the town and into some of the homes was so interesting.  This is how people lived in the first century.  There are many similarities to today's life, however.  People still need to eat, sleep, and come together socially. 

Click here for the link to the official Pompeii visitor's guide.  Also, if you can't visit Pompeii, check out Google Maps to get a close up view of the ruins.  

  

Has anyone been to Pompeii before?  Would you recommend it?

MegaBus

It's been awhile since I posted... sorry! Blame finals.  But I'm taking a break from studying to write this post.

One of the great things about going to school in Chicago is that I can take the MegaBus to get home.  I know what you are thinking- who wants to spend 6 hours on a bus with a bunch of strangers?  However, from all of my experiences, it is pretty good.

The MegaBus offers low prices for travel and they take people to many places in the United States, Canada, and even Europe!  Fares start at $1 and go up from there based on demand.  

For students studying abroad or travelers who want to save some money, this is an easy way to travel around Europe.  I'm not sure how it compares to the trains (I assume those would be faster) but it is something to look into.  

Image from Google Images

I always use MegaBus to get home to Cincinnati, especially in the winter months, because I don't want to risk being stranded in an airport due to the weather.  Whenever I am using the bus, there are so many students traveling home for the holidays so I usually know at least 1 or 2 people on it with me.  

One of my favorite parts about the bus is the (Free!) wifi.  I can get all of my work done because of it.  Unfortunately, they do block streaming sites such as Netflix, so if you want to watch a movie, I would suggest renting/buying it on iTunes.  

In the long run, it is only about an hour to an hour and a half longer than it would be for me to fly. When you think about the time traveling to the airport, arriving early enough to get through security and then waiting for the plane to take off, to waiting for your luggage, it pretty much balances the time you are sitting on the bus.  

What have your experiences been with the MegaBus? 

Porto Cervo, Italy

I am so thankful for Thanksgiving and this time to rest.  There has been so much going on and the break was much needed to help me through the next 2 weeks.  

The next port of call was our first stop in Italy, which was Porto Cervo.   This port was more of a stop on our way to Sorrento.  We were only there for a few hours.  Once again, there really wasn’t much to do.  Lots of shopping and gelato (yummm) and there were nice beaches here.  Most people spent their day at the beach. 

In the morning we took a tour of the bridge.  It was really interesting to see! Two of the officers showed us around and told us what the different instruments did.  I was surprised with how small it was.  We did get to go out on the side, the part that they use to “park” the boat and then leave the port. 

Once we left the bridge tour, we grabbed lunch at the buffet and then headed out.  We were walking around the town at kind of a strange time.  Many of the stores were preparing to close for their afternoon siestas.  We walked to an archeology site and saw an ancient wall.  

Ancient wall

We got some gelato (of course) before heading back to the ship.

One of my favorite pictures my sister took

I always thought how interesting it was to watch the harbor pilots go from the cruise ship to their smaller boats. 

  That night there was a gorgeous sunset.  It couldn’t have been more beautiful while we were cruising to Sorrento. 

The next two stops on the cruise were my favorite ports, so until next time about Sorrento/Pompeii!