One of the great things about living on a small island, especially one that is a pit stop for planes to refuel, is the opportunity to take a rotator (plane) to other places...for FREE! There is a rotator that goes to Italy every 2 1/2 weeks. You can either choose to stay in Italy for 3 days or for 2 1/2 weeks. We opted to go for 3 days this time, known here as the 'spaghetti run'. The day before we flew out we had to get our 'orders' to ride the plane. Basically that is just to prove that we can fly with no cost to us. Because the Italy plane comes so often, it's really easy to get a seat. The seats are based on space available. (The Germany plane only comes 4 times a year and that one is much harder to get onto, but we will try in April.) There are also flights to Norfolk, VA and Baltimore, MD. During holidays and PCS season (usually the summer) those are had to get too.
Wednesday Feb. 22nd we got to the terminal by 8am. We had to wait a while so we waited in the really nice kids room. The plane from Norfolk arrived along with many people flying on to Naples, Souda Bay, Bahrain, and Diego Garcia (all Navy bases). We met some families that were PCSing to Naples and some that were going back to their base of station after being in the states for a few weeks.
Once it was time to board the plane, we loaded up in buses and were taken to the flight line. The kids got to ride in a bus, plane, taxi and train all in one day.
The view of the white building on base. That's where we pay our phone and internet bills and there is a restaurant on the 2nd floor, but unfortunately it doesn't have very good food.
Getting on the plane. For only 3 days we packed light. We had a small carry-on and 2 backpacks. Coats and sweatshirts take a lot of space. We probably could have gotten by with one backpack and carry-on if we went in the summer. It wasn't that cold during the day in Italy, but we didn't know what to expect so we went prepared with 2 coats each. (We left all our really warm clothes in storage in Illinois)
Waiting for take-off. The plane was big. It had 2 seats on each side and 3 seats in the middle and was double in length than the ones I've ever been on. The flight there was 4 hours 42 minutes. They played 2 movies and served us a meal. The flight was really fun- all the kids did great. It's easy to fly when you don't have any babies.
Saying goodbye to Terceira. It's such a pretty island and even pretty from the sky. The town to the left is Praia where we go to church and the other town you can see is where we live.
Italy is 2 hours later than the Azores so when we arrived, it was around 4:30ish. This is a view of Italy from the plane.
A view of Naples or Napoli as the Italians call it. (Napoli-say it like monopoly without the beginning 'mo')
Once we arrived we took a taxi/shuttle to the train station. It first stopped at a hotel to drop a woman off and we booked that hotel for the next night so we could be close to the airport the night before. But, the first night we had already booked a hotel online in Pompei.We were told before we left to hold on tight to our stuff. There are a lot of pickpockets in Naples and it's a very crowded city. Because we had four little ones, we were a target for pickpockets because with all the kids we would be easily distracted. So the whole time we kept our things close and pockets protected. We also kept the kids on close rein because it was so crowded and drivers are CRAZY there. I'll explain that more when we get to our tour of Napoli.
We found the train station and bought our train tickets. The train we were supposed to get on left before we could get there. We then had to figure out which train to go on. NO ONE spoke English. A man tried to help us, but spoke very little English. He just kept saying we had a problem. Well, Denver found an Italian man that lived in Long Island, NY that spoke English! He helped us get on the right train. He was headed in the same direction, but going further. The problem that the first man was trying to tell us was that the train was stopping at del greco (or something like that) which was only halfway to where we wanted to go because there was a problem with the tracks or construction or something (I really didn't understand). So we had to get off at that station and take a bus or some other means of transportation which we had no idea how to do. Luckily, the man from Long Island continued to help us. I don't know what we would've done without him.We were also told before we went to Italy that the people LOVE little kids (bambinos). The man from Long Island (his name was Antonino Scala) had a cousin that was coming to pick him up at del greco and offered us a ride to pompei on his way to Sorrentos (a city after pompei).
The picture was dark, but this was waiting in Del Greco for Antonino's cousin. Antonino bought each kid a little treat from the store in this picture. He wouldn't let us pay him back either, 'for the bambinos' he said.
They drove us to our hotel. There we parted paths, very grateful to Antonino for helping us. Antonino is on the right and his cousin (never got his name) is on the left.
Across the street was a little pizza place we decided to check out. By this time it was about 8 or so.
The pizza was really good (baked in a wood burning stove) and inexpensive.
My favorite was the Margherita pizza. It was simple, but the flavor was delicious.
Our hotel key had this huge thing attached to it. I booked this hotel because some branch members told us they went there and it was nice and the pictures looked nice online.
It was AWFUL!!! I wanted to cry it was so bad. The manager lady didn't speak any English. We couldn't understand anything she was telling us. And when we didn't she would loudly say "mama mia!" But she liked the bambinos. The room was soooo cold. The manager lady turned the heater on and then about an hour later we heard it turn off. We couldn't work it ourselves. I felt like I was camping. The blankets were heavy and the bed was so uncomfortable. The room was dirty too. It looked nothing like the pictures online. Both Denver and I barely slept that night. It was miserable. We all slept with our coats on and the heavy blankets covering us, but I was still cold.
Morning finally came, but there was no hot water in the bathroom! I think we had to turn it on because up high there was a switch, but we didn't know. I was sooooo ready to get out of that place. Even though we didn't sleep much, I was glad to get out of bed and get going onto better.We're not picky hotel people, but that was miserable.
Walking around pompei heading to a place for breakfast and the ruins. These buildings were cool looking.
Something, looked and sounded like a riot, was going on down the street. People were holding signs and chanting something. They stopped in front of a bank. We still don't know much of what was going on, no one spoke English.
I looked up what 'Ora basta' meant in Italian online. It means 'That's enough!" One of my 2 brothers that speak Italian can tell me what the rest means except I don't think they check my blog. Hahaha.
More pictures of the area. It was really a pretty place compared to Napoli and not as busy or dirty. Napoli had graffiti and trash all over.
We found a cute place to buy some breakfast. Pompei had a McDonald's, but we didn't want to get McDonald's in Itlay! We wanted to try their food. This is how the food came.
Oops, this picture is sideways. I LOVED these pastries. They were very filling and inexpensive too. Denver didn't like them too much and some of the kids, but I thought they were fantastic. Maybe I was just hungry. I liked the filling. It wasn't like a pudding or cream or anything we're used to. It was good.
This is the picture of the shop where we had breakfast. There was no place to sit inside so we just ate it on the street.
About 4 blocks away we came to the ruins of Pompei.
Before the pictures, here is a little bit of the history of Pompei: taken from Wikipedia :)The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was partially destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, and it was lost for nearly 1700 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1749. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana.
The excavated town offers a snapshot of Roman life in the 1st century, frozen at the moment it was buried on 24 August AD 79. The forum, the baths, many houses, and some out-of-town villas like the Villa of the Mysteries remain well preserved.
The inhabitants of Pompeii had long been used to minor quaking, but on 5 February 62, there was a severe earthquake which did considerable damage around the bay and particularly to Pompeii. The earthquake, which took place on the afternoon of the 5th of February, is believed to have registered between about 5 and 6 on the Richter scale. On that day in Pompeii there were to be two sacrifices, as it was the anniversary of Augustus being named "Father of the Nation" and also a feast day to honour the guardian spirits of the city. Chaos followed the earthquake. Fires, caused by oil lamps that had fallen during the quake, added to the panic. Nearby cities of Herculaneum and Nuceria were also affected. Temples, houses, bridges, and roads were destroyed. It is believed that almost all buildings in the city of Pompeii were affected. In the days after the earthquake, anarchy ruled the city, where theft and starvation plagued the survivors. In the time between 62 and the eruption in 79, some rebuilding was done, but some of the damage had still not been repaired at the time of the eruption. Although it is unknown how many, a considerable number of inhabitants moved to other cities within the Roman Empire while others remained and rebuilt.
By the 1st century AD, Pompeii was one of a number of towns located near the base of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The area had a substantial population which grew prosperous from the region's renowned agricultural fertility. Many of Pompeii's neighboring communities, most famously Herculaneum, also suffered damage or destruction during the 79 eruption. The eruption occurred on August 24, just one day after Vulcanalia, the festival of the Roman god of fire, including that from volcanoes.
A multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study of the eruption products and victims, merged with numerical simulations and experiments, indicate that at Vesuvius and surrounding towns heat was the main cause of death of people, previously believed to have died by ash suffocation. The results of the study, published in 2010, show that exposure to at least 250 °C hot surges at a distance of 10 kilometres from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings.
The people and buildings of Pompeii were covered in up to twelve different layers of tephra, in total 25 meters deep, which rained down for about 6 hours.Entering the ancient city Pompeii
After learning a little about the history, it was neat to see how well preserved everything was and to think that it existed since 79 AD.
Entering the large theater. It was built in the hollow of a hill for good acoustics.Some ancient writings preserved.
Inside the large theater.
A view of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted in 79AD. We didn't get a chance to go to the top of Mount Vesuvius and we were kind of bummed about that. Maybe the next time we go to Italy we can see the top. We hear it's a pretty cool thing to do.This is also a view of a vineyard. They made a replica of it to portray what it would've been like.
Walking the streets of Pompeii. It was a very big city. Lots of streets and bldgs.
We couldn't go inside this area, but we liked the pillars. All the pillars reminded me of the Disney movie "Hercules".
A snake painted on the wall was preserved. It represented good fortune to the Roman people.
These are the original lock and key and tools that were used in 79AD. Preserved so well because of the ash.
In the corner: The bones of a servant (at least that's what a guide said that has been working as a guide there for over 30 years)
The skeleton of a horse.
These are the remains of 4 adults and 2 children. (Once again, that's what the guide said)
More of the city and Mount Vesuvius looming in the background, a reminder of what happened almost 2000 years ago.
The pottery was excavated and left in the spot it was found.
Water ran through the streets. The kids are stepping on the stones that allowed people to cross without getting their feet wet. There are stones like this all through the city. There was space between the stones so that a carriage or wagon could fit around the middle stone and between the stones to pass by that way. Quite creative.
Mountains in the background. I never thought of Italy as having mountains. They are very pretty.
We walked on main street and came to the main square.
Most of the casts (bodies covered in ash) are in a museum in Naples, but there were still some here for us to see. It's horrible to think of people suffocating like that. It's interesting to see the positions they are in. Some covering their faces, others sitting, hugging their legs.
You could actually see the teeth of this person.
In the main square they have a shop to buy lunch and/or souvenirs. It was lunchtime so we stopped for a bite to eat. More pizza. The pizza in Italy is really good.
We bought some souvenirs here too. On the outside of Pompei Scavi (the ruins) there are alot of vendor stations where you can buy more things (books, etc), but they were all closed because February is not really a big touristy time.The kids liked this 'lego' stone.
Another cast of a body.
You can still see some of the artisan work in these stones.
Maelie is holding a piece of the ash here. It is extremely light.
Sterling was tired of all the walking so he laid down to wait for us to catch up.
We wanted to head back to Naples before it got dark in case we had any other problems with the train so around 3pm we found the train station (about 6 blocks from the ruins).
Waiting at the train station.
I figured out that now the city is spelled pompei, but in the ancient days before the eruption it was spelled, pompeii.
On the train we got a view of the Mediterranean Sea.
Once we got back to the train station in Napoli, we took a taxi to our hotel. It was called Millenium Gold hotel and is apparently where alot of the Americans stay before they get housing when stationed at the Nave base. It was a very nice hotel with HEAT!!!! And hot water! The things we take for granted.
The room had 2 single beds and one double so we pushed the 2 singles together and the kids slept on the beds longways with their heads along the side of the bed. The floor was tile so we couldn't lay them on the floor.
We still had daylight hours left and didn't want to spend them in the hotel so we took a taxi tour of Naples. It is a crazy, busy city. My dad would've hated it. There were 3 lanes and 7 cars side by side. Motorcyclists weaved in and out of cars and on sidewalks to get around. Traffic was incredible. Imagine New York City times 10! It was that crazy. Stop signs were ran like crazy and cars didn't stop for people in crosswalks. I was VERY glad I wasn't driving there. There were definitely some times when I had to close my eyes in the taxi because I didn't think we'd make it.The taxi drive spoke little English, but we loved him. He was so nice, loud and fun. He took us all over Naples, told us where the mafia were (which streets to avoid, but they all looked the same to us), and let us get out quite often to take pictures. He also bought the bambinos a snack of fried mashed potatoes (delicious! I snuck a piece from Colson) and something else that was fried and good.
Castel Nuovo: This castle, known as Maschio Angioino was rebuilt in 1443. Sterling saw the castle and asked if there was a princess in there.
San Francesco di Paola: 1817
Palazzo Reale: This palace was begun in 1600 for a visit by Philip III of Spain, which never took place.
Galleria Umberto I:
Some of the pictures are dark. It was getting dark and our camera is horrible, especially at night shots.
It was very beautiful inside.
Maybe this is Teatro San Carlos. We saw that, but don't remember which one it was.
We got to drive right up to the castle and get out to take pictures and go inside the entry. Funny thing: Sterling fell asleep in the taxi so the taxi driver told us we could leave him in there and go take pictures. We would've never done that in the states. If this taxi driver drove away, we would never be able to find Sterling again, but we trusted him and felt comfortable with him. Plus, he wanted his money :).
A view from the street of Napoli. It was so pretty in real life. Our camera didn't capture it very good.
If you look at the mountain in the background, that is Mount Vesuvius.
Inside the entry of the castle
This is a cathedral we went into. I didn't turn the flash on in this place because they were having mass or something. It was a beautiful chapel on the inside. Colson saw candles inside and said "birthday!"
Outside of this place (don't know what it was called-another church) was a lady sitting out asking for money. She reminded me of the 'feed the birds' lady on Mary Poppins.
We got out to look at the souvenir shops and bought some things- a nativity from Italy and a little tambourine with a painting of mount vesuvius on it, those will be shown later.
Once the tour was over, we ate dinner at the restaurant the Hotel had to offer. It was alright, but we didn't want to explore the sketchy part of Naples near the hotel in the dark.The kids slept good that night.
Friday we ate the free continental breakfast at the hotel, which isn't very common in Italy, we hear. It was really good and included in the price of the hotel. If or when we go to Italy again for a spaghetti run, we will stay in this hotel again. We got to the airport on the Navy base by 8am. We took a bus from the waiting area to the plane and got on again!
The plane was the same size, same movies and same meal. It was fun to fly again. The flight was only 4 hours 10 min. this time.
Leaving Italy. A view of Mount Vesuvius from the plane.
We were the only people to get off the plane and stay in Lajes. Everyone else was heading on to Norfolk, VA. A lot of the people on the flight were just getting off deployment and going to the states to see family. They had another 6 hour flight ahead of them and many of them came from Bahrain, which was 2 previous flights, probably another 6-8 hours of flying!We got back to the Azores at 1:30 Azores time. We were greeted with this beautiful rainbow. It was nice to be back home to our small island with no traffic and people that speak English. I'm getting spoiled with driving and never having to wait for traffic, unless the cows stop the road.
Our souvenirs from Pompeii.
The tambourine from Naples
The Nativity from Naples
Another souvenir from Pompeii
It was a great, fast trip. With a free flight, it's hard not to take advantage of it. The kids did awesome the whole way through. Now I have another stamp in my passport and the kids do too. Denver doesn't use his passport, just his military ID card.We would love to see the nicer cities of Italy, like Rome and Venice, but we'll take what we can get.
