The Cruise - Part IV and my Blog Birthday

Firstly, I can hardly believe it,  but 'twas on 5 February 2010 that I wrote my very first blog on My Life in the Charente; 4 years of blogging!!  When I first started, I thought it would be interesting to  write a diary to inform friends and family.  Somehow it just grew and I now have 282 followers officially, but there are several others who comment and follow, but who are not officially registered.  I have made so many friends, some of who I have met up with, and many who I still hope to meet one day.  Thank you to all my followers who have shown so much interest and kept me motivated to keep this blog alive.  I have also now got two other blogs, but that is another story!

Returning to our cruise.... The night after we returned from our excursion to Pisa, I started coughing very badly.  This cough I should add, has been under treatment for a number of years; sometimes it is worse than others, but this was really at its worst.  I have had pneumonia twice in the past, so Nigel was really worried that I was heading for another dose.  So the next morning, instead of taking the tender to the port of Civitavecchia and a coach trip to Rome, we headed down to Deck 1 of the ship, where the medical quarters were.  To cut a long story short, after seeing a fantastic Italian doctor and having had a few x-rays taken, I spent the whole morning there on a drip!  I did not have a true pneumonia, but it was certainly heading in that direction, and caused, it was thought, by the ship's air-conditioning.  By the afternoon I felt much better, although the trip to Rome was missed and the cough continued.

 We had to be content with staring at the view of "what might have been", the port of Civitavecchia, the main seaport for Rome.

 Civitavecchia coastal ferry

Our West Indian cabin steward was so sad that we had missed the day in Rome and so sorry that I was not well, he made this towelling elephant to cheer me up!!

After another overnight sail, we docked at Naples and I reported to the medical centre for more treatment in the morning.  Luckily, the trip to Herculaneum we had booked was only in the afternoon! The weather was quite cold, most unusual for the area in summer. The doctor agreed that I could go on the trip, as long as  I wrapped up warmly.    I was still coughing quite badly, and I did get a few irritated looks from passengers on the coach, but the doctor had assured me that I was not infectious!

Early morning arrival at the port of Naples, with the towering presence of Vesuvius in the background.

Looking down on the harbour and dockside area of Naples.

 Mount Vesuvius taken from the bus en route to Herculaneum. Apologies for the reflection! Herculaneum and Pompeii, built at the foot of the volcano, were ancient Roman towns totally destroyed by different kinds of volcanic flows when it erupted in 79 A.D.

The tour guide told us that the volcano was far bigger before the eruption. If you extend the left and right hand slopes upwards in the picture, to meet at a point, that is where the original peak of the volcano would have been!

Herculaneum is famous as one of the few ancient cities that can now be seen in almost its original splendour, following many years of painstaking archaeological excavation. It is better preserved than Pompeii, as it was buried deep enough to ensure the upper storeys of buildings remained intact, and the hotter ash in which it was buried preserved wooden household objects such as beds and doors and even food!!

Herculaneum was a wealthier town than Pompeii, with many fine houses, and far more lavish use of painted finishes and marble cladding. The discovery in recent years of some 300 skeletons along the seashore came as a surprise, since it was assumed that the town itself had been largely evacuated. These unfortunates are thought to have sought shelter in what might have been boat houses on  the beach (see photo below) and were overtaken by poisonous fumes and ash, which swept down the slopes at unbelievable speed.

I took many, many photos of Herculaneum, but here I have picked a few of which I think are perhaps the best.

Looking down at the excavated town from the outer banks. The arches at the bottom of the picture are possibly boat houses, where many of the skeletons were found. The difference in level between this point and the arched openings at the bottom (the old beach) represents the enormous thickness of the ash which covered the town. Quite staggering.

Walking through the streets of Herculaneum.

Neptune and Salacia, wall mosaic in House Number 22.  A magnificent mosaic picture on what was once a beautifully painted wall.

More painted wall murals on plaster.

A mosaic floor.

Another mosaic floor!

Presumably there were 3 statues of Roman gods in the these niches at one stage.

Cast plaster on one of the archways near the forum. 

I loved this sculptured marble frieze, but  cannot now remember the story behind it!

Another beautifully decorated room behind the gateway.

There was so much more we would have like to have seen, but time was at a minimum and we had to return to the ship!

Finally back on the ship in the evening (still coughing), having dinner with Gunter. You can see the bandage on my right arm where the 'butterfly' was in place to allow me to go back on the drip in the morning!

The last day of the cruise was at sea, passing between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, heading back to Barcelona.  Sadly, the weather was still not very good and the pool deck had to be closed due to high winds. Many activities were arranged on the ship and there were plenty of interesting things to see and do at all times.  After the medical treatment, I went on a course to learn how to make animals out of folded towels. It was great fun, but I have still not got the hang of it!

Having docked at 6 a.m. on a very quiet Barcelona Sunday (people in the centre of town would probably have been partying all night if our experience was anything to go by!), we made the day's drive back home to the Charente. Our local doctor prescribed another course of antibiotics and the dreaded cough vanished for the first time in many years :-)))).  

Driving home, the  Pyrénées mountains between Spain and France, still snowy at the end of May.

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