Blogs from Pompei, Campania, Italy, Europe - page 3

Geo: 40.7492, 14.5007Bird says we should offer a word of warning-there are 26 pictures of Pompeii. Should there be an abnormality with your brain making you not nuts about Roman history, you may want to skip this blog. Of course, we know all of you are normal, thus being as nuts about Roman history as HP.Today we hopped a train to Pompeii. Thirty minutes later we were induced to take a two hour tour, which was good according to Bird. After the tour we struck out on our own for an additional couple of hours. As you know, Pompeii was buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD thus preserving for us a complete Roman city. Actually, there were two, Herculaneum suffered an identical fate, but Bird could only tolerate one.This was another long day with much ... read more

Our chappie on reception had told us to get into the city when it opened at 9am before the coach tours from Naples & Rome piled in. We went to the gates which are just across the road & there were about 200 people waiting to get in. I asked a cafe owner what was happening – 'problem inside, open at 11'. So back to Billy, then back to the gates where we then queued for 40 minutes in the heat but thankfully in the shade to buy the tickets. After a while you'd have thought the entire population of Japan had arrived – thousands & thousands of them! Again, all armed with selfie sticks, umbrellas, Hello Kitty gear & posing for photos with two fingers up or making a heart shape with their hands - ... read more

Geo: 40.7492, 14.5007Cafe Caracciolo for breakfast, then caught the 10.45am train from Meta to Pompeii - standing room only. We planned to spend no more than a few hours at the historical site, but fellow Brits on the train advised it was easily an eight hour trip so looks like it could be a long, hot day. We hired ourselves an audio guide, with a free map and started our tour at the baths, outside the city walls. Then in through one of seven entrances in to the ancient Roman city that was destroyed when Mount Versuvius erupted in 79AD. The site is much bigger than we'd expected and very well preserved considering it had been completely buried in volcano ash (which preserved everything). The streets are laid out in a well organised grid with huge ... read more

Our next to last cruise port was Salerno, on the west coast of Italy. We had so many things to choose from in one day.... Isle of Capri, Naples, Salerno, Amalfi Coast, Vesuvius, Herculaneum, Positano, Pompeii, etc. We found a web post from a family from Oregon asking for other passengers to join them in hiring a private guide for a small group tour. We jumped at the chance and were very pleased. Our group consisted of Norma and Tom, their adult children and a very nice young couple from Dublin, Sinead and Roy. Our group was able to enjoy a personalized visit, interact more with the guide and get to know each other. I highly recommend this route for anyone visiting the area. Our group loaded the comfy van and decided to head to the ... read more

Off the Pompeii on the circumvesuviana (wagon!) and into Pompeii Scavi. Took a two and a hour hour guided tour (as we didn't have passports or drivers licence to leave (not that we would have!) as security for the audio self-tour. We had a hoot of a guide and enjoyed the experience but 2.5 hours was definitely enough (that's for more great advice Pasquale). Back on the train to Sorrento, quick coffee and onto the bus to Positano. We didn't arrive until 4.30 and sunset was at 4.54 so was very pleased we took some photos and found the property used in 'Under the Tuscan Sun' (for some inexplicable reason this became a mission for me). Positano is beautiful, stunning, wonderful, and I would have liked at least a day to explore. Back on the bus ... read more