Pompeii

We arrived in port at Naples at around noon.  As we didn't have an enormous amount of time there, we decided to take the ship's tour to Pompeii.  Although it is quite possible to make your own way there and back by local train, we decided that our time could be better spent by getting there and back on a ship's coach.

Pompeii is a somewhat surreal place.  In my imagination, it should be on it's own in the countryside, with green fields all around.  It's actually in a suburb of the Naples conurbation, surrounded on all sides by built up areas and motorways.  It was also fairly crowded - there are many tours from various ship and holiday companies, plus a lot of independent travellers wandering around in the ruins.

Once you get over those shocks, you can spend a fascinating time there, looking at the ruins of the old Roman town more or less as it was when it was destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 AD.  We spend a couple of hours in the ruins and some extra time browsing the hoards of souvenir stalls just outside, before catching the coach back to the ship.

The forum and temples of Pompeii.

Inside the public baths.

A plaster-cast of a victim of the eruption.

The famous "Beware of the Dog" mosaic.

The crowded streets of Pompeii!.

What is everyone looking at - click if you dare!