Day 4 - Docking in Naples & Pompeii Adventure!

Today was the day I was looking forward to the most! Having been fascinated with archaeology since I was a child this was sure to be a real treat for me! We docked in Naples a little bit later than scheduled but not a major issue, all the tour guides wait for you anyway. As soon as we docked you can see Mt Vesuvius looming in front of you, pretty dominating!

Our tour guide Fernando looked like an ex-Mafia member with dark sunglasses and a air of mystery about him, he was friendly though and spoke excellent English. We had a short drive through Naples into the Centre, I'm glad I didn't book a full day excursion to Naples from what I saw it was pretty dirty and I would of been rather disappointed. Onward to Pompeii driving with Mt Vesuvius on our left and the sea on our right, a leisurely drive with a lovely commentary from our guide. Arriving in Pompeii there were people dressed in Roman costume for photographs which was a nice bit of fun! 

Entering into Pompeii was pretty simple and we climbed into the grounds straight onto the cobble streets with stepping stones so you could cross the street without getting your feet dirty, pretty clever really!  Venturing through the numerous houses, courtyards and streets seeing stunning mosiacs that were almost complete, we moved onto the bath house where you got a really good feel for all of the fancy décor and style that the people of Pompeii would of enjoyed. 

Our guide took us into a newly redone house that had only been open to the public for a few months, it was off the main tracks and we wouldn't of found it otherwise as you can see below it gives you a really amazing feel of how Pompeii would of been. Here many of the wall painting were very well preserved with still bright colours, and portraits this would of been a very lavish home for sure!

 After venturing we were taken back down to where many of the artefacts are kept (mostly copies for show) but you can see the peoples bodies which left cavities in the ash and these casts were made from. Truly amazing, very humbling experience, frozen in time at that moment Mt Vesuvius erupted. 

Luckily as our tour was coming to an end we missed most of the rain, the souvenir stalls are pretty good at Pompeii, I always like little mementoes to take back with me, mainly keyrings! :) I found it wasn't too over touristy but I think that is more than likely because our guide took us off the main path to see some of the smaller more interesting sites.  I must admit this was the most memorable place on the itinerary so far and well worth seeing and getting a guide! 

Mt Vesuvius dominating the skyline