Herculaneum

The train trip to Herculaneum was uneventful, and we found there were far less tourists who made the trip after Pompeii. We decided against going up Vesuvius, as it was completely cloud bound.

We found Herculaneum more compact, but more complete than Pompeii. It too was covered in the fallout of the eruption of 79AD, up to 20 metres. It is evident how far, when you see the buildings which now surround the site are so much higher than what was excavated.

It is quite different to Pompeii, and we both preferred it. The mosaics were still vibrant, and the evidence that it was a richly decorated city abound. The frescoes while somewhat faded show how brilliant they must have been. There was evidence still of the effect the earthquake of 65AD had, with one mosaiced floor completely misaligned and almost a crater inside.

It was only in 1980 that several boat store rooms were discovered, full of almost-fossilised skeletons, which remain intact.

I particularly liked the cheeky statue of Bacchus!

We meet some young Aussie girls, and we each savoured the opportunity to chat to friendly accents! They’d just been to a family reunion in Ireland, and were finishing off with a European tour, heading to Barcelona next. They hadn’t heard of the Sagrada Familia, so we were able to impart “must see” to them!!! They told us the election result, and then we parted ways!

We left the site at 6 pm, and headed back to Napoli. Showered, changed and a quick bit of laundry done, we ventured out for dinner. Paul chose a scalloping, and I had spaghetti with fruit mare. Amazing clams, mussels, tiny pippis prawns and shellfish I know not the name. All very fresh and tasty!

Another big walking day, we headed back to our hotel to rest up for the journey to Sorrento tomorrow. Only an hours trip!En savoir plus