Up Pompeii! (…and Vesuvius)

Got up early to try and miss the crowds, and I suppose we did to start with. Even as we walked out of the campsite, a bloke came up and started explaining what we needed to see on a map – a map he was trying to sell us! It was blazing hot straight away and not much shade. Free entry (for the first 15000 people) so no big queue at the entrance. What an amazing place, so well preserved, and the mosaic floors and colours on the walls were incredible for something so old. Gradually it filled up with coach tours etc to the point where we just wanted to get out! You couldn’t walk down many of the streets there were so many people. Quote of the day from another American…”the Romans invented lead”!!🤣🤣🤣 Struggled to find the place where the casts of the bodies were …in the end we found them all sort of dumped in a warehouse which was odd. Came back across the road to the campsite just before 12 so decided to ask if we could leave without being charged another night. Yes – if we paid cash….everyone wants cash 💴! Tried to drive out to the coast but it was a bit scruffy and a nightmare of narrow streets. So, although we’d planned to do it much later in the day, we started our ascent of Vesuvius. Not a bad road really. Far better than the ones in town. Three quarters of the way up we were directed into a car park and told we couldn’t go any further. €5 to park on a dead end road. We drove to the bottom and decided to wait it out till all the crowds had gone home. A lady at the cafe said you could drive up after 5:30 – so we did. Got to the small car park 30 mins walk from the top but the gate was now closed. Still, we had our dinner up there with spectacular over Naples. We’ve come part way down again now, to park for the night as we were on too much of a slope at the top. I nearly fell out the door and the salmon did fall out of the oven when I opened it! 😂 I’ve picked up a tiny bit of Vesuvius to keep but Guy reckons it’s just a bit of hardcore off the road.