Getting There

We visited Pompeii as a day trip from Sorrento. We jumped on the east-bound Circumventia train out of Piano di Sorrento (which was next to our hotel) and took the 25-minute ride to the Pompeii-Scavi stop. The ruins are easy to get to from there; take a right out of the station and it'll be on your left after a short walk.

Remains of a City

Pompeii was a Roman city that was destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It was rediscovered in 1748 and has been constantly excavated ever since then. It's a popular tourist destination in Italy, and it's definitely easy to see why. We greatly enjoyed it, and highly recommend taking a day trip here if you're staying anywhere close to it (even a trip from Rome would be feasible).

Any description of Pompeii is going to be pretty boring; it's basically a series of ruined buildings and structures (some very well preserved) that gives a glimpse into what ancient Roman life was like. It's just amazing to see; the following pictures are pretty, but they can't do justice to what it's like when you're there.






It's big too; we spent a good 5-6 hours here and we still didn't walk everywhere (although we hit quite of bit of it). Obviously there's a lot of walking and it does get hot there (not a lot of shade); bring a water bottle - there's plenty of fountains to fill up at (although some taste better than others).

There are plenty of tour guides at the entrance willing to show you around for a price or you can buy an audio guide, but we just picked up a free map and guide book at the tourist office near the ticket booths. It's quite informative and works very nicely. Plus, with so many tours going around, we were able to listen in sometimes anyway.

Highlights include the Anfiteatro (a mini Colosseum - first pic below), the Teatro Grande (large amphitheater - second pic), and the Temples of Venus and Apollo.



After finishing up with Pompeii, we took the train back to our hotel. We went to dinner at our restaurant in Piano (again) and actually had enough energy to walk around the little festival that was going on.

To see all of our Pompeii pictures, go to our Picasa Web Album.