On our return trip from Amalfi Coast to Naples, we were ahead of our itinerary and decided to stop by Pompeii since it was sort of along the path from Sorrento. Pompeii is about a 30 minute drive away from Naples.
Pompeii is famous as it is a city that was decimated and buried due to a volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Many of the inhabitants living there were not able to escape this disastrous event. Because of this history, it has been one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy to this day.
For your information, we went to park our car at Porta Marina in Pompeii since while researching, it said that it was a parking lot more likely to have spaces. Once we stepped outside the parking lot, there was a local telling us to step inside their office to purchase admission tickets for €17 each and you get to skip the line. Unfortunately, the line they meant wasn’t for the entrance; it was for queuing the line to BUY the ticket, which wasn’t even that long! Again, we felt scammed in Italy. Fortunately, the original admission ticket is €15 each, so we didn’t feel too ripped off.
At the office, they also offered English audio tours (and even other languages like an Italian spoke fluent Japanese!) for €12 each. They said that it will take 2 hours to finish the tour. Due to the poor weather, since I was hungry, and we just wanted to take photos, we decided not to take the audio tour. That said, for those interested in history and wanting to learn more, definitely join a tour with a tour guide to learn more about the ruins. Otherwise, as I will demonstrate in this blog, you will not know anything that is going on within these ruins. As such, much of this blog won’t be providing much information, but more a photo blog.
The ticket line. It was more packed at 11am/12pm, but after 2pm it was pretty empty.
This was probably a bedroom back then.
At the bottom right, you see people wearing jackets because that day, the same day with the terrible weather in Naples, it was extremely windy here. All the dust and small rocks kept getting into my eyes and mouth there. It wasn’t a good experience.
Yeah you really can’t see anything, the weather was that bad.
Porcelain
This was probably a hot tub bath?
Sorry for the blurry picture. Even my camera lens got dust -__-
The half headed horseman
If you are stopping by Naples or Sorrento, I definitely recommend stopping by Pompeii. If it’s a windy day, be prepared to wear sunglasses/glasses and dirty shoes, as your shoes will get really dirty. Also, be sure to make time to go on a tour – I think it will make the ruins much more interesting.
