Pompeii.

The first day we arrived in Naples having sailed along the Italian coast by the great volcano Vesuvius. We arrived in bright sunshine and real live warmth!!! (something I haven't experienced since last year!!)

We took a trip to Pompeii, a place that has always interested me. I was a bit worried as all the guides say that its quite hard going on the walking front, so when we booked we decided that we would go it alone if it became too much, well as it turned out I managed to keep up well and the guide was brilliant. Its a fantastic place to look around.

Vesuvius, from the ship on the way into Naples.

On the way into the main site, its hard to believe that all of this is 2000 years old and still standing!

The guide gave us lots of information about the town of Pompeii, The decorative town square, houses, stables and a brothel all formed part of the tour!

This photo has Vesuvius in the background, all those years ago the people must have had no idea what was going on, Vesuvius had not erupted in living history so when it went they had little clue what was coming. For two days the eruption buried the town to a depth of 12 to 14 feet in volcanic ash. On the third day the volcano really blew and the town above the ash line was vapourised by the pyroclastic flow. The town remained buried until 1748  when it was discovered again by a Spanish engineer. The site is huge and is still not fully excavated. 

Pompeii is most famous for the casts of the bodies of the inhabitants who lost their lives, it is strange looking at these relics it makes the ruins so real.

Outside we took a walk around the local market stalls and had a fresh lemon juice slush!

We also tasted some local Limoncello, which was lovely, after doing a lot of local market research, we bought a bottle of cream limoncello, its lush!!!

It was a very nice first day on our cruise and I am so glad that I made the effort to walk around and see everything in the ancient town.