Pompeii Ruins

Pompeii had been on my bucket-list of must-see places for a while. Just imagine - an entire city frozen in place after a gigantic volcanic eruption. It seemed pretty epic to me. As it turns out, it was.

I traveled to the Pompeii ruins one day from Rome. It was three trains there and three trains back. I had my entire day planned with exactly what trains to take. Some unexpected interruptions abruptly changed those plans, however.

When I got to the nearby city of Naples, I went to take a specific train line that ended right at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius. It was the perfect plan. I went to get my train ticket, but I was told that the workers were on strike that day and that I would have to find an alternate route.

I had plans of taking a tour bus up to the top of Mt. Vesuvius to look around for a few hours, but those plans were quickly dashed as I struggled to find an alternate path. I eventually did in the form of an old cargo train.

I still had plenty of time to explore the ruins, which was my main objective. After finally finding the ruins after getting off the train, I grabbed a map and headed in. There's so much to see. One can easily get lost just roaming around the city.

In fact, I got lost on several occasions. I eventually gave up with the map and resorted to just enjoying everything.

The brothel is perhaps the most famous site. There's a large line waiting to walk through it. Most everything else, however, is easy to see. There's also a restaurant inside the ruins where most end up eating a meal at.

Finally, I made my way around the back-side from where I came in and worked my way down some rather large steps. Apparently that was not the correct way to go because security would not let me back up. So, I ended up leaving a little bit earlier than I would have liked. It was fine, though, because I had seen all of the main sites there and was getting ready to go soon anyway. Just try to avoid making that mistake, if you can.

Despite leaving the ruins early on accident, having to find an alternate train route and missing out on the Mt. Vesuvius tour - I quite enjoyed my day. Perhaps even more-so than I expected.