Pompeii is very famous and justifiably so but the lesser known Herculaneum just 30 minutes away is a treat. Both are completely awesome in the fact of the effort at excavation that has been undertaken over the hundreds of years since their first discoveries. Herculaneum was first in the 1700s by a farmer digging a well - most of it was well under 50 to 60 feet of solidified ash and still continues on all around under the modern city now there. Vesuvius erupted in 79AD burying both Herculaneum and Pompeii and potentially other small towns and villages that may or may not be found. Archaeologists originally thought that most people from Herculaneum had escaped but upon excavating the former shoreline (now inland) they discovered over 120 bodies in the waterfront warehouses where they had been waiting to get on ships to flee.

Pompeii is by far the bigger site but Herculaneum has more intact buildings with mosaics and frescos. Pompeii was more shallowly buried making it more attractive to excavate until it's popularity made Herculaneum more viable. Many of he discovered art works, statues etc have ended up in the Naples Museum but they have often been replaced with replicas to give the idea. Both places well worth the visit. I'm glad we didn't go in the summer months, it'd have been very hot and busy.

We stayed at Marina Castellemara di Stabia and trained in both days, just a few euro and quite reliable - at least on the days we went. We did hear stories of it stopping for ages for no good reason and tourists walking down the track with their bags!

Due to time constraints (haul out in June in Palma di Mallorca) we decided to leave the rest of the Italian coast till later and head to Sardinia.