Napoli, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Sorrento beckoned us this morning as the ship docked early this morning. Had enough of following crowds around so six of us went off on our own Dick, Yvonne, Andre, Patricia etc. Negotiated a taxi ride to the Naples Train Station with the taxi driver doing some really bad maths to try to convince us to hire him for the day. Caught the local train to Pompei then later on to Sorrento then back down the same line to Herculaneum before heading back to Naples. Jeannie had a great bilingual conversation with an older Italian lady sitting next to her. Jeannie spoke only English; the lady only Italian, but lots of smiles and hand waving kept the parallel conversations flowing. Pompei was fantastic, wandering through the long-buried town brought back to life after hundreds of years buried under volcanic ash. Back on the train to picturesque Sorrento - had lunch and beer in a cafe on the cliffs with a very cool breeze despite the hot sun, and a local playing local and popular tunes on a piano accordion, breaking into song for "Volare". Really cool. The obligatory delicious gelato as we wandered back through the picturesque streets crowded with small shops and we boarded the train for Herculaneum (Ercolano). Herculaneum didn't look like much from the outside but it more than rivalled Pompei. Buildings are much more intact including two storey buildings, better frescoes still alive after 2000 years and they found 300 skeletons of those who tried to shelter from the volcano at the docks but were killed by the superheated volcanic gas cloud. Really worth going to. Had to race back up the hill through the modern Herculaneum built over the ash buried town but we made it and rode the crowded train back into Naples. Caught a cab with a crazy driver to the port. There's a constant game of chicken between cars and pedestrians in Naples with the walkers just sauntering across and the drivers deliberately swerving or slowing at the very last second. Tomorrow is a day at sea then Mykonos.