Day 7

 This morning we had breakfast at the cafe below our room. It was included in our stay. We then walked to the train station near Pompei entrance as we wanted to store our luggage at the station ready for our train to Sorrento.

Once storing the luggage we headed to the ruins entrance and along the way paid/locked in a guided tour. The issue was however that we had booked entrance tickets online and the guided tour needed the tickets which we had to redeem in the ruins first. So we had to queue in the very long line for 45mins then head back to the tour place and wait for the next English tour. Eventually at 10:30 we were into the ruins! The tour was 2hrs and very interesting. It was definitely needed as there was no other way to know which each ruin was. We learnt how the city had majority of people evacuated before the eruption however some did not make it out. Many had viewed the volcano as “friendly” and did not realise it would erupt. The houses were varied with rich and poor all spread throughout. There was running water to the city through lead pipes which can still be seen today. Aswell as many mosaics in the rich houses. The pathways were open sewages so there was raised stones for people to cross. We also saw casts of the people that did not make it out. We visited the bath house which was incredible preserved with paintings and carvings all over the inside walls and roof. 

A very odd and unexpected fact was the city was covered with mouldings of phallus. They were everywhere… you wouldn’t spot them if you weren’t looking but on each corner and above doors they were there! It was said they believed they protected from bad luck and were a sign of protection and strength. 

At 1pm our tour finished and we headed to the Pompei cafe for a drink. It was so hot and completely stone which didn’t not help. So at this stage, I was starting to get heat stroke. And unfortunately the cold drink was not soon enough. We wandered alittle longer then decided we would head to the train station and get an earlier train to Sorrento on then Amalfi Coast. The train was packed, everyone was standing like sardines which did not help my heat stroke. We eventually made it Sorrento but I was crook as soon as we were off the train. Once we got to our hotel, a cold shower and I was good to go again! Poor Barnaby was amazing today, he carried all the luggage (literally all of it) from the moment I started feeling sick and was straight off to get cold drinks as soon as we were off the train. 

Our hotel is one street over from the main shopping street and only 2mins walk to the coast line. We went shopping for an hour which was very enjoyable for me! There was so many lovely clothes and ornaments. Lemons are the most popular common fruit here. They are on every thing! After shopping up a storm we headed back to the room to drop it all off (yes I have now bought a carry on bag to take it all back to Switzerland in) and then headed to dinner. Dinner was delicious and after we walked down to the coast line. It is absolutely stunning here. The cliffs are amazing and it is such a relaxing city. 

We then had gelato and headed back to our room for the night. Tomorrow we have the boat trip to an island off the coast and to the blue grotto. We get picked up at 7am so we are in for an early night! 

We enjoyed Pompei and are glad we did it but it’s not a place you stay longer than a day. It is a much rougher area and not set up for tourism. 

We are both loving Sorrento and wished we could stay here longer! 


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