Herculaneum

Back in 2013 we went to see the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition at the British Museum. Before then I had only been aware of Pompeii, but I was amazed by the artefacts on display from both sites, and added Herculaneum to my list of places to visit. The Herculaneum site is much smaller than Pompeii, … Read more

Sorrento

Sorrento is at the southern end of the Circumvesuviana railway line which passes through Pompeii to Naples. First inhabited by the Greeks in 600 BC, it’s a historic city, though there isn’t much left in the way of ancient remains. It was a popular destination on the ‘Grand Tour’ circuit in the 18th and early … Read more

Naples

I think it’s fair to say that Naples doesn’t have the best of reputations. A Google search for “Naples Reputation” will return articles like “Why no one wants to travel to Naples” and “Naples: Italy’s scariest city?”. Not wanting to let that put us off, and as it’s only a half hour train journey from Pompeii, … Read more

Pompeii

I’ve wanted to visit Pompeii ever since I was a kid at junior school, so it was great to be able to finally visit today. As the site we’re staying at is directly opposite the entrance for Pompeii, we were in there by 9:30 this morning. Not being lovers of the audio guides, we bought … Read more

From Rome to Pompeii

As it’s a 250 km journey from Rome to Pompeii, we decided to break the journey up by stopping for the night in Cassino. The dreadful condition of the roads driving into Rome made us decide to take the toll roads. We had a bit of a nightmare getting onto the toll road though. I … Read more

Rome

We left Tuscania on Sunday morning and set off for Rome. The main road was the SR2, and it is by far the worst road we’ve driven along, a dreadful surface with potholes everywhere. We’re staying on the Flaminio Village campsite in the suburbs of Rome. The train station is close by, and the 15 … Read more

Tuscania

Our plan on leaving Florence was to visit Siena, staying overnight in a free car park on the edge of the city and taking a bus into town. We’d read that the car park was full during the day, so we arrived late afternoon. Unfortunately, the car park was quite compact, and there were only … Read more

Florence

On our way to Florence we made an overnight stop at Vinci, the birthplace of Leonardo. There’s a freebie municipal sosta there with services (no electricity though). We stopped on the way at a Co-op superstore to replenish the fridge, and boy did we regret it. The place was heaving and it was all a bit … Read more