Europe 2022

So because we knew we had an early start, we didn't get to sleep til after midnight. Sigh.

Woke up 5:45. Zombies.

Went to The Scottish Restaurant for breakfast. Felt like had to wait ages. And no breakfast menu before 7am. WTF?

Quick walk to the subway. Ticket machines were broken so bought tickets at tobacco store near the station entrance. Easy enough, just 1.50 for 100 minutes (although apparently only one train trip included).

The train was crowded though, so no chance to eat any breakfast on the train.

Got to Flaminio and followed the crowds to the exit, then had a look on my phone to see where we were. But it was dark and my brain wasn't working so I thought we needed to come out the other side. Decided that wasn't right either so wasted a good five minutes trying to figure out we were in the right place to start with. Sigh.

So found the tour guide peeps and checked in, then sat down to eat cold breakfast. Oof.

Got onto the tour coach. Was lucky enough to get seats near the front so could see out the front which was nice. But then we sat there for twenty minutes while they tried to fix a problem with the rear door. I don't think they fixed it, but they did manage to get it closed, so off we went.

Had a pitstop near Cassino. Nice place, probably setup for tour groups, because they had a lot of toilets. Although finding one with a working toilet paper dispenser was trickier.

And then onto Pompeii! Pretty cool place, although it's *huge* so even though we walked around for two hours, we probably only saw a fraction of it. Although we walked fairly slowly we never actually stopped anywhere. So there was no time to *look* at anything, just had to snap a photo then move on so as not to lose the group.

Walls in Pompei

Quadriporticus of the theatres

Quadriporticus of the theatres

Quadriporticus of the theatres (with Mount Vesuvius in the background)

Teatro Grande

Shops in Pompei

Via Stabiana street in Pompei

Fast food shop in Pompei

Casa degli Amanti (House of the Lovers)

Casa degli Amanti (House of the Lovers)

Casa degli Amanti (House of the Lovers)

Pottery in Casa degli Amanti

Artefacts found in Casa degli Amanti

Building off Vicolo del Menano

They think these are pedestrian crossings - raised above mud and water that would have been on the ground

Building off Via Stabiana

View south along Via Stabiana at Via dell'Abbondanza

View north along Via Stabiana to Mount Vesuvius at Via dell'Abbondanza

Cast of human remains found in Pompei

Square in Pompei

Centauro di Igor Mitoraj statue in the Forum

Entrance gate in the Forum

Foro di Pompei with Mount Vesuvius in the background

Tempio di Vespasiano

Macellum - ruins of an ancient Roman food market

Well preserved frescos

Well preserved frescos

Panificio di Modesto (Bakery of Popidio Prisco)

View northeast along Via della Fortuna

Arco di Caligola

Santuario di Apollo

Garden in Pompei

Walls in Pompei

Statue and column in Pompei

I wanted to go to the loo inside the park because it was going to be more stressful outside, but we got ushered out and that was the end of that.

Back with the tour guide, she's like, you have twenty minutes to find lunch, go. And I'm like wtf?? We needed to find a toilet and try and find a quick lunch. But Europe doesn't *do* fast food. Even the store that advertised "street food" and "fast food" only seemed to have a sit down option. Which we clearly didn't have time for. And because I'm permanently dehydrated in Europe the last thing I wanted was anything bready. In the end we got a slice of cold pizza. It might have been nice when it was fresh, but it was pretty horrible cold. Gross. We went to the loo in the hotel next to the park at the tour guide's advice.

Our next stop was Mount Vesuvius!! The road goes most of the way to the top, then it's a relatively short walk up a wide path to the rim. Took me about twenty minutes, Mum a little longer. Then it took me about twenty minutes to wander around the rim, taking photos. The clouds were pouring into the crater which was pretty cool. Then headed back down again.

View of Mount Vesuvius from the south
Photo by Mum

Entrance sign at Mount Vesuvius

Climbing Mount Vesuvius (Mum in centre)

View towards Naples from Mount Vesuvius

Crater of Mount Vesuvius

View towards Torre del Greco from Mount Vesuvius

Crater of Mount Vesuvius

Piece of volcanic rock at Mount Vesuvius

Crater of Mount Vesuvius

Crater of Mount Vesuvius

View south from Mount Vesuvius

View towards Torre Annunziata from Mount Vesuvius

View towards Pompei from Mount Vesuvius

Me and Mum on Mount Vesuvius

Volvanic valley and rocks north of Mount Vesuvius

Back at the bus by 16:00 then back down the hill and back to Rome. A breakdown near Naples slowed things down a bit. Another pitstop in the same place on the way back. Back at Piazza del Popolo by 20:00. Then had to get the metro back to Termini. Accidentally bought three tickets because the machine was being dumb. Sold one of them to someone else. Although could have kept it because we'd need them the next day anyway.

View east from the rest stop on the way back to Rome

Had dinner at the restaurant next to our room. Looks small on the outside but was huge on the inside, and because it was so late it was nearly full. We looked at the serving sizes and decided one pasta dish between us would be plenty.

After dinner I downloaded my photos and GPS and collapsed in a heap.